AUT: Re: RE: Karl Eugen on E. Timor

["rc-am" <rcollins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

some comments on the post from john roosa:

> The nationalist struggle in East Timor has been a struggle against
militarism, against a life of captivity under an army of occupation,
against the presence of 30,000 soldiers and policemen in a
country of only 800,000. What unites the East Timorese is a common
suffering of having relatives, neighbors, and friends killed by the
Indonesian military. Independence means for them the departure of
Indonesian troops.<

yes, and the indonesian military presence, strength, etc both exists and
is important precisely because of the extent to which the indonesian
military is the same as indonesian capital.  this is not just a struggle
against militarism, but a struggle against capitalism by virtue of that,
and much of the reason why that militarism has been so tenacious,
violent and conducts itself with impunity.

but more specifically, it seems to me that john is being a little
ignorant of, or silent on, the extent to which there have been changes
in the independance movement (the CNRT) over the last year or so which
have informed both the strategy adopted by the independance movement,
why this strategy has shifted toward a reliance on the UN, Vatican
support and calls for armed intervention by the UN, Australia, etc.
whether it benefits anyone to discuss this at this stage is open to
question, but what is clear is that we are no longer looking at an
independance movement which is staunchly non-aligned (as in the parlance
of the old fretilin), and nor are we looking at a situation in which an
independant east timor will have access to revenues from oil exploration
and coffee plantations upon which to conduct any kind of redistributive
program envisaged by the old independance movement.

> I would be glad to know of some other force in the world besides some
sort of UN or Australian-led military that would be capable of stopping
Indonesia's genocidal plans. I know of none. The East Timorese by
themselves can not successfully resist the Indonesian military. The
Indonesian working class is doing nothing to stop it and will do
nothing.<

well, it is already too late to stop the slaughter and the displacement
and the ruin of east timor's economy.  no doubt the indonesian army is
now moving to take on falantil in the hills, well away from the UN
observers there today.  and, there is no reason to fancy that the UN or
australia will side with falantil against the indonesian army.
everything precludes this happening, including the ostensible
positioning of the UN as above the conflict, there to disarm the
"competing factions", as they so oddly keep designating the situation.
the UN always saw its role as supporting Indonesia in disarming the
population, and to doubt that this also meant quite specifically,
falantil, is wrong.  so, what would any armed intervention accomplish
now?  that's a serious question, and one that goes to timing more than
anything else.

and john is wrong i to beleive that the indonesian working class is
doing nothing. these organisations have already been protesting, much
more militantly than any protests that have occured anywhere else might
i add: Peoples Democratic Party (PRD), AJI (Independent Journalists
Allianjce - Aliansi Jurnalis Independen), MPD (Masyarakat Profesional
untuk Demokrasi - Professionals for Democracy), SNB (People and National
Solidarity - Solidaritas Nusa Bangsa), ISAI (Institute for Study for
Information Flow), ALDERA (Peoples Democratic Alliance), FORMACI (Forum
Mahasiswa Ciputat, IAIN Jakarta, HMI Jakarta, Univ Gunadarma, Univ
Moestopoberagama, LMND (National Students League for Democracy), SIP
(The Voice of Caring Mothers - Suara Ibu Peduli), Satu Merah Panggung
(Ratna Sarumpaet), PDI-P Tanjung Priok, FNPBI (Indonesian National Front
for Labour Struggles), ISJ (Institut Sosial Jakarta), PMKRI (Catholic
Students Association), IKJ (Jakarta Arts Institute - Institut Kesenian
Jakarta).

yesterday, the PRD offices were firebombed.

> The US, and many other major powers, contrary to Wildcat's wild
imagination, are not hell-bent on sending troops. Quite the opposite.
They have been coddling Indonesia and unwilling to support the East
Timorese. They have to be prodded into action. (The idea that the
capitalist powers somehow want to intervene in East Timor to throttle
Indonesia as an emerging economic tiger -- if that is indeed Wildcat's
argument in this muddled, poorly written piece -- is silly.)<

put it like that and it does sound silly.  and i agree that the US is
not itching to send in troops.  but neither is australia.  the
australian govt was always going to wait for the indonesian military to
do its dirty work and then go in under the UN to provide a transitional
phase, one which quite likely would have included a capitulation to the
fantasy that there are "competing factions" within the east timorese
population (outside their fabrication by the indonesian military), and
hence a move to partition to the coffee plantations off.

> The East Timorese voted overwhelmingly for independence with the
assumption that the UN which arranged the ballot would stay and protect
them from the Indonesian military which they knew would wish to seek
revenge and thwart a eaceful transition to independence. Prior to the
vote, Indonesia openly threatened the East Timorese with a bloodbath if
they opted for independence. The plan was no secret. <

yes.  and it should raise the question of why the UN went ahead with the
ballot knowing this.  seriously, why would they do that or allow that to
happen unless there was sufficient pressure placed on the UN or indeed
sections within the UN which were colluding with these plans?  and hey
presto! the answer to that is that we know the Australian govt was
instrumental in allowing the ballot to be held without an armed UN
presence, in supporting Indonesia's insistence that no such presence
could be allowed.  and this is the govt that you think should be sent in
to save the east timorese?!  all the aust govt's talk of trying real
hard to get a intervention force together has been a sham to deflect
australian's protests and defer any UN armed presence until the
indonesian military finished what it had decided to do.  to read the
situation any differently is as far-fetched as to think the US is
itching to go to war on this.

i understand that everyone feels defeated in all this.  we are defeated,
and there are countless dead and starving.  but that still shouldn't
make us beleive in fairy-tales, including the one about the australian
military having any inclination to do what people think it must and can.
this might ease australian's sense of shame and guilt (all entirely
appropriate responses given our history), but it will only do this and
nothing else.  i'd much prefer to live with a continuing sense of shame
than have it assuaged by things i know are not going to save one life,
especially from this moment on.  the 50 or so Un staff who refused to
leave east timor are the only exception to this, and paradoxically,
defending that move contradicts any demand for the australian govt to
sever military links with indonesia (which are stil necessary in order
to maintain the drops of food, water to maintain the UN compound).
nothing is easy in all this.

Angela
_________








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