In 1991, hundreds of Timorese died or were injured at the hands of Indonesian soldiers at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili, Timor-Leste. The massacre was pivotal in the Timor-Leste independence struggle, bringing systematic violations of human rights and mass atrocities to global attention and sparking a wave of solidarity activism around the world. The story has been told, but primary source documents remain relatively scarce and the story, therefore, incomplete.
For the thirtieth anniversary of the massacre, and in conjunction with a workshop hosted in Dili by the Timor-Leste Studies Association, we plan to release a series of documents generated through the international solidarity movement as well as from inside Timor-Leste (to be done in conjunction with the Centro Nacional Chega! in Dili).
This call for contributions asks for those who were involved in solidarity activism to share materials through an updated Timor International Solidarity Archive (TiSA), located at https://timorarchive.com/. This online archive digitizes and disseminates materials from multiple actors. For a recent article about TiSA methods, see https://archivists.ca/Blog/10765490.
A new Santa Cruz Massacre Special Collection is now under construction, and welcomes materials related to the 12 November 1991 massacre, its aftermath, and its effects on global Timor solidarity. A brief introduction to the overall Santa Cruz project by John Waddingham of the Clearing House for Archival Records on Timor appears at https://timorarchives.wordpress.com/2021/08/10/docs-santa-cruz-30-years/
The project starts with 30 digitized and described work folders produced by Pat Walsh of the Australian Council for Overseas Aid’s Human Rights Office, which can be accessed online at https://timorarchive.ca/santa-cruz-massacre-4. This set and Santa Cruz materials in other archival collections already on TiSA can be found through the ‘Santa Cruz massacre’ Subject Heading at: https://timorarchive.ca/santa-cruz-massacre-3
Contact: David Webster, Bishop’s University – dwebster@ubishops.ca