From: takver <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Leftlink <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: LL:ART: East Timor - Workers Action Not Military Action
Forwarded message:
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East Timor - Workers Action Not Military Action
9 September 1999
Virtually the entire population of Australia is appalled at the
situation in East Timor. Having had the "autonomy" ballot go
against their wishes, the Indonesian military & their puppet
militia have responded with massacres which are approaching
(and may yet reach) genocidal proportions. Dili is being sacked
& burned, tens of thousands of East Timorese are being
kidnapped & shipped out (presumably to West Timor) and
foreign observers are being systematically evicted. For the third
time since the 60s, the Indonesian generals are creating rivers of
blood.
The political issue being debated here in Australia is not whether the
people of East Timor need help, but what can be done. The popular
clamour is for "peacekeepers NOW!" Previously staunch pacifists and
erstwhile "democratic socialists" are insisting that the Australian
government act immediately, with or without a UN mandate, with or
without Indonesian permission. This sort of insanity can only
reproduce the catastrophe on a larger scale.
Why Military Action Won't Work
First, it is essential to realise that the bloodbath in East Timor
is not the work of the militia alone, or even of renegade elements
of the Indonesian military. It is being organised and supported at
the highest levels in Jakarta. The troop movements, the supplies,
the money to finance the militia and the declaration of martial law
itself demonstrate this. The Indonesian government has made it
abundantly clear that it will not agree to a UN force in East Timor
until the military have finished what they have started. Sending a
UN force without such agreement would involve a war with Indonesia -
even if the UN calls its soldiers "peacekeepers".
Second, there are practical difficulties with such a war. Reports
suggest that the Australian government & its allies in the region
can only muster about 7,000 troops. The US government has already
begged out of the proposal. Facing them, there are already 20,000
Indonesian troops in East Timor (plus militia) - and there are a
lot more where they came from. In these circumstances, mounting,
supplying & sustaining an invasion would be a risky & very bloody
business. Not only would East Timor be totally destroyed in the
process, but the war could quite easily also spread much further.
The military option would, in all probability, spill far more blood
than it is supposed to save.
Third, any military intervention would be to uphold the interests
of the governments of countries supplying soldiers to the UN force.
Any objective analysis of the record of UN action or inaction in
response to military conflict will demonstrate that the interests
of the victimised people have very little to do with what actually
happens in their name.
Finally, and most importantly, military action would undermine the
only real chance for doing something effective for the people of
East Timor. The same Indonesian military which is massacring people
in East Timor has had the entire population of Indonesia under its
jackboots for over thirty years. In the last ten years independent
democratic workers' & student movements have emerged and, in the
context of the recent economic crisis, a popular uprising deposed
President Suharto and dealt heavy blows to his dictatorial regime.
An invasion of East Timor would undo that overnight. The military
would be able to rally the population around it in a burst of
patriotic fervour - and take its bloody revenge on all those who
had the gall to speak up for democratic rights or organise free
trade unions. An invasion of East Timor would lead to the rout of
the Indonesian military's most dangerous enemy - the ordinary working
people of Indonesia.
What Must Be Done
The Australian union movement is starting action against Indonesian
trade & attempting to get the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions to join in. While it is at least a start, the action
is as yet nowhere near strong enough. Importantly, it is being aimed
at building pressure for a UN peacekeeping force, the pitfalls of which
are discussed above.
What is necessary is comprehensive worldwide workers' action against
the Indonesian government and businesses. We must hit them in the place
it hurts them most - the hip pocket nerve. All movement of goods into
and out of Indonesia must be stopped, all financial flows banned, and
all overseas businesses owned by Indonesian residents shut down.
Research on the Suharto family's global fortune has been published
and should form the beginning of a hit list.
The actions of workers outside Indonesia will have an effect, but
only slowly. For results in a timeframe more relevant to the crisis,
the campaign will have to spread to Indonesia itself. All possible
aid should be given to the new & growing free trade union movement
in Indonesia. This would have much quicker effects. Finally, in
order to obtain the participation of the Indonesian workers, the
objective needs to be not merely forcing the Indonesian military
to withdraw from East Timor (though this is obviously part of it),
but rather the downfall of the entire military-dominated regime in
Indonesia.
By acting as a class, the workers of the world can isolate and bring
down this bunch of blood-soaked tyrants. Together, we can free East
Timor and Indonesia as well - and start to free ourselves.
Ablokeimet
9 September 1999
http://www.users.bigpond.com/Takver/soapbox/etworker.htm
--
Takver
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