WEST PAPUA: SUPPORTING THE FREEDOM FLOTILLA INDONESIAN CONSULATE, 72 QUEENS RD, SOUTH MELBOURNE TUESDAY 27 AUGUST 12-2PM SPEAKERS: Shirley Shackleton (Lusitania Express to East Timor in 1992); Natalie Pa’apa’a (Freedom Flotilla to West Papua in 2013); Piter Elaby (West Papua) A gathering outside the Indonesian Consulate in Melbourne on Tuesday 27 August 2013 is voicing fears for the safety of a truth-seeking Freedom Flotilla from Lake Eyre (in South Australia) to Merauke (in West Papua) as it approaches the border between Australia and New Guinea. Kevin Buzzacott, whose Arabunna Nation owns Kati Thanda (Lake Eyre), said the cultural visit by one indigenous peoples to another has angered Indonesian and Australian governments. In Canberra, even the Liberal Party (opposition) claims that “Indonesia has a right to deploy its military against the freedom flotilla”. Understandably, the West Papuan community is hoping for a more noble-minded citizenry on Tuesday. Organizer Adolf Mora (who came to Australia on a canoe from West Papua in 2006) says the protest is for … ANYONE DELIGHTED with Aboriginal and Papuan leaders re-establishing relations between peoples separated by rising seas 6,000 years ago and more recently by colonial politics ANYONE BEWILDERED by the Indonesian government’s decision to set its Airforce and its Navy against twenty peace-builders on two small yachts ANYONE ANGERED by Australian military gifts to Indonesia (most recently nine Hercules), who threatened East Timor’s Lusitania Express activists twenty-one years ago with the same tactics ANYONE STRESSED by the Australian Labor Party’s support of Indonesia’s Special Autonomy in West Papua, which violates indigenous human, civil, and political rights ANYONE DISMISSIVE of Foreign Affairs Minister Carr’s propaganda that supporting West Papuans’ right to self-determination (peace, security, and justice) is a ‘cruel hoax’ ANYONE APPALLED by the Liberal Party’s Foreign Minister’s endorsement of militarism (‘Indonesia has a right to deploy its military or whatever means it wishes against the flotilla’) ANYONE WHO AGREES that illuminating Indonesia’s denial of West Papuans’ rights to life is ‘a call to truth and not an international crime’ INQUIRIES: ADOLF MORA, WEST PAPUA COMMUNITY, MELBOURNE, 0434 036 581 More information: freedomflotillawestpapua.org; Freedom Flotilla warned against entering West Papua SBS World News 17 August 2013; Indonesia threatens military action against protest flotilla Sydney Morning Herald 19 August 2013; Aust and Indonesia hail bilateral ties The Australian 3 April 2013; UN Human Rights Council 2012 Review (Indonesia) SHIRLEY SHACKLETON dedicated her life to liberating the East Timorese after her husband was shot in BALIBO in 1975 by the Indonesian military. Her account of East Timor’s struggle The Circle of Stone won the 2010 Walkley Book Award, and in 2013 she was awarded the Order of Timor-Leste by the President of East Timor. In 1992 she was on the Lusitania Expresso to East Timor, which had similar objectives to the Freedom Flotilla, and was blocked by three Indonesian warships, an Australian-supplied warship, a military plane, three helicopters, and threats to ‘shoot them out of the water’. NATALIE PA’APA’A is the singer-songwriter of the urban roots band Blue King Brown who took to campaigning for West Papua after meeting activist-musician Ronny Kareni. She creatively highlights the abuse of West Papuans under Indonesia, notably in 2012 at Womadelaide and the Byron Bay Blues Festival. On 17 August 2013 she helped launch the Freedom Flotilla’s water journey from Cairns to West Papua.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 18:42:53 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015