{"id":220,"date":"2020-05-27T19:22:53","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T19:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/historybeyondborders.ca\/?p=220"},"modified":"2024-04-02T14:28:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T14:28:00","slug":"canadian-solidarity-with-east-timor-a-history-in-images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/historybeyondborders.ca\/?p=220","title":{"rendered":"Canadian solidarity with East Timor: a history in images"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

E-dossier #4. <\/strong>The former Portuguese colony of Timor-Leste (East Timor) declared independence in 1975. Days later, it was invaded by the army of neighbouring Indonesia, then annexed. A 24-year struggle for independence drew support from a diverse intentional solidarity movement. Timor-Leste regained its independence in 2002. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This e-dossier presents visual images from the files of the East Timor Alert Network\/Canada, depicting the history of Canadian solidarity actions for Timorese independence.<\/em> Compiled by David Webster, story told in textual form in the book Challenge the Strong Wind: Canada and East Timor 1975-99<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks are due to Elaine Briere, Kerry Pither and Maggie Helwig for sharing images. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gallery 1: Early activism in Canada<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canadian activism in support of East Timor dates to before the 1975 invasion. Oxfam\u2019s Australian branch, Community Aid Abroad, tried to send a ship with medical supplies shortly after Indonesia invaded East Timor on 7 December 1975. Oxfam Canada<\/strong> issued a $10,000 grant for the project, but the Australian government impounded the ship.  Oxfam Canada and Oxfam Quebec<\/strong> also attempted (without success) to shift the Canadian government\u2019s policy of silence and abstention on the occupation of East Timor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The earliest groups were the Nova Scotia East Timor Group<\/strong> (founded 1985) to protest against Dalhousie University’s aid to Indonesia and the Indonesia East Timor Program<\/strong> (founded in Ontario in 1986). NSETG, founded by Bill Owen, Audrey Samson and Ross Shotten, worked closely with Amnesty International Canada. IETP, founded by Julia Morrigan and Derek Rasmussen, sprang from anti-intervention and peace groups in Ottawa. Its initiatives included welcoming the first Timorese visitor to Canada, Monsignor Martinho da Costa Lopes of the Catholic diocese of Dili, a tour presented in conjunction with the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nova Scotia East Timor Group protest, Halifax. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cover of the Candle (Amnesty International Canada), 1985<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Monsignor Martinho da Costa Lopes, still from Peter Monet’s film Betrayed but not Beaten<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Coverage of da Costa Loeps visit in The Globe and Mail<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Notes by Helen Forsey-Contreras of Oxfam <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Julia Morrigan letter to Dan Heap MP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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IETP leaflet, late 1980s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Amnesty International report on East Timor, 1985<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Dan Heap MP, notes on meeting with da Costa Lopes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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“A Call for Justice” – Indonesia East Timor Program tabloid, 1985<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Images from ETAN Canada files, Library and Archives Canada (Dan Heap fonds)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gallery 2: the East Timor Alert Network, 1987<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1987, the East Timor Alert Network was founded by Elaine Briere, Maureen Davies and Derek Evans. ETAN\/Canada concentrated in its early years on challenging the prevailing political winds that led Canada\u2019s government to support Indonesian rule over East Timor. ETAN\u2019s efforts focused on public awareness-raising, letter-writing in an effort to change government policy, and public protests. Run out of Briere\u2019s home in Ladysmith, British Columbia, ETAN had limited resources, relying primarily on a grant from the Canada Asia Working Group (CAWG) of Canadian churches. The group quickly joined a global network of East Timor solidarity groups coordinated by Carmel Budiarjo in the UK, Luisa Teotonia Pereira in Portugal, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ETAN\u2019s first newsletter, run off on Briere\u2019s stylized-font typewriter and then copied and posted from the office of Ray Funk MP to a few hundred supporters across Canada, included a focus what ETAN called \u201cCanadian complicity with genocide.\u201d A conference at Carleton University in 1987 put the issue on the political agenda. Meanwhile, pressure from outside parliament began with a weekly vigil outside the Indonesian consulate in Toronto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ETAN potest, Vancouver <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The first ETAN newsletter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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ETAN protest against military exports, Pratt and Whitney factory, Toronto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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East Timor solidarity groups meeting, Geneva<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Images courtesy Elaine Briere; ETAN files.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gallery 3: Betrayed but not beaten, 1988-90<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From small beginnings, the East Timor Alert Network aimed to put the issue of Timorese rights and self-determination on the agenda in Canada. Peter Monet, then a Montreal-based film maker, released the film East Timor: Betrayed but not Beate<\/em>n. A key development saw activists gather for a conference in 1989 at Carleton University, backed by a new Parliamentarians for East Timor group. Publicity for the conference made its purpose – and the influence of Monet’s film – clear: It is important to remember that while East Timor has been betrayed by the international community, it has most certainly not been beaten!” At this conference, the various solidarity groups in Canada agreed to come together under the ETAN umbrella. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PET continued to be active, eventually growing to include 29 MPs and establish a coordination office led by Sharon Scharfe. Each year, a PET member joined an ETAN representative in testifying to the UN Decolonization Commission. Other lobbying took place at the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Indonesian foreign minister welcomed in parliament, 1987<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Jose Luis Guterres, Dan Heap MP, Charles Scheiner (ETAN\/US) at UN<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Throwing blood on Indonesian Consulate, Toronto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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ETAN statement to UN Decolonization Committee, 1989<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Jose Guterres (Timor) and James Dunn (Austrlia) after Carleton conference<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Poster for public forum, Canadian Textile Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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ETAN leaflet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Parliamentarians for East Timor newsletter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Images: ETAN files, Elaine Briere<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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