http://www.getup.org.au/minersmediaplan

You simply have to see this video to believe it.

A slight inaccuracy.The two pieces of equipment handed over were receivers, not transmitters. One had been modified by Andrew in order to transmit but was not used when the Codans were obtained. My Transmitter that was used as a ‘public radio’ giving access to media and politicians is currently on loan to the Maritime Museum in Sydney. I don’t know what became of the one that was used ‘underground’ after the link was shut down by Cosmos when it was learned Alarico had surrendered.
I think it was appropriate to present them to a Fretilin Congress. I am sure Fretilin will place them appropriately in a permanent home.

A Luta Continua

Regards

Brian

I personally think that it would have been preferable for the radios that were presented to FRETILIN at its Congress by Australian solidarity activists to have been presented to the T-L Parliament or FALINTIL veterans as not all the key leaders of the resistance were members of FRETILIN, but most were.

Anyway, I am including this letter to encourage further discussion about the history of the East Timorese resistance from those involved with East Timor solidarity over the past 36 years.

Regards

Andy

—– Original Message —–
From: andyalcock
To: Jack Humphrys ; FILEF (Frank Barbaro) ; Don Jarrett
Sent: Monday, January 02, 2012 3:31 PM
Subject: RE: LETTER TO THE EDITORIAL SUB COMMITTEE – RESISTANCE RADIOS FOR T-L

The Editorial Sub Committee
Australian Options
PO Box 431
GOODWOOD SA 5034

Dear Comrades

RE: LETTER TO THE EDITORIAL SUB COMMITTEE – RESISTANCE RADIOS FOR T-L

I have just been reading the latest excellent edition of Australian Options (Summer 2011/2012) as part of my homework on current international social justice, economic, environmental and political issues.

As someone who has been involved in East Timor solidarity since 1975, I was particularly interested in Chris White’s report on Timor-Leste which touches on several key
crucial issues facing this tiny nation based on two visits he made there in 2011.

Chris, as many may know, is a patron of the Australia East Timor Friendship Association SA. He was given this award because of his many years of advocating for an independent East Timor within the union movement over many years.

I was very impressed with the important role that Cuba has played in assisting T-L in the area of health , the training of doctors and literacy programs. Cuba’s magnificent contribution to the development process in T-L is inspirational – especially given that Cuba itself is not a wealthy nation.

Chris’s report included a reference to the hand-over by Australian visitors to the 2011 FRETILIN Congress of two historic radios that were used by solidarity activists to
maintain links with the East Timorese resistance during the early years of Indonesian occupation. This fact caught my eye because in the late 1970s, I had purchased
two of the radios that were used.

Denis Freney, who pioneered the original CIET solidarity groups around Australia and edited the East Timor News, also did much of the behind the scenes work to coordinate the radio link. Brian Manning did a great amount of work on the ground in the NT to keep the radio contact going and also had a radio receiver erected in his backyard.

I remember Denis, Joe Palmada and I having a clandestine meeting in Sydney in 1977 during which I was given the task of purchasing a radio and of recruiting two South Australian activists to work on the radios in the bush outside of Darwin. The two were John Wishart and Dave Arkins, both of whom would be well known to AO readers. They made a very valuable contribution for a period of several months each, living frugally in the bush with little human contact.

To fully appreciate some of the background to this story, it is important to be aware of various phases that the resistance went through during the years of occupation. First, the resistance only consisted of members of the Revolutionary Front for the Independence of East Timor (FRETILIN), the one political party formed in 1974 that demanded fairly quick independence from Portugal.

In 1987, the leadership, realising that there were growing numbers of non FRETILIN members actively involved in the resistance and to maintain unity, established the Council of National Maubere Resistance (CNRM). The Armed Forces for the Liberation of East Timor (FALINTIL) became the non party independent resistance army and FRETILIN and UDT were the two political parties under the CNRM umbrella.

In 1997, the CNRM became the Council of National Timorese Resistance (CNRT).

It is to be hoped that now FRETILIN has received these radios, that it will hand them over to T-L’s Museum of the National Resistance in Díli, to sit alongside the many other important artifacts that were significant in T-L’s struggle for independence. They should be considered to be the property of all the people of T-L, especially those who are veterans of the resistance whether they are currently members of FRETILIN or not.

It must be remembered that Xanana Gusmao, who is T-L’s current PM and who was the commander in chief of the resistance for about 14 years of the 24 year occupation, was also the leader of FRETILIN for many years as well.

Agio Pereira, a member of the National Political Commission of the CNRT (Council of National Timorese Reconstruction), who was formerly the representative for FRETILIN and later, the CNRM in Australia, has informed me that this Museum is now an attraction for many visitors who were involved in the solidarity movement and who want to know more about the wider history of the resistance.

It is therefore a very appropriate home for these historic radios.

Viva T-L!

Andrew (Andy) Alcock

Information Officer
Australia East Timor Friendship Association (SA) Inc

red ink

capital in few hands
darkens the human soul.

resources out on the periphery
feeds an insatiable centre.

should people take the next step
& revolutionize a social continuum?

and use red ink to write,
paint & think.

We pay University professors a lot more than a primary teacher…. for good reasons. Incentive, responsibility, and impact. Yet with the Union focus mainly on big industries which cannot outsource their work to China…the whole patter of social structure is being challenged. The new ‘upper class’ are the highly paid electricians.. union leaders, plumbers and other tradies.
How does this impact the cost of living for the widow, the home buyer and the true battler? VERY MUCH! The cost of houses, the cost of goods sold..food.. all can be traced back to the cost of buildings and capital outlay etc.. maintainance contracts hammered out by thugs like Dean Mighell can keep business costs through the roof..and who pays for that ? ultimately it’s the people like my wife who is a true battler at $16,00 an hour… If she and her fellow workers went on strike for more pay…it would be microseconds after that where the company made the decision to re-locate to China… she would be out of a job… we could not pay our mortgage and we would be out on the street.

Once electricians gain ‘super profit’ pay, others will want it too… plumbers, carpenters, laborers etc… and you are definitely ‘redistributing wealth’… but it’s the very limited wealth of the true battlers going to feather the nests of the new capitalists…the electricians and tradies.
It’s a disgrace…and if you think the employers are becoming more militant?? I think you’ve not seen anything yet, but perhaps soon.
I would welcome a rational debate on this subject and feel free to respond with counter argument….no slogans please
Julian