STOP THE MASSACRE IN EAST TIMOR!

STOP THE MASSACRE: A LABOR RIGHTS PERSPECTIVE

The massacre now taking place in East Timor - orchestrated by the Indonesian military and carried out by itself and the nominally distinct paramilitaries - is ample proof that wealthy elites still rely upon state repression as an instrument to impose their will upon the world's poor.

East Timorese are dying - not from theories originating in the Chicago School of Economics - but from bullets, many of which can be traced to U.S. military aid to Indonesia.

When sweatshop workers in Jakarta and other Indonesian cities engage in wildcat strikes, the reason they stop short in their tracks is not that they have been persuaded by Alan Greenspan's ideas about the power of the marketplace. They stop because they are confronted by the Indonesian military, many of whom have been trained through a long-standing U.S. military aid program.

The "crony capitalists," on whom the International Monetary Fund blames the collapse of the Indonesian economy were put in power and they retained their positions because they enjoyed the full support of U.S. military and diplomatic policy.

The present form of the global economy is a result of military policy at least as much as it is a result of economic theory. It is a policy of coercion enabling corporations in the global north to extract cheap resources and cheap labor from the global south - by any means necessary.

Nike and Gap sweatshops in Indonesia are part of the same military / economic policy which is manifesting itself in the East Timor bloodbath. Just as advocates of the East Timorese have long been among the most articulate members of the Nike campaign, it is now time for anti-sweatshop activists to support the cause of independence for East Timor and to call for an end to the massacre of its people. We have a common cause.

The next section of this alert includes suggestions for action. It includes nothing about what role the United Nations should play in East Timor. Allies of East Timor differ over whether to call for U.N. military intervention. We must not allow our differences to splinter us.

Whatever our opinion about the proper role for the U.N. in this crisis, it is clear that the United States government could apply significant leverage in this crisis. Until the last two days, the White House and the State Department have issued only the most tepid criticisms of their friends in the Indonesian government.

The Clinton administration has now announced that it is cutting off all contacts between the U.S. and Indonesian militaries. The US has taken similar measures time and again when press attention has focused on serious abuses by one or another of its military allies. All too often, as soon as press attention turns elsewhere, the contacts are renewed and are justified on the basis of including "human rights training" and other palliative measures. The same reservations apply to yesterday's announcement of a halt in World Bank and International Monetary Fund support for the Indonesian government. We need to be sure that these are real policy shifts and not smoke and mirrors.

The U.S. should be cutting off every form of aid and comfort to the Indonesian government, including: bilateral military and economic programs, education and cultural exchanges, multilateral military (ASEAN) packages and any other economic supports. The U.S. also should refuse to grant visas to any Indonesian military officer or government official.

Finally, the U.S. should begin to wave the warning flag of trade reprisals. (Foreign investment in Indonesia is frequently in the form of joint ventures with the local elite, many of whom are highly placed in the military. Trade with Indonesia is helping to finance the slaughter in East Timor.)

If there is to be a U.N. military role in East Timor, the international force must not include any U.S. military elements. From the beginning of the Indonesian dictatorship in 1965 and from the beginning of the occupation of East Timor in 1975 to the present, the U.S. is deeply implicated. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger visited Jakarta in December 1975, just before the invasion was launched, where they were told of Suharto's plans to attack the island (Washington Post, 11/9/79). The following month, a State Department official told a major Australian newspaper (The Australian, 1/22/76) that "in terms of the bilateral relations between the U.S. and Indonesia, we are more or less condoning the incursion into East Timor ... The United States wants to keep its relations with Indonesia close and friendly. We regard Indonesia as a friendly, non-aligned nation - a nation we do a lot of business with." [ citations courtesy of Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting ( FAIR) ]

CALL TO ACTION

CALL your Senators and Representative. The Congressional switchboard number is (202) 224-3121 or check www.congress.gov for contact information on individual offices. Urge them to call Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, President Clinton Secretary of Defense William Cohen and Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers directly to demand:

• No more U.S. military aid to Indonesia.
• No more World Bank and International Monetary Fund financial assistance to Indonesia.
• Review of U.S. trade relations with Indonesia in light of massive human rights violations.

For more information, contact the New York office of the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) at (914) 428-7299 or salama74@aol.com, or the International Federation for East Timor (IFET) at (773) 255-7949.

SPEAKERS AVAILABLE: EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS

On August 30 the people of East Timor participated in a U.N.-administered vote to determine their political future after 24 years of Indonesian occupation which had resulted in the deaths of more than 200,000 Timorese. Despite appalling violence on the part of Indonesian-backed paramilitaries, the U.N. estimates that more than 98% of eligible voters participated, an astonishing tribute to the courage of the East Timorese, who lined up by the hundreds of thousands to cast a vote for their future. Now, the Indonesian government and its allies are seeking to overturn that vote by outright massacre.

Nearly 50 U.S. citizens from all walks of life traveled to East Timor as part of a larger international observer mission organized by the International Federation for East Timor. While there, these U.N.-accredited volunteer observers monitored all stages of the U.N. consultation process, interviewing victims of human rights abuses, reporting to U.N. officials and international media and observing the vote itself. Many of them were then witness to the horrific violence initiated by the Indonesian military and associated paramilitary forces soon after the vote was completed. Now that they are returning from East Timor, the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) is anxious to see them speak as widely as possible about their experiences.

If you are interested in having a former election monitor from East Timor speak in your community or at your school, please contact ETAN. Its staff will help connect you with speakers and help with the details, including assistance with media.

East Timor Action Network etanfield@igc.org (773) 878-4033 Web site: www.etan.org

CONTACT INFORMATION FORM

Campaign for Labor Rights will make a systematic effort to contact local organizers when there is a call for action in support of sweatshop worker struggles.

This contact information form is for U.S.-based local organizations involved in sweatshop activism, not for individuals unconnected with organizations. Please return the form by email: clr@clrlabor.org, or mail:

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