Also posted on the new Evatt website
http://evatt.org.au/news/reviving-strike.html

joe hill

Review by Chris White (appears in Options 66)

In this era of the new world capitalist system crisis, Hobsbawm’s sparkling style and incisive analysis in ‘How to Change the World’ shows that Marx is still a thinker for this century and for mobilising social forces.

Hobsbawm, the 94-year-old author of 16 books, tells of the specific interest in Marx and Engels-Marxism in the historical context and in the development of ideas.

On the cover is Che as well as a Soviet marching image.

Hobsbawm’s essays can be studied separately for appreciating the impact of Marx from the 1840’s, with the Communist Manifesto to Capital and through the last century – and seeing why again people are taking Marx seriously.

The essays go from chapter one on the relevance of Marx today to chapter 16 on the history of the labour movement, mainly European since the 1890’s, called ‘Marx and Labour: the Long Century’.

Finding out more about Marx and Engels and their writings and politics ranges from Engels’ ‘The Conditions of the Working Class in England’ to why Marx’s ‘Grundrisse’ is his ‘thought at its richest’.

Hobsbawm writes at times provocatively on pre-Marxist socialism and on ‘Marx on pre-Capitalist Formations’.

His sweep covers Marxism from 1880 to 1914 and the Victorian critics of that era; the era of anti-fascism; a new essay on the significance of Gramsci’s contribution to political analysis; essays on the ‘Influence of Marxism 1945-1983’; and Marxism in recession 1983-2000 and up until today.

In the 60’s and 70’s, as radical University students and later militant unionists, we were introduced to the young Marx, then moved onto Marx’s economic writings and his analysis of capital’s drive for accumulation and then crisis.

With today’s international class struggles deepening, the 1848 cry of ‘Workers of the World, Unite’ does seem to have renewed meaning.

One chapter in the book focuses on Gramsci and I found this particularly pertinent.

We became Gramsci followers in the 1970’s and began waging counter-hegemonic political struggle, working for change. We read Gramsci on ‘works councils’, which is not discussed in Hobsbawm’s essay. Rather, Hobsbawm focuses on Gramsci’s contribution to Marxism’s political theory. The specific historical context is WW1 and the 1920’s and then Gramsci as the leader of the Italian Communist Party.

Gramsci, says Hobsbawm, was on ‘about two different sets of political problems: strategy and the nature of socialist societies’ (p320).

As a ‘political theorist, he regards politics as an “autonomous activity”. Politics for him is the core not only of the strategy of winning socialism, but of socialism itself’ (p321).

It is the centred human activity, the means by which the single consciousness is brought into contact with the social and natural world in all its forms’ (Gramsci, Prison Notebooks).

Gramsci’s notion of ‘hegemony’ is well-known, showing how the ruling class derives authority by consent of the citizens.

Hegemony is the political ideology and moral leadership by the ruling elite factions, accepted into the dominant culture. Capitalist hegemony is achieved by conscious political action and organisation by capitalist interests with the State.

For Gramsci socialism is not just socialisation in the economic sense but in the political and sociological sense.

As Hobsbawm says, it is: ‘what has been called the process of forming habits in collective man which will make social behaviour automatic, and eliminate the need for an external apparatus to impose norms; automatic but also conscious’ (p322).

The strategic challenge is to work out how the working class, which is at present ‘subaltern’, may be able to become politically hegemonic. How are we to have the subaltern working class capable of hegemony, ‘believe in itself as a potential ruling class and be credible…?’ (p324).

Political action is praxis – theory and practice. As Hobsbawm writes ‘understanding the world and changing it are one’ (p322).

Gramsci saw the role of the party – the modern Prince – as a source of strength in a permanent organised working class mass movement. The organic relationships between the working class party and the working class is critical; as is the role of intellectuals (p328).

Workers often are not struggling as a class, so Gramsci started with considering the state of organisation, not with a notional class fight. He avoided the constant mobilising of small left groups rather than the building of the mass workers’ movement. It should not just be a war of position.

Hobsbawm, as a quality historian of Europe, a British Communist Party player and in his life stories, provides political debate in his tales of Marx and Marxism. Get this as hardback for your libraries and for yourself the paperback.

Elliott Johnston has passed away. He is a working class hero.I was not able to attend the public celebration of his life in Elder Hall, Adelaide.

You can get some idea of Elliott Johnston for those who did not know him in this
book just published, ‘Red Silk’ by Penelope Debelle (Wakefield Press 2011).

‘Elliott and Elizabeth Johnston became Communists in 1941 and he resigned only
to join the South Australian Supreme Court Bench.

His appointment as Queen’s Counsel by the Dunstan Government – after his
controversial rejection by the former government of Steele Hall – was the
highest public office attained by a Communist in Australia.

In 1991 he made his national mark as head of the Royal Commission into
Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

From extensive discussions with Elliott Johnston and access to his private
papers and documents, Penelope Debelle has compiled the biography of a committed
intellectual who studied at Chairman Mao’s international Communist school,
visited Soviet Russia before and after the fall of Stalin, and sat a few feet
from Pablo Picasso at the 1950 Peace Congress in Warsaw.

As the dream of Communism faded, Elliott held onto his faith.

He used the law to improve the rights of injured workers by pursuing compensation cases through the courts, setting new standards for employer responsibility and winning the
respect of the profession as an outstanding criminal lawyer.

From extracts in the Introduction.
‘On any view, Elliot was and is a complex character: a lifetime Communist, but
not an ideologue; a critical thinker who, at times, was naively optimistic about
the political cause he espoused, a person who believed that there could and
should be a better political system, but who was prepared to work within the
current system and, even, accept some of its privileges and honours.

Above all, however, he believed in equal justice.

That belief sustained his professional life and, perhaps, goes some way to
explaining his political beliefs.

This book is not simply an account of Elliott Johnston, the lawyer. It is also an account of a student radical who, even then,
would put his belief in freedom of thought and speech above his personal interests, a Communist warrior whose ideas and principles
were not well understood even by his comrades.

It is the story of a husband separated from his young wife, Elizabeth, during the
Second World War and later while he was a student in China, a wife whose beliefs, integrity and industry matched his own and
with whom he had a long and loving relationship.

