Hi Folks,
I have been reading much of the post on the East Timorese
situation with interest. However I am of the view that neither of the
main positions are tenable --support for intervention or support for the East
Timorese independence movement.
Interventionism merely constitutes another form of
imperialist action. The struggle for independence is a utopian petty bourgeois
movement that merely leads to the exhaustion, demoralisation and defeat of the
masses. And isnt this just what predictably happened --look at Dili.
It is the latter that I want to dwell on since the
reactionary nature of the independence movement is a political characteristic
that is less obvious to much of the radical left. There is no possibility of
any independence movement, no matter how radical, being able to achieve an
independent East Timorese republic. The weakness of the East Timorese
bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie against the power of imperialism renders the
success of such a movement impossible.The strategic importance of East Timor
makes the imperialist powers all the more determined to ensure at all costs
that East Timor remain integrated into any regional imperialist arrangement.
Consequently it is a reactionary policy that mobilises the
East Timorese masses into a struggle for national independence. It can only
lead to the kind of carnage that has been meted out to the East Timorese
masses over many years.
The only way forward for the East Timorese masses is
through the establishment of a mass revolutionary movement embracing the
Indonesian and Timorese masses against imperialism. Consequently of much
greater interest, in many ways, is how the masses conduct themselves within
Indonesia and Australia. The only way that the mass popular
self-determination of the East Timorese masses can be promoted is thought the
masses of Indonesia and Australia mobilising support against the imperialist
actions of their governments against the East Timorese masses. This means that
the aim of revolutionary elements within both regions has to be the overthrow
of their respective imperialist governments and states.
As I write the imperialist powers and their satellites
hover like vultures over the East Timorese masses while deciding how to divide
and consume their prey.
Warm regards
George Pennefather
