[Marxism] Australian and NZ intervention in East Timor

[Philip Ferguson <philip.ferguson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My Australian DSP friends made a very serious error in campaigning for
Australian troops to go to East Timor back in 1999.  They are now paying
the price for this error, as they are unable to oppose the current
Australian-NZ intervention without throwing into doubt the wisdom of
their 1999 position.  

This is especially the case since campaigning *for* imperialist
intervention is a rather serious transgression and to defend it for
years afterwards is even more serious.  The DSP leaders have got
themselves in a bind and seem unable to put their hands up and admit
they have been wrong on this issue for the past eight years.  So now
they are stuck with a position that can only seriously compromise them
on the Australian and international far left.

It is clear that Canberra has essentially been trying to convert East
Timor into an Australian neo-colony and have actually made significant
progress in doing this, with the NZ ruling class helping the process
along.

It seems to me that a rather important task for revolutionaries in OZ
and NZ is exposing the neo-colonialisation of East Timor that is taking
place under the cloak of "guaranteeing its independence" from Indonesia
and "guaranteeing its stability" as against internal dissent.

Another Australian friend of mine, Tom O'Lincoln, has shown very clearly
how the Australian intervention in 1999 came *after* the threat of
massacres by the Indonesian forces was over and was part of broader
Australian imperialist policy (check out Tom's excellent articles on
East Timor at Red Sites).

For a perspective from New Zealand, check out the June issue of 'The
Spark' paper, which should be up in the next day or two at:
www.workersparty.org.nz/


Philip Ferguson 



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