nettimes_digestive_system on Wed, 8 Sep 1999 03:44:32 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> East Timor (several messages, with email addrs, phone/fax etc) |
Digest Commentary & Note: there appears to be two conflicting calls for action here. One is the usual call for immediate armed UN intervention, the other (also expressed in some other comments attached to duplicates of these message which we have recieved), seems to say there are 'enough' guns in E.Timor and that more won't help, and that calls on economic boycotts and suspension of International loans. I shall make two points here in regard to those. First and foremost that the violent atrocities now occuring in East Timor are at the behest of the Indonesian military! Calls for them to stop this seem futile, to me, personally anyway, as all along the military and Government of Indonesia has promised this won't occur; its plainly obvious they are devious liars and can't be trusted. The imposition of martial law earlier this week has merely meant that the Indonesian military have stepped up their brutality, not reigned in the militias, which is a matter of will not available legal methods. Clearly, the Indonesians are creating this situation, calls for them to stop it are obviously futile. Second, that economic aid is _already_ in temporary suspension for other reasons eg corruption and failure to make economic reforms (according to World Bank Official on 'AM' ABC radio programme this morning 8/9/99), and that at any rate, this would take _months_ for its effects to be felt -- far too late for the people of East Timor, when really its a matter of _hours_ before irreparable damage occurs. Futhermore, both Archbishop Belo, who had to be evacuated to Darwin after his house, containing some 4000 refugees in its grounds was attacked by Indonesian military in concert with the militia, and Jose Ramos Horta, among other E.Timor leaders, have already requested the intervention. An Australian troopship yesterday left Darwin for "International waters north of Australia", presumably carrying the Rapid Ready Deployment Force, and escorted by a guided missile frigate. The Australian military remains on 24 hour alert, with RAAF units already carrying out evacuations from E.Timor. Indonesian military units have refused passage for native E.timorese workers of the UN on these flights -- these people have been among the first targeted by militias. NZ, Thailand, and Malyasia have all announced readiness to participate in an armed peacekeeping intervention, with Britian also pitching in. Meanwhile the Americans appear to be "kosovo'd out", and only promising logistical support, not real troop deployments. One wonders the value of the 'ANZUS' treaty if the Americans manage to squib out of a _humanitarian_ effort, what hope of help for their allies in a real conflict? regs, scot mcphee scot@autonomous.org (ps yes I am a new member of the nettime moderation team. sooner or later there will be an official announcement, I'm sure ... ) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: International Petition for a creation of a UN force for E.Timor Date: Tue, 07 Sep 1999 19:47:55 +0000 From: virose <virose@mail.telepac.pt> http://www.terravista.pt/MeiaPraia/1683/epet99.htm The East Timorese are being killed since the December 7, 1975 (the date of the Indonesian invasion). Last week, in the referendum under the auspices of the United Nations, the East Timorese voted on their future, and decided for INDEPENDENCE!!! They voted believing in their FREEDOM, they voted believing in their need for LIVING ... They voted because they believed in the security that United Nations would give them against the indonesian terror... But at this very moment they're beeing threatened by the pro-Indonesia militias and the Indonesian police and army (that were supposed to protect the Timorese). International Petition for a creation of a UN force for East Timor at: http://www.terravista.pt/MeiaPraia/1683/epet99.htm Please Fw the Message... -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Friends of the Earth Sydney - Forestry <forest@foesyd.org.au> Subject: global action to stop killings today in East Timor Apologies for cross posting. Based on: Australian Broadcast Corporation (independent taxpayer funded) news today Monday 6th September re barbarous murders (heads on spikes next to the road), massacres; collusion of Indonesian military as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald (6th Sept) in the last 24 hours or so in Timor; Friends of the Earth Sydney urge you to email your network of social and professional networks locally and internationally and urge them to: - support a boycott of Indonesian commerce and trade - contact your local MP's calling for action for armed peacekeepers in East Timor with or without the agreement of