After nearly 24 years of Indonesian military occupation the people of East Timor have, by their own determined struggle, placed their right to self-determination firmly on the agenda.
Working people should oppose the sending of Australian and New Zealand forces as part of the United Nations contingent of 250 police, 50 military officers, and 600 civilian officials currently in East Timor to "oversee" the UN-sponsored referendum on independence. These forces are part of stepped-up intervention by the imperialist powers in the affairs of the people of East Timor.
The toilers of East Timor, far from being helpless victims needing protection, have shown themselves over the years to be steadfast fighters, capable of taking their destiny into their own hands.
Governments in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere backed Indonesia's brutal 1975 takeover of East Timor from the beginning-just as they backed Suharto's military coup and the massacre of up to 1 million people by the armed forces and rightist militias in Indonesia in 1965-66. Today, as they seek to maintain a stable capitalist regime in Jakarta, these imperialist powers have been forced to concede that there is mass support in East Timor for independence, the better to try and control the emerging nation.
No matter what the outcome of the referendum, we need to keep our eyes on those whose actions have brought nation-time closer: the workers, peasants and young people of East Timor.
Many supporters of the East Timorese struggle have been calling for imperialist forces to intervene in East Timor under the banner of the United Nations. This sets back the fight for independence and makes it easier for Canberra, Wellington, and others to dispatch their cops and politically prepare working people for the military to follow.
Jakarta's brutal occupation is often pointed at to justify calls for imperialist intervention. This view not only ignores the true bloody history of military interventions by Canberra and Wellington, it also ignores their opposition to the Timorese struggle and their real aims today.
Australian and New Zealand forces will be at the center of any broader imperialist intervention in East Timor. The Australian government has doubled the size of its rapid deployment force to 5,000 troops, ready to land in East Timor within hours. This is Australia's largest preparation for military action since the Vietnam War. The New Zealand government is reported to have 800 troops ready to send to East Timor. This would be the largest New Zealand troop deployment since the Korean War.
Working people must oppose intervention by Canberra and Wellington in East Timor or anywhere else. We should champion the struggle of the East Timorese for self- determination. We should demand:
Withdraw the UN police and military officers!
No Australian or New Zealand troops or cops to East Timor!
Independence for East Timor now!