The backdrop to all of this is a fascinating picture of Adelaide life and society,
particularly student life in the late 1930s when Elliott’s fellow students included Max Harris and others associated with the Angry
Penguins, as well as Fin Crisp who, with Elliott’s help, founded the National Union of Australian University Students. Equally fasci-
nating is the account of the privileged circumstances of Elizabeth’s
family, the Teesdale Smiths.

What comes through this account of Elliott Johnston’s life is his complete and unswerving commitment to improving the lives
of others, both by political means and practical assistance. This
practical assistance was not confined to his work as a lawyer.

For example, when stationed in New Guinea during the Second World War, Elliott ran literacy classes to help other soldiers write letters home.

However, it was as a practising lawyer that this aspect of his character came to the fore, fighting workplace injury cases and
representing ordinary men and women whose ability to pay his legal fees was never an issue.

He also appeared in complex criminal
cases, both for the defence and the prosecution. Elliott was a skilled
advocate and his courtesy and charm won him many friends and
admirers within the legal profession. One such admirer was Chief Justice Bray, who provoked considerable controversy when he nominated Elliott for silk in 1969.

The controversy surrounding the appointment of a member of the Communist Party as Queen’s Counsel delayed Elliott’s appointment until 1970, when he became Australia’s first Communist silk – the ‘Red Silk’.

He remained an active member of the Communist Party until his appointment to the
Supreme Court of South Australia in 1983 – the first openly avowed Communist to be
appointed to a superior Court in Australia.

Being ‘a first’ of anything nearly always involves difficulties,
especially in the Law, which remains an essentially conservative
profession, and was even more so in the 1970s and 1980s.

At the very least, being ‘a first’ usually involves a higher level of scrutiny
than would otherwise be the case.

Elliott seems not to have been confronted with many difficulties, either as the
first Communist Queen’s Counsel or as the first avowed Communist appointed to
the Supreme Court of South Australia.

Perhaps, in part, that was because of his social connections through Prince
Alfred College and the Teesdale Smiths. Certainly, it was partly due to his
courtesy, charm, integrity and professionalism. It was also due in part to the
South Australian legal profession, which boasted a progressive, independent and
outstanding Chief Justice in the person of Sir John Bray and which produced
Australia’s first female Queen’s Counsel in the person of Roma Mitchell, who
later became the first woman to be appointed to an Australian Supreme Court.
Certainly, I have always found the South Australian legal profession to be
open-minded, progressive and tolerant. I suspect Elliott’s professional life
might have been more difficult and more controversial in any other state.

Elliott’s commitment to equal justice has been and continues to be an inspiration to many, including those who had the privilege
of working with him before his appointment to the Bench.

That commitment underscores his work on the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody following his retirement from the
Supreme Court. His commitment to equal justice for Indigenous Australians has a long history, including as first Chairperson of
the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement.

Despite Elliott’s work on the Royal Commission, equal justice remains elusive
for many Indigenous Australians.

It is to be hoped that, sooner rather than
later, the recommendations of the Royal Commission become established both in
law and in fact. That would be a fitting tribute to the work of Elliott
Johnston, a good man and a great Australian.’
by Mary Gaudron.

Red Silk places on record Elliott’s personal involvement in international events that took place more than half a century ago. The
Depression shaped his Communism but he was equally committed to the great cause of peace. His presence at the 1950 Peace Congress
in Sheffield, which moved to Warsaw after the Attlee Government
prevented some delegates from entering the country, place him in
an incredible moment in world history. Pablo Picasso was there, and Elliott sat a few feet from him. He returned from Warsaw through
Stalinist Russia at the invitation of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Five years later he went to the People’s Republic of China for 18 months to study Communism as a guest of Chairman
Mao Tse-tung, returning again through Russia.

Elliott’s personal recollections, combined with the historical record, memoirs and
reports from the time, provided the basis for writing about these
events.
(I am indebted, with a healthy dose of irony, to ASIO for their diligence in bringing to my attention articles from sources as
diverse as On Dit and Truth.)

Elliott’s commitment to Communism ran parallel to his practice of the law. For many people their co-existence in one man was at
best perplexing, at worst something to be feared.

Even those close to Elliott were not entirely sure how a man of such
intelligence could remain a follower of Communism after the horrors committed in
its name. I was unsure how the two could be reconciled. Part of the book’s
purpose, then, was to make sense of a life that seemed riven by fundamental
contradictions. ‘

Early’s book is essential reading for Australian unionists, particularly
those , like myself, who pushed for union restructuring and organising works and follow the SEIU.This is keenly debated by US unions.

‘Between 2008 and 2010, the progressive wing of the U.S. labor movement tore itself apart in a series of internecine struggles.

More than $140 million was expended, by all sides, on organizing conflicts that tarnished union reputations and undermined the campaign for real health care and labor law reform. Campus and community allies, along with many rank-and-file union members, were left angered and dismayed.

In this incisive new book, labor journalist Steve Early draws on scores of interviews and on his own union organizing experience to explain why and how these labor civil wars occurred.

He examines the bitter disputes about union structure, membership rights, organizing strategy, and contract standards that enveloped SEIU, UNITE HERE, the California Nurses Association, and independent organizations like the Federación de Maestros de Puerto Rico and the new National Union of Healthcare Workers in California. Along the way, we meet rank-and-file activists, local union officers, national leaders, and concerned friends of labor who were drawn into the fray.

Bulk discounts available for union locals; contact jim@haymarketbooks.org for details.
About the author

Steve Early is a contributor on labor issues for diverse publications from The Nation to The New York Times, and is the author of Embedded with Organized Labor. He lives in Arlington, Massachusetts.

Reviews

“Steve Early has long been a voice of distinctive clarity, honesty and intellectual seriousness in and about the labor movement.”—Adolph Reed, Jr., professor of political science, University of Pennsylvania

“Early’s account of how and why labor law reform has been stalled for the third time in the last 32 years should be required reading for all workers’ rights advocates.”—U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

“ Civil Wars in U.S. Labor critiques a union culture that privileges control over the practice of democracy. With an honest eye, the author adds an essential chapter to the long history of rank-and-file efforts to keep unionism vibrant and engaged… compelling reading.”—Vanessa Tait, author, Poor Workers’ Unions

“Civil Wars is as lively as it is detailed… [providing] insights into just what the labor movement can become when democracy takes hold and members get active. It will infuriate some, but inspire many more to build and transform their unions.”—Kim Moody, author, U.S. Labor in Trouble and Transition

“…essential reading for those interested in understanding how difficult it is for young organizers to change the U.S. labor movement for the better. The book, released this month, focuses on a generation of campus radicals who entered the labor movement in the late ’60s and early ’70s (in part) to make it more democratic.” —Mike Elk, In These Times

“Steve Early is not just another scholar situated outside the labor movement. For more than thirty-five years, he helped do the hard work of organizing and collective bargaining. His latest book confirms that there is no one with a better understanding of contemporary union problems.

