East Timor
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"The Political Economy of Human Rights (1979) by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman compares American media coverage of the Khmer Rouge–led Cambodian genocide to the Indonesian occupation of East Timor."--Sholem Stein "The murders of 202 people in the Bali bar bombings of October 2002 offered further embarrassment to those trying to find a respectable ‘root cause’ to explain away atrocity, and not only because thirty-eight Indonesians died along with the Australian, British and other tourists. Osama bin Laden did give a reason, but it wasn’t the right one. He said Australians died because Australia was an anti-imperialist rather than an imperialist power, whose troops had reversed the annexation of (largely Catholic) East Timor by (largely Muslim) Indonesia, which had so angered Noam Chomsky twenty-five years before. Australia had taken back conquered Islamic land therefore Australians must die. In Madrid in 2004, the ‘root cause’ of the atrocity was Spanish support for the war in Iraq." --What's Left? (2007) by Nick Cohen |
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East Timor is an island country in Southeast Asia.
East Timor was colonised by Portugal in the 16th century, and was known as Portuguese Timor until 28 November 1975, when the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Fretilin) declared the territory's independence. Nine days later, it was invaded and occupied by the Indonesian military; it was declared Indonesia's 27th province the following year. The Indonesian occupation of East Timor was characterised by a highly violent, decades-long conflict between separatist groups (especially Fretilin) and the Indonesian military.
In 1999, following the United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory. As "Timor-Leste", it became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century on 20 May 2002 and joined the United Nations. It is one of only two predominantly Christian nations in Southeast Asia, the other being the Philippines.