the Indonesian government - now repudiated by the recent UN sponsored vote for independence after 24 years of oppression - endorse other peaceful actions such as revocation of the $50 billion IMF rescue package to Indonesia A similar call has been made today by the secretary of the NSW Labour Council Mr Michael Costa. May God walk with all those in Timor still at severe risk of murder. -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jennifer Olaranna Viereck <heal@kay-net.com> Subject: Urgent Message from East Timor John's Message from East Timor (Please redistribute widely) There are the makings of a bloodbath here. Many have fled. Many have died. I can see smoke of fires of homes set ablaze in the distance. I have heard gunfire in the distance. The Indonesian military and its creation the militias have refused to accept the democratically expressed wish of the East Timorese to move towards independence. I have seen East Timorese defy militia and military violence to go vote on August 30 and I have seen their fearful faces. Several days ago, the women hosting us in Becora (just outside Dili) received an early morning phone call and woke us at 4:30 am to tell us we had to move out of where were staying for our own safety. I have since heard reports of many houses burned and people killed in that neighborhood. Another Dili neighborhood I spent time in, Balide, next to the U.N.'s East Timor headquarters is ablaze. Timor Aid, the organization which provided assistance to the parliamentary delegation I worked with to monitor the ballot has been looted of its rice and ransacked. There have also been many reports of people being forced onto vehicles and taken to West Timor, perhaps to bolster an argument for East Timor's partition or worse. There have been many calls for U.N. or other peacekeepers. These may arrive too late. More guns aren't necessarily what East Timor needs. What is very clear is that the military could shut down the violence relatively quickly. The military is in control. It is they that can stop the killing. The U.S. and other governments still have tremendous leverage with Indonesia. They must use it all. Statements of serious "consequences." I saw President Clinton's mealy-mouthed statement and it doesn't go nearly far enough. The global community - governments, others, you - must be clear about what these consequences are to let the Indonesian military know that continued violence in East Timor is unacceptable. Please contact President Clinton and members of Congress now. Urge them to immediately a) suspend all military shipments to Indonesia, including spare parts and ammunition b) suspend all non-humanitarian bi-lateral aid and loans to Indonesia c) work to suspend all multi-lateral loans and aid, including form the IMF and World Bank. Call the White House comment line at 202-456-1414. Urge President Clinton to immediately suspend all further military and financial aid to Indonesia until the military and paramilitary violence is stopped. The U.S. must show strong support for East Timor's democratic decision to break away from Indonesia. Sept. 5, 1999 Dili, East Timor -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Gordon Burns" <burns_g@chem.usyd.edu.au> To: <sydney@active.org.au> Subject: [active-sydney] Email Downer about East Timor Crisis Date: Mon, 6 Sep 1999 14:26:44 +1000 *EAST TIMOR CRISIS* East Timorese are dying as the international community stands by. Email Downer and express your wish to see Australia take leadership on this issue and ensure immediate deployment of peacekeeping / peace-enforcement troops. [email] minister.downer@dfat.gov.au [foe sydney says also fax 02-6273 4112, and telephone 02-6277 7500 in Canberra] Please write sensibly and rationally if you want our government to pay attention. Crashing their email server will just stop them listening. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 07 Sep 1999 15:33:00 -0400 From: FAIR <FAIR-L@usa.net> Subject: [FAIR-L] ALERT: U.S. Role Missing From East Timor Coverage FAIR-L Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting Media analysis, critiques and news reports ACTION ALERT: U.S. ROLE MISSING FROM EAST TIMOR COVERAGE September 1, 1999 The ongoing story of East Timor's referendum on independence has received a moderate amount of coverage in the mainstream media. But news outlets have frequently failed to put the Timor story in a full and accurate context. For example, in reports from East Timor's capital, the Associated Press and some other news outlets continue to use the dateline "Dili, Indonesia," implying that Indonesia has a legitimate claim over East Timor. This formulation is comparable to a dateline of "Kuwait City, Iraq" in the months following Iraq's illegal annexation of Kuwait. The Washington Post (8/31/99) reported that Timorese were voting on "whether