MSO's election campaign for the seat of Richmond in the Victorian State election is proceeding well. We have letterboxed over 20,000 houses already! The election is next Saturday, October 18th and if you can help handing out how to vote cards, please contact us immediately on (03) 9654 3636 or 0417126174 Our target for the vote is 5%. Pasted below is the MSO National Committee's latest statement on East Timor The magnificent response of the Australian people to the tragedy in East Timor puts paid to the idea that people are naturally greedy and self-interested. Hastily organised work boycotts, consumer boycotts and rallies are spreading like wild fire. The backbone of the response is the bans implemented by the working class organised in trade unions. Once again, they have shown their potential power and internationalism. There is great anger amongst ordinary Australians against not just the militias, the Indonesian army and the Jakarta regime, but also the Australian government and 'our' top military brass. For decades they have been hand-in-glove with the Indonesian ruling class: supporting both the bloody 1965 coup that brought Suharto to power and the 1975 invasion of East Timor, and also training the Indonesian killer special forces in Perth. If it wasn't for the pressure of the Australian people, Canberra and 'our' armed forces would be once again putting 'the national interest' (ie protecting the interests of Australian bosses in Indonesia) before the massacres of the people of East Timor. Understandably there is a great demand from ordinary people for troops to be sent to East Timor. We oppose this. Practically, an invasion would be a disaster. Australia could send 5,000 troops at best against 100,000 militia and 20,000-odd Indonesian troops in East Timor plus tens of thousands elsewhere. The US or any East Asian country have absolutely no intention of getting involved militarily as was made crystal clear in Auckland at the APEC meeting. New Zealand's support for action is meaningless considering the size of their military. As the Australian newspaper headline said this morning "The awful truth: we (read the Australian ruling class) will do nothing to stop the carnage." Politically, we believe that the UN interventions (with Australian involvement at times) in the past have not been to 'keep the peace' as ordinary people demand, but to defend the interests of imperialism, in particular US imperialism. Under the fig leaf of UN intervention, US troops made the Middle East 'safe' for US capitalism in 1991 and there are dozens of other examples. What is not ruled out is that after further destroying East Timor, Indonesia will pull out, (dumping its erstwhile militia allies in the process) and give the mess to Fretilin. An armed UN presence may be allowed to back a Gusmao-led government. From Jakarta's point of view, the point of the exercise will have been to show other national minorities seeking independence (eg Aceh) that this is what they can expect. This is motivation for the carnage organised by General Wiranto, Indonesia's real ruler. In such a scanario, the role of Australian and UN troops will be quite clear: to stop any attempt by the new East Timor government to threaten foreign economic interests in the country. As in Kosova today, the area would be a western-protectorate backed by western troops. On such a basis the basic demands of the people will not be met. That's why we support the demands of the Timorese Socialist Party. Only by a new government nationalising the foreign interests and re-negotiating trade links could the money be generated for education and health development and so on. Even then survival would depend on such a government building links with workers in Indonesia and Australia as part of a socialist alliance in the region, towards a socialist federation of the region. What can be done right now? It's clear that expecting Australian military involvement is utopian. Only the Australian people have an interest in support their comrades in East Timor. There must be a complete boycott of Indonesian goods and trade. If a company tries to sue unions for this, they must be resisted and the anti-union laws defied. These actions will do more to make Jakarta cut its losses and leave East Timor that a lecture from Downer or empty threats of military action that only generate a nationalist backlash amongst ordinary Indonesian people. We must support the right of the East Timorese to create self-defence units to defend themselves and workers must back them with money and arms. Trade unionists make the weapons and transport them, it is not impossible to get them to East Timor. Canberra should be pressurised to immediately recognise East Timor's independence and not wait until the referendum result is ratified in October. Militant PO Box 1015, Collingwood, Victoria 3066, Australia Phone: (03) 9654 3636 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web site: http://werple.net.au/~militant -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