When he warns about the dangers of undemocratic practices, sweetheart deals with employers, and over reliance on the Democratic Party, we had better listen.”—Michael Yates, author, Why Unions Matter

Visiting professor,
School of Social Sciences, Media and Communication, University of Wollongong.

In 2007 Joel Klein, chancellor of New York City schools outlined to an overflow meeting of parents his plans to restructure New York schools in the form of businesses.

Nation magazine reported: “In the calculus of the moment, each of the city’s 1,450 schools is considered an independent franchise. Like a bank outlet or a RadioShack store, any given school is a “key unit” in Klein’s new Department of Education.

Schools are headed by branch managers, or principals, whose jobs have been reconfigured as CEOs rather than as educators. Principals are expected to contract out for nearly every core service, from testing to professional development to their own support team. Quarterly returns flow out in the form of tests four times a year. Schools must compete with one another, at their peril. The lowest performers on the bell curve may be sanctioned or shut down.” [1]

Such a bizarre vision for schools might seem to be an outcome of the idiosyncratic thinking of a former businessman turned school chancellor.

However the fact that the very same ‘reforms’ have been sweeping the English speaking world for the past three decades points to a broader agenda; one that goes beyond individuals, beyond regional education bureaucracies, and beyond national governments.

It is an agenda pushed by transnational corporations around the world and one that Australian governments have embraced.

Most recently the federal education minister, Julia Gillard, has been championing Klein’s methods for emulation by Australian schools.

These business-driven school ‘reforms’ have been helped along by a series of media-manufactured education ‘crises’ in North America, the UK and Australasia beginning in the 1980s and continuing to this day. Declining international competitiveness and increasing unemployment have been blamed on schools, in particular the failure of public schools to produce literate and numerate employees for the workforce.

Educational funding shifted from being an investment in the nation’s future to an expense that needed to be justified, rationalised and reduced.

In Australia, payments from the federal government to the states fell and state tax revenues declined in the early 1990s. As a result state governments cut educational expenditure, hundreds of public schools were closed and “over 8000 teaching position were designated in excess of need”.[2] Public spending on school education declined from 5.9 per cent of GDP in the mid 1970s to 2.7 per cent of GDP at the turn of the century, despite the desire of a vast majority of voters that more be spent on schools.[3] As a result class sizes increased, school facilities deteriorated, teachers and students were demoralised.

Governments which cut school funding were naturally subject to criticism that they were harming the quality of education.

With the help of government and corporate-funded think tank research the view that what matters is outcomes and that these do not depend on the resources available came to dominate government policy circles in all English-speaking nations. Instead of increasing school resources and interpreting accountability in terms of how funds were spent and what practices were adopted, the emphasis shifted to evaluating student performance without reference to funding inputs.

The need to shift responsibility for performance outcomes from government funding to school management and teaching staff led to the restructuring of the school system, in English speaking nations, so that budgetary and administrative management devolved to schools. Following lobbying by the Business Council of Australia, schools in most states were given responsibility for school budgets. Principals were refashioned as corporate managers and school councils took on management responsibilities.

Individual public schools are now responsible for turning out highly skilled students despite declining resources. More budgetary control does not mean more resources. Yet failure to meet centrally-determined quality objectives is blamed on poor school management and poor quality teaching rather than a lack of resources and funding.

The new emphasis is to educate as many children as possible for the least investment and to do this schools have been encouraged to view themselves as businesses. School principals are now managers and entrepreneurs, teachers are workers, parents are clients or customers, and students are the product.

It is not enough for schools to be managed like businesses but business reformers also want them to behave like businesses and compete in an educational marketplace for students. Various Australian states have restructured schools to introduce competition.

In Victoria, where ‘reforms’ were the most radical, schools were dezoned during the 1990s and their funding became dependent on enrolments. The conservative Kennett government sought “to reconstruct the public school system as a market of competing firms”.[4]

The right of every child to a high quality education is being replaced by the right of every parent to choose the school their child attends. Education, once a public good and a human right, is becoming a commodity and parental participation in school education has been reduced to consumer choice.

Because businesses depend on quantitative measures they insist schools rely on them also. And in a devolved school system, measurable outcomes are necessary to maintain control of what is happening out in the branches. In this way, test results have become the main way of making schools accountable. For test results to be used as a way of comparing schools, children have to sit the same tests, which means they must have a shared curriculum on which to be tested. A key element of accountability is therefore central control of a standardised curriculum to enable standardised testing.

This form of accountability has meant that education department bureaucrats around the world do not have to judge teaching methods, which would require educational professionals in senior positions, but instead judge outcomes in terms of aggregated scores in tests, sometimes supplemented by other measures such as absentee data and retention data. Test results allow schools to be compared if you ignore the fact that test results more often reflect the resources the school receives and the socio-economic background of their students, than the educational qualities of a school.

To ensure that the standardised tests are taken seriously, even though they have little educational value, educational authorities have attached various rewards and punishments to performance in them, including merit pay for teachers and bonuses for schools where students perform well. Attaching these ‘high stakes’ to test results is also a way to ensure that schools teach to the curriculum. The publication of school league tables in the UK has increased the pressure on teachers to ‘teach to the test’.

Businesses benefit from reduced spending on schools in terms of reduced taxes as well as the increased access to schools it gives them, under the guise of philanthropy. Schools hungry for funds are more receptive to advertising, marketing, sponsorship, and industry-sponsored classroom materials promoting corporate views and values.

Business leaders are, however, primarily concerned about the work readiness of school graduates and they have campaigned for standardised testing in the belief that it will force schools to focus on basic skills such as reading, writing and mathematics, the subjects that are tested.

Because many business leaders do not understand education they think that learning is simply a matter of students and teachers spending more time and expending more effort. High stakes standardised testing is supposed to provide the rewards and punishments to ensure that students work long and hard on a core curriculum and teachers stick to that curriculum. What business doesn’t want is a curriculum packed with electives irrelevant to the workplace, or worse still subjects that expose children to differing views and values and that promote critical thinking.

