30 November 2014
Media Release

West Papua Action Auckland marks West Papua’s National Day: 5 pm Mission Bay 1 December

West Papua Action Auckland will support the performance event being staged tomorrow 1 December at 5 p.m by Oceania Interrupted, a collective of Maori and Pacific women. This event titled ‘Changing the Tides’ will feature raising the Morning Star flag and it is being held at Mission Bay, Tamaki Makaurau on the beach in front of the playground at 5 pm.

(http://oceaniainterrupted.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/OceaniaInterrupted)

On 1 December 1961 the people of West Papua raised their newly chosen national flag the Morning Star in a solemn ceremony. They were on a clear path to self-determination and freedom from Dutch colonial control. An international power play led to Indonesia assuming control over the territory in 1963. Much to their discredit the United States, United Nations, New Zealand and other western nations backed this take-over and turned a deaf ear to the pleas of West Papuan leaders.

The West Papuan struggle for freedom continues to this day despite severe repression. Raising the Morning Star flag is banned and those that do so risk lengthy jail terms . However, international support is growing in the region and around the world. The founding of Oceania Interrupted last year is a sign of this renewed Pacific solidarity.

Vanuatu is hosting a crucial meeting of West Papuan leaders from inside West Papua and from the Diaspora at this moment and in solidarity with the Papuan struggle Vanuatu has declared 1 December to be a public holiday.

Also Advance notice Visit of Octo Mote 10 December 2014

Visiting NZ following the West Papua Unification Meeting

Octo Mote is the former head of the Papua Bureau of Kompas, the largest Indonesian daily newspaper. Following a meeting between 100 Papuan leaders (Tim 100) and Indonesian President B.J. Habibie in 1999, Octo was forced to leave Papua due to death threats from the Indonesian security services. He is the spokesperson of the Papuan Peace Negotiating Team, which was set up in July 2011 and a Senior Human Rights Fellow at Yale Law School

Octo will address a public meeting at 7pm Wednesday10 December St Columba Centre 40 Vermont St Ponsonby

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