The song is about defiance of colonial rule, not supporting it!

The SMH & The Age have front page stories today about a repressive para-military and intelligence unit called Detachment 88 or Densus 88 being funded with Australian taxes. I recall years ago reading a Harnsard report about $millions in Australian aid to the Indonesian military for things including cyanide! The Indonesian military is NOT mean to be mining gold in West Papua, and the giant Freeport Corporation is able to manufacture or buy it's own. I only know one other use for cynanide; and nobody would have noticed if entire valleys in Papua suddenly went silent.

What the heck has the Australian government been funding. And will the Gillard government STOP aiding and abating colonial rule of our neighbours in West Papua?

I think colonial rule is bad no matter who does the ruling. Look what we did to the aboriginal people up to the mid 20th century. The people in Papua deserve autonomy and self rule, nothing less. Indonesia has shown it can be a brutal ruler.

"Look what we did to the aboriginal people up to the mid 20th century."

What makes you think it's any better now?

Because now they have equal rights

just a thought

Jefferson said: What makes you think it's any better now?

It's true both East Timor and PNG are being dicked about by politicians doing deals with the mining companies for a quick buck, instead of restoring or building their own economy. But, at least it's their own bastards doing it - the people in Timor Leste and PNG can if they wish lift themselves out of the mining quagmire.

It's not our job to make life perfect in West Papua, but as a free people it is our responsibility to speak up when somebody else is being denied that basic freedom to life & liberty. A lesson learnt in WW-II which was the basis of the United Nations de-colonization program; and in my view a lesson our Australian politicians have been too eager to ignore.

The following website may be of interest
for those that aren't aware of the history
of the place:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=2295

We definitely should speak out on behalf of human rights
and the destruction of the environment and indigenous
people. Realistically though, money seems to have more
clout than any morals or ethics. When governments get
dollars in the billions from mining and other resources
who's really going to be concerned with the lives of
the indigenous people in the area?

Because now they have equal rights
just a thought..
nicnoto,
I have actually accompanied Indonesians collecting food & clothing for Papuans. I have seen the Indonesian Air Force C35 carrying Highlanders to the coastal towns with their trading goods & take them back to the Highlands. All for free every Thursday. Believe me. australian NGO's are pontificating on the injustices. I'm not by all means saying that all is perfect but a lot of compassion is being dished out up there.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=2295
Foxy,
Don't let yourself get hoodwinked by articles like that. The pages don't even open when you click on the link. I'm not saying saying it is all wrong but please consider what William Blake said, "a truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent"

Dear Individual,

I admit that I don't know all that much about
what's going on in West Papua and you probably
know more about it however, this was one of
the first articles I came across when I did a search
on the web. The references to East Timor made sense
to me, as did the facts about how mining corporations
treat the locals. We know that multinationals have an
impressive record of interference in the affairs of the
host countries, with activities ranging from bribery
of local officials to attempts to overthrow foreign
governments.

The multinationals do offer many useful resources to
the less developed countries. They can encourage
economic growth by importing the necessary capital and
technology, and they create new industries and markets
all over the world. But their motives are purely
selfish - to exploit cheap labour and resources on an
international scale for the benefit of a handful of
stockholders in wealthy countries.

Anyway, I will take your advice
and do far more research - and see what other
websites have to say on the subject.

Dear Foxy,

If you're looking for a pertinent example of the damage multi-nationals can do to the environment and livleihoods of indigenous people, look no further than the Ok Tedi mine disaster in Papua.

Note at the bottom of the list of horrors that the mine's owners point to improved social and economic outcomes for the locals...laughable, really....let us destroy your local environment, but we'll build you a school and a hospital as recompense.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ok_Tedi_environmental_disaster

A colonialist will always claim the victims are too simple to do things for themselves and are being helped by the colonial power; the more outrageous a lie the less likely it will be challenged. And it's outrageous to deny the Indonesian Air Force is in Papua to support the military enforcement of involuntary 'unity'.

Here are some photos http://wpik.org/Src/1961-apx-photos.PDF and reports http://wpik.org/Src/un_report_1961.html http://wpik.org/Src/1960-report.PDF http://wpik.org/Src/1959-report.PDF about what the people of West Papua had fifty years ago before the Indonesian military stripped the infrastructure (even school desks) for cheap sale back in Jakarta. I don't know what happened to the people who were training as nurses and doctors after Indonesia began it's colonial administration.

Individal

I don't doubt you in the slightest, but I was referring to Aboriginals in Australia having equal rights.

Some people in Indonesia seem to support colonialism, and some claim the circumstance of the American Indian and Australian aboriginals justifies colonial rule by the Indonesian military in West Papua.

But, the Indonesian colonial claim to came AFTER global agreement to end colonization (UN charter in 1945), after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948); and the US deal for the Dutch to sell the people of Papua to Indonesia (in 1962) came AFTER the UN resolutions 1514 and 1541. Under 1514 every colony was entitled to IMMEDIATE self-determination, and 1541 gave definitions for what a colony and self-determination were.

Dear Poirot,

Thanks for your website.
It confirms what I'm finding.

Dear Daeron,

Thanks also for the site you've given.
Its much appreciated.

I don't know where the answers lie on how
to improve things, and what we can actually
do except place pressure on our government
when the opportunities arise. If anyone has
any better ideas, I'd like to hear them.

Sadly Foxy, Australia and PNG are the two governments which will not help West Papua because our politicians are scared out of their minds by the size of Indonesia's population.

There are politicians in Ireland, the US, and mostly Green politicians in several other countries who have spoken and tried to help West Papua during the pass ten years; but it's the United Nations which is meant to be dealing with the international issue of colonies. But Indonesia is on the UN Decolonization committee. The easiest solution is if the UN General Assembly supports a motion asking the International Court (ICJ) to give it's advisory opinion about the New York Agreement, and about whether West Papua is a colony.

Dear Daeron,

Thanks for clarifying things for me.

It appears that small fish don't have
that much power in the large political ocean.

I know, coming from a Lithuanian background.
The veil of silence that shrouded the tragedy
of the Baltic Nations in both the East and the West.
The policy of Western democracies, although
formally was one of non-recognition of the Soviet
occupation of the Baltic Nations, the reality as
the people found out the hard way was a different
story. Western democracies did not want to "offend"
the Soviet Union. They closed their eyes and ears to
the suffering of the Baltic people.

This attitude prevailed up to the 1990s. Lithuanian
President, Vytautas Landsbergis was told to
"negotiate" that "unruly Lithuanians should respect
and follow orderly Soviet constitutional procedures."
And this despite the fact that the world recognised
that Lithuania was illegally incorporated into the
Soviet Union. In other words, that Lithuania was not
seeking to establish independence. It was seeking to
restore an independent nation that was illegally
suppressed by a foreign power and its army.

As President V. Landsbergis pointed out, "This was not
a legal nicety but the basic and non-negotiable premise
of the March 11th 1990 declaration of independence."
But, President Landsbergis was still urged by the West,
"To find, a fair and objective way out!" And as he
continually confirmed, "the offered solutions were neither
fair nor objective!"

Nothing it seems has changed in the Western powers'
attitude towards the smaller nations.

Foxy, this mouse is on the attack ;-)

Please see what you think of this
http://www.petitiononline.com/voice4wp