IndyMedia - Vrij Media Centrum Nederland

Waar: autonoom centrum, willem van outhoornstraat 17, Den Haag, Netherlands (GPS lat: 52.085257 lon: 4.338848)
Wanneer: 05/03/2012 - 19:00

Come and watch some films and hear about the
changing, powerful resistance of the West Papuan people.
There’ll be Indonesian food for donations
as a benefit for Indonesian and West Papuan prisoners.

For most of the last half century, the West Papuan people have put up a brave guerrilla resistance,
fighting the Indonesian military state with bows and arrows, unseen by the rest of the world.
In recent years however, it has all changed as urban social movements reclaim space in the cities and communication technology make even the deepest jungle a bit less isolated.

Despite brutal repression and racism, 2011 has seen some impressive resistance in West Papua:

-A four-month strike at the world’s biggest
copper and gold mine (Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold) has inspired workers all over Indonesia to take action against their own exploitation.

-A megaproject to clear millions of hectares of forest for industrial agriculture and biofuels stagnates, as people refuse to be bullied out of their land.

-Representatives of every village in West Papua converge on the capital to discuss their future, and seeing no other way forward, declare independence amidst the army’s bullets.

At this infonight there'll be a chance to learn more about this situation in West Papua, the history and colonisation of the place (yep, also by the Dutch) and it's changes in a digital age.