Jul 1, 2026 · 35 min · 12 segments
Indonesia is home to some of the largest stretches of tropical rainforest left on Earth — and to a growing community of people willing to put themselves on the line to defend it. But across the…
Austin JenishGuest
Elizabeth KramerHost
You've written about SLAP, which is an acronym for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, particularly in the context of climate activism in Indonesia and how this has affected individuals and organizations who are advocating for a better climate change policy, but also advocating against particular projects that might threaten that goal.
And honestly, I'm going to call it slap suits, even though I'll be saying suits twice.
So slap suit, as you described, it's a strategic lawsuit against public participation.
There's even been a history of slap suits in Australia and used all over the world.
But broadly speaking, it's the use of lawsuits, whether or not they're legally valid, that designed to retaliate against someone who otherwise would have a successful case against you.
So you could have a plaintiff on the other side who sues you, and you as a defendant, you fire a slap lawsuit against them.
Typically, it's like a powerful corporation or a government or someone in the government who may fire back a slap suit when they get sued in order to try and sort of brush away the initial lawsuit.
It's initiated by them in response to, say, protest or someone trying to change climate policy.
If there's a corporation or a government whose interests are against making such changes, they may file a slap lawsuit.
So it's A lot of times it's the basis for these slap lawsuits are defamation.
So defamation is one of those things where You can allege it and even defend yourself against any bad claim that's made against you by saying that's a lie or that's defamatory or that's not based on anything.
You've written about SLAP, which is an acronym for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, particularly in the context of climate activism in Indonesia and how this has affected individuals and organizations who are advocating for a better climate change policy, but also advocating against particular projects that might threaten that goal.
And honestly, I'm going to call it slap suits, even though I'll be saying suits twice.
So slap suit, as you described, it's a strategic lawsuit against public participation.
There's even been a history of slap suits in Australia and used all over the world.
But broadly speaking, it's the use of lawsuits, whether or not they're legally valid, that designed to retaliate against someone who otherwise would have a successful case against you.
So you could have a plaintiff on the other side who sues you, and you as a defendant, you fire a slap lawsuit against them.
Typically, it's like a powerful corporation or a government or someone in the government who may fire back a slap suit when they get sued in order to try and sort of brush away the initial lawsuit.
It's initiated by them in response to, say, protest or someone trying to change climate policy.
If there's a corporation or a government whose interests are against making such changes, they may file a slap lawsuit.
So it's A lot of times it's the basis for these slap lawsuits are defamation.
So defamation is one of those things where You can allege it and even defend yourself against any bad claim that's made against you by saying that's a lie or that's defamatory or that's not based on anything.
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