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Civil Resistance in West Papua

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http://www.globalresearch.ca/civil-resistance-in-west-papua/5501113

 Civil Resistance in West Papua

By Jason Macleod Global Research, January 13, 2016

West Papua is a secret story. On the western half of the island of New Guinea, hidden from the world, in a place occupied by the Indonesian military since 1963, continues a remarkable nonviolent struggle for national liberation. 

In Merdeka and the Morning Star, academic Jason MacLeod gives an insider’s view of the trajectory and dynamics of civil resistance in West Papua. Here, the indigenous population has staged protests, boycotts, strikes and other nonviolent 

 

This is the first in-depth account of civilian-led insurrection in West Papua, a movement that has transitioned from guerrilla warfare to persistent nonviolent resistance. MacLeod analyses several case studies, including tax resistance that pre-dates Gandhi’s Salt March by two decades, worker strikes at the world’s largest gold and copper mine, daring attempts to escape Indonesian rule by dugout canoe, and the collection of a petition in which signing meant to risk being shot dead.

Merdeka and the Morning Star is a must-read for all those interested in Indonesia, the Pacific, self-determination struggles and nonviolent ways out of occupation. [Order the book by clicking on the image of it on the right]

West Papuans Testify

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Indonesia denies media visa for France 24 reporter

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Bangkok, January 12, 2016 – The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Indonesia’s refusal to issue a media visa to French journalist Cyril Payen. The Bangkok-based senior reporter for France 24 television received notice of the denial from Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs without explanation on Friday, he told CPJ.

The Indonesian government’s decision follows the broadcast of Payen’s documentary, “The forgotten war in Papua.” The film, broadcast by France 24 on October 18, examined allegations of state-sponsored human rights abuses and conflict-related casualties over the past 25 years in the country’s eastern Papuan provinces.

President Joko Widodo announced last May that his government would allow foreign journalists to report unrestricted from Papua, breaking a decades-long virtual blackout on international news coverage of the restive region. Payen applied for and received the required media permits to report from Papua, and reported freely from the region for about a week last July, he told CPJ.

“Indonesia’s move to deny France 24 reporter Cyril Payen a journalistic visa smacks of retaliation for his critical reporting,” said Shawn W. Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “President Widodo should make good on his previous pledge to improve access to Indonesia for foreign journalists by reversing this arbitrary and ill-conceived decision.”

CPJ advocated for the removal of the foreign media restrictions as an important precondition for Widodo to achieve his campaign vow to bring peace and prosperity to Papua and West Papua provinces. The region has been locked in a long-simmering struggle between Indonesian security forces and the secessionist Free Papua Movement.

Foreign journalists have been targeted for harassment under Widodo’s rule. British filmmakers Rebecca Prosser and Neil Bonner were held in custody for nearly five months before being sentenced in November to two and a half months in prison for violating the terms of their tourist visas. They were first apprehended by the Indonesian navy while reporting a documentary on piracy commissioned by the magazine National Geographic.

Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Binsar Panjaitan in November 2015 told CPJ that Widodo’s administration was committed to ensuring the press has free access to Papua.

The New Pacific Diplomacy

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Since 2009 there has been a fundamental shift in the way that the Pacific Island states engage with regional and world politics. The region has experienced, what Kiribati President Anote Tong has aptly called, a ‘paradigm shift’ in ideas about how Pacific diplomacy should be organised, and on what principles it should operate. Many leaders have called for a heightened Pacific voice in global affairs and a new commitment to establishing Pacific Island control of this diplomatic process. This change in thinking has been expressed in the establishment of new channels and arenas for Pacific diplomacy at the regional and global levels and new ways of connecting the two levels through active use of intermediate diplomatic associations.

The New Pacific Diplomacy brings together a range of analyses and perspectives on these dramatic new developments in Pacific diplomacy at sub-regional, regional and global levels, and in the key sectors of global negotiation for Pacific states – fisheries, climate change, decolonisation, and trade.

 

 

http://press.anu.edu.au/titles/pacific-series/the-new-pacific-diplomacy/

The New Pacific Diplomacy

Edited by Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte

ISBN 9781925022810 (Print version) $33.00 (GST inclusive)
ISBN 9781925022827 (Online)
Published December 2015

Citation url: http://press.anu.edu.au?p=328371

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The New Pacific Diplomacy – Whole Book (PDF 2.2 MB)

 

Overview

  1. The ‘New Pacific Diplomacy’: An introduction – Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte
  2. ‘Charting its Own Course’: A paradigm shift in Pacific diplomacy – H.E. President Anote Tong

 

The Regional Diplomatic System

  1. Towards a New Regional Diplomacy Architecture – Kaliopate Tavola
  2. The Future of the Pacific Islands Forum and the Framework for Pacific Regionalism – Dame Meg Taylor
  3. The New Framework for Pacific Regionalism: Old kava in a new tanoa? – Claire Slatter
  4. Civil Society and the Political Legitimacy of Regional Institutions: An NGO perspective – Maureen Penjueli
  5. A New Pacific Regional Voice? The Pacific Islands Development Forum – Tarte
  6. The New Pacific Diplomacy at the United Nations: The rise of the PSIDS – Fulori Manoa

 

Fiji’s New Diplomacy

  1. Fiji’s Emerging Brand of Pacific Diplomacy: A Fiji government perspective – Litia Mawi
  2. Fiji’s Foreign Policy and the New Pacific Diplomacy – Makereta Komai

 

Geopolitical Context

  1. The Strategic Context of the New Pacific Diplomacy – Michael O’Keefe
  2. New Zealand and Australia in Pacific Regionalism – Nicola Baker

 

Sub-Regionalism

  1. The Renaissance of the Melanesian Spearhead Group – Tess Newton Cain
  2. Negotiating the Melanesia Free Trade Area – Sovaia Marawa
  3. Micronesian Sub-Regional Diplomacy – Suzanne Lowe Gallen

 

Climate Diplomacy

  1. Marshalling a Pacific Response to Climate Change – Nicollette Goulding
  2. Establishing a Pacific Voice in the Climate Change Negotiations – George Carter

 

Tuna Diplomacy

  1. How Tuna is Shaping Regional Diplomacy – Transform Aqorau
  2. The New Pacific Diplomacy and the South Pacific Tuna Treaty – Jope Tarai

 

Negotiating Trade and Decolonisation

  1. Negotiating Power in Contemporary Pacific Trade Diplomacy – Wesley Morgan
  2. Pacific Diplomacy and Decolonisation in the 21st Century – Nic Maclellan

 

Appendices

 

 
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