This Little Kiddy Went to Market exposes the corporate campaign behind the school reforms, as well as the consequences for students, teachers and the broader society.

It also investigates other ways in which corporations are seeking to shape children to suit business goals.

The book examines the way that corporations are targeting ever younger children with a barrage of advertising and marketing designed to turn them into hyper-consumers who define themselves by what they have rather than who they are.

They have transformed children’s play into a commercial opportunity, preyed on and taken advantage of childish anxieties and insecurities, and reshaped their very identities.

The book also shows how corporations are trying to undermine the whole notion of public schooling with its inherent notions of entitlement, equity and public good. In the US and the UK corporations are already profiting handsomely from the increasing privatisation of educational services.

It is little wonder that so many children grow into youths who are unhappy, stressed, fat, delinquent, or self-destructive, given that corporate messages encourage them to seek happiness in possessions, treat relationships as a means to an end, and incessantly compete with each other. One in ten 13–19 year old Australians reported having mental or behavioural problems.[5] Yet this merely provides an opportunity for pharmaceutical companies to nurture a rapidly expanding child and adolescent market for psychiatric drugs. Psychiatry is now routinely used to discipline naughtiness and inattention, to modify excesses of spontaneity and creativity, and to control mood variation in children.

Sharon Beder’s new book “This Little Kiddy Went to Market: The Corporate Capture of Childhood”, written with Wendy Varney and Richard Gosden, was published in Australia in July by UNSW Press.
References

Lynell Hancock, ‘School’s Out’, Nation, 9 July, 2007, pp. 16-17.
Terri Seddon et al., ‘Remaking Public Education: After a Nation-Building State Changes Its Mind’, in Alan Reid (ed) Going Public: Education Policy and Public Education in Australia, Canberra, Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA), 1998, p77.
Linda Doherty, ‘Affordable Learning Top of Wish List’, Sydney Morning Herald, 31 July, 2004, p10; Vicky Ziegelaar, ‘Public Education: Prince or Pauper’, Australian Education Union, 16 February, 2001.
Raewyn Connell, ‘The New Right Triumphant: The Privatization Agenda and Public Education in Australia’, Our Schools, Our Selves 15(3), 2006, p. 145.
‘Making Progress: The Health, Development and Wellbeing of Australia’s Children and Young People’, Canberra, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2008, pp. 29-30.

Originally posted and Reprinted from Australian Options, Issue 58, Spring 2009, pp. 8-10.

Reviewer: Andy Alcock
Australia East Timor Friendship Association SA Inc

As a person who has been involved in the solidarity movement for East Timor since the middle of 1975, I was very excited to learn that Sara Niner had written a book about Jose Alexandre Gusmao or Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, the key leader of East Timor’s struggle for independence.

Many might say that there is already a plethora of books on East Timor and ask why is another one necessary? I feel that this book is different because it gets into the mind of the subject
and his views on the important historical events on the road to independence.

Dr Sara Niner has good credentials for writing such a book. She had edited Xanana’s book “To Resist is to Win”.

[I had the good fortune meet her at the Adelaide Writers' Week in 2000 during the book's launch there. I might say that she was kind enough to give me a copy for which I was very grateful]

Further, she was able to exchange letters with Xanana between 1997 – 1999 and then had a series of meetings with him in 1999 at the Salemba prison house that he was transferred to by the Indonesian authorities after about 7 years in Jakarta’s Cipinang Prison. These meetings were facilitated by Kirsty Sword who later became Xanana’s wife. She also had access to documents
from the East Timor News Agency which was headed up by Dennis Freney after the murder of Roger East by the Indonesians.

I think that Sara Niner has written a remarkable book about a very remarkable and courageous political leader. It traces his life from his birth until the time he became, first the President and then the Prime Minister of of an independent Timor Leste (TL). It also outlines his initial first involvement in the East Timorese independence movement through to the time he became its supreme commander and his days in prison after his capture in 1992.

The book gives a brief historical background to East Timor including the last days of Portugal’s colonial rule and Xanana’s family.

It tells how the young Xanana was not originally interested in politics, but became more interested as FRETILIN established some of its early social programs.
He was a public servant working in the Department of Finance (1971 – 74), but then decided to become a manual worker. His first political action was to lead fellow workers in a strike for improved pay. He was initially very reluctant to get involved in politics, but said that was FRETILIN who taught him to love his country and to serve its people.

On 28 November 1975, following the FRETILIN defeat of UDT forces during the brief civil war between August and September 1975 and the early Indonesian incursions during October and
November, when the FRETILIN leadership could see Indonesia’s full-scale invasion looming, it declared independence and the foundation of the Democratic Republic of East Timor (RDTL).

Xanana was not directly involved in the event, but took photographs of the proceedings.

Most of Niner’s book deals with Xanana’s role during the years of illegal Indonesian occupation.

In November 1978, Nicolau Lobato, the then popular leader of East Timor’s resistance was captured and shot by the Indonesian military (ABRI). After 3 years of war, 140,000 civilians were
encircled around Mt Matebian and the ABRI was in its final stage of its encirclement and annhilation campaign. By this time, Xanana had become politically responsible for the eastern zone
for the resistance.

The author describes the years between 1979 and 1981 as the long walk. By this time, the resistance was in the doldrums and Xanana moved from place to place in the eastern region of ET to meet resistance fighters to organise their efforts.

In doing so, he had to dodge ABRI units and attack them when he could. The guerilla fighters faced great hardships at this stage; they were
short of food and medicines and were affected by heavy rains and the tropical heat.

Many readers may find it difficulty following the movements of Xanana in this part of the book, but Niner provides some detailed maps which assist greatly to understand his constant
movements. This historical period of the independence struggle shows the determination and courage of Xanana. During this time, he was very sick. He suffered from malaria, chronic kidney problems and exhaustion, but whever he went ordinary East Timorese urged him to carry on the fight.

In March 1981, a national conference of the resistance was held at Maibai and Xanana, then almost 35, was unanimously chosen as leader . This meeting also established the National Council
of Revolutionary Resistance (Conselho da Resistencia Revolucionario Nacional or CRRN) and FRETILIN . This event was extremely important as it caused a revival in TL resistance.

