Peaceful greetings and deeply, restful salutations to ye all! After many, many months of deliberation, we finally found a source (recipient - eds) for the $300.00, given to us by ANN 1995 Annual Gathering. We understood that the money was to be used to support nonviolent struggle in the majority world. As we had been journeying in solidarity with East Timor and East Timorese, we felt in our hearts that we wanted to give the money to East Timorese, in East Timor, especially. However, we were unsure of who to give the money to, how to get it there and how it could be used most effectively. So we sat with it, waiting with God for an opportunity to be revealed.
We first met Carlos, through a friend, who is active in supporting the democracy movement within Indonesia. Through several conversations and meetings, (often with a creative blend of Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesian and English), Carlos deeply inspired and challenged us. Shortly before returning to East Timor, he highlighted some of the complexities of working in solidarity with people.
Carlos, we asked, "What do you mean by "struggle" and solidarity? I hear
these words but I would like to know what people mean. How does "struggle"
and acts like burning the Indonesian flag, here in Australia effect the lives of
East Timorese inside East Timor." Carlos
re
minded us that East Timorese live in a situation that has never been worse,
yet always will live as sisters, brothers and neighbours to Indonesia.
"How you act," he said, "who you listen to, and where you hope to go, is crucial and directly implicates the lives of those in East Timor." He spoke gently yet clearly of the need and challenge within Australia that he had seen in his short time here. "It is all very well and good supporting the people of East Timor but I want to ask you; what about the people here, Aboriginal Australians or those homeless what are we doing about them?"
When Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, Carlos supported integration. East Timor had a policy of 400 years of neglect by the Portuguese. Much of East Timor was underdeveloped and by and large, the people lead a frugal existence. Carlos felt that Indonesia would develop infrastructure, participation and generally improve the quality of life for people through health, education and trade.
During the occupation, little improved for the people in East Timor, in fact
the situation became much , much worse. Carlos's ideals were slowly changing
yet still held hopes for integration and development. As he became further
involved with the lives of the people, on the
streets and in the villages, he saw that Indone
sia's policy of "Integration", had
brought nothing except misery, repression and death.
Now Carlos sees two possibilities for the future of East Timor; for the East Timorese to accept integration with Indonesia with suffering... OR to self determination and independence in East Timor that will also incur suffering.
Carlos felt if the people of East Timor wanted independence to become a reality they would need to become firstly united in the direction they hoped for; and to find the courage and resolve to change the current situation.
We asked Carlos if there are any projects in East Timor that empower East Timorese to be directly involved in creating their own futures. He told us about a community development project involving a variety of East Timorese working together and meeting local needs. He was passionate about the need for community development in East Timor for East Timorese by East Timorese. It was indeed a very humbling and deeply touching experience for us to meet Carlos and we felt very honoured to support this project on behalf of the network.
In peace and solidarity
Jason McLeod and Manon Liefin
* For security reasons we cannot reveal specific details. Carlos is a pseudonym.