fPcN interCultural:

friends of Peoples close to Nature

(some names and data are replaced with XXX for security reasons!)
I just wanted to send through a quick update on the situation in West Papua. I just arrived after spending the last 8 weeks (November and December 2008) there making an undercover documentary with a friend. We managed to smuggle alot of very powerful video footage out of the country, and come back with a very strong message from the people of West Papua - their desire for freedom and readiness to act by whichever means to achieve it is burning more brightly now than at anytime in recent history. Below is a brief summary of our trip and our time at an OPM (the West Papuan guerilla force) training camp in the XXX region.

Benny Wenda, leader of the koteka Tribal Assembly and his wife Maria Wenda, Serogo, Brother and Roger Harmar who are the Lani Singers appear on BBC radio Londons Saturday night show a world in London hosted by Dj Ritu. They perform music from the new Lani Singers album and some traditional West Papuan music. Benny also talks about his story and about the struggle in West Papua for independence from Indonesia as well as talking about West Papuan traditions and music culture.

This is the 55th in a series of monthly reports that focus on developments affecting Papuans. This series is produced by the non-profit West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) drawing on media accounts, other NGO assessments, and analysis and reporting from sources within West Papua. This report is co-published with the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) Back issues are posted online at http://etan.org/issues/wpapua/default.htm Questions regarding this report can be addressed to Edmund McWilliams at edmcw@msn.com.

Contents:
* Thousands of Papuans Demonstrate Peacefully, Calling for Independence
* Papuan Academics call for a Human Rights Court and Reconciliation Commission for West Papua
* Papuans Peacefully Demonstrate against Militarism
* Secession Threats Raised in West Papua and Elsewhere over Passage of Islamic Law-Based Legislation
* Papuan Governor Suebu to Launch Anti-HIV/AIDS Campaign as the Disease Spreads Explosively in West Papua
* Papuan Governor Suebu Describes "Special Autonomy" Implementation as "Chaotic"
* National Seminar Discusses "Marginalization" of Papuans; Racism Cited as An Underlying Cause

ETAN Responds to the Wall Street Journal

by John M. Miller (National Coordinator, ETAN)

A recent Wall Street Journal Asia editorial urged its readers to watch the “low-profile” but important issue of the U. S. military relationship with Indonesia. The Journal (“Obama's Indonesia Test,” Nov. 20) repeated the widely-discredited case that re-engagement with the largely-unreformed and unrepentant Indonesian military was the best way to promote reform and human rights. It called on President-elect Barack Obama “to stand down liberal Senators and interest groups” like the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) and Amnesty International for seeking conditions on military assistance to Indonesia.

The editorial acknowledges the obvious, stating “Indonesia's military has certainly had human-rights problems in the past,” but urges the incoming administration to forget about them in the name of building an alliance on the “global war on terror.” We have certainly seen what ignoring international human rights concerns during the Bush years has accomplished (Guantanamo, torture, “extraordinary rendition,” etc…).

The Lani Singers interview and music that went out on BBC Radio 3, in September 2008

This is the 54th in a series of monthly reports that focus on developments affecting Papuans This series is produced by the non-profit West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) drawing on media accounts, other NGO assessments and analysis and reporting from sources within West Papua. This report is co-published by the East Timor and Indonesian Action Network (ETAN) Back issues are posted online at http://etan.org/issues/wpapua/default.htm Questions regarding this report can be addressed to Edmund McWilliams at edmcw@msn.com.

Summary:
* International Parliamentarian Group (IPWP) Concerned about West Papua Convenes in London
* Peaceful Papuans Beaten, Detained for Welcoming Launch of IPWP; Indonesian Parliamentarians Protest Launch
* Papuan Religious Leaders Call for Dialogue between Papuans and Jakarta over Fraudulent 1969 "Act of Free Choice"
* Greenpeace Calls for Moratorium on Logging in West Papua*
* The Failure of TNI "Reform"
* U.S. Academic Testimony to US Congress Regarding Impact of Freeport Operations on The Papuan People

Indonesia's renowned military show again and again how brutally oppressive they are on the small island of Biak, just off the coast of West Papua. In the 1998 Massacre.

ress Release: for immediate release & circulation
INTERNATIONAL PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR WEST PAPUA

At the Houses of Commons, London on 15th October 2008 at 3pm, will be the launch event for a historical international gathering of Parliamentarians, in support of self determination for the native people of West Papua.

Exiled West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda will be joined by Melanesians & Parliamentarians from across the world for the launch of 'International Parliamentarians for West Papua'.

Please assemble in Parliament Square for 2pm.

Benny Wenda, the leader of the Koteka Tribal Assembly and founder of the Free West Papua Campaign UK (partner organisation of fPcN), speaks at the UN Human Right Commission in 2005. Benny Wenda came with the help of fPcN to Geneva. The film is made by fPcN UK.