The Indonesians responded with their Fence of Legs Operation (Pagar Betis – Operasi Kikis). Ten thousand ABRI personnel mobilised approximately 80,000 East Timorese males and forced them
to march in front of armed soldiers in two long lines – one from the west and the other from the east that moved towards each other in the centre of the terroitory. The aim was to flush out resistance fighterswhere March 1981 and finished with the massacre at Lacluta of 400 – 500 people including women and children. Many elderly men died as a result of the great physical demands put on them,
but the Fence of Legs also led to famine because it occurred at a time when rice should have been planted.

In October 1982, Xanana held a meeting with Mgr Martinho Lopes, the head of the Catholic Church in Timor. Xanana realised the importance of the church in providing support for the people and he
knew that Lopes was in a very precarious position in relation to ABRI as he was watched very closely. Elaborate security measures had to be made to bring the meeting about. Lopes was a supporter
of the resistance and managed to get much of its documents out of the country when he went abroad.

Up until that time, the FRETILIN leadership viewed their organisation as a Marxist Leninist one. Xanana increasingly saw that it was vital to keep the resistance as broad as possibe. Along with other
key leaders, he also saw the need to make changes to broaden the political support around the world.

This and the later changes in the structure of the resistance brought him into conflict with the FRETILIN hardliners and this has had political implications for cooperation between FRETILIN and the current
TL leadership. Sadly, this has also caused some problems with many in the Australian left who felt that FRETILIN was the vanguard party and that this should not have changed. I consider this very sad
because originally, it was largely the left in Australia was the main support for the East Timorese independence cause.

Niner tells how Xanana used his early days of leadership to communicate with ordinary Timorese. Using dates of significance to the Timorese, he released his recorded thoughts on audio cassette tapes.This was a good medium as so namy of the people were illiterate. He used this approach to communicate to the outside world including the UN. He described the various massacres that had occurred and would sometimes vent his rage against the “bastard Indonesian killing machine”, the assassin Suharto, the leaders of the capitalist countries (eg Australia, the US and Japan) which
supported Indonesia along with Timorese who collaborated with Indonesia.

He frequently listened to Radio Australia and the BBC to keep up with latest world events – especially the voting at the UN on the Indonesian occupation of TL.

From late 1982, FALINTIL had a number of victories and this led to ABRI commanders wanting to speak with local resistance leaders. This led to a meeting between Xanana and the Indonesian
commander, Colonel Purwanto, the Indonesian commander, in March 1983 which led to a peace until August of that year was a pivotal time for the resistance as as it was able to broker a peace until August.

During the negotiations that occurred at this time, the CRRN made the following demands:

*unconditional witdrawal of the TNI

* the entry of a UN peace keeping force

* the holding of a free consultation with the people

* the maintenance of FALINTIL to protect the people

Purwanto, in response, offered an autonomy package which the CRRN refused accept

While the peace lasted, people were able to visit guerilla camps and amazingly, football and volleyball matches were held between FALINTIL & TNI personnel
The resistance were able to consolidate by forging links with Timorese in Indonesian paramilitary units (hansips)

General Benny Murdani, the architect of the invasion of the RDTL, disagreed with the peace and called for FALINTIL to surrender and the peace stopped after Murdani announced the beginning of
Operasi Persatuan, the stepping up of ABRI numbers and a massacre occurred at Kraras. He also removed Purwanto.

Purwanto has recently been in the news again when he publicly admitted that the TNI were responsible for the deaths of the Balibo 5.

After this, we see the resistance face many problems. They were survinving on meagre food supplies like pickled nuts and flour from the palm tree. They drank coffee and tuak (palm wine)
on special occasions. Medical treatment was very basic and Niner recounts a very gruesome story of the removal of one of Xanana’s teeth by a vet using a stick and a mallet!

By March 1984, civilian morale was declining and in the midddle of that year, Xanana delivered his “What is National Unity” message. He discussed what he saw with the problems of having a
party with narrow political objectives or a broad front movement. This so angered some of the regional resistance leaders had a meeting & refused to meet with him, saying he had been corrupted
during the 1983 ceasefire.

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev’s Perestroika had an effect on the situation in ET because it led to the demise of the Cold War and the loss of US patronage for Suharto. Also, Xanana received a radio transmitter secretly smuggled in from Darwin and this meant that he was able to be more effectivly in contact with the outside world.

Xanana felt that it was important that reconciliation be made with UDT and in March 1986 he resigned from FRETILIN & the CNT (Convergence of National Timorese) was signed between UDT & FRETILIN.

In April 1986, he had an important meeting with Bishop Carlos Belo. he saw the need to promote National Unity to bring together all the various groups that were part of the resistance to the occupation – including RENETIL (student resistance) OBJECTIL (organisation of Young Catholic Students in ET), FALANTIL, Fretilin & UDT

He also felt it necessary that FALANTIL should not be under the political leadership of FRETILIN and that the whole resistance should not continue to be an ML type organisation as before

Some FRETILIN members have never forgiven him for this as it meant lessening the influence of FRETILIN in the resistance, but on New Year’s Eve of 1988 the CNRM was formed
National Council of Maubere Resistance Maubere sons of East Timor to broaden East Timorese unity face the realities of the new world order

Jose Ramos Horta, TL’s current president, also resigned from FRETILIN as did some other key members of the resistance abroad.

The CNRM formulated a new peace plan, which comprosed 3 stages which they wanted to be overseen by the UN:

* witdrawal of the TNI

* the disarming of FALINTIL and East Timorese conscripts in the TNI’s hansips

* the reorganisation of the ET army under Portuguese command

Then there would be a decolonisation program with Portugal overseeing a government of National Unity.

At this time Xanana started to liaise with solidarity activists abroad and the clandestine, mass disobedience movement expanded.

During the 1989 Pope’s visit indicated the effect of the clandestine resistance when there was a demonstration at the end of the mass at Taci Tolu attended by a crowd of 100,000. There were many visitors from outside TL who witnessed the event, but an international audience could see that East Timorese were most unhappy with the Indonesian occupation on their TV screens. The venue for the mass was strategic; Taci Tolu has special significance to the Timorese
as it is the site of mass graves that were placed there by the TNI.

Frequently after a massacre, the TNI would immediately remove bodies and place them in mass graves. Many people still do not
know the whereabouts of their loved ones who were victims of TNI massacres.

It was probably the reason why the independence celebrations in 2002 were there as well.

