Mandela, Indonesia and the liberation of Timor Leste

Nelson Mandela took on Suharto in his own house. He demanded to meet with imprisoned East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao during a 1997 visit to Jakarta. Mandela insisted that the meeting take place outside the prison.

From Mandela, Indonesia and the liberation of Timor Leste | The Jakarta Post:

"Unlike many, Mandela remains loyal to the principles of Bandung that included the right to self-determination. Indeed, contrary to leaders of Indonesia’s New Order, he threw his full weight behind the liberation of Timor Leste."

"The defining moments for Mandela and Xanana were at the expense, slowly but surely, of Soeharto." 

In the U.S.? Watch Alias Ruby Blade Online - One week only!

Alias Ruby Blade: A Story of Love and Revolution tells the tale of Kirsty Sword Gusmao as a young Australian activist who adopts the alias Ruby Blade while working for the underground Timorese resistance in Indonesia. It is currently showing during the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC.

You will need to create a Tribeca account and log in you can watch three Tribeca Film Festival  2013 feature films and four short films.

Then go to http://www.tribecafilm.com/online/competitions/film/513238201c7d76a6bb000084-alias-ruby-blade-a-story- . 

All films expire at 11:59 pm on April 28.

Please note: All TFF features and shorts are restricted to viewers in the United States only.

SYNOPSIS of Alias Ruby Blade

Veteran documentary editor and producer Alex Meillier takes a turn in the director’s chair to tell the remarkable story of documentarian-turned-activist Kirsty Sword Gusmão. Beginning with only a simple curiosity in the islands to the north of her native Australia, she becomes a forceful advocate for the tiny nation of Timor-Leste and a lynchpin in its harrowing, decade-long struggle for independence. Meillier turns Gusmão and her team’s firsthand footage of the revolution into an insider’s guide to the personalities and secret networks that kept it alive. Along the way, we meet the charismatic leader of the resistance, Xanana, whose relationship with Kirsty would redefine the cause for which they both were fighting. 

Alias Ruby Blade is an engaging portrait of a revolution with deep resonance in the events of the Arab Spring. By focusing his film on the movement’s most unlikely member, who in turn becomes one of its most indispensable agents, Meillier gives a personal edge to the individual sacrifices and courage needed to create a new democracy in modern times.  ­Arthur Ryel-Lindsey for Tribeca Film Festival

more info www.aliasrubyblade.com

2012 | 78 minutes | Documentary Feature

For details about upcoming showings in the New York-area at the Tribeca Film Festival and Montclair Film Festival go to http://etanaction.blogspot.com/2013/04/nyc-showings-of-alias-ruby-blade-story.html

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Copies of Kirsty Sword Gusmao's book, Woman of Independence, are available from ETAN. http://etan.org/resource/books.htm#B47Copies of Kirsty Sword Gusmao's book, Woman of Independence, are available from ETAN. http://etan.org/resource/books.htm#B47

NYC showings of Alias Ruby Blade: A Story of Love and Revolution

UPDATE 2: Watch Alias Ruby Blade online - one week only (until April 28). Details here

UPDATE: Alias Ruby Blade is also showing at the Montclair (NJ) Film Festival, Saturday, May 4, 2013, 1 pm. Also showing is the Act of Killing, the widely acclaimed documentary about the killings in 1965-66 Indonesia: Sunday, May 5, 6:15 pm.  

http://www.tribecafilm.com/filmguide/513238201c7d76a6bb000084-alias-ruby-blade-a-story-

Alias Ruby Blade:
A Story of Love and Revolution

SCREENINGS

FRI     4/19    8:30 PM AMC Loews Village 7 - 3        
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SAT     4/20    4:00 PM AMC Loews Village 7 - 2       
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TUE     4/23    3:30 PM Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 6 
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SAT     4/27    3:00 PM AMC Loews Village 7 - 1      
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Q and A with Director Alex Meillier after all screenings.

