Tag: United Kingdom

ROCKIN’ FOR WEST PAPUA: Global Peace Concerts Announced
Rockin’ For West Papua is a worldwide music, arts and cultural festival of events raising awareness of the genocide and human rights abuses on the indigenous people of West Papua, presented by Rize Of The Morning Star.
“We stand for the arts,
we stand for first nations people
and we stand for West Papua.”
#musicisaweapon
Rockin’ For West Papua gigs are being organised around Australia in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Perth, Byron Bay, Gold Coast, Lismore, Newcastle and Arnhem Land with more shows to be announced in all corners of the globe.
CONFIRMED DATES:
Friday 30 September – Sydney AUS: Waywards @ Bank Hotel, Newtown featuring Blackbreaks, The MisMade, The Black Turtles, MC Thorn
Saturday 1 October – Newcastle AUS: The Vault featuring Once Remained, Skinpin, Steinbrenner, The Grounds
Saturday 1 October – Edinburgh UK: Henry’s Cellar Bar featuring Rise Kagona, Samba Sene & Diwan Seneglese, Nawakyipo, Mariam El Sadr & more
Friday 7 October – Lismore AUS: Lismore City Hall Studio featuring Blakboi, The Humans Of Lismore, Atomic Monkey Chunks & Punks For West Papua doco screening
Saturday 8 October – Gold Coast AUS: Currumbin Creek Tavern featuring The Poor, Wartooth, Paging Jimi
Saturday 8 October – Brisbane AUS: Chardons Corner Hotel featuring Kold Creature, Monster Fodder, System Trashed, Kaosphere, Alice Lost Her Way, Locus Give It All
Saturday 8 October – Darwin AUS: The Chippo, 2 stages featuring Clever Monkey, Dave Garnham, Gored Matador, Acid City, Pole Top Rescue, Lungbuster, Ben Evolent, Brother Phoenix, Joy Greer
Saturday 8 October – Gauteng SOUTH AFRICA: Wunderbar @ German Club featuring Slash Dogs, Made For Broadway, Slippery When Wet, Chilean cuisine, Film Screenings
Sunday 9 October – Melbourne AUS: Bendigo Hotel featuring Liquor Snatch, Indigo Rising, DevilsMonkey, Mystic Trio, DJ LAPKAT, Long Holiday, Native Rain, New Age, Elf Tranzporter, MC Izzy Brown, West Papuan String Band and dancers
Saturday 29 October – Perth AUS: Railway Hotel, Fremantle featuring Yob Mob, The U-Nites reggae band plus DJ General Justice & Jah Wisdom Sound System, Potato Stars, Mental Pretzel, Fuzion
Facebook Event Page
MORE GLOBAL CONCERTS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON
Following the noise made and the funds raised by the ‘Punks For West Papua’ movement and documentary, more rockin’ artists are coming together for several weeks from September 30 to show the strength of music and help raise funds to assist the plight of the West Papuans, presented by global music & cultural movement Rize Of The Morning Star.
Leader of the ULMWP Benny Wenda said “Indonesia have tanks and guns. West Papuans only have guitars. Music is the only weapon we need for freedom.”
Whilst West Papuan music is outlawed by the Indonesian Military, Rockin’ For West Papua & Rize Of The Morning Star are inviting musicians, artists and anybody who wants to make a stand, to show their colours in the month of October by organising gigs, exhibitions, festivals or any social gathering or display of support to let Indonesia, USA, Australian and UK governments know that we are standing for West Papua.
Filmmaker Anthony ‘Ash’ Brennan who created the award winning documentary “Punks For West Papua” is coordinating the Rockin’ For West Papua shows. Returning from a stint in Rio behind the camera at the Olympic Aquatic Centre, he said “I have been very fortunate in my career in TV to have travelled to the four corners of the globe. I have seen the good and bad in every country. From Indian Slums, to Soweto in South Africa, and more recently the Rio favela’s. I have learnt that people who have the least, give the most. They open their hearts with music and art. And I have walked away richer for the experience. A very humbling experience, coming from such a privileged country. Music brings people together, empowers us, and gives us strength to overcome any adversity.”
The people of West Papua have been suffering under Indonesian occupation since 1963. Over 500,000 civilians have been killed, and thousands more have been raped, tortured and imprisoned. Foreign media and human rights groups are banned from operating in West Papua, so people rarely hear about the situation there. The Free West Papua Campaign is bringing the story of West Papua to the world and campaigning for freedom and justice in West Papua, to end the violence of the last 50 years.
Despite the growing global support of the United Liberation Movement For West Papua, in recent months over 800 West Papuan people were arrested and many tortured by Indonesian authorities simply for peacefully calling for full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). There has been a surge of human rights abuses as thousands of people joined mass rallies with hundreds arrested at passive demonstrations in West Papua and Indonesia. Even with the media ban, harrowing video evidence has emerged of the brutality that peaceful protesters were met with including children and students.
All funds raised go to Free West Papua.
