Demonstrate against Henry Kissinger, May 31, 2011 in NYC

Hold Kissinger Accountable leaflet to distribute at this and future Kissinger appearances (PDF)

Demonstrate against Henry Kissinger, May 31, 2011
92nd St. Y, 92nd Street and Lexington Ave. in Manhattan

Join ETAN and other organizations in protesting Henry Kissinger's appearance at the 92nd St. Y, Tuesday, May 31 beginning at 6:30 pm. The 'Y' is located at 92nd Street and Lexington Ave. in Manhattan.

Remind people about Henry Kissinger's sordid history concerning East Timor, Vietnam, Chile, Cyprus, Bangladesh, Angola and elsewhere.

Ask the 'Y' why they are hosting an accused war criminal and treating him as a respectable commentator on international affairs. Urge them to cancel the event. Call the Y - 212-415-5500.

On December 6, 1975, then Secretary of State Kissinger and President Gerald Ford visited Jakarta. At their meeting, Ford gave Indonesia's dictator Suharto an explicit go ahead for the invasion of East Timor and Indonesia invaded the next day. According to East Timor's Commission on Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) up to 180,000 died as a direct result of the illegal invasion and occupation. Declassified and leaked documents show that Kissinger understood that Suharto was balking at invading, concerned that the U.S. would cut off its supply of weapons and military training. Kissinger guaranteed continuation of weapons shipments. According to Timor-Leste's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation as many as 180,000 people died as a result.  For more on Kissinger's role in East Timor click here.
Kissinger is currently out promoting his latest book on China.

In addition to ETAN, initial sponsors of the protest include The Indypendent, Veterans For Peace-NYC Chapter CH 34, Code Pink, World Can't Wait , Granny Peace Brigade, Movimiento la Pena del Bronx, War Criminals Watch and Bolivarian Circle Alberto Lovera NY.

Contact ETAN - 718-596-7668 for more information or to help out.

Audryne Karma on human rights in West Papua

Audryne Karma has an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today on human rights in West Papua and her father Filep Karma's case.

She writes "for many West Papuans like me, the old regime dies hard. Indonesia has yet to realize the promise of democracy and human rights for all of its citizens... Papuans who peacefully express dissent are punished with more than a decade of imprisonment."

Audryne is Filep Karma's eldest daughter. Filep was sent sentenced in 2005 to 15 years in prison "for speaking about our survival as a nation and raising the West Papuan Morning Star flag at a ceremony organized to commemorate West Papua's liberation from Dutch rule back in 1961." She then goes on to describe Filep's trial and continued persecution in prison.

 

She writes that "My father is only one of more than 130 political prisoners inIndonesia. Many have been tortured. And many are being held in violation of not only international legal standards, but also

Indonesian laws." For a description of Filep's and other cases, see the Human Rights Watch report, Prosecuting Political Aspiration: Indonesia's Political Prisoners.

 

Amnesty International's campaign to free Filep can be found here. Write the Indonesian government today!

Order ETAN stuff

 mugs, water bottles, t-shirts, kid clothes, bags and more - http://www.cafepress.com/etan 

order here

Madison's Tour de Timor Sister-City Bike Ride Set for Sunday May 22

"Tour de Timor" Sister-City Bike Ride Set for Sunday May 22

12th Annual Bike Ride in Support of Ainaro, East Timor

When:  Sunday, May 22 - the ride starts at 1:00 pm (rain date May 29)

Where:  Start at the WORT Block Party (at the corner of Bedford and Doty Streets), and ride around Lake Monona (approx. 13 miles)

Cost:  $25 registration fee (includes organic, union-made Tour de Timor T-shirt); riders are encouraged to collect pledges, with the highest pledge-raisers winning prizes

For more information:  See www.aideasttimor.org, call 608-241-2473 or email madison@etan.org

The 12th annual "Tour de Timor" bike ride will be on Sunday, May 22, starting at 1:00 pm at the WORT Block Party, near the corner of Bedford and Doty Streets in Madison.  Participants will ride around Lake Monona to raise funds for community projects in Ainaro, Madison's official sister-city in the Southeast Asian island nation of East Timor.

For a $25 registration fee, participants will receive an organic, union-made Tour de Timor T-shirt.  Participants are also encouraged to collect pledges.  The highest pledge-raisers will receive prizes from Tour de Timor co-sponsors, including Hempen Goods, Family Farm Defenders, Yellow Jersey, Revolution Cycles, Machinery Row Bicycles, Mother Fool's Coffeehouse, Rainbow Bookstore, People's Bakery, Planet Zebulon and the Progressive magazine.  Madison's community radio station, WORT 89.9 fm, is welcoming the event, which will start and end at the station's annual Block Party.  More information and pledge sheets can be found at www.aideasttimor.org.

The Tour de Timor has become a tradition within Madison's international solidarity community.  The first ride was held in August 1999, as the people of East Timor prepared to vote in a United Nations-organized referendum on their future.  They overwhelmingly voted for independence, bringing an end to the brutal, quarter-century-long Indonesian military occupation of their country.  Unfortunately, as the Indonesian military left East Timor, they destroyed an estimated 70 percent of its infrastructure.  In 2000, the Madison chapter of the East Timor Action Network (ETAN-Madison) established a sister-city relationship with Ainaro, to help the rural community rebuild.  That work continues today.

Madison has a long history of solidarity with East Timor.  In 1992, during the U.S.-supported Indonesian military occupation of East Timor, local residents (including Indonesian students) formed ETAN-Madison.  In 2001, Madison and Ainaro formed the first official sister-city relationship between U.S. and East Timorese communities.  The Madison-Ainaro Sister-City Alliance, a project of ETAN-Madison, has organized several delegations to Ainaro, including one this March.  Previous Tour de Timor bike rides have raised thousands of dollars for Ainaro battered women's services in 2009; the Madison visit of two Ainaro community leaders in 2008; helped fund a joint international / Timorese election observer project in 2007; and provided grants to women's income-generation projects, sustainable agriculture groups, a local radio station, and other community-led projects in Ainaro, East Timor.

Shine a Light on Human Rights: Free Filep Karma Rally in DC, May 19

Shine a Light on Human Rights: Free Filep Karma Rally

Amnesty International USA

Thursday, May 19, 2011, 7:00-8:30pm

DuPont Circle National Park
Washington, DC NW (on red line metro)
At 8:00 pm, we will form a candle lit procession to the Indonesian embassy (2020 Massachusetts Ave. NW). A rally will call for the release of Filep Karma and all prisoners of conscience in Indonesia, while photos of activists holding solidarity flags are projected onto the embassy.

In May 1961, Amnesty International began its global campaign for individual freedoms and human dignity. In May 2005, an Indonesian court sentenced Filep Karma to 15 years in prison on charges of treason for raising the Papua flag in a peaceful ceremony. Join us at DuPont Circle, Washington, DC on Thursday, May 19 as we commemorate 50 years of Amnesty International's global human rights activism and toast to the freedom Filep Karma and all human rights defenders. The event will include speakers, musical performances and actions!

For more information please visit: www.amnestyusa.org/filep

Please RSVP to Emilia Gutierrez at egutierrez@aiusa.org or at 202-544-0200 ext. 8141

Send a postcard demanding freedom for Filep -