MIM NOTES No. 197,		November 1, 1999

Letters

Dear MIM,

Thanks for sending the MIM notes and please keep sending stuff - 
it's interesting. Question: if MIM is against the Indonesian 
government and against the UN force, what does it want to happen 
in East Timor? it seems to me that MIM is using this issue to 
support its anti-imperialist stance but doesn't advocate any 
concrete action concerning East Timor.

 --a friend in the midwest

MIM responds:  MIM supports the people of East Timor in the armed 
struggle they have been waging for years against the Indonesian 
occupation. This armed struggle -- the evidence it offers of the 
people's will for national independence -- has made retaining East 
Timor as a colony untenable for Indonesia.

East Timor and other neo-colonies should have the right to self-
determination. This means that they should have the right to 
govern themselves without the U$ arming puppet governments. 
Neither the Indonesian government nor the UN troops will encourage 
that to happen. It is up to the people of East Timor. For our 
part, we fight imperialism from within the belly of the beast. 
This is in support of self-determination struggles of all 
oppressed nations -- whether that is East Timor, Haiti, El 
Salvador, Iraq or anywhere else on the globe.

It is true that we are using the issue of East Timor, Indonesia 
and other current events to illustrate that the current system is 
based on oppression and repression. We don't see this as just a 
problem that the people of East Timor have to face, but rather the 
problem that they are facing is part of a systematic problem -- of 
imperialism.

The same way this armed struggle has forced Habibie to hold a 
referendum, it demands that anti-imperialists here look at the 
conditions that have made the armed struggle necessary. This is 
why MIM spends so much time talking about the history of united 
snakes support for Indonesia -- specifically for the occupation of 
East Timor. This is also why we write about how the UN has been 
used repeatedly as a figleaf for imperialist concerns. Portuguese 
colonialism and now u.$.-backed Indonesian occupation have 
demonstrated that the only possibility for a peaceful East Timor 
is for the East Timorese people to have national self-
determination.

When MIM says "national self-determination" it means the people of 
the nation choose their leaders, and choose the historical course 
their country will follow. What relations will they have with 
other nations and states? What form will their government and 
economy take? Beyond this we can talk about what paths have 
historically proven most effective at retaining independence for a 
nation. But when there is an occupying force in place, answering 
the above most basic questions is impossible.

In the case of East Timor, MIM spends so much time talking about 
imperialism because it is based within the borders of the 
imperialist power that is keeping the East Timorese from answering 
the above questions for themselves. It is most definitely our 
responsibility to promote opposition to "our" government's 
insistence on denying them the right to choose the path forward.

MIM's solutions include both short and long-term goals. Before a 
nation of people can even determine their economic and political 
destiny, they have to stop the foreign control. So -- before 
anyone in East Timor, Puerto Rico, the Philippines or Indonesia 
can make a choice between socialism or capitalism, they have to 
not have a gun to their collective heads. So, our short term goal 
is to get rid of the guns pointed at the heads of the world's 
majority.

Obviously, there are even shorter term goals, like education to 
get people to understand that the wealth of Amerikans is built off 
the backs of the majority of the world's people. Sometimes that 
includes a forum on a particular situation, sometimes that 
includes writing posters or newspapers or holding protests.

We encourage all of our readers to work with us to expose U$ 
imperialist militarism in Indonesia and East Timor and around the 
world.

Readers should also check out coverage of the East Timorese 
struggle for national liberation in past issues of MIM Notes 
(coverage back to July of 1995 is on the web at 
www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/mn/ etimor/)