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A special message for you
from Noam Chomsky
John
M. Miller
East Timor and Indonesia Action Network
December 2013
Dear friend,
In
2014, Indonesia will hold crucial elections for parliament and president. These
elections will offer Indonesians an opportunity to break with its bloody past.
They will also afford ETAN an opportunity to help in that process by
highlighting the ongoing impunity that affects so many inside Indonesia and
Timor-Leste. With your help, we can take full advantage of this moment.
I
am writing to urge you to support ETAN as generously as possible. Your support
is essential in making this possibility a reality!
Human rights are still in crisis in the archipelago. Despite some modest gains
in reforming the military and police over the past decade, human rights
violations continue daily in West Papua and elsewhere. Past crimes committed in
Timor-Leste, Indonesia and elsewhere in the archipelago continue to go
unpunished, with those responsible enjoying important positions. Several are
prominent candidates for Indonesia's highest office, including Prabowo, who has
formed his own political party and is a leading contender for president. General
Wiranto,
indicted in Timor for his role as head of
the military in 1999, is also planning a presidential run. We doubt they'll
be very happy if you
donate to ETAN.
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Protester with signs outside ETAN's protest of the
Appeal to Conscience award's ceremony in New York City. Photo by John M.
Miller/ETAN. |
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This past year, many of you joined our work for justice, including an
ongoing petition urging unconditional release of
West Papuan political prisoners.
One such prisoner, Filep Karma, recently expressed his appreciation for
ETAN's efforts, declaring "One day I believe I will be free. Visiting
ETAN comrades will be my priority."
Together we opposed the award
from the New York-based Appeal of Conscience Foundation to Indonesia's
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). SBY did accept the “World
Statesman Award” at a big-ticket fundraising dinner, but ETAN’s
“welcoming committee” was right outside, protesting the award and
speaking out about SBY’s real record on human rights and religious
freedom. Our actions helped to draw attention to Indonesia’s continued
human rights violations, including persecution of religious minorities.
Letters and other denunciations of the award from academics, activists,
and religious leaders generated news in Indonesia for weeks prior to the
awards ceremony. A meeting among U.S.-based Indonesian diplomats blamed
ETAN, among others, for the uproar surrounding the award. Calls for SBY
to make good on the promises he made in his acceptance speech continue
to this day.
The global attention to the innovative, award-winning documentary The
Act of Killing exposed the appalling reality of the mass killings in
Indonesia in 1965-66, when up to a million were massacred and hundreds
of thousands more injured, disappeared, raped and imprisoned without
trial. ETAN (with Tapol) responded to the victims who urged action for
pressure on Indonesia to
Say Sorry for '65.
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One day I believe I will be free. Visiting ETAN comrades will be
my priority.
— Filep Karma, West Papuan political prisoner
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These campaigns and much of ETAN's other work are a direct response to
appeals from those affected by the policies we challenge. ETAN works
directly with advocacy, human rights and other organizations in
Timor-Leste, West Papua, Indonesia and elsewhere, because together we
are stronger.
Our work is only possible with your support.
Please join others in
giving generously so that ETAN
can continue to support human rights, justice and accountability,
democracy, and an equitable and sustainable future for Timor-Leste and
Indonesia.
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Protest at Australian embassy
in Dili, Timor-Leste, December
6, 2013. |
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In 2012, ETAN was honored with the Orden de Timor, Timor-Leste's highest
award, as a nation's thanks for our work in support of its liberation.
We are proud of the part we played in the Timorese struggle for
independence and since. The award not only reminds us of what we have
accomplished, but how much remains to be done to support the people of
Timor-Leste, including their effort to benefit fully from its resources
in the Timor Sea in the face of Australia's bullying and spying. Timor's
struggle for independence remains incomplete until definitive boundaries
are accepted by their neighbors.
Noam Chomsky has called ETAN "a voice of reason, criticizing the
administration's reluctance to address ongoing human rights violations
and escalating oppression in West Papua and against religious minorities
throughout Indonesia."
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ETAN is "A voice of reason, criticizing the administration's
reluctance to address ongoing human rights violations and escalating
oppression in West Papua and against religious minorities throughout
Indonesia."
— Noam Chomsky
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The people of Timor-Leste, West Papua and Indonesia expect a great deal from
ETAN. We regularly receive requests for information and pleas for
action. Your help is crucial to our ability to respond to all these
needs.
Your financial contribution to ETAN will make a difference. With your
help, ETAN can continue to:
provide our highly praised information sharing, including our
long-running
east-timor@riseup.net email list,
which keeps a growing list of more than 3500 direct subscribers
—
including journalists, policy makers, activists and students —
informed with news and analysis of events affecting Timor-Leste.
Many of you rely on this service. We are now expanding this and
our similar services on
Indonesia and West Papua to Twitter and elsewhere online.
keep you and others informed about violations of human rights,
the role of corporate interests and other developments in West
Papua through the highly regard
monthly report that we
publish with the West Papua Advocacy Team,
respond to calls for action in response to reports of human
rights violations throughout Indonesia and Timor-Leste,
keep you aware of the influence of U.S. policy on events in
Timor-Leste and Indonesia -- and make sure U.S. and Indonesian
policymakers are aware that we are watching them.
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ETAN's John M. Miller (l) and Charles Scheiner (r)
receive Order of Timor from President Taur Matan Ruak (center). |
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The author of
a recent book on Timor-Leste
called our information service "the best means for readers to keep up to
date with developments in Timor-Leste," adding "This is a tremendous
resource, run on [a] shoestring...."
We would like to be able to drop the "shoestring" from that description.
While we have never been well-funded, we have always made the most of
what we have. But we could do so much more with increased support from
you. With your help, we can raise the funds we need to carry out and
even expand our important work.
If you have donated before please give again. If you have not donated in
the past, we hope you will contribute generously now to help strengthen
ETAN to meet the challenges of the coming years. Thank you!
A luta continua,
/s/
John M. Miller National Coordinator, ETAN
P.S. Please
consider becoming an ETAN Sustainer by making a monthly donation by
credit card. Help put ETAN on a firmer financial footing:
information
here.
- How to Donate to ETAN
You can donate safely by credit card through ETAN's website:
http://etan.org/etan/2014appeal.htm#online
. Or you can
mail us your donation. To support ETAN's political advocacy work,
write a check made out to ETAN. For ETAN's educational efforts, U.S.
tax-deductible donations of over $50 can be made out to A.J. Muste
Memorial Institute/ETAN. Please mail your donations to: East Timor
and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN), PO Box 21873, Brooklyn,
NY 11202-1873.
Having
campaigned for Timor-Leste's independence for many decades, and
as President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste for the
last five years, I know that ETAN has consistently supported our
people during bad and good times." Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Former President, Timor-Leste
How
to Donate to ETAN
To support ETAN’s advocacy work, please make your check out to
"East Timor Action
Network”
Mail
to
ETAN, PO Box 21873, Brooklyn, NY
11202-1873
Donate by credit card (not tax-deductible) via PayPal
Donations of any size for ETAN's political and advocacy work should
be made out to ETAN and are not tax-deductible.
U.S. tax-deductible checks
for more than $50 can also be made out to "AJ Muste Memorial Institute/ETAN"
and will
only be used to support our educational work.
Please mail
your donation to: ETAN PO Box 21873,
Brooklyn, NY
11202-1873 USA Thank
you for your support! |
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