Globalization

Mpur Peoples and Development
a film by Mnukwar, with support from DTE

This new film explores the views of the Mpur community, West Papua, on development plans for their region which will affect their land, livelihoods and culture.

Mpur Peoples and Development from Down to Earth on Vimeo.

[This Interview with Papuan activist Victor Yeimo was published on the Kontinum website, because of a feeling that little information and perspectives from the Papuan struggle is available in Indonesia, and so people outside Papua are not aware of the what is actually going on there. The original, in Indonesian, can be found at http://kontinum.org/2011/08/wawancara_victor_papua

Journalist's death overshadows launch of Papua food project
Press Release by TAPOL and DTE

11 August 2010 - The death of a local journalist has increased concerns about a giant food estate launched today in Merauke, Southeastern Papua by Indonesia's Minister of Agriculture.

TAPOL and Down to Earth, the International Campaign for Ecological Justice in Indonesia are calling for a moratorium on the food project, known as MIFEE (Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate) until independent assessments of the political, economic, socio-cultural, environmental and gender impacts of the project have been undertaken.

The suspicious death of the journalist, Ardiansyah Matra'is, in late July, following threats against him, has been linked to his coverage of this week's local elections for the district head in Merauke.

Dear Friends,

Please help us help humanity by reading and encouraging other adults to read the graphic novel at www.papuanvoices.com in English, German or Korean. We're working on an iPad/iPhone version and hope to have this graphic novel soon in print and published as an eBook. (Tip: Try your scroll wheel to flip pages.)

The Illustrator and I have chosen to release the first three chapters (64 pages) now, given the urgency of the content (see the WestPAN Home page) and also because we can update and add to this "flip book" over time. You can read the remaining three chapters of the book in text form with occasional illustrated pages as they are released. Just go to the last page of the graphic novel for the link. (Tip: There's a Table of Contents at bottom left.)

If you care about disappearing cultures and biodiversity, you can help raise the world's awareness of West Papua by forwarding this appeal to your friends and colleagues, or by letting them know about this through Facebook, Twitter or word-of-mouth. If you enjoy the beautiful illustrations in this book and come to appreciate the global significance and urgency of its story, please tell others about papuanvoices.com.

The Author

Activists say Papua food estate ‘not the answer’
by Arti Ekawati & Fidelis E. Satriastanti
Jakarta Globe – March 04, 2010

Activists warned on Thursday not to put too much hope in the Merauke food estate, saying it would do little to provide food security or eliminate starvation in Indonesia.

“It will eventually decrease our dependence on [importing] food crops, but it does not automatically reduce famine in our own country. It does not work that way,” said Witoro, the head of a food-crop working group from the Prosperity Village Alliance, which comprises 18 nongovernmental organizations focused on implementing sustainable living in villages across the country.

West Papuans recently announced a foundational consensus on their legal defence and right to declare national sovereignty, thereby asserting their fundamental human rights and ancestral ownership of land. (The consensus has global significance in that West Papua remains on a scale similar to the Amazon in terms of what is being lost - diversity of local species and tribal societies, and the amount of oxygen produced by the "lungs of Asia".)

THE UNTOLD STORY: FOOTAGE FROM THE PAPUAN RAINFOREST

EIA Press Release: 28 November 2007

Unique films are launched today showing the impact of forest exploitation upon the people of Papua, Indonesia.

I was recently sent these two articles, which finally give a rational explanation of what has just ocurred in East Timor. As an activist who spent years supporting independence for East Timor, I find this turn of events disheartening. Certainly this is a lesson to be learned and a caution for West Papua.
Tom

Australian Coup in East Timor's Crisis

By Maryann Keady & John Pilger

>From www.zmag.org

Three years ago, I wrote a piece talking about attempts to oust Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri in East Timor, then a new struggling independent nation. I wrote that I believed the US and Australia were determined to oust the Timorese leader, due to his hardline stance on oil and gas, his determination not to take out international loans, and their desire to see Australia friendly President Xanana Gusmao take power.

Chinese company plans massive timber operation in Papua

Investor: State-owned Chinese company, named as China Light.

Investment: Plan to invest US$1 billion in a timber processing plant and acquiring merbau logs, announced by forestry minister Malam Sambat Kaban in April this year.

Impacts: This plan links the 2008 Olympic Games to stripping Papua's forests of the highly valuable merbau hardwood. Forestry minister Kaban told reporters that the Chinese company needed 800,000 cubic metres of merbau logs (400,000 m3 of processed wood) to construct sports facilities for the 2008 Olympics.

View Freeport McMoran Proposal

New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., on behalf of the New York City Pension Funds, today expressed concern regarding the relationship between Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc. and the Indonesian military, as outlined in a new report released by Global Witness.

“We are concerned about the details of Freeport McMoran’s payments to the Indonesian military, which seem to be more extensive and more questionable than previously known,� Thompson said. “We are particularly troubled by Freeport’s continued elusive responses to inquiries into its relationship with the Indonesian military. The trustees are committed to pursue this issue further.