[Marxism] Fw: Women's Day 2005 - East Timor

["Clinton Fernandes" <cfer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Women's Day 2005 - East Timor

In the southeast corner of East Timor lies a mountainous, well-forested region 
known as Iliomar. Each year in Iliomar, the East Timor Women's Organisation 
(Organisaçao da Mulheres Timorense) commemorates the death of one of its 
heroines on International Women's Day, the 8th of March. 

 

Olympia was a member of a three-woman courier and support cell along with Hilda 
Madeira and Balbina da Conceiçao. The three women delivered information and 
supplies to the armed resistance in the jungle. In early 1980, according to the 
military historian Brigadier (retd) Ernest Chamberlain, the 21-year old Olympia 
was arrested and brutalised by the Indonesian military:

 

Olympia was tortured and raped. Afterwards, she was stripped to the waist and, 
wearing only a very short nylon shift, was paraded on foot through the six 
villages... Two of her senior male relatives held her hands ... and at each 
village she was forced to warn villagers of the penalties for resistance and 
supporting [the resistance]. Later that evening, she escaped from [the 
barracks], but was recaptured at her parent's home [where] she had tried to 
gather clothing before fleeing into the jungle. . She was bayoneted in the 
throat and died[1]. 

 

Olympia da Costa's martyrdom makes harrowing reading, but it must be read by 
those wishing to understand the role played by women during the East Timorese 
liberation struggle. As the scholar-activist Emma Franks notes, rape had 
'become formalised into the occupation strategy as a specific tool used by the 
Indonesian state to attack women'[2]. They were targeted not because they were 
passive victims but precisely because they were active resisters. In the early 
years of the occupation, their traditional knowledge of medicines and midwifery 
proved invaluable to the guerrilla fighters and the internally displaced 
population in the mountains. 

 

Maria de Fatima Pinto, a key figure in the resistance to the occupation, 
reminds us that the 'participation of women was integral at every stage'. 
Through the structure of the Popular Organisation of Timorese Women (OPMT), 
women 'bore arms alongside men, provided logistical support, carried out a 
broad range of clandestine political and armed resistance activities, as well 
as taking primary responsibility for the well-being for family and community 
development often in the absence of men'[3]. 

 

When required, women took up arms; as Franks records, many 'guerrilla 
detachments in the interior of East Timor [were] commanded by women'[4]. 
Olympia's comrade Balbina da Conceiçao was one such female fighter. Balbina 
spent the occupation as an armed fighter in the mountains, and nowadays is one 
of the directors of KOVEFOKTIL (Cooperative of Veteran Women, Widows and 
Orphans Timor Leste). This group is attempting to deal with the new challenges 
presented by East Timor's independence, such as the need to empower women 
economically in a culture that remains deeply patriarchal.

 

KOVEFOKTIL conducts income-generating activities by utilising the skills that 
have clothed and protected communities for centuries. By encouraging the 
weaving of traditional cloth for contemporary use, KOVEFOKTIL is also 
encouraging women to break the cycle of illiteracy and poverty. KOVEFOKTIL 
focuses on empowering women, particularly those who were widowed during the 24 
year occupation. In doing so, KOVEFOLTIL will reduce the gender imbalance by 
improving women's status. This approach ensures that the benefits flow directly 
to their families and strengthens their communities' socio-economic base.

 

KOVEFOKTIL works closely with an Australian voluntary organisation - East Timor 
Women Australia (ETWA) - in a joint project to train East Timorese women to 
make handcrafts and find markets for their products overseas. The practical 
nature of this project derives its impetus from the recognition that women are 
not homogenous but are affected by many factors, notably class, education, age 
and so on. Catherine Scott, of the Catholic Institute of Institute Relations, 
points out that 'in East Timor, the majority of women are illiterate, 
uneducated subsistence farmers. The majority live in rural areas, in an 
overwhelmingly patriarchal society shaped by centuries of indigenous cultures 
and religious beliefs, and influenced also by the overlaying gendered impact of 
Portuguese colonialism and (mostly) Catholic Christianity. They have been 
marginalised from politics, and collective community agency has been hampered 
not only by cultural norms, but also by colonial and neo-colonial obstacles, 
felt most acutely over the last 25 years during the suffocating and brutal 
Indonesian occupation'[5]. Given these facts, KOVEFOKTIL and ETWA focus on 
direct economic empowerment of women, while of course, supporting the 
elimination of domestic violence and the importance of having more women 
parliamentarians. 

 

The example set by women's courage during the occupation and the collaborative 
approach of KOVEFOKTIL is encouraging for younger generations of women vying 
for status in a free East Timor. Three generations from more than seven 
districts in East Timor work to ensure KOVEFOKTIL is sustainable in the long 
term, nullifying the myths of generational and geographic disputes. This 
remarkable cooperation has resulted time and again in the equitable 
distribution of profits from ETWA's fundraisers to KOVEFOKTIL members. Thus, 
begins a process of mutual solidarity, confidence and cross-cultural 
understanding between ETWA and KOVEFOKTIL.

 

KOVEFOKTIL also aims to maintain East Timorese cultural practices through the 
production of Tais (traditional cloth). When designing a program to support 
rural women in Iliomar, Balbina highlighted the parallel benefits of economic 
and cultural development. By encouraging women to produce Tais using 
traditional spinning, dying and weaving techniques, East Timorese cultural 
practices are maintained, and the sale of the Tais will improve the life 
chances of women and their families. ETWA were fortunate to have 
representatives at the inauguration meetings in April 2004, and assist 
KOVEFOKTIL with finances to purchase the first batch of traditional Tais later 
that year.

 

This year, the women of Iliomar will commemorate Olympia da Costa's death on 
International Women's Day. The remembrance will transport many of them back to 
the horrific pain of the occupation. For others, like Balbina, Olympia's 
determination will further spur their commitment to a new struggle in the 
contested space of economic and social emancipation of women. All strength to 
them.

 

Debbie Salvagno is a volunteer with ETWA http://www.timorwomen.org



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


[1]E. Chamberlain, The struggle in Iliomar: Resistance in rural East Timor, 
2003, ISBN 0 9750350 0 2.

 

[2] M. de Fatima Pinto, Mobilising women for the sustainable rebuilding of East 
Timor Sustaining our Communities conference, Adelaide, 3-6 March 2002. 

 

[3] E. Franks, Women and Resistance in East Timor, Women's Studies 
International Forum, Vol 19, Nos 1/2 pp 155-168, 1996.

 

[4] Franks, p 162.

 

[5] C. Scott, Are women included or excluded in Post-Conflict Reconstruction?: 
A Case study from East Timor, CIIR, 30 June 2003.

 

Check out http://www.timorwomen.org/
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