AUT: Stop U.S. funding of East Timor massacre! (fwd)

["Harry M. Cleaver" <hmcleave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 07:05:09 -0500
From: Manuel Callahan <motinrfm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: accion-zapatista@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: accion-zapatista@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Stop U.S. funding of East Timor massacre!

>To: "activist general"<iacenter@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Date: Thu, 9 Sep 1999 21:38:09 -0400
>Subject: Stop U.S. funding of East Timor massacre!
>Reply-to: "activist general"<iacenter@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Priority: normal
>
>Behind the massacre in East Timor:
>
>The Indonesian military=97a creation of the U.S.
>
>
>Statement from the International Action Center
>
>
>There can be no hiding the genocide taking place in East Timor.  As of
>   Sept. 8 the UN estimated that 200,000 people=97one quarter of the
>  population!=97had been driven from their homes by the systematic
>rampages of the Indonesian military.
>
>
>East Timor is a small country in the south Pacific that was invaded by
> Indonesia in 1975, shortly after it declared independence from
>Portugal.  The present violence began after the people, in a UN-
>supervised referendum on Aug. 30, voted overwhelmingly for
>independence, from Indonesia.
>
>
>The Indonesian troops' bloody attacks on UN facilities and personnel
>  as well as on the East Timorese have evoked worldwide
>condemnation.
>
>
>While Washington is talking weakly about respecting democracy and
> human rights, it is not putting any real pressure on the Indonesian
>generals, whom it supplies with military aid, nor on the bankers and
>businessmen--often generals themselves-- whose existence depends
>on credit from the IMF and World Bank.
>
>
>The Indonesian fascist army is a monster that was created by
>Washington in the 1960s, when the U.S. was escalating the war in
>Vietnam. Washington tipped the balance toward the fascist right wing
>  of the military by training, equipping and financing a coup.  The
>massacres that followed "elated" the State Department and Pentagon.
>
>
>This fascist terror in East Timor today is a chilling replay of how the
>U.S.- trained Indonesian military took power in 1965-66.  Claiming to
>  help =93local  militias=94 combat communists, the military went from
>island   to island, massacring  workers, peasants, students=97anyone
>active in   progressive organizations.   They destroyed the huge left
>and anti-  imperialist movement in Indonesia by  killing at least one
>million   people.
>
>
>Then, as now, the tone of the U.S. corporate media was fatalistic, as
> though nothing could be done to stop the slaughter.  But this was a
>cover-up for the U.S. role.
>
>
>Independent U.S. journalist Allan Nairn has provided documentary
>evidence of collusion between the Indonesian military, the so-called
>"militias," and the United States. According to the East Timor Action
>Network the U.S.-trained elite unit Kopassus is taking part in the
>current destruction in East Timor.
>
>
>U.S. SUPPORTED 1975 INVASION
>
>
>Washington supported Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975.
>Pres. Gerald Ford and Sec. of State Henry Kissinger visited Jakarta
>immediately before the invasion.
>
>
>A month later, a U.S. State Department official told the daily
>newspaper <italic>The Australian</italic> on Jan. 22, 1976, that "In terms=
> of the
>bilateral relations between the U.S. and Indonesia, we are more or
>less condoning the incursion into East Timor. The United States wants
>  to keep its relations with Indonesia close and friendly. We regard
>Indonesia as a friendly, non-aligned nation--a nation we do a lot of
>business with."
>
>
>The U.S. government has a consistent record of propping up the
>fascist military against popular movements. The Indonesian military, in
>  turn, has maintained a climate of repression welcomed by U.S.
>multinational corporations that have flocked to Indonesia to exploit the
>   land and the people.
>
>
>Critics of U.S. policy who mistakenly believed Washington's
>propaganda that it attacked Yugoslavia to stop "ethnic cleansing" in
>Kosovo are now appealing to the same imperialists to intervene in this
>  situation. Any U.S. intervention, if it takes place, would be the
>Haitian    type, protecting the interests of the corporations and
>repressing the    people=92s movement.
>
>
>WHAT=92S AT STAKE?
>
>
>The current reign of terror is directed in the most immediate sense
>against the 800,000 people of East Timor. But it is also aimed at
>terrorizing the 200 million Indonesian workers and farmers.  After 35
> years of brutal fascist rule they have finally begun to organize openly  =
>
>again for their rights.  The same U.S.-backed generals are using
>arrests, killings and jail sentences.  However, they have not succeeded
>   in breaking this new workers' movement.
>
>
>Last summer, huge demonstrations by students and workers led to the
>   resignation of President Suharto, one of the generals who led the
>1965  fascist coup. Suharto's close partner, B.J. Habibie, then took
>over as  president. Behind Habibie is the same ferocious military
>leadership  bent on protecting their enormous privileges through
>bloody terror, if  necessary.
>
>
>For corporate interests there=92s a lot at stake.  There is $11 billion
>expected from  offshore oil and natural gas in the Timor area, under
>development by Indonesia  and Australia. (July 21, AP)
>
>
>Demonstrations have been called by solidarity groups in countries
>around the world.  This kind of direct solidarity with the Timorese
>people against the fascist Indonesian military must be stepped up, but
> it must also point the finger at U.S. imperialism=97the power behind
>the    fascist generals.
>
>
>STOP U.S. FUNDING OF EAST TIMOR MASSACRE!
>
>
>International Action Center
>39 West 14th Street, Room 296
>New York, NY 10011
>email: iacenter@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>http://www.iacenter.org
>phone: 212 633-6646
>fax:   212 633-2889
>
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