to remain a part of Indonesia." More importantly, many stories fail to note two crucial facts about East Timor's nearly 25-year struggle against Indonesian occupation. First, the Indonesian occupation has been extraordinarily bloody, resulting in the deaths of more than 200,000 Timorese, out of a pre-invasion population of approximately 600,000. A recent AP story noted that an "estimated 2,000 Indonesian troops have died fighting separatist guerrillas since Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975," but failed to note the massive numbers of Timorese who have perished. Others seemed to confuse the deaths caused by the occupation with those caused by the resistance movement. ABC News' Charles Gibson said that "It's been an extraordinary violent independence movement there with hundreds of thousands of people killed" (Good Morning America, 8/31/99). Secondly, news consumers are not informed that the U.S. backed Indonesia's invasion of East Timor. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger visited the Indonesian capital of Jakarta in December 1975, just before the invasion was launched, where they were told of Suharto's plans to attack the island (Washington Post, 11/9/79). The following month, a State Department official told a major Australian newspaper (The Australian, 1/22/76) that "in terms of the bilateral relations between the U.S. and Indonesia, we are more or less condoning the incursion into East Timor... The United States wants to keep its relations with Indonesia close and friendly. We regard Indonesia as a friendly, non-aligned nation--a nation we do a lot of business with." Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who was then the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations wrote in his memoirs (A Dangerous Place) that "the Department of State desired that the United Nations prove utterly ineffective in whatever measures it undertook" to reverse the invasion. "This task was given to me and I carried it forward with no inconsiderable success," Moynihan reported. Finally, according to the State Department, 90 percent of the weapons used in the invasion came from the United States. Two years later, as the atrocities in East Timor were reaching a peak, President Jimmy Carter authorized an addition $112 million in weapons sales to Indonesia. ACTION: Please call on local and national news outlets to stop treating East Timor as a legitimate part of Indonesia. And ask them to include the facts about the consequences of the Indonesian invasion, as well as the role the U.S. has played in supporting the illegal occupation. To contact the Associated Press, write to: Associated Press Thomas Kent-- International Editor (212) 621-1655 mailto:info@ap.org Also, read FAIR's previous coverage of East Timor and Indonesia at: http://www.fair.org/international/east-timor.html -------------------------------------------------------------------- The following statement was distributed in the Federal Parliamentary Press gallery today, September 7, 1999 UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA September 7, 1999 Once again the United Nations organisation will be made the scapegoat for abandoning the people of East Timor when, in fact, the blame should be sheeted home to the UN's member-states. Once again, governments which should have taken action against a UN member, Indonesia, will blame inaction on the organisation they control. The men and women who were sent to East Timor in the name of the United Nations, many of them Australians - UN employees, electoral officials, unarmed police and military liaison officers - have fulfilled their roles in every particular. They, and the people of East Timor, have been let down by the timidity of political leaders of UN member-states. The latest moves include a UN political delegation to Jakarta; the implausible prospect of Indonesia martial law being imposed on a prospective independent state that has just voted to be rid of Indonesian military rule; and a well-armed, uncontrolled militia supported by Indonesian troops on the ground. UN member-states — that is, governments of every member country, including Australia — have it within their power to stop the killing. Just as Indonesia, whose prime responsibility it is, has failed, so has every other UN member failed so far in their duty to the East Timorese. It is to the credit and dedication of UN employees, all those attached to UNAMET, and to the many members of non-government organisations that the East Timorese have a glimmer of hope. It is up to UN member-states, especially Australia, not to betray that hope. For more information: Harold Wilkinson (02) 6212 9090 or (02) 6251 5084 or Ian Mathews, Editor UNity, (02) 62814025 Fax (02) 6285 2529 E-mail: imathews@ozemail.com.au # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net