ABC journalist Robert Domm’s visit in September 1990. The interview showed Gusmao in a positive light. Domme described him as a leader in touch with the world who was also dearly loved by those he commanded.

The leadership of the TNI were furious and a long military offensive led by Warouw followed. The TNI concentrated on the area where they thought the interview had taken place.

Xanana was nearly captured by Indonesian soldiers and several FALANTIL fighters lost their lives. He was able to move around including going to Dili where he met Bishop Belo, the new leader of the Catholic Church inTL.

In 1991 a Portuguese Parliamentary delegation was to visit TL. Constancio Pinto, a prominent member of RENETIL was preparing several displays of popular support for the Portuguese in
consultation with Xanana. A young Timorese fellow told me that RENETIL members were prepared to make many sacrifices to show the world what conditions were like in TL.However, the visit was cancelled by the TNI because they objected to the inclusion of an Australian journalist, Jill Jolliffe. Jill had been working in Lisbon for a number of years and had written an importany historic book
on Timor, East Timor: Nationalism and Colonialism. There was no way she would be allowed to enter East Timor. Mysteriously, the Portuguese demanded that if Jolliffe could not go, then the visit was off. This would have pleased the TNI generals greatly.

However, the killing of a young activist, Sebastio Gomez, in the Motael Church in Dili provided the spark that unleashed a critical event in the history of the occupation. The funeral procession
for Gomez became a protest march and as it approached the Santa Cruz Cemetry, Indonesian soldiers hiding in the Indonesian so-called Heroes Cemetry fired machine guns into the unarmed protestors.

The Santa Cruz Massacre accounted for 271 deaths, but in the weeks that followed, the TNI rounded up witnesses and murdered them. Thanks to the quick thinking and courage of
Max Stahl, a British film maker and Alan Nairn and Amy Goodman, 2 US journalists who witnessed the carnage, the world soon knew about this latest TNI outrage.

I think it is true to say that this event was a definite turning point in the international support for East Timor’s independence struggle. Christian churches, in particular supported the solidarity movement far more strongly after that.

Xanana was staying not far from the cemetry and heard the machine gun fire. The carnage filled Xanana with deep despair and he questioned the continuation of the struggle despite the fact that over the years he felt he had to show less emotion when confronted with such tragedies if he was to carry out his task effectively.

The FALANTIL supreme commander also expressed a great deal of anger that the Portuguese delegation was cancelled. To him, it seemed that Portuguese authorities wanted an excuse not to visit East Timor.

Niner does not mention the Missao Paz em Timor (the East Timor Peace Mission) of March 1992 which was an international protest against the Santa Cruz Massacre.This was financed by the Portuguese public and led by a Portuguese academic, Professor António Pinto Magalhães of the University of Operto.

I was fortunate to be invited to participate. I am sure this solidarity action was undertaken by Portuguese who were ashamed of their government’s lack of support for East Timor. A vehicle ferry with the ominous name of the Lusitania Expresso, was hired to take an international contingent including the media from many countries to ET to protest the Santa Cruz Massacre and to lay wreathes at the cemetry. The Indonesian Navy blocked the LE from reaching East Timor’s shores, but this event again further publicised the East Timorese struggle world-wide.

A former Portuguese president General Ramalho Eanes participated as did a number of prominent Australians – Senator Gordon McIntosh, Shirley Shackleton, Victorian MP Jean McLean, some trade unionists, solidarity activists.

When I first visited TL in 2000 to attend the Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor, I met many people who were grateful for this action because they said it made them realise that their struggle was not in vain.

Then Xanana’s whereabouts were detected by the TNI and he was captured. I remember this occasion well as CIET had its annual ET Independence dinner at which Robert Domm spoke.

During that weekend, ABC TV interviewed Robert in our loungeroom and filmed him while he tried to speak by phone to the officer in charge at the prison in Bali where he was being held.

The author describes Xanana’s life in Cipinang prison and how he was to meet many East Timorese and supporters of East Timorese independence from around the world including the Australia, Kirsty Sword , who did underground courier work for the Timorese resistance and who later was to become his wife.

Amongst those he met was Nelson Mandela (1997) who requested that Suharto set up a dinner meeting with Gusmao while he was visiting Indonesia. Suharto could hardly deny him this as Mandela was the undisputed of the Non Aligned Movement of nations a movement which grew out of the 1955 Afro Asia Conference in Bandung, which of course was hosted by President Sukarno, the man whom Suharto usurped in 1965.

Mandela indicated that he supported Timor’s independence struggle and advised Indonesia’s leaders to protect Xanana and release him. This was a very significant event which gave much prestige to the independence movement and Xanana, who was already being described as Asia’s Nelson Mandela.

This occurred just after Xanana had met with UN Envoy Jamsheed Marker and 8 months after Jose Ramos Horta and Bishop Carlos Belo received the Nobel Peace Priz. All of these events helped to legitimise Timor’s independence cause world-wide.

After Suharto’s fall during the 1998 the Asian financial crisis, B.J. Habibie became Indonesia’s third president. Indonesia by now was not in an economically good position to continue its costly war in TL. Xanana was involved in the move to have the independence referendum, but of course by then, other big players were involved and the referendum occurred in a very threatening climate for the Timorese people. The TNI had established a number of militias who were threatening, harassing and murdering those who wanted independence.

Western governments including Australia did nothing to halt the flow of arms destined for the militias that the TNI were bringing from West Timor across the border.

In February 1999, Xanana was moved to the Salemba prison house. Here, he had more freedom and from Niner’s description, the place appeared to become the home of a provisional Timorese government

He spent much of his time working on trying to get greater cooperation between the various East Timorese groups including UDT and FRETILIN. The CNRM became CNRT (the Council of National Timorese Resistance. he wrote much poetry and learned the art of painting while studying English and Indonesian and captaining the prison soccer team.

After Suhartos’ dictatorship crumbled in the wake of the 1998 Asian economic crisis, BJ Habibie became president. Then Xanana was even busier planning for the actions that the pro independence Timorese needed to take for the impening referendum sceduled for 30 August of the same year about their political future.

