West Papua solidarity, Tuesday, 1 December

Details of the solidarity events in Wellington and Christchurch at 1pm, and Auckland at 5.30pm are included below. Please forward on through your networks, and share the link https://www.facebook.com/events/430462443815404 on your page, thank you.

If you can’t make it to a West Papua solidarity event, you could print copies of the Morning Star and put them up in windows on 1 December to show your solidarity with the people of West Papua, where you study, where you work, at home, in your car … take a photo of that, and / or of yourself (friends, relatives, colleagues) holding the Morning Star and post it at https://www.facebook.com/events/430462443815404 with the tags #GlobalFlagRaising for a #FreeWestPapua – you can print the flag at http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/morning-star-flag.pdf

* Wellington *

You are invited to join the annual gathering on Tuesday, 1 December, at 1pm at parliament to fly the Morning Star flag in solidarity with the people of West Papua.

West Papua has been occupied by the Indonesian military since it was handed over, against the will of the indigenous population, to Indonesia in 1963. For the past fifty two years, the people of West Papua have been subjected to gross human rights violations including rape, torture, cultural genocide, murder and massacre – more than 100,000 West Papuans have been killed.. Many live in exile because it is not safe for them to go home. Multi-national corporations in cahoots with the Indonesian authorities have exploited West Papua’s natural resources to an extraordinary degree. This has caused massive social dislocation, devastation of rain forests, pollution of streams and rivers on which the local people depend for their survival, and serious human rights violations in areas where multinationals operate.

1 December is West Papua Independence Day, this year marking the fifty fourth anniversary of the day the West Papuans first raised their new flag, the Morning Star, as the symbol of their forthcoming independence from Dutch colonial rule. In West Papua, people mark Independence Day in a variety of ways, including peaceful gatherings to fly the Morning Star – despite the threat of arrest and murder. In previous years, the Indonesian military and police have responded with increased violent oppression around this day, arresting and killing those they perceive as pro-independence activists. West Papua Independence Day is marked by solidarity events around the world, including here in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Join us in solidarity with the people of West Papua on 1 December, and bring your friends, family and colleagues. The annual Morning Star flag raising at parliament is organised by Peace Movement Aotearoa, for further information please contact pma

* Christchurch *

‘West Papua’s search for nationhood: A legal perspective’, hear Raf Manji, Christchurch City Councillor and author of ‘International Law, Statehood and Self-Determination in the 21st century: The West Papua Claim’, at 1pm at The Commons, aka The Arches, corner Kilmore and Durham Streets (next to the Courts), Christchurch. Organised by West Papua Action Canterbury, contact email westpapuaactioncanterbury

* Auckland *

Circle of Solidarity – Free West Papua will be taking place at 5.30pm at Otamariki Park, Otara (on the corner of Bairds and East Tamaki roads, opposite the Mobil station) in solidarity with our West Papuan brothers and sisters. All those who come with one heart for a Free West Papua are welcome to come to support Action #9. Papua merdeka! Organised by Oceania Interrupted, for further information please contact oceaniainterrupted

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Peace Movement Aotearoa
the national networking peace organisation
PO Box 9314, Wellington 6141, Aotearoa New Zealand
Tel pma
Website – http://www.converge.org.nz/pma
http://www.facebook.com/PeaceMovementAotearoa