Support West Papua’s Struggle for National Self-Determination!
Joint Statement of the Pan-Afrikan Consciousness Renaissance (Nigeria) and the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 19 June 2018
1. West Papua is the western half of the island of New Guinea, bordering the independent state of Papua New Guinea. It has a population of around 4.3 million people and is home for over 250 diverse groups with different cultures and languages yet, with the existence of great affinities.
2. West Papua is occupied by Indonesian state since 1962. Since then the colonial rulers exploit the country’s resources and labour force and brutally suppress the Papuan people who desire for independence. More than half a million people have been killed by the occupation forces and many more injured, arrested, tortured and exiled. National oppression even goes so far that it is illegal to sing West Papuan traditional songs, to dress in Papuan traditional attire or to raise the Papuan traditional flag.
3. The imperialist Great Powers (e.g. the U.S., Western Europe, China, Japan, Russia, etc.) are in fact accepting and supporting Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua. The same is true for their international institutions (like the United Nations), even if they sometimes raise some critical words. This demonstrates once more that the liberation of oppressed people can not be achieved with the help of the imperialist powers and the institutions they control.
4. The Papuan people have repeatedly rebelled against the colonial occupation and there is an ongoing liberation struggle both by peaceful as well as armed means. PACOR and the RCIT state their unconditional support for the Papuan’s people liberation struggle and their desire for national self-determination and independence. This means that we demand the immediate expulsion of the Indonesian colonial authorities from West Papua so that the people can decide on their future without any interference and intimidation.
5. We oppose the exploitation of West Papua’s natural resources by foreign corporations. We demand the unconditional release of all imprisoned activists which have been thrown into jail by the Indonesian authorities. We demand the right of all exiled activists to return. West Papuans must be allowed to dress and speak in their traditional ways on their homeland. We also demand an immediate end of the systematic colonialization of the island by the Indonesian authorities by sending non-Papuan settlers to the island in order to change the national composition of its population.
6. PACOR and the RCIT are of the opinion that the struggle for national liberation of West Papua should be combined with an anti-imperialist and socialist perspective.
The undersigned organizations
Pan-Afrikan Consciousness Renaissance (Nigeria), https://m.facebook.com/pacorenaissance/?ref=bookmarks
Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (Zambia, Kenya, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Tunisia, Israel / Occupied Palestine, Brazil, Mexico, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Britain, Germany, and Austria), www.thecommunists.net