Fwd (GLW): East Timor articles

["Alan Bradley" <abradley1@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From Green Left Weekly, May 29, 2002.

EAST TIMOR: Timor Gap protests dog Howard
BY SARAH STEPHEN

DILI - May 19 marked the turning point of a historic period of transition
for the East Timorese people. It was the last day of operation for the UN
Transitional Administration of East Timor (UNTAET), bringing to a close more
than 400 years of foreign rule.

It was also a day of contrasts, between those East Timorese who are still
campaigning for social justice, and those who are content to make peace with
East Timor's more recent oppressors - the governments of Indonesia and
Australia - in the name of "reconciliation".

East Timorese campaign groups and NGOs took advantage of the arrival of
Australian Prime Minister John Howard on May 19 to protest against
Australia's attempts to block full East Timorese control over Timor Gap gas
and oil reserves. Two Australian solidarity activists unfurled a protest
banner and were thrown out of a press conference at Dili airport.

Howard's appearance at a second media conference in the centre of Dili was
greeted with a protest by 500 East Timorese and a small number of
international solidarity activists. A broad coalition of organisations
planned the protest as the first stage of a campaign to defend East Timor's
economic sovereignty.

< The remainder of the article can be found at:
http://www.greenleft.org.au/current/494p13.htm >

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

>From Green Left Weekly, May 29, 2002.

EAST TIMOR: `Your struggle is our struggle'

[The following is a slightly abridged version of a speech given by Sarah
Stephen, a member of the Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific
brigade to East Timor, at a protest organised by a number of East Timorese
groups in Dili on May 19.]

Today is the last day of the United Nations running East Timor. Tomorrow,
the East Timorese people will begin to govern themselves.

In Australia, many of us have campaigned hard for a free and independent
East Timor. Australian governments have always supported the Indonesian
occupation of East Timor - from Gough Whitlam to Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke,
Paul Keating and John Howard.

But many people in Australia disagreed with the government. After the
referendum in 1999, through street protests we forced the Howard government
to send the army to East Timor to stop the Indonesian military and militia
killings.

John Howard sent troops, but John Howard is not your friend. The Australian
government still doesn't care about the people of East Timor. If Australia
cared about the East Timorese people, the government would not be stealing
East Timor's oil!

< The remainder of the article can be found at:
http://www.greenleft.org.au/current/494p13b.htm >


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