MAS IWAN – “HOMRATKU UNTUK TPNPB-OPM”

Hormat untuk kalian yang bertahan dihutan (TPNPB-OPM), digunung yang terus berjuang, aku menundukkan kepala dengan takjub. Kalian adalah orang-orang yang mempunyai kesadaran tertinggi dalam berjuang..level sebuah kesadaran yang tidak kami daptkan disini.

Perjuangan kalian dalam membebaskan diri dari bentuk kolonialisasi yang di kemas lewat jargon kosong nasionalisme-NKRI, tak lebih dari kedzoliman kapitalisme/ imperialisme yang tengah dijalankan oleh rezim bonekanya di indonesia. Perjuangan yang membutuhkan militansi yang sangat tinggi, kesadaran yang melampaui intelektual di negri kami. Mengapa?. Karena disini kami masi dalam takaran memperdebatkan sebuah platform, sebuah isu anti imperialis/kapitalis & borjuasi reformis gadungan boneka dari imperialis. Tapi kau!, sudah melampaui kesadaran kami, sebuah tindakan nyata, kongkrit hasil dari kesimpulan dari literatur lusinan buku-buku progresif. meninggalkan semua akan subyektifisme.. Cita-cita yang cukup mulia dari takdir sejarah yang memang harus kau lakukan untuk mendapatkan tanah air merdeka Papua.

Disini hanya segelintir manusia sadar..sisanya gerakan sampah & kami masih terus belajar memahami literatur-literatur yang ada di buku untuk sebuah pembebasan.

Sedangkan sisa manusianya disini tidak pernah terbongkar kesadarannya dalam berjuang, asik dengan kemiskinannya kerja cari duit…kerja cari duit, itulah cerminan dari manusia disini yg Ahli dalam Menderita, keburu tunduk pada penindasan selama faedahnya belum dirampas. Karna itu rasa takjubku pada kalian yang mengangkat senjata dalam berjuang, menjadi catatan terpenting dalam sejarah yang terus bergerak maju.

Mereka yang bilang kalian frustasi, sebetulnya adalah mereka yang disini yang frustasi karna tak melakukan apa-apa dalam sistem penindasan selama ini, selain hanya berkonsultasi pada rumah akademiknya yang tak memberikan solusi apapun juga.

Hormatku sekali lagi buat kalian cukup dalam. Hidup Sosialisme, Hidup Perjuangan bagi rakyat tertindas. Salam Pembebasan!

Hidup Perjuangan Rimba Hutan, yakni Perang TPNPB-OPM yang selalu eksis melawan kekuasaan yang menindas. 😇🌻✊✊✊

Hormat

Camerad Iwan Penthol

May 25, 2021 0

PS Koanapo says issue of West Papua now gone beyond the region

By Jonas Cullwick Sep 16, 2017

The issue of West Papua self-determination and violations of human rights has now progressed beyond the South Pacific islands region, says the Parliamentary Secretary (PS) for the Prime Minister’s Office, Johnny Koanapo. He said the issue that had Vanuatu as its lone advocator for many years and then Solomon Islands during the last two years now has the support of six other countries of the region from Micronesia and Polynesia.

PS Koanapo met the media with the intention of the government is to brief the people on how much work government has undertaken on the issue of West Papua.

“I wish to say that the government has done a lot of work on the issue of West Papua since the Charlot Salwai government came in in 2016 and the issue remains high on government’s international political agenda.

“There are a lot of arguments that government has not done enough on the issue of West Papua, but when we look at the events that government through the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers have endorsed Vanuatu’s participation, there were many.”

In March this year, the Council of Ministers under the leadership of Prime Minister Salwai, appointed Honorable Ronald Warsal (Minister of Justice and Community Services) to attend the Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva and Koanapo went with him when Vanuatu delivered a statement on behalf of the Pacific Islands Coalition for West Papua.

“May be, many people who have been dealing with the issue of West Papua, especially our former leaders like Barak Sope, Donald Kalpokas, the late Edward Natapei, Joe Natuman former Prime Minister now Deputy Prime Minister, have been walking with the people of West Papua for a very long time.

“And when we look at the political backup the people of Vanuatu give to the colonized people of West Papua, there’s only one country in the world that has been standing behind people who living under colonization by Indonesia. That country is Vanuatu. Vanuatu is the only country in the Pacific that is standing behind the people of West Papua.

