A resolution to the struggle in East Timor

[filthycommie]

The situation in East Timor is becoming more and more desperate every day. Who screwed up and who should punish them? What will be needed to resolve the situation?

In my opinion The Prime Minister is turning more and more into Stalin every day,
the Foreign Minister is power hungry, and the President has either ignored many problems or has been blind.

Am I right and if so how can the situation be resolved?

ps lovely mistake i made with the topic's description and title

[emma_goldman]

I think the UN can do ALOT. It has failed in the past on this issue but it can still right some wrong. :unsure:

[Amusing Scrotum]

Originally posted by [email protected] 14 2006, 11:49 PM
I think the UN can do ALOT. It has failed in the past on this issue but it can still right some wrong. :unsure:

The UN's not some abstract body, ya' know. Rather, it's an organisation through which the major capitalist powers, in their Nation State form, debate the management of capital and then, based on said debate, it implements policies to further facilitate the smooth functioning of capitalism.

Now, given capitalisms, especially Imperialist capitalisms (for which the UN is pretty much an unsophisticated front) record in East Timor, the financing of Suharto and his regime, the ruthless exploitation of Timorese workers, Union busting and so on, it would be rather dull to suggest that the primary front for international capitalism should be relied on to sort out the "East Timorese situation". Admittedly, I'm not aware of the recent (?) developments in East Timor, but I think that it would be remarkably daft to say that more Imperialism will sort that situation out....especially as many of the problems there can be traced back to the Imperialist bloc, America in particular, financing a tremendously brutal occupying force which helped to make the people of East Timor into efficient workers for Reebok and co.

Going back to the original post, I'm pretty sure that a careful study of East Timor would show that at the very least some of the rival factions in that country, are being directly funded by varying Imperialist countries. Therefore, I think a rather sensible "resolution" would be the complete removal of the influence exerted in that particular geographical area by the Imperialist bloc. In contrast, of course, to the rather phony "Independence" granted in 1999....that "Independence" was backed, by the way, by the UN.

[Sankara1983]

The first step towards a solution is for Australian troops to get out of East Timor. One should look to recent events in the Solomon Islands to get an idea of the kind of gangster-capitalist "stability" Canberra provides.

Australia used the pretext of militia violence and a recent coup to invade the Solomon Islands and destroy any trace of its independence in 2003. Earlier this year it intefered after an election to install Snyder Rini, a corrupt accomplice of the previous prime minister, as the Solomons' leader. Widespread riots in Honiara, including racist attacks on Chinese businesses, led to Rini resigning after just days in office. The new premier, Manasseh Sogavare, first came to power following the above-mentioned coup. He is a prime example of political opportunism (the "Social Credit" party he leads was founded just months before the election) and a Christian fundamentalist who is trying to have The Da Vinci Code film banned and lectures Parliament about the Solomons being a "Christian" nation.

Mari Alkatiri has become a clone of Rini, the main difference being Alkatiri's comparative longevity. He has always been an authoritarian, while successfully convincing the "international community" that East Timor is a democracy. The World Socialist Web Site reports that Alkatiri is too close to Portugal for John Howard's comfort.

Alkatiri is definitely on the way out because of his dictatorial ways and the country's lack of progress since 2002. This was the case well before the Australians invaded. Short of a revolution (which many don't want to see because of painful memories of the Indonesian occupation and the fragility of "their" new state), an ultra-pro-Australian non-entity will be installed as the new PM once Alkatiri is forced out. President Gusmão is unlikely to play a leading role in any of these developments.

This is yet another victory for Australian-armed "democracy" in the Pacific Islands, and a definite defeat for socialists and progressives (many of whom championed the cause of East Timorese independence) worldwide.