Vannessa Hearman

Music for West Papuan freedom
Merdeka: Artists from around the world unit in support of the independence movement in West Papua
Dancing Turtle Records, 2007
Only available from <http://www.dancingturtle.co.uk>
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Campaigning for justice for Indonesian human rights activist Munir
Suciwati, the widow of Munir, the prominent Indonesian human rights activist killed by arsenic poisoning aboard a plane in 2004, visited Australia in February to call on the Australian government to help pressure Jakarta to resolve the case. Accompanying her was Usman Hamid, the executive director of Kontras — the Indonesian Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence — an organisation set up by Munir.
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Protests after Australian troops kill East Timorese youths
Australian soldiers fired on three youths in Dili on February 23. One youth died at the scene — a camp for internally displaced people (IDP) near Dili Airport. The others were injured; one later died in hospital.
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Balibo inquest a damning indictment of 'Jakarta lobby'
At a meeting in Melbourne on February 8 journalist and film-maker John Pilger hailed Shirley Shackleton as one of Australia’s “heroes”. He praised her tireless dedication, since 1975, in exposing the genocide in East Timor and in pursuing the truth about the death of five journalists in Balibo, East Timor. One of the journalists killed was her husband Greg Shackleton.
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Getting the people to rise up for peace and dancing
Increase the Peace
Dili Allstars
Shock Records
<http://www.diliallstars.com>
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Call for free, safe public transport
About 100 people rallied on the steps of Flinders Street station during rush hour on November 9 to call on Premier Steve Bracks’ Labor government to make public transport free and put it back into public hands.
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West Papua's struggle for justice
The arrival of the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers in Australia in January forced Australians to confront two blights on this country’s history: the government’s appalling treatment of refugees and the same government’s ongoing support for the Indonesian occupation of West Papua. The nation held its breath (and some of us kept up the protests) while Canberra sent the West Papuans off to Christmas Island and decided on what to do next.
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UN inquiry urges charges
The United Nations Independent Special Commission of Inquiry released its report on October 17 into the violent conflict in April and May in East Timor. The 79-page report found that the “frailty of state institutions and the weakness of the rule of law” were to blame for the conflict that erupted following the sacking of almost 600 soldiers from the Timorese Defence Force.
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Free West Papua!
The third annual national gathering of the Australian Coalition of West Papua Support Groups on September 16-17 affirmed the right of the people of West Papua to self-determination and decolonisation.
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