“And then at the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Leaders’ summit held in 2015 in Honiara, at that time Solomon Islands government through Prime Minister Manasseh Sogovareh came on board. And then as PM Sogovareh said to me when I represented government at that time when I was Director General of Foreign and also represented the country at the minister’s level that the position or stand the government of Solomon Islands is taking is inspired by the position and stand the Vanuatu government has taken since day one on the since to West Papua to this day.

“So, instead of just one I the Pacific, there was two. That’s the Vanuatu government and the Solomon Islands government. Then the Solomon Islands government spearheaded with the support of Vanuatu on the margins of the meeting of June July last year when PM Charlot Salwai attended the establishment of what we call the Pacific Islands of West Papua (PIWP) and then other countries of Micronesia and Polynesia have come on board. Altogether eight countries – Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Palau, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Tonga. So, Vanuatu, as the lone fighter, now has seven countries behind it for backup on the issue of West Papua.

“As a result in March this year, government through the Council of Ministers appropriated for Vanuatu’s participation at the Humans Rights Council meeting this year in Geneva. So, Minister Warsal and I went to the meeting where Honorable Warsal delivered a very strong statement. It was a political statement on behalf of BIGWIP members in the Pacific.

“I also wish to mention that when we have this coalition, Vanuatu’s strategy is for us to try shift advocacy for the issue of West Papua beyond the region. When we were introducing the issue at MSG, Vanuatu was the only country behind it.

“I am briefing us today as a former director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who has been behind much of the speeches and writings, to say that I’ve never seen before a government that has taken the issue of WP so strongly as the government of Charlot Salwai and Joe Natuman is making today.

“There are reasons for this. In the past governments tended to take different kinds of approaches. Some prefer for us to take a stronger diplomatic approach at the international level to lobby. Some prefer we have more dialogue with the colonizing power, Indonesia since 1962 to today that they continue to colonize the people of West Papua.

“So, the government of Charlot Salwai also appointed a special envoy. This special envoy was our Ambassador at the European Union, Ambassador Roy Micky Joy, to help lobby at the European Union jurisdiction and he also helped to lobby at the African Union. And he also helped to lobby at the Caribbean. We have divided this task and it is the first time.

“During my 16 years in office at the Foreign Affairs, I see that this government is very serious about the issue of West Papua.”

“Maybe the Opposition has some views that government may not be advancing, but I have not seen any opposition in the past with the credentials to advance this issue, except this government today has moved this issue on more than ever. I say this with a lot of confidence that the issue of West Papua today has already moved beyond the region,” the PS for the PM’s Office said.

“This government when it came in, it took this issue from being a bilateral issue just of Vanuatu, but a regional issue, which we have moved beyond the level of MSG in which we have differences of opinion on how we deal with the issue of West Papua because the diplomatic of Indonesia is strong. This made Vanuatu the only country in MSG to push the issue ahead. But the issue has now moved beyond the jurisdiction of MSG,” he said.

“It has moved to the level of the Forum and has become a regional issue. And if you see how the issue was listed in the South Pacific Islands Forum meeting last week to deal with out of 14 issues, one of them is West Papua.”

“I wish to take this opportunity to commend the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Dame Meg Taylor, a very proactive SG who understands the situation of the people of West Papua who are colonized and continued to face human rights abuses on the own land. I note too that when we were at the Pacific Islands Forum last year, PM CS made a lot of bi-laterals with many countries and he talked about the issue of West Papua, for it to come before the Forum Leaders retreat. And at the retreat, PM Salwai took the lead on the issue of West Papua. Because the PM of Solomon Islands was not present so PM Salwai had to do the lobby and he continued to put the issue on the table and he continued to advocate for the issue to come before the United Nations.

“On the level of the work that the government has done, PM Salwai also appointed me as his Special Emissary for me to undertake shuttle diplomacy in the region, starting last month when the Pacific Islands Foreign Ministers meeting was held in Suva, I went there special emissary of the PM to present a case at bi-laterals of member countries to talk about the importance of how PM Salwai and PM Sogovareh see the issue of West Papua.

“I also wish to mention to the people of Vanuatu to understand that when the government of today says that we are shifting the issue of West Papua beyond MSG and beyond the region, it simply means also the level of work government is making outside of the region. In around June this year, at the ACP Ministerial meeting in Brussels, the government assigned me to attend this ministerial meeting with Minister Ralph Regenvanu, and because Minister Regenvanu was engaged with other assignments, I undertook this assignment on behalf of Vanuatu where I tabled the issue of West Papua for the first time in history as an agenda at the ACP Ministerial in Brussels, Belgium.

