Re: Timor again (sorry Lou)

["James M. Blaut" <70671.2032@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Joao Monteiro: You've been favoring us with long posts about East Timor and
I'd be grateful for the information if I knew that it was authoritativre
and not biased toward one or anothger Left direction. I begin to have
doubts wehen I read such as the following:

"Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, who led the armed struggle from
1981 to the moment of his capture in 1992  is a romantic and sentimental
character, writes poetry (not very
good, but fair for an amateur) and paints... [He is beloved by the people]
to the point of worship and with a kind of acquired regal status by fact of
heroic deeds. The east-timorese are very sensitive to this kind of nobility
and distinguish it with blind loyalty and ritual submission. They are kind
of monarchic. This was not the lesson of the original FRETILIN but... these
are cultural traits very difficult to eradicate."

Some years ago an American anthropolgoist tried to psychoanalyze the people
of an island near Timor (Alor). Are you continuing that research?

Jim Blaut