[ETAN-key] Video The Act of Free Choice - Free West Papua Demonstration

[lure at riseup.net]

West Papuans celebrated today what is long held to be West Papua's
independence day despite Indonesian dictatorship and suppression of West
Papuan culture. The event, celebrated around the world and in the country,
counted with the support of the Free West Papua movement in London and the
support of International Parlamentarians for West Papua, first established
in 2008 and International Lawyers for West Papua. In London, the symbolic
launch of the book "An Act of Free Choice.Decolonisation and the Right to
Self Determination in West Papua" by P.J. Drooglever, marked the day, with
talks at no1 Parliament Street, culminating in MP Andrew Smith alongside
West Papuan Chief Benny Wenda delivering the book to the Foreign
CommonWealth Office, in a gesture to "educate the UK Government and the
world" of the situation in West Papua. A demonstration in front of the
Indonesian Embassy in London also took place as well as letter which was
delivered by hand by West Papuan Chief Benny Wenda and wife Maria, despite
Indonesian Embassy officials refusing to personally receive the letter.
Drooglever's book, deals with a 1969 act which was presented by Indonesian
military and is largely regarded as a whitewash with a claim that West
Papuans had chosen Indonesian rule rather than independence. For this
effect, the Indonesian government had selected a little over 1000
Melanesian men as West Papuan representatives, around 0.9% of the
population, to make the claim. Although, the UN General Assembly
Resolution 2504 recognised that there was indeed an event under the
denomination of Act of Free Choice, it was not recognised as an act of
self-determination. There were severe doubts about the entire process and
the men who were selected also claimed that they were blackmailed into
signing up for the act. Ever since, the small yet naturally rich country
has endured 45 years of a bitter independence struggle under Indonesian
rule and great number of human rights abuses and genocide have been
reported but the media blackout imposed by Indonesian rule as made the
situation largely unnoticed to the outside world. Reports of genocide,
rape and disappearances by Indonesian military as well as suppression of
West Papuan culture and national identity are nowadays frequent and more
widespread as exiled Chief Benny Wenda and the worldwide Free West Papua
movement alongside the International Parlamentarians for West Papua
initiative have ensured that such reports have global reach. An exposing
documentary, Forgotten Bird of Paradise by British film maker Dominic
Brown, the first foreign national to have gone undercover into West Papua
and to have spent time with the country's independence fighters, is now
available. The revealing piece, exposes the extent of human rights abuses
and the extent of West Papua's struggle for independence

http://www.youtube.com/user/WestPapuaFreedom#p/a/u/0/Hcqy_WTXyuk