“I also wish to place on record for the people of Vanuatu to know that government also assigned Ambassador Roy Mickey Joy to do this work in his capacity at the Committee of Ambassadors at the process of ACP to table the issue of West Papua at the Committee of Ambassadors level. The Committee of Ambassadors is comprised of Ambassadors and senior officials of countries based in Brussels to continue to discuss the agenda and formulate resolutions to come to the Ministerial level and at the Ministerial they took up this agenda before it reached the leaders’ level.

“It was the first time too I lobbied with the Secretary General of ACP to continue to maintain this agenda item at the ACP.

“I believe strongly that the government will continue to participate at upcoming ministerial meetings and this issue continues to feature prominently in the agenda of ACP.

“At the same too, with the help provided by the Vanuatu government mission in Brussels, we see a website totally dedicated to ACP and European members to access information on what is happening in West Papua. We all know that today West Papua is a flashpoint, an area of conflict between Melanesia and the Asians, but not country is willing to take this up. We all know too that West Papuans today face a reality of genocide including cultural genocide where thousands of Indonesians everyday flock into West Papua with their immigration policy, which means that the Melanesians will find themselves already a minority in their own land. This is the reason why the people at the time of the New Hebrides were afraid of at that time pushed to have our independence because our land was alienated so much that we were afraid of losing it and our identify. This is an opportunity that the West Papuans have today.

“West Papuans continue to be exposed to human rights abuse and it is sad to see that not every country want to take up this issue.”

“I wish to assure the people of Vanuatu that PM Salwai is making everything necessary and we work under him, the PM assigns us with the mandate to make sure that the voice of the voiceless is heard around the world. And today for the first time, in the last two months the lobby pushed by Vanuatu has reached the Caribbean and today I also wish to say that seven countries in the Caribbean out of 15 are behind the issue of West Papua today. And we continue to lobby with the African Union and I believe that in the coming months the government of Vanuatu will continue to push in the African Union so the countries of Africa are more aware of the issue of West Papua.

“Interestingly, when I conducted a bilateral in June with the government of Belgium, they said they were never aware of West Papua. The issue of West Papua is an issue hidden under a carpet because the press was never allowed to go freely to see the people and to hear from them what happened and their views on the destiny they see for themselves. It is a sad reality that is there.

“The issue now has progress to the international stage and I say this with a lot of confidence that the issue has never taken so much international attention as it is today simple because the government is serious about, there is no second opinion on it as to whether the government will take up the issue or not.

“The government has taken on this role because it is a global country and we are global citizens with obligations to defend such things as human rights, which are parts of the rights of a human being.

In addition to all these, the Prime Ministers of Vanuatu and Solomon Islands are organizing a side event at the UN General Assembly in New York next week to continue to lobby for West Papua, so that when leaders make their political statements at the GA these will reflect these efforts.

Jonas Cullwick, a former General Manager of VBTC is now a Senior Journalist with the Daily Post. Contact: jonas@dailypost.vu. Cell # 678 5460922

September 16, 2017 0

Call for more access to West Papua

RadioNZ – A church-backed coalition has called on Indonesia to open greater access to West Papua for international journalists, independent observers, human rights organizations and the International Red Cross.

International consultation on West Papua 22-24 February 2017 in Geneva, hosted by the World Council of Churches. Photo: Victor Mambor

The call came at an international consultation hosted by the World Council of Churches with the International Coalition on Papua in Geneva.

Also in Geneva this week, at the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council, seven Pacific Island countries delivered a statement about their concern over rights abuses in West Papua.

The WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, who visited Papua in 2012 said the organisation supports the struggle for West Papuan human rights, and urges an end to ongoing violence and impunity.

He said the WCC backed the call for social and economic justice through serious dialogue and a concrete political process that seeks to address root causes of the present problems.

The round-table gathering included civil society proponents, human rights experts and diplomats who examined current patterns of human rights abuses in West Papua.

The gathering coincides with the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, where seven Pacific nations this week raised concern about a lack of justice over serious and prolonged rights abuses in West Papua.

