Deakin University academic on palm oil in West Papua

Posted on by Louise Byrne Posted in Uncategorized
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A presentation by American anthropologist Dr Eben Kirksey to FRWP Office in Docklands on 8 April 2018, which included drone-footage of the huge area of the Marind tribes' land that is being deforested for palm oil plantation. Eben explained its devastating effect on the fragile environment, and demonstrated how palm-oil based products is mostly consumed by populations in non-palm-oil producing countries.

Australian Army officer fuses glass for West Papua’s Sampari Art Exhibition

Posted on by Louise Byrne Posted in Uncategorized
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This extended essay is about two unique Australians and the startling symbols they employed to demonstrate their support of West Papuans right to self-determination. Army Officer (ret.) Barbara Tipper's fused-glass sculpture of a baby turtle in the Raja Ampat Islands was a feature of the 2015 Sampari Art Exhibition for West Papua. Dr Jon Kozeniauskas, who bought the sculpture, is a Collins St dental specialist. In October 2000 used his Giallo Moderno Ferrari to carve out media space for West Papua which the Australian government had surreptitiously shut down after East Timor's independence in 1999. In 2001 he bought a baby pig for independence leader Jacob Rumbiak, which in a few months changed the delusory perception of West Papuans as Indonesians of Southeast Asia to West Papuans as Melanesians of the Pacific.

Vigil at St Paul’s Cathedral for West Papua’s application to join the MSG

Posted on by Louise Byrne Posted in Featured
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On 15 May 2015, on the eve of the Melanesian Spearhead Group Summit in Honiara (Solomon Islands), Revd Dr Andreas Loewe, Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne, joined Revd Heather Patacca and the FRWP Women’s Office in a sunset Prayer Vigil for West Papua. This photo-essay includes the glorious images taken by acclaimed Australian photographer Dean Golja during the moving prayer service.

Reviewing ‘The Incubus of Intervention: conflicting Indonesia strategies of John F. Kennedy and Allen Dulles’ by Greg Poulgrain

Posted on by Louise Byrne Posted in Featured
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Bishop Hilton Deakin, who is well known for his support of East Timor's liberation from Indonesia, launched Greg Poulgrain's new research 'The Incubus of Intervention: Conflicting Indonesia strategies of John F. Kennedy and Allen Dulles' at the Federal Republic of West Papua office in Docklands on 3 May 2015, and at Trades Hall on 15 May 2015 during an assembly of the Australian trade union movement to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Republic of West Papua. Bishop Hilton's review is reproduced here in audio and transcript formats, along with photos from the launch at the Melanesian Spearhead Group Seminar in Honiara (Solomon Islands) on 15 June 2015.

Maraki Vanuariki Peace-making Ritual for West Papuan Leaders, Port Vila, Vanuatu, 1 Dec 2014

Posted on by Louise Byrne Posted in Featured
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A Peace-making Ceremony for West Papuan leaders at Fatumaru Bay on 1 December 2014, before the Solidarity March to the Malvatumauri National Council of Chief's Nakamal in Saralana Park. The ritual was led by Maraki Vanuariki Peace-Chief Masato and Chief Morris Kaloran, whose formal relationship with West Papua began in November 2002 with the Sanap Waintaim Ceremonial on Australian Aboriginal land in Maribyrnong and All Saints Anglican Church in St Kilda (Melbourne). The two nations' Kastom and Faith based relationship deepened with the Unity Declaration in Port Vila on 1 December 2007 by the West Papua National Authority, Port Vila Council of Chiefs, and Maraki Vanuariki Council of Chiefs. The ritual in 2014 was pivotal to the success of the Vanuatu Government's 'Reconciliation and Unity Summit for West Papuan Leaders' and the formation of a united representive body to draw up West Papua's application to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group in June 2015

Vanuatu renews kastom and political relations with West Papua, 28 Nov 2014

Posted on by DFAIT Posted in Featured
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On 28 November 2014, the Maraki Vanuariki Council of Chiefs, representing the Tongoa-Shepherd Islanders from the SHEFA Province of Vanuatu, renewed its kastom and political relations with the Federal Republic of West Papua in a welcome ceremony organised by the council's women's group. Chief Morris Kaloran initiated the renewal in 2002 on Australian Aboriginal land during the Sanap Wantaim Ceremonial in Melbourne. Relations deepened during the Council's Summit for West Papua in Port Vila in 2007, which concluded with the Unity Day Declaration by the West Papua National Authority, Port Vila Council of Chiefs, and Maraki Vanuariki Council of Chiefs. This ceremony in 2014 opened the West Papua Leaders Summit on Reconciliation & Unification (hosted by Vanuatu’s National Malvatumauri Council of Chiefs, Vanuatu Government, Vanuatu Christian Council of Churches, Pacific Conference of Churches) that oversaw the formation of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).

Procession of the Gifts, West Papua in Vanuatu, 1 Dec 2014

Posted on by Louise Byrne Posted in Featured
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Photo-essay of the Procession of Gifts and Solidarity March that opened the Vanuatu Government's 'Reconciliation and Unity Summit for West Papuan Leaders' on 1 December 2014. The ground-breaking Summit concluded with the establishment of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), a representative coordinating body of West Papuans tasked with underwriting their nation's application to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). The Summit was sponsored by the Vanuatu Government and moderated by the Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs, Vanuatu Christian Council, and Pacific Conference of Churches. On 4 February 2015, the Vanuatu Government, surrounded by these influential institutions, lodged the application with the MSG Secretariat in Port Vila.

West Papua Summit, Port Vila, Vanuatu, 16 Nov-1 Dec 2007

Posted on by DFAIT Posted in Featured
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This photo-essay (30 slides) is of a two-week summit in Vanuatu that culminated with a ground-breaking ‘Unity Day Port Vila Vanuatu Declaration’ signed by the Maraki Vanuariki Council of Chiefs, the Port Vila Council of Chiefs, and the West Papua National Authority on 29 November 2007. The declaration differed from previous iterations between the two peoples in that it was organised by influential Vanuatu chiefs, not elected politicians, and by the West Papua National Authority with its own history of political struggle (as distinct from human or cultural rights). The declaration set the long-term agenda for foreign support of the West Papuan struggle, because it rendered the Vanuatu Government responsible for sponsoring West Papua onto the UN Decolonisation List, for listing West Papua with the Melanesian Spearhead Group, Pacific Islands Forum and the Africa Caribbean Pacific Group, and for hosting a peace conference between Indonesia and the West Papua National Authority.
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