> I do not think this action can be analysed as directly in the service of
imperialism even though imperialism will want a docile colony, and will
patronise the East Timorese as much as NATO does the Albanians in Kosovo.<
well, if you keep trying to use the model of global US imperialism it isn't directly instrumental. there is, however, another way of looking at what has been happening: as the complex relation between, amongst other things: the asian financial crisis; the restitution of stable capitalist horizons in south asia which have as their target as much the redundant capitals as the insurgent workers; the limits (economic and political) on US hegemony in a situation where no other global armed hegemons have emerged... if national liberation movements were an irritant in the organisation of global capitalist hegemony once upon a time, today they are little more than that which is 'allowed' and induced (largely as panics and as border control campaigns) because they afford a stabilisation of capitalist exploitation within certain regions. this is why the character of the CNRT is important, as well as why roger is right to note that the destruction of those irreconcilable elements (not the catholics, perhaps, but certainly the old Fretilin, is a precondition of a so-called independent east timor. but, i happen to think this accords more closely with the period of transition to capitalism, the pre-WW1/WW2 period, and isn't for all that exceptional.
Michael wrote:
> I understood from reports during the crisis that many people were taken
to sea and were not seen again.<
there are a million people or so in the entire population. there are a quarter of a million estimated to be in the camps in west timor. there are around half a million unaccounted for. (see article below.)
INTERFET has just announced that it intends to disarm Falantil. Falantil have refused to disarm, claiming -- quite rightly -- that INTERFET are reluctant to go beyond Dili. INTERFET are talking tough. as i said before, it's a charade to placate the home audience and if there is a real target, it will be falantil.
(btw, i just saw an interview with the malaysian deputy, who said that australia was quite right to insist on its uniqueness re western civilisation -- after all, this is simply the pluralism and cultural relativism which would underwrite that correspondingly terrible doctrine of 'asian values'... it's a win-win: australia's PM can play to the home audience's nostalgia for white australia, and malaysia's PM can play to his home audience's nostalgia for anti-colonial bonding... it's all just so cosy. of course, let's not forget that these national bonding rituals also have as their target, and perhaps i would go so far as to argue it is the primary target, a simultaneous exclusion as well as integration. who can, for instance, ignore that in both australia and malaysia, we are talking about exclusions on the basis of sexuality, 'race', and (of course) the recalcitrant workers who will not bond with the so-called national bourgeoisie, who are after all, little more than bearers of a nationalist development of the conditions of global capitalism. and nationalist development, far from being an irritant or obstacle to that development is more than a necessary part of it, contra chris b.)
as for yoshie, i have no idea what she's talking about. the game of haggling over figures and legitimacy of refugees and deaths seems to be mostly her concern when it comes to arguing a position on either yugoslavia or east timor -- or rather, as roger noted, not arguing but trying to deliver a position as if by intuition. no one else has seemed to be quite as fascinated by the whole game. claiming this is a kind of media studies is disingenuous, since this would not entail posting stuff in order to buttress a position, would it? but we've been here before haven't we? in the previous version, it was hoped that racism would allow such a posting to take root and determine people's positions, despite claims to the contrary; in this version, it's assumed people are idiots. as i said, propagandism. and cynical too. and i'm still waiting for something approximating analysis.
Angela _________
Australian Broadcasting Commission Webnews *Ramos Horta blasts attempts to disarm guerrillas*
There is a growing dispute over disarmament between the Australian led multinational security force in East Timor and the Falantil independence fighters.
The issue came to a head when a platoon of Interfet troops engaged in a tense stand-off with a group of rebels who refused to disarm.
The guerrilla's were allowed to keep their weapons, but later Interfet commander Major General Peter Cosgrove warned them they were required to hand in their weapons.
Today, East Timorese leaders have condemned that demand with independence leaders Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos Horta saying any attempt to disarm Falantil would be an insult to the independence movement.
Mr Ramos Horta, speaking in Dublin, says the rebels will only hand over their weapons as part of a full peace settlement for the territory.
Falintil is prepared to disarm as part of a general comprehensive agreement including full deployment of Interfet in the territory, full disarmament of the militias and full withdrawal of Indonesian troops from the territory.
Meanwhile, aid agencies are preparing for a major effort to feed thousands of starving people in East Timor's capital Dili.
The World Food Program and International Committee of the Red Cross have brought together aid agencies working in East Timor for a major effort to overcome Dili's food shortage.
Today they will begin distributing 9,000, 50 kilogram bags of rice - enough they hope to feed the 45,000 people in the capital for one month.
The program comes in the midst of concern over how few East Timorese have been able to return to their homes.
More than two weeks after international forces entered the territory the vast majority of East Timor's 850,000 people are still displaced.
More than 200,000 are thought to be in West Timor and up to half a million elsewhere who are yet to be accounted for.