Please send me a copy of the complete document.
Thanks, greatly appreciative, Chris Doss
>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>Subject: Nairn on Indo
>Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 12:35:55 -0500
>
>[Seth posted the whole of this, but it bounced because it's too long (47k,
>vs. 35k limit). Anyone who wants the rest, Seth's address is in the
>header.]
>
>From: Seth Ackerman <SAckerman at FAIR.org>
>To: "'lbo-talk at lists.panix.com'" <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
>Subject: RE: Chomsky speaks
>Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 12:21:15 -0500
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>Michael Pollak wrote:
>
>> Actually no. American pressure at the beginning of those two weeks --
>> cutting off loans and military cooperation -- was pretty much the same
>>at
>> the end. The atrocities stopped with the arrival of Australian troops.
>> (Or rather they stopped in East Timor. They continued a bit longer in
>>the
>> camps in West Timor, which were and are themselves a bit of an
>>atrocity.)
>>
>> I think Chomsky's account, both here and in his writing during the
>>events,
>> have been a bit stuck in the past. A phone call would have made the
>> difference in 1976 when the Indonesian goverment and military were
>>tightly
>> hierarchical and under the control of one man who was our boy. But this
>> time the chain of command was much looser at all levels. In 1976 we
>>would
>> have encouraged an army coup at this point, or earlier, due to the real
>> threat of Indonesia breaking up, which is still there. But we haven't
>> done that this time. It's not clear how much we care. Where during the
>> cold war there would have no question that security concerns over those
>> damned precious sea lanes would have outweighed any human rights
>>concerns.
>>
>East Timor and the United States:
>An Interview with Allan Nairn
>[from New Politics, vol. 7, no. 4 (new series), whole no. 28, Winter 2000]
> Introduction
> Ever since the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975, the U.S.
>government has sought to back Jakarta while keeping news of the atrocities
>there out of the public eye. But the sustained efforts of grassroots
>activists and a few persistent writers and journalists have insured that
>East Timor could not be ignored.
> In 1991, U.S. journalists Allan Nairn and Amy Goodman were in Dili,
>the capital of East Timor, covering a peaceful memorial procession, when
>Indonesian troops -- armed with U.S. weapons -- opened fire, killing some
>270 people. Though Nairn was severely beaten, he and Goodman were able to
>get out alive and they spread the word of the massacre around the world. (A
>photojournalist hiding behind a tombstone was also able to smuggle out
>videotape of the slaughter.) Since then, Nairn and Goodman have been
>tireless campaigners on behalf of Timorese freedom. Though banned from ever
>returning to Indonesia or occupied East Timor, they have defied the bans to
>bring us continuing information on the heroic struggle of the Timorese
>people.
> Following the Dili massacre, international East Timor activism
>picked up. In the United States, the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) was
>formed and it carried out a remarkable program of public education and
>lobbying. These and similar efforts in other countries were so successful
>in
>focusing attention on the situation in East Timor that in 1996 the Nobel
>Peace Prize was awarded to Bishop Carlos Belo and JosÈ Ramos Horta, two
>leaders of the Timorese struggle.
> Growing pressure led in May 1999 to an agreement by Indonesia to
>permit a referendum on the future of East Timor. The referendum was
>scheduled for August 30, 1999, and run by the United Nations, but, at
>Jakarta's insistence, Indonesian forces were alone to be responsible for
>security. Despite months of terror by army-organized militias, more than
>98%
>of Timorese cast ballots and four out of five voted for independence. At
>this point, the militias -- still under Jakarta's control -- exploded into
>a
>paroxysm of violence. UN personnel and international observers were forced
>to flee. The last foreign journalist in Dili was ... Allan Nairn, until his
>arrest by Indonesian authorities on September 14. Nairn was threatened with
>ten years in prison and then expelled (again) from Indonesia six days
>later.
>
> New Politics editorial board members Joanne Landy and Steve Shalom
>spoke with Nairn in New York on October 18, 1999, two days before the
>Indonesian parliament was set to vote on East Timor's independence and on a
>new president for Indonesia. We talked first about the relationship between
>Washington and Jakarta and the motives of each. Then we turned to a
>consideration of differences within the U.S. government between Congress
>and
>the Executive branch and the way in which groups like ETAN have been able
>to
>bring public pressure to bear on Congress. Next, we discussed the role of
>the White House, the Pentagon, and the State Department. Finally, we
>focused
>on events in East Timor, taking up the issue of international peacekeepers
>and the position of the East Timorese resistance.
>[...]
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