Re: East Timor was Re: "They found absolutely nothing"

["Jose G. Perez" <jgperez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>There were of course killings, but it is beginning to look as if they were
>nothing like on the scale that we were led to believe by the Murdoch Press.
>>
>I wonder, why? I must ask the DSP or one of their list proxies. They'd be
>sure to know.


This is an extremely odd post. Surely, you don't concede that there is ANY
level of killing or genocide that would have justified the demand of the
Timorese Independence Movement for UN intervention? I thought it was a
matter of absolute, bedrock principle.

At any rate, conditions of war, civil war, and social upheaval are hardly
conducive to getting a clear picture of what is going on. Even under the
current utterly deplorable standards of the bourgeois press, you will
usually see that the reporter gives a source for the information. Thus, in
the case of the individuals you cite, you might want to track down the
original reports on their deaths and see what the source was. Unless the
militias or some other body set up an authoritative press center to
distribute lists of the massacred, I can't imagine this sort of situation
where there would not be a good amount of mistaken information in
circulation.

I think people who've covered wars and revolutions for a living will tell
you that most often, reports of massacres are exaggerated. That's precisely
the effect that massacres, especially of civilians, are intended to create.

As to the overall nature of the Indonesian-military-sponsored
anti-independence pogrom, do you have any reason to question whether that
is, in fact, what was taking place?  The descriptions and pictures coming
out of East Timor seem pretty consistent.

Finally, on the current state of bourgeois journalism, especially in the
U.S., might I recommend my post from last week Re: The Media.

José




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