Indonesia denied allegation that it failed to address rights abuses in Papua, saying it always endeavoured to address violations, takes preventative measures and delivers justice.

Protesters are resisting police using water cannons during a protest by mostly university students from Free Papua Organization and the Papua Student Alliance in Jakarta on December 1, 2016. — Protests in West Papua in 2016. Photo: AFP

However, the WCC website reported that this week’s consultation in Geneva had shown growing level of international concern about Papua.

Victor Mambor of the Papua Coalition for Law Enforcement and Human Rights said that the civil society group made a number of recommendation to the government of Indonesia.

As well as demanding open access to Papua for international journalists and human rights groups they called for ensuring

“that perpetrators of the police and military responsible for past and present human rights violations in West Papua are prosecuted in public and fair trials, resulting in the appropriate sentences for perpetrators and the restitution, compensation and rehabilitation of victims”.

Meanwhile, the general secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches based in Fiji, Rev. Francois Pihaate, said churches in the region were very concerned about violence in Papua.

West Papuan journalist Victor Mambor. Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades

“How can we as churches be ignorant of what is going on outside our own world? That is why we as churches are concerned,” he said.

A member of the Indonesian mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Denny Abdi, disputed the veracity of claims that nearly 5000 Papuans were arrested last year for peacefully demonstrating their independence aspirations.

However, the WCC’s West Papuans representatives have said there is no trust between the people of West Papua and the government in Jakarta, rendering it “not possible to talk heart to heart about what is going on”.

“We have to talk, ” said one member of the WCC’s Papua chapter. “As a church the prophetic voice needs to go beyond boundaries.”

Demonstrators march in Timika in West Papua.

Demonstrators march in Timika in West Papua. Photo: Supplied

Veronica Koman of the Papua Itu Kita based in Jakarta said the government of Indonesia has failed to address the root problem, which stems from Papua’s controversial incorporation into Indonesia in the 1960s.

“The West Papuan people will not stop screaming for independence until the root cause is addressed,” she said.

March 10, 2017 1

West Papua: Australia’s Neighbour Under Siege

By Paul Gregoire | 26/11/2016 | http://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/

Indonesian police arrested 106 West Papuans praying in a park in the coastal city of Sorong in West Papua last Saturday. The group was celebrating the eighth anniversary of the West Papua Committee (KNPB): a non-violent organisation campaigning for self-determination.

Authorities said the activists were taken to the Sorong police station as they’d been calling out pro-independence slogans. After questioning, most were released, but seven were detained – accused of treason and provocation.

West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda (pictured) said it was no surprise Indonesian police targeted peaceful protesters as it’s a common occurrence in the region.

Mass arrests

“Over 4,000 West Papuan people have been unlawfully arrested this year alone just for peacefully protesting,” Mr Wenda told Sydney Criminal Lawyers. He added that the government is trying to prevent the world from finding out about “the secret genocide and illegal occupation in West Papua.”

Thousands of people were arrested in early May this year, when Indonesian security forces cracked down on rallies held across West Papua.

The protests were in support of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua – a coalition of independence movements formed in December 2014 – and their bid to gain full membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

The Indonesian occupation

Since Indonesia began its occupation of the restive region 53 years ago, an estimated 500,000 local people have been killed under harsh military and police repression.

Indonesian president Joko Widodo had promised improvements in West Papua at the time of his election in July 2014. But Indonesia’s leading human rights organisation announced in May this year that human rights abuses are as rampant as they were under previous governments.

“We are kept like prisoners in our own land, unable to freely express our identity or make choices over our own future,” said Wenda, international lobbyist for the Free West Papua Campaign. He describes the Indigenous people as living in constant fear of being “the next ones to be killed.”

Transmigration

And West Papuans are fast becoming a minority in their own land. The government’s decades-old transmigration program – that resettles people from highly populated islands like Java to low-density areas – is marginalising the local people, both socially and economically.

Wenda has pointed out that in 1971 West Papuans made up 96 percent of the population, but today they only make up 49 percent of the people living in the region.

And despite claims by a government official earlier this year that the policy was stopped three years ago, this isn’t the case.

In October 2014, then Indonesian minister of villages and transmigration, Marwan Jafar, announced the government’s transmigration program would be continuing and further stated in June last year that because of its success, it would be expanding.

And it’s clear the boats are still arriving.

International recognition

However, the West Papuan campaign has been gaining traction in the international arena over recent months.