SYNOPSIS

Veteran documentary editor and producer Alex Meillier takes a turn in the director’s chair to tell the remarkable story of documentarian-turned-activist Kirsty Sword Gusmão. Beginning with only a simple curiosity in the islands to the north of her native Australia, she becomes a forceful advocate for the tiny nation of Timor-Leste and a lynchpin in its harrowing, decade-long struggle for independence. Meillier turns Gusmão and her team’s firsthand footage of the revolution into an insider’s guide to the personalities and secret networks that kept it alive. Along the way, we meet the charismatic leader of the resistance, Xanana, whose relationship with Kirsty would redefine the cause for which they both were fighting.

Alias Ruby Blade is an engaging portrait of a revolution with deep resonance in the events of the Arab Spring. By focusing his film on the movement’s most unlikely member, who in turn becomes one of its most indispensable agents, Meillier gives a personal edge to the individual sacrifices and courage needed to create a new democracy in modern times.   --Arthur Ryel-Lindsey

Program: World Documentary Competition

2012 | 78 minutes | Documentary Feature

Directed by: Alex Meillier
Premiere: North American
Cinematographer Shane Sigler
Cast Kirsty Sword Gusmão, Xanana Gusmão, José Ramos-Horta
Director Alex Meillier
Screenwriter Tanya Ager Meillier, Alex Meillier
Producer Tanya Ager Meillier, Richard Keddie
Editor Tanya Ager Meillier, Alex Meillier
Director of Photography Shane Sigler
Executive Producer Abigail E. Disney, Gini Reticker, Silvio Salom
Composer Paul Brill

Film website: www.aliasrubyblade.com





Copies of Kirsty Sword Gusmao's book, Woman of Independence, are available from ETAN. http://etan.org/resource/books.htm#B47

Nelson Mandela and Political Prisoners

Nelson Mandela's former prison cell.

The New York Times has a remembrance from a former Indonesian political prisoner about when he learned of South Africa's Nelson Mandela's release . Twenty years ago, tomorrow Feb. 11, Mandela was released from prison and the democratic transition in South Africa began. The Times published brief reminiscences from seven  former Asian and African political prisoners.

Fadjroel Rachman has been kidnapped as a student leader and spent three years in prison under Suharto, arrested wrote

The news of Mr. Mandela’s release had just come over the radio that stood on a shelf in the canteen for prison guards directly in front of my cell. Tears rolled down my cheeks. Justice and freedom will win here in Indonesia, too, I thought, and I will be free. My people will be free from President Suharto’s military regime.

Mandela later met the imprisoned East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao in July 1997 and called for his release.

Indonesia still has political prisoners, mostly from West Papua and Maluku jailed for waiving flags. Join  Amnesty International USA's campaign to free Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage.

Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage

Timor Parliament Debates the Budget

A committee of Timor-Leste's parliament has rejected the Government's proposed budget, offering detailed criticisms and recommendations.


La'o Hamutuk has posted the complete Portuguese version of the Report of Parliamentary Committee C (Economics, Finance and Anti-Corruption) on the proposed RDTL General State Budget for 2010.

An unofficial English translation of the Recommendations section of the report, including recommendations from all the Parliamentary Standing Committees is here.

The opposition Fretilin party applauds the report, passed with no opposition, but says it doesn't go far enough.

All members of the committee voted in favour of the report, except for the three FRETILIN committee members and the National Unity Party MP and leader, Fernanda Borges, who abstained because the report did not go far enough in condemning the illegality of the so called "referendum package."

La'o Hamutuk collects documents and other information, including its own submission to Parliament, related to the proposed 2010 budget here.

The 20 recommendations of the Commission C in english are here.

UPDATE  - The Government responds here. The Fretilin Bancada blog is here

Juvinal Dias and Charles Scheiner present La'o Hamutuk's testimony to
President Manuel Tilman and other members of Parliament's Committee C.