The suppression of West Papuan Independence 
and the atrocities carried out
--we happen to be right now at the 
15th anniversary of one of the massacres.
The support for it--
the robbery of resources, 
the support for it by 
Australia and Western Powers
--is a major scandal now for 60 years.
It didn't have much to do with the Cold War. 
I mean the Cold War is always a pretext 
for everything that happened, 
but it would have been pretty much 
the same if Russia didn't exist. 
It [Russia] was devastated, 
demolished. 
Politics really has yet to 
recover in any serious way.
I'm sure that West Papua, 
and East Timor, 
the other case that falls right 
within that, [involved] no Russians. 
It's being replayed over and 
over right now in fact.
Unfortunately, what will happen 
to the actual populations, 
their culture and their society, 
under this very severe repression 
with corporate support, 
mining, Western support and so on: 
the prospects aren't very bright, 
but you really can't tell. 
Take East Timor, a close analogue. 
What happened there? 
What happened by the late 70s
--it was virtual genocide. 
They maybe killed a quarter 
of the population. 
It looked totally hopeless.
You could fit into this room
the number of activists 
who were working on it.
I could name them for you, practically, 
in Australia and here.
It just looked hopeless. 
Well, it took a long time.
Finally, in 1999, 
there was another outburst 
of Indonesian violence and repression. 
They practically destroyed 
the capital city. 
They drove 200,000 
people into the hills. 
The US continued to support them. 
The national security advisor 
for Clinton, Sandy Berger, 
said it's not our affair if people carry
out massacres and slaughter. 
We can't do anything about it. 
We've got to continue 
to support Indonesia. 
US military forces were carrying 
out joint operations 
with the Indonesian army 
after all of this happened. 
Finally, on September 11th., 
Clinton was at an 
international conference. 
There was a lot of  international
protest at that time. 
There was also rising 
domestic protest. 
Partly, it was the 
activist movements 
that had been working 
for decades. 
Partly, it was far-right 
Catholic groups. 
East Timor was Catholic and 
Indonesia is Muslim, 
so that... it’s a complicated story. 
I can't go into the details. 
It was possible to get influential 
far-right Catholic groups 
to put pressure on 
the government. 
Now all of these 
factors combined. 
Clinton informed the Indonesian 
generals the game is over. 
A couple of sentences. 
The next day they withdrew. 
It could have happened for 25 years.
After they withdrew, 
a UN peace-keeping force, 
Australian, entered, which 
was a good thing. 
Take a look at how that's 
handled in history. 
That's handled as a great case 
of humanitarian intervention. 
What it really was was 
an extraordinary scandal. 
For 25 years the US continues 
to support the crimes, 
atrocities, the virtual genocide. 
They could have stopped 
it in one minute. 
You don't have to invade anyone. 
You don't need sanctions. 
You don't need threats. 
Just stop supporting it, 
and it's over. 
That's what the record shows. 
And that's called humanitarian intervention. 
That's a pretty striking story 
about intellectual culture. 
Let's turn to West Papua. 
It could be the same. 
I think West Papuan resistance 
stands with other 
cases of resistance 
to massive terror and oppression 
as a symbol, 
an inspiring symbol 
of what humans can accomplish. 
And it may yet succeed. 
If the West is 
willing to face up 
to its own responsibilities 
and actions, 
it can succeed.