#musicisaweapon
www.facebook.com/R4WP16
www.facebook.com/R4WP16/events
Additional info & Articles:
http://www.rizeofthemorningstar.com/
www.freewestpapua.org/2016/08/26/global-concert-for-west-papua/
https://wpan.wordpress.com/2016/07/22/herman-wainggai-long-journey-to-freedom/
http://edinburgh.carpediem.cd/events/783769-rockin-for-west-papua-musicisaweapon-at-henrys-cellar-bar/
Earlier this year:
TeenRock.com, UK – “10 Things We Learned From ‘Punks 4 West Papua’”
http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-03-10/how-the-aussie-punk-scene-fought-a-forgotten-war
Green Left Weekly, Aus – “Punks For West Papua: Indonesia’s West Papua Crimes Laid Bare In Award-Winning Doco”
https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/61173
The Brag, Aus – “Five Minutes With Ash Brennan, Producer/Director of Punks For West Papua”
http://www.thebrag.com/arts/five-minutes-ash-brennan-producerdirector-punks-west-papua
For further media info please contact:
DEBORAH GANN – PUBLICIST
RESERVOIR PR+MGMT AUSTRALIA
T: 0481 264 077
E: ReservoirDeb@gmail.com
F: www.facebook.com/ReservoirManagement
September 28, 2016
Jeremy Corbyn on West Papua: UK Labour leader calls for independence vote
The Guardian, Jeremy Corbyn has drawn attention to the plight of West Papuans, saying the recognition of human rights and justice should be the “cornerstone” of the UK Labour party’s foreign policy.
The Labour leader made the comments in an address to a meeting of international parliamentarians, supporters and activists in London on Tuesday.
The group, which included Pacific region ministers and leaders, among them the West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda, called for a UN-supervised independence vote in the Indonesian territory.
West Papuans are the indigenous people of a region on the western half of the island shared with Papua New Guinea, formerly under Dutch rule. Indonesia took temporary control of West Papua under a UN–backed treaty in 1963. It consolidated its rule through a UN-sanctioned but discredited ballot in 1969, in which barely 1,000 West Papuan representatives selected by Indonesia cast votes under threat of violence.
Wenda, who sought asylum in the UK in 2003 after escaping prison in West Papua, has led an international campaign for independence, drawing attention to continuing acts of violence and alleged human rights abuses by Indonesian authorities. Indonesian police have arrested thousands of West Papuans in recent weeks.
“Essentially what we’re looking at is a group of people who did not enjoy their rights during a period of decolonisation, did not enjoy the rights bestowed to them by the UN charter and by the statutes on decolonisation,” Corbyn said.
“As a member of parliament I support them, as a member of this group and as a former vice-chair of the all-party human rights group.”
Recognising human rights and justice “has to be the cornerstone of foreign policy, the cornerstone of our relationship with every other country”, Corbyn said, pledging he would discuss a list of recommendations made in a report by the Politics of Papua Project at the University of Warwick with the Labour party.
“I want these issues to become central to our party’s policies in the future and above all I want to see an end to environmental degradation and destruction and the right of people to be able to make their own choice on their own future.”
Corbyn, who is a cofounder of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua, described Monday’s gathering as “historic” and said the recommendations put forward were a good framework for moving towards recognition of the human rights issues, rights of representation and the right of people to choose their future in West Papua.
He noted the recommendation called for a visit by the UN special rapporteur, the reinstatement of NGOs in the region and questioning of international companies working in West Papua.
“It’s about a political strategy that brings to worldwide recognition the plight of the people of West Papua, forces it onto a political agenda, forces it to the UN, forces an exposure of it and ultimately that allows the people of West Papua to make the choice of the kind of government they want and the kind of society in which they want to live,” he said. “That is a fundamental right.”
He said the international community could continue “pretending the issue will go away” or it could “do something bold”.
“Recognise injustice when you see it,” he said. “Recognise the abuse of human rights when you see it and recognise that both sides in any conflict benefit from a peace process and benefit from recognition of human rights, law and justice.”
The Free West Papua campaign hopes to see a UN resolution within two years to send international peacekeepers to protect West Papuans as they vote on independence.
It urged international governments – particularly those of Australia and New Zealand – to support the vote.
“For 50 years Indonesia massacred my people, 500,000 people. We need international peacekeeping force in West Papua,” Wenda said. “In maybe another 10 or 20 or 50 years time I think my people will become a minority. We need this as soon as possible.”
On Friday the Indonesian embassy in Australia released a statement dismissing the meeting as a publicity stunt organised by a “small group of Papua separatists and sympathisers”.
“Papua and Papua Barat (West Papua) are parts of Indonesia. The UN and the international community recognise this,” it said in a series of tweets.
It accused the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, which Wenda leads, of making “false claims” and said West Papuans already had self-determination through special autonomy, free and fair elections, and education.
“President Jokowi is mobilising resources of the nation to deliver much needed infrastructure and public services in Papua,” it said.
“However, cases of violence are still a challenge. For example cases killed civilians, members of security authorities and separatists. Many cases are brought to court. And more to be brought to justice. President Jokowi is personally looking after human rights protections.”
• This article was amended on 19 May 2016. The recommendations that Jeremy Corbyn said he would discuss with the Labour party were made in a report by the University of Warwick’s Politics of Papua Project, not the group as a previous version said.
May 6, 2016
Papua Rights Among Concerns Around Jokowi’s UK Stay
Yogyakarta, (KM) —Radionz.co.nz. Rad – The British prime minister David Cameron has been urged to challenge Indonesian President Joko Widodo over his country’s human rights record, including West Papua.
The call from Amnesty International comes as President Widodo visits the United Kingdom this week as part of his European tour.
Referring to concerns around Indonesia’s performance on such matters as executions and Shari’a law, Amnesty says Indonesia’s record in human rights is an obstacle to any trade deal that Jakarta seeks to forge with the UK.
An Indonesia Researcher at Amnesty International, Papang Hidayat said the NGO’s was concerned about the country’s prisoners of conscience, including 27 in Papua.
He mentioned a Papuan political activist, Steven Itlay who was this month charged with having committed “rebellion” and faces life imprisonment. (radio new zealand)
Post by Admin/03.KM
April 20, 2016

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