Author: David Webster

General! A poem of solidarity from Timor-Leste for victims of the 1965 tragedy in Indonesia

October 10, 2017

“When journalism is silent, literature must speak,” in the words of Indonesian writer Seno Gumira Ajidarma, whose reporting on the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre in Timor-Leste (East Timor) broke the silence about the killings in Indonesia. As Indonesian military elites try to downplay discussion of the massacres that engulfed their country, in 1965, a powerful… More General! A poem of solidarity from Timor-Leste for victims of the 1965 tragedy in Indonesia

Truth and Reconciliation: Truth and Reconciliation in Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and Melanesia Recommendations to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International Development of Canada

December 3, 2015

  Truth and Reconciliation in Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and Melanesia Recommendations to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Rt. Hon. Stéphane Dion, and the Minister of International Development, the Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau Dear M Dion and Mme Bibeau, In keeping with Prime Minister Trudeau’s notice to the international community that Canada is back and ready to… More Truth and Reconciliation: Truth and Reconciliation in Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and Melanesia Recommendations to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International Development of Canada

La vérité et la réconciliation: recommandations au gouvernement du Canada

December 3, 2015

La vérité et la réconciliation en Indonésie, Timor-Leste, et Mélanésie Des recommandations au ministre des Affaires étrangères, le très honorable Stéphane Dion et le ministre du Développement international, l’honorable Marie-Claude Bibeau Chers M Dion et Mme Bibeau, En accord avec le préavis du Premier Ministre Trudeau à la communauté internationale que le Canada est de… More La vérité et la réconciliation: recommandations au gouvernement du Canada

Narratives of Colonization, Decolonization and Recolonization in Papua

October 27, 2015

By David Webster. Originally published by activehistory.ca After the resolution of the Aceh dispute and the independence of East Timor, Indonesia’s most serious conflict is in Papua (formerly Irian Jaya). One major stumbling block to conflict resolution is the clash of historical narratives. Papuan nationalists claim their land was “already sovereign” from the 1960s and… More Narratives of Colonization, Decolonization and Recolonization in Papua

Canada’s Conversation on Cultural Genocide

October 8, 2015

By Cynthia Dawn Roy After six years of investigating the impacts of residential schools in Canada, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released a summary of its final report June 2. The report’s final conclusion was that the residential school system was an act of “cultural genocide”. Reactions to this term varied from incredulity and… More Canada’s Conversation on Cultural Genocide

Southeast Asian and Pacific National Museums as Sites of Memory

October 7, 2015

By Sarah Zwierzchowski In an article for Representations (later published as the introduction to his book, Les lieux de mémoire), French historian Pierre Nora presented the concept of lieux de mémoire to describe entities where “memory crystallizes and secretes itself.”[1] Sites of memory hold symbolic value contributing to the memorial heritage of communities and can… More Southeast Asian and Pacific National Museums as Sites of Memory

the project: memory, truth and reconciliation in timor-leste, indonesia & melanesia

August 31, 2015

“Memory, truth and reconciliation in Southeast Asia” is a project in collaborative analysis and policy recommendations that centres on a one-day workshop comparing the experience of truth and reconciliation in two Southeast Asian territories. One, the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (East Timor), has completed a truth and reconciliation commission. The other, West Papua, is a… More the project: memory, truth and reconciliation in timor-leste, indonesia & melanesia