The result was that 78.5% of the population at home and abroad voted to be free of Indonesian rule. Thanks to the Indonesian and Australian governments, the referendum was carried out in the absence of a UN peace keeping force in a climate that was very menacing to the people and the UN officials and police who were meant to keep the peace. As we know, the TNI arranged for a further orgy of violence, death and destruction after the vote and Indonesian soldiers and militias killed up to 2000 more civilians, forced about 200,000 refugees across the border into West Timor and destroyed 70% of the tiny nation’s infrastructure. Some say it was as high as 80%

This led to a series of emergency meetings involving a number of world leaders including US president Clinton and Australian PM Howard. It resulted in UN military intervention led by Major General Peter Cosgrove that led to the retreat of the TNI from TL.

During this time, Xanana had to make some very heavy decisions. While the TNI and militia rampage was occurring, FALINTIL leaders wanted to allow their personnel to leave their bases and confront the TNI to protect the people. If this happened Xanana reasoned that it might stop a peacekeeping force from going to TL, so he ordered the resistance force to stay in their bases. FALINTIL did carry out this directive, but only after a very stormy phone call between Xanana and Taur Matan Ruak, the supreme commander of FALINTIL.

In early September 1999, Xanana was released from prison and was hosted at the British Embassy in Jakarta. The author describes his very exciting visits in October to Australia, Portugal and TL itself where he was re-united with many of the leaders, like Ramos Horta, whom he had not seen for 24 years.

On one very busy day in Melbourne, I attended 5 events in Melbourne where Xanana was the honoured guest and I was able to receive three of his famous hugs. I later met Xanana and Jose at the reception for the opening of the Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor in 2000 and received another one!

(I had also attended the 1996 APCET in 1996 in Kuala Lumpur. All of the delegates were arrested, detained and deported probably because of pressure being put on Malaysian PM, Dr Mahathir, by the Indonesian dictatorship.

The final part of the book looks at Xanana’s coping with the responsibility of leading one of the poorest nations in the world whose people were traumatised and whose infrastructure had been destroyed. After being President of the CNRT, he was elected the first president of an independent TL in 2001 and during the second elections of 2007, he was elected Prime Minister. Niner highlights some of the problems that he faced during the 10 years since the TNI departed from TL.
eg
the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CAVR); the differences that he had with former PM, Mari Alkitiri, and his government and the moves he made to replace him with Jose Ramos Horta; the events of 2006 that saw strife between some sections of the PNTL and the FDTL following the sacking of many FDTL personnel; the actions of former defence minister, Rogerio Lobato,
in arming two groups of civilians; the actions of Alfredo Reinado’s breakaway band and their wounding of Jose Ramos Horta and the attempted shooting of Xanana in 2008 before being killed by FDTL personnel and the anger of many Timorese that Xanana seems too readily to forgive those who committed the atrocious crimes in TL – both Indonesian war criminals and East Timorese militias and collaborators; .

I must admit that I recoiled in horror when I saw Xanana hug Subianto Prabowo, the former head of KOPASSUS, during a reconciliation meeting in Indonesia. This man was involved in the murder of Nicolau
Lobato, the Kraras and the Santa Cruz Massacres, the setting up of the militias and the befriending of the criminal militia leader, Eurico Guterres. Despite this, he was allowed to be a candidate in the last Indonesian presidential elections!

There are sure to be some who will say that the author is too soft on Xanana. She includes a quote from Constancio Pinto, the RENETIL leaderwho worked with him closely prior to the Santa Cruz Massacre. He said this of Xanana:

“Xanana is a great human being. He loves people. He’s really determined to fight for East Timor’s cause without any personal ambitions whatsoever. He is not vengeful…..
Sometimes he can be very funny; he always plays jokes on people. He would often tell jokes during lunch or dinner and he always kept everyone laughing.

He had lots of interesting stories about the guerillas and his childhood. One thing that I noticed about Xanana is that he loves children very much.He would always give special nicknames to babies who were born when he was in Dili. The names were always revolutionary ones such as Maubere…..

Xanana is a very brave person . He never gave any sign of being afraid”.

His sense of humour probably helped him to survive as he moved around the country as the leader of FALINTIL. Niner describes how a Chinese man used to carry Xanana in a box on the back of his truck. from place to place. On one occasion, Indonesian soldiers flagged down the Chinese man for a ride while Xanana was in the box!. Several of the soldiers sat on the box. Afterwards Xanana tried to tell him off for picking up the soldiers, but could not do so because he could not help laughing.

Xanana ‘s winning ways worked well for him when he was in prison. He became a friend of many of the fellow prisoners and many of the prison guards. One of the prison staff at Cipinang Prison wore a Xanana T shirt!

The author throughout the book explains how Xanana modified his political beliefs when he thought it was necessary to advance East Timor’e struggle. She also describes how, as leader, he tried to understand both sides of debates about the way forward

Niner is not afraid to mention Xanana’s shortcomings. She mentions that he and the Timorese leadership are very patriarchal. The TL Parliament has more women MPs, but they have little say. She states that he told her of many stories of individual women he frequently had to rely on to shelter him from the TNI, but he gives no overall acknowledgement of their efforts in the independence struggle and has been remiss in recognising them as armed soldiers.

During the celebration of independence on 20 May 2002, there was a very moving salute to FALINTIL veterans. I was fortunate enough to be present. I estimated that about a third of the former FALANTIL
fighters were women. During my involvement in the solidarity movement, there were some descriptions of Timorese women who were FALANTIL soldiers, howver I had the impression that most acted as spies, guides, cooks etc

Overall, I think Sara Niner has written a terrific book on one of the most exciting and interesting political leaders of the late twentieth and twent first centuries.

She has given a balanced view of her subject and included some of the faults that she sees in him. Niner also helps the reader sort through the rather complicated history of TL during Xanana’s role as a key political leader, by including a chronology, a glossary, copious notes, many historical photographs, a number of maps and a comprehensive index.

In the closing pages of the book, the author looks at the many social problems that are being faced by the East Timorese and their road ahead and why Xanana, who was viewed as a great charasmatic resistance leader is now not so popular amongst many East Timorese because of his leadership style in dealing with those problems.

