« 25 Nov. Islamophobia | Main | 1 Dec 2004. Trees »

30 November

Over the last week, an exercise in mass murder has been taking place in West Papua. The Indonesian military has begun a huge, organised attack on innocent highland villagers in 'revenge' for what they say was an attack on some of their colleagues by a group of Papuan separatists.

If you don't know anything about West Papua - and few people do - please please visit this site, and learn something. It's one of the world's hidden genocides, and right now, as you read this, 15,000 tribal people - yes, 15,000 - are huddled on the side of an icy mountain with no food or shelter, surrounded by soldiers, waiting to die. The army attacked their villages last week by machine-gunning them from helicopter gunships. We don't know yet how many are dead but the soldiers won't let them go home, and they won't let anyone take them food.

There's nothing about this in any of our media. Nothing. Total silence. This is exactly what allows the mass murderers in the Indonesian military to get away with this time and again. It would be unbelievable if it wasn't so typical.

Tomorrow, 1st December, is 'independence day' in West Papua. It marks the day in 1961 when the Papuans briefly achieved nationhood, before being invaded by Indonesia. Any Papuans celebrating it will be arrested. Here, at least, we can mark it, and some people will be doing so tomorrow with a candlelit vigil outside the Indonesian embassy, in protest at what is happening in West Papua right now.

If you're in London and can spare an hour, please go along. Enough people could make a real difference. People are meeting at Marble Arch Underground station at 4pm. Bring a candle in a jar and some warm clothes. At the very least we can bear witness.

Posted by paul at November 30, 2004 10:40 AM

Comments

Post a comment