Timor Leste was briefly independent as Portuguese colonial forces withdrew in 1975. Australia’s rulers reacted with alarm at the prospect of an independent government arising on their doorstep out of resistance by working people to colonial rule.

The subsequent takeover of Timor Leste by the semicolonial military regime in Jakarta was a proxy invasion for imperialism, not “Indonesian expansionism.” Jakarta’s belligerence was encouraged, aided, and abetted by the governments of Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

The 25-year-long Indonesian occupation received full imperialist backing. After the military regime in Jakarta crumbled, the East Timorese people seized the moment and voted for independence in 1999. Australia’s rulers, backed by Washington, made a shift to avert a deeper crisis. Australian, New Zealand, and other troops intervened to allow emasculated independence, and to shore up stability for the pro-imperialist government in Jakarta and broader imperialist influence and investments in the region.

Another article in the May 8 Militant said “the rulers of Australia now regard [the Solomon Islands] as ‘in their back yard.’” But the Australian rulers have always arrogantly regarded the southwest Pacific as part of their profiteering domain.

Ron Poulsen
Sydney, Australia  
 
Darby No. 1 Mine
While selling the Militant at the Pittsburg and Midway coal mine near Birmingham, Alabama, a miner, originally from Harlan County, Kentucky, made a correction to the first article on the recent mine disaster in Harlan County. He said the Darby No. 1 Mine where the blast took place was owned by the Napier family, not by Arch Minerals (which owns Lone Mountain Processing).

A quick research showed the mine used to be owned by Arch Minerals. But since May 18, 2001, the license to operate the Darby No. 1 Mine has been issued to Ralph Napier. My search also brought up a whole slough of lawsuits and MSHA fines related to safety violations at that mine, including a December 2004 legal filing against Arch Coal by the widow and minor child of Gary Merrill, a miner who died there in 1998, after a roof fall.

Walter Blades
Birmingham, Alabama  
 
Cuban libraries
Congratulations for your work in defense of Cuban libraries—the real ones, not the fake ones—and for that terrific article by Jonathan Silberman (“Librarians answer smear campaign against Cuban gov’t” in June 19 Militant), which is much appreciated here in Cuba. It was picked up and distributed by Cubarte, an important newsletter on the island’s politics and culture that is widely distributed.

Readers interested in Cuba might want to subscribe to their weekly bulletin where the Militant article was posted (http://www.cubarte.cult.cu/eng/index.php).

Walter Lippmann
Havana, Cuba  
 
 
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