I like to think that there is a lot of international goodwill for the people of Timor Leste and that slowly this, along with the determination of the people, will help the newest nation to overcome the many problems it faces

GLOSSARY

A GUIDE TO SOME OF THE ABBREVIATIONS

ABRI: Indonesian armed forces

APCET: Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor
(there were a series of conferences held every 2 years between 1994 – 2000, which were organised by TL solidarity activists in the Philippines)

CAVR: Commission for Truth, Reception and Reconciliation
(the body established to look into the crimes that had been committed by all parties in TL and to establish a process of reconciliation)

CIET SA: Campaign for an Independent East Timor SA, the key solidarity group for East Timor from 1975 – 2002
(In 2002, this group became the Australian East Timor Friendship Association SA Inc)

CNRM: National Council for Maubere Resistance (1988 – 98)

CRRN: National Council for Revolutionary Resistance (1981 – 87)

CNRT: National Council of Timorese Resistance (1998 – 2001)

FALINTIL: Armed Forces for the Liberation of East Timor (the East Timorese resistance)

FDTL: Defence Force of Timor Leste

FRETILIN: Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of East Timor
(Formerly, this was the ASDT, Association of Democratic Timorese. It served as both a political party and a front for those desiring independence from both Portugal and Indonesia.
It became the party supported by most of the East Timorese before the invasion because of its many social initiatives eg establishment of agricultural collectives, health centres,
literacy programs etc. In the early days of the Indonesian occupation, it was synonomous with the resistance and it established FALANTIL. It is still a major political in independent
East Timor)

Hansip: Indonesian civilian guard which the TNI forced East Timorese to join

KOPASSUS: Indonesian Special Forces Command
Sometimes known as the Red Berets. Most observers of the history of the occupation of TL believe that this part of the TNI was the most brutal and committed the most heinous crimes
against human rights.

Maubere: This is a word from the Maibai region of Timor meaning “brother”
(During the Portuguese colonial period it came to mean poor and ignorant native. Niner reports Horta as saying it was the most successful political symbol of the campaign)

PNTL: National Police of Timor Leste

RDTL: Democratic Republic of East Timor

TL: an abbreviation for Timor Leste or East Timor

TNI Indonesian National Army

UDT: Union of Democratic Timorese
(The second largest political party in TL before the invasion. It sought independence, but only after a long period of autonomy with Portugal. It was supported mainly by the conservative chieftains or liurais and the more priveleged Timorese. For a short time in 1974 – 5, it was in a coalition with FRETILIN. After it broke away, it initiated a civil war, which was used as a pretext by the Indonesian dictatorship to invade. After reconciliation with the resistance, it became part of the CNRT}. It had 3 seats in TL’s first parliament. It now has no parliamentary representation)

“There’s something about the little guy eventually winning against a bully that appeals to me..”

At the independence celebrations in Dili on 20 May 2002, the then Secretary – General of the UN, Kofi Annan,

when congratulating the East Timorese and praising their resistance, stated that the UN personnel assisting the East Timorese to gain their freedom had been one of the most popular exercises undertaken by the world body.

For those who have not read much about Timor, this is a very good book to start. Richard Plunkett has managed to give the reader a very good overview of the various key phases of the Indonesian military (TNI) occupation and the betrayal of western countries – especially Australia. eg

* the civil war between UDT and FRETILIN

* the early TNI incursions including the murder of 5 western journalists at Balibo

* the various strategies adopted by the TNI and the FALANTIL and RENETIL resistance

* the key massacres perpetrated by the TNI

* Australia’s reluctant role to force the TNI out after the massacres following the referendum for independence in 1991

He also provides some very important historical background. eg

* the support given by the East Timorese to Australian commandos during World War 2

* the end of European colonialism after World War 2

* Indonesia’s struggle for independence

* political changes in Portugal and its colonies that led to the Carnation Revolution and the overthrow of the Salazar/Caetano fascist dictatorship

* the influence of the Cold War on events in Indonesia and East Timor

This is a book that would be particularly useful for secondary students. Plunkett’s writing style is very easy to follow; he has highlighted many quotes from key people and he has included good maps and a very useful
bibliography, a glossary, a timeline and an index.

Overall, I found this book to be an excellent read. It does include some minor mistakes, however, in terms of dates of some of the key events. My greatest criticism, though is the author’s approach to the issues of the Cold War and the Indonesian background. I think that he could have devoted some more space to these important issues.
Plunkett refers to the TNI major argument for invading was that there were a few left wingers in FRETILIN.

I felt this arguement could easily be countered by mentioning that at the time, there were also many left wingers in the ALP. This could not seriously have been used as an argument for the TNI to invade Australia and was a very weak argument. Nevertheless, it was parrotted bymany Indonesian apologists and conservative politicians in both of Australia’s major political parties. so why do so many give credence to this argument?

Another TNI argument that should have been challenged is that they intervened because of thge civil war in East Timor.
As Richard Plunkett states in his book, pro FRETILIN forces had essentially defeated UDT within 10 days of theUDT commencement of hostilities (10 August 1975). When Indonesia began its invasion in October 1975, the civil war had been over by about 2 months.
In the Indonesian background, Plunkett does not mention that many Australian soldiers also fought alongside Indonesian partisans during World War 2. These were the backbone of Indonesia’s resistance against the Dutch
military when it returned to reclaim its colony. I think that it is important to be aware that both Sukarno and Suharto fought with the Imperial Japanese Army against the Allies.
Many Indonesians believe that they would not have achieved their independence had it not been for those Australian soldiers, who gave them assistance during the fight against Japanese fascism and supported the early work of the Indonesian independence activists. Then, between 1945 – 49, members of the Australian union movement maintained bans on materials being sent to Indonesia by the Dutch government in its attempt to crush Indonesia’s independence movement. When Suharto overthrew Sukarno in 1965, many of its victims in the first year of the dictatorship, apart from
Balinese, Chinese, PKI (Indonesian Communist Party) members, trade unionists, members of human rights groups etc. were those Indonesians who fought alongside Australian soldiers. Amnesty International claimed that between half to a million people died in 1965. Many Indonesians say the figure is nearer 3 million.
I thought it a little disappointing that there was no mention of the role of the CIA in Suharto’s 1965 coup. This agency gave the names of thousands of political activists to the military so that they could eliminate them. To understand Suharto’s Indonesia, it is important to raise the fact that his dictatorship was a client state of the USA – both for military purposes and for access to regional resources. This also raises questions about the TNI brutality and corruption in other parts of the region apart from East Timor. Who exploits the resources and the local people and who benefits from the
exploitation? Some clear examples are West Papua, Acheh and Malaku (the Moluccas).

If younger generations are to understand the key problems in our region of the world, any analysis needs to critically examine these aspects of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.