At the 71st UN General Assembly held in New York in September this year, seven Pacific Island nations called for immediate global attention to human rights abuses in West Papua.

As Wenda put it, “this signals a major turning point as it is the first time that we have had so much international support at a UN level for our struggle since the 1960s.”

And the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) could be given full membership into the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) in December this year. The MSG is an intergovernmental organisation of Melanesian states promoting economic growth.

The ULMWP has had observer status in the group since 2014, but full membership would see West Papua recognised as a political identity by foreign nations.

This prospect rattles Jakarta. Indonesia has been recognised as an associate member of MSG since June last year.

At the Indian Ocean Rim Association ministerial meeting in Bali last month, Indonesian defence minister Ryamizard Ryacudu asked Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop to caution MSG member countries against allowing the West Papua coalition membership into their group.

The defence minister warned Ms Bishop that the West Papua issue could pose a “stumbling block” to closer bilateral ties between the two nations.

The Act of NO Choice

In 1962 the New York Agreement resulted in the United Nations assuming administration of West Papua – then known as West New Guinea – after former coloniser the Netherlands left.

The agreement allowed Indonesia to assume occupation of the territory in 1963 on the proviso that a referendum was carried out to give West Papuan people a choice between remaining part of Indonesia or becoming an independent nation.

Following widespread resistance to Indonesian rule, the UN brokered Act of Free Choice referendum was held in 1969. However, the Indonesian military selected only 1,062 West Papuan representatives to vote and under threat of death, all of them voted to stay with Indonesia.

Calls for a just vote

Wenda refers to the referendum as the Act of NO Choice. And today, he’s calling for an internationally supervised vote on independence. “We have the fundamental right to self-determination that was promised to us by the UN, but stolen by Indonesia,” he outlined.

On May 3 this year, he hosted a meeting of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua at the Houses of Parliament in London. The Westminster Declaration for an internationally supervised vote for self-determination in West Papua was signed.

Those present at the meeting included the Tongan prime minister Akilisi Pōhiva and leader of the British Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn.

The independence leader

A Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Benny Wenda fled West Papua after being imprisoned by Indonesian authorities on charges he states were politically motivated because of his involvement in the independence movement. He was granted political asylum by the British government in 2003.

“As the indigenous Melanesian people in a Melanesian country our right to sovereignty is guaranteed to us,” said Wenda, who now lives in Oxford. “We call upon the world to please not forget us, but to help us in our campaign to be free people at last.”

Although the Indonesian government split West Papua into two provinces in 2002, this article refers to the whole region as West Papua, as the indigenous people do.

November 28, 2016 0

Rockin’ for West Papua raises Free West Papua support around the world!

This historic month long event brought musicians and artists together to use their skills and passion in unity for West Papua’s freedom, featuring over 80 bands in 5 different countries!

From Sydney to Los Angeles, from Edinburgh to Brisbane, so much awareness and solidarity has been raised as people were shown the true power of music, learning that #MUSICISAWEAPON.

Free West Papua music and the West Papuan flag are outlawed by the Indonesian government in occupied West Papua but Rockin’ For West Papua, organised by the collaborative Rize Of The Morning Star brought people together from across the world to play Free West Papua music and raise the West Papuan flag!

Full Article and Video, go to freewestpapua.org

October 30, 2016 0

Samoa mo Samoa, mo West Papua. Why?

By Malia Patea-Taylor – October 22, 2016 3:28 PM , http://www.samoaplanet.com/

Samoa mo Samoa! West Papua! Why?

Samoa is no stranger to resistance. As most of us know, the Mau movement was and still is significantly a powerful Samoa, stating and standing in her rightful place of self-determination. The resistance not only released the colonial power grip – it showed that independence is achievable through unity and solidarity of Ā’iga and Nu’u, in Samoa, in the Pacific.

