The Situation of East Timor
Stephen Von Sychowski
Communist Party of Canada, Prince George Collective


East Timor spent about 400 years under the colonial rule of Portugal. In 1974 there was Revolution in Portugal, the colonies were freed from Portugeese control. This included several colonies in Africa and East Timor. Just over a week from the time East Timor claimed it's independence it was invaded yet again, freedom was short lived, and what was to come was even more horrible that the colonial rule of Portugal had been.

Indonesia, the fourth largest country in the world, has had good trade relations with the United States for some time now. The United States provides weapons to the military regime of Indonesia which has held power since a CIA backed coup in 1965. It consolidated it's power by executing between half a million and one million dissidents whose names were provided on a list by the CIA. Indonesia's ageement with United States says that the weapons provided to Indonesia will not be used for offensive purposes. However, in 1974 when Inondesia wished to invade the recently liberated East Timor, the United States assured it that they would not cut off weapons.

And so Indonesia invaded the tiny country of East Timor by air, land and sea. The first target was the capital, a campaign of genocide was immediately initiated. Timorese civilians were brought to the sea and shot one by one while their families and neighbours watched, the corpses were then pushed into the sea. Other's were lined up against walls, their genitals cut off and shoved into their mouths, they were then suffocated and shot. In an attempt to keep the genocide and torture a secret, the Indonesian government closed East Timor to the rest of the world for a decade, in which time over one third of the Timorese population was murdered.

Despite reports of these atrocities, the United States government, under Ford, Carter, Bush (Senior), Clinton, and Bush (Junior), has not condemned nor even mentioned these atrocities. The mainistream media in the western nations has equally ignored these terrible acts. And why might this be? -- Indonesia is an official ally of the United States, it was the United States who origionally installed the military regime that was responsible for the origional invasion on East Timor, it was the United States who provided weapons to the Indonesian military, the same weapons used to massacre the civilians in East Timor. Indonesia continues to be a good trade partner to the U.S. Much cheap labour comes from Indonesia, many of our clothes and running shoes are made in factories in Indonesia, where western corporations can pay the workers a few cents a day to work in poorly maintained, unsafe factories.

The governments of the western capitalist nations condemn only the atrocities commited by their enemies, never those commited by their allies. They even go so far is to blow out of proportion the acts of those who they do not favour but totally ignore the acts of those they do favour. So next time you hear your leaders on the radio, or on T.V., talking about fighting for freedom and democracy, think about the people of East Timor. Where does freedom and democracy go when there are profits to be had instead?
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