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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest Releases
The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate. If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly. |
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| NOVEMBER 11, 1998 10:03 AM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: East Timor Action Network John M. Miller (718)596-7668 |
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| Demonstrations To Highlight Rights For East Timor; Events To Commemorate 1991 Massacre | ||||
| NEW YORK - November 11 - Supporters of self-determination and human
rights in East Timor will hold protests, interfaith commemorations and educational
events on Thursday November 12, the 7th anniversary of the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre. Demonstrations will target the U.S. State Department in Washington, DC, and Indonesian diplomatic offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. East Timorese leaders, including Nobel Peace Laureate Jose Ramos Horta, will speak in Corvallis, Oregon; Phoenix, Arizona; and South Bend, Indiana. A candlelight vigil will also take place in Ithaca, New York Protesters will demand changes in U.S. and Indonesian policy to support human rights and self-determination for the Indonesian-occupied territory. Specifically, the East Timorese should be able to determine their own political future through direct participation in UN- sponsored talks and a referendum; the Indonesia should release all East Timorese and Indonesian political prisoners, including East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao; and a permanent international presence should be established in East Timor to monitor the human rights situation and Indonesian troop withdrawals. The events are part of a worldwide commemoration of the 1991 massacre of over 270 East Timorese civilians by Indonesian troops at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili, East Timor. A international campaign to free Xanana Gusmao is also being launched on November 12. East Timor related events on Nov 12, 1998, include: Washington, DC 5pm, street theater and protest at the U.S. State Department, 22nd and C St.NW, dramatizing U.S. support for the Indonesian regime's brutal occupation of East Timor. Sponsored by ETAN, Peace Action and others. Contact: East Timor Action Network, 202-544-6911; etandc@igc.org. Noon-1:00 p.m. Prayer Service, NCC Conference Room, 110 Maryland Ave NE (1st flr.) Sponsored by the Asia Pacific Center for Justice and Peace and the National Council of Churches of Christ Washington Office. Contact: 202-543-1094. New York, New York 4:30-6:30 p.m. Picket at the Indonesian Mission to the U.N., 325 E. 38 St., btn. 1st & 2nd Ave., Manhattan. The names of those killed and missing from November 12 will be read. Journalist and massacre eyewitness Allan Nairn will speak. Contact: ETAN/NY, John M. Miller, 718-596-7668; etan-outreach@igc.apc.org. At 3 p.m., there will be an Interfaith Service of Remembrance and Solidarity with the People of East Timor, Interchurch Center Chapel, 475 Riverside Dr (at 120th St.). Sponsored by East Timor Working Group NCC, East Timor Religious Outreach - Northeast, and ETAN. Contact: Rev. Max Surjadinata, (212)222-1899. Los Angeles, California Noon-2 p.m. Demonstration at Indonesian Consulate (3457 Wilshire Blvd., near Normandie) with journalist and massacre witness Amy Goodman. At 7p.m., Goodman will speak at Occidental College, Eagle Rock, Johnson Hall, Room 106 (For more information, contact Sara: at 323/478-1148). Goodman is speaking in the Los Angeles area November 10-15. Contact: ETAN/LA, Bob Frang at (310)453-8593; timorguy@pacificnet.net. San Francisco, California 10 a.m. Witness in Solidarity with the People of East Timor demonstration at Indonesian Consulate., 1111 Columbus (at Bay, near Tower Records; Montgomery Bart Station: take 30 Bus from Kearny and Market through Chinatown and up Columbus), including nonviolent civil disobedience. Contact: East Timor Religious Outreach, (415)474-6219 and ETAN/SF, (415)626-3723, bterrall@igc.org. Chicago, Illinois 4 p.m. rally on northeast corner Michigan and Monroe, downtown Chicago. 4:30 march up Michigan to Indonesian Consulate , 72 E. Randolph. Sponsored by Peace Action Illinois, the Eighth Day Center for Justice, School of the Americas Watch Illinois, and ETAN/Chicago. Contact: ETAN/Chicago: 773-561-5131; simpsonb@nwu.edu Ithaca, NY 4:30 -6 p.m. candlelight vigil on the Ithaca (New York) Commons. Contact: (607) 243-7934. Corvallis, Oregon 8 p.m. Pauling Lecture by Nobel Peace Laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, LaSells Stewart Center, Oregon State University Campus, Corvallis. Contact: Liberal Arts, 737-4582 or ETAN/Portland, 503-235-4986, wseaman@vcd.hp.com Phoenix, Arizona 7 p.m. Talks by former East Timorese political prisoner Fernando de Araujo and Indonesian activist Yeni Rosa Damayanti. Languages and Literature Building, Room C57, Arizona State University. Contact: ETAN/AZ:602-449-0729, lundry@asu.edu. (Araujo and Damayanti are on a nationwide speaking tour and will be in LA and SF from Nov 14-Nov. 20. Contact, Global Exchange for information: 415-255-7296 x 244; ken@globalexchange.org.) Bloomington, IN 8 p.m. "The Dili Massacre: 7 Years Later" Talk by East Timorese leader Constancio Pinto at Indiana University, Collins Coffee House, 10th & Woodlawn. Contact ETAN Bloomington, Lisa Yu (812) 857-8518; Anna Strout (812) 339-3354. On December 7, 1975, the Indonesian military brutally invaded East Timor. The following July, East Timor was illegally but formally "integrated" into Indonesia as its "27th province." The U.N. and most of the world's countries do not recognize this act, and the East Timorese reject it. According to human rights groups and the Catholic Church more than 200,000 -- one-third of the population – have been killed by the Indonesian occupation forces. The East Timor Action Network/U.S. supports genuine self-determination and human rights for the people of East Timor and democracy in Indonesia. ETAN recently released leaked Indonesian military documents which show that troop levels increased in East Timor, despite Indonesian government claims of withdrawals totaling 1000 troops this summer. --30-- |
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