I ask that today we unite in solidarity with our Pacific Ocean Ā’iga, West Papua. I ask that Samoa respond in support for her independence and freedom. I ask this because West Papua is under genocide attack. This means that as you read this, her people are being tortured and killed, women and children are raped, villages are burnt to the ground and survivors are forcibly removed and displaced from their lands to undergo a military enforced operation of language and cultural assimilation. West Papua’s perpetrator is the Government of Indonesia and her business partners, the USA, Australia and the U.K

Why are they doing this? Because West Papua is a land and ocean rich resource in gold and minerals, the government of Indonesia does NOT want you to know of their genocide attack on the people so they can access the gold and minerals. They want power and control over the people so they can continue to take their land to fulfill the business contracts they have with their business partners. The Indonesian military is in all ways, the insurance security for these contracts. On a daily basis they violently remove the voice and action of independence from the people of West Papua. They don’t want us to see the pictures, and the stories of their brutality. What is happening in West Papua has been labeled the ‘forgotten war – Unwanted people.’ We know the story now because of the brave people who have escaped, so that you and I can assist them to bring these crimes against them to account. These brave men and women know that they may never enter back into their homeland while Indonesia is still in power. Their sacrifice means they may never see or hear from their ā’iga again.

So why should Samoa support? Because we know and understand first hand the struggle for independence is real and it is painful, but that also that it is absolutely achievable. We know it is West Papua today, it could be us again tomorrow, we would want the world around us to unify and help us. We know that we cannot turn a blind eye to this kind of evil. We know we have the power to resist this together as Pacific nations.

We need to continue finding out more about the West Papua struggle. We need to share the story of West Papua with our ā’iga, village, nu’u, church. Tell the Government of Samoa to support West Papua resistance, by officiating our solidarity with them (Vanuatu and other smaller island nations have already done so). We need to be vocal and seen supporters of ‘PAPUA MERDEKA’ (Free West Papua) Talk and Share! The more we share and reveal, the more pressure on Indonesia and their partners. The links below provide more information about the struggle. Stay informed. Know that when you do any of the above and more, you are actively resisting the genocide attack on West Papua people. Know that you are actively helping the people of West Papua to one day soon, become free of oppression, free of violence and be restored their rightful place as indigenous peoples of their lands. Know that as a Samoan you stand with West Papua mo West Papua!

Tulou lava

October 22, 2016 0

ROCKIN’ FOR WEST PAPUA: Global Peace Concerts Announced

Rockin’ For West Papua is a worldwide music, arts and cultural festival of events raising awareness of the genocide and human rights abuses on the indigenous people of West Papua, presented by Rize Of The Morning Star.

Rockin for West Papua

“We stand for the arts,

we stand for first nations people

and we stand for West Papua.”

#musicisaweapon

Rockin’ For West Papua gigs are being organised around Australia in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Perth, Byron Bay, Gold Coast, Lismore, Newcastle and Arnhem Land with more shows to be announced in all corners of the globe.

CONFIRMED DATES:

Friday 30 September – Sydney AUS: Waywards @ Bank Hotel, Newtown featuring Blackbreaks, The MisMade, The Black Turtles, MC Thorn

Saturday 1 October – Newcastle AUS: The Vault featuring Once Remained, Skinpin, Steinbrenner, The Grounds

Saturday 1 October – Edinburgh UK: Henry’s Cellar Bar featuring Rise Kagona, Samba Sene & Diwan Seneglese, Nawakyipo, Mariam El Sadr & more

Friday 7 October – Lismore AUS: Lismore City Hall Studio featuring Blakboi, The Humans Of Lismore, Atomic Monkey Chunks & Punks For West Papua doco screening

Saturday 8 October – Gold Coast AUS: Currumbin Creek Tavern featuring The Poor, Wartooth, Paging Jimi

Saturday 8 October – Brisbane AUS: Chardons Corner Hotel featuring Kold Creature, Monster Fodder, System Trashed, Kaosphere, Alice Lost Her Way, Locus Give It All

Saturday 8 October – Darwin AUS: The Chippo, 2 stages featuring Clever Monkey, Dave Garnham, Gored Matador, Acid City, Pole Top Rescue, Lungbuster, Ben Evolent, Brother Phoenix, Joy Greer

Saturday 8 October – Gauteng SOUTH AFRICA: Wunderbar @ German Club featuring Slash Dogs, Made For Broadway, Slippery When Wet, Chilean cuisine, Film Screenings

Sunday 9 October – Melbourne AUS: Bendigo Hotel featuring Liquor Snatch, Indigo Rising, DevilsMonkey, Mystic Trio, DJ LAPKAT, Long Holiday, Native Rain, New Age, Elf Tranzporter, MC Izzy Brown, West Papuan String Band and dancers

Saturday 29 October – Perth AUS: Railway Hotel, Fremantle featuring Yob Mob, The U-Nites reggae band plus DJ General Justice & Jah Wisdom Sound System, Potato Stars, Mental Pretzel, Fuzion

Facebook Event Page

MORE GLOBAL CONCERTS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON

Following the noise made and the funds raised by the ‘Punks For West Papua’ movement and documentary, more rockin’ artists are coming together for several weeks from September 30 to show the strength of music and help raise funds to assist the plight of the West Papuans, presented by global music & cultural movement Rize Of The Morning Star.

Leader of the ULMWP Benny Wenda said “Indonesia have tanks and guns. West Papuans only have guitars. Music is the only weapon we need for freedom.”

Whilst West Papuan music is outlawed by the Indonesian Military, Rockin’ For West Papua & Rize Of The Morning Star are inviting musicians, artists and anybody who wants to make a stand, to show their colours in the month of October by organising gigs, exhibitions, festivals or any social gathering or display of support to let Indonesia, USA, Australian and UK governments know that we are standing for West Papua.

Filmmaker Anthony ‘Ash’ Brennan who created the award winning documentary “Punks For West Papua” is coordinating the Rockin’ For West Papua shows. Returning from a stint in Rio behind the camera at the Olympic Aquatic Centre, he said “I have been very fortunate in my career in TV to have travelled to the four corners of the globe. I have seen the good and bad in every country. From Indian Slums, to Soweto in South Africa, and more recently the Rio favela’s. I have learnt that people who have the least, give the most. They open their hearts with music and art. And I have walked away richer for the experience. A very humbling experience, coming from such a privileged country. Music brings people together, empowers us, and gives us strength to overcome any adversity.”

The people of West Papua have been suffering under Indonesian occupation since 1963. Over 500,000 civilians have been killed, and thousands more have been raped, tortured and imprisoned. Foreign media and human rights groups are banned from operating in West Papua, so people rarely hear about the situation there. The Free West Papua Campaign is bringing the story of West Papua to the world and campaigning for freedom and justice in West Papua, to end the violence of the last 50 years.

Despite the growing global support of the United Liberation Movement For West Papua, in recent months over 800 West Papuan people were arrested and many tortured by Indonesian authorities simply for peacefully calling for full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). There has been a surge of human rights abuses as thousands of people joined mass rallies with hundreds arrested at passive demonstrations in West Papua and Indonesia. Even with the media ban, harrowing video evidence has emerged of the brutality that peaceful protesters were met with including children and students.

All funds raised go to Free West Papua.

#musicisaweapon

www.facebook.com/R4WP16

www.facebook.com/R4WP16/events

Additional info & Articles:

http://www.rizeofthemorningstar.com/

www.freewestpapua.org/2016/08/26/global-concert-for-west-papua/

https://wpan.wordpress.com/2016/07/22/herman-wainggai-long-journey-to-freedom/

http://edinburgh.carpediem.cd/events/783769-rockin-for-west-papua-musicisaweapon-at-henrys-cellar-bar/

Earlier this year:

TeenRock.com, UK – “10 Things We Learned From ‘Punks 4 West Papua’”

http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-03-10/how-the-aussie-punk-scene-fought-a-forgotten-war

Green Left Weekly, Aus – “Punks For West Papua: Indonesia’s West Papua Crimes Laid Bare In Award-Winning Doco”

https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/61173

The Brag, Aus – “Five Minutes With Ash Brennan, Producer/Director of Punks For West Papua”

http://www.thebrag.com/arts/five-minutes-ash-brennan-producerdirector-punks-west-papua

For further media info please contact:

DEBORAH GANN – PUBLICIST

RESERVOIR PR+MGMT AUSTRALIA

T: 0481 264 077

E: ReservoirDeb@gmail.com

F: www.facebook.com/ReservoirManagement

September 28, 2016 0

West Papua gets international support

Image: Andrew West with West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda and Joe Collins from the Australia West Papua Association, (Nadyat El Gawley)

ABC.net-A few weeks ago, we heard from Catholic nun Susan Connelly who helped lead a church fact-finding mission to the Indonesian province of West Papua. Her report included allegations of widespread torture and harassment by Indonesian police and troops and even a “slow-motion genocide” of indigenous West Papuans.

The West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda has been in Australia this week meeting supporters and a handful of politicians. Benny Wenda had an almost action-movie style escape from an Indonesian jail and he now lives in exile in Britain.
So why should the churches in particular, care about the fate of his people?