The 25th anniversary of the successful vote for independence by Timor-Leste was marked on August 30. Leo Earle took these photos for Green Left.
Dili
Thirty-three years on from the Santa Cruz massacre, the trauma of Indonesia's occupation of Timor-Leste remains, reports Leo Earle.
Leo Earle interviewed former political exile, LGBTQ activist and presidential advisor, Bella Galhos, on a recent visit to Timor Leste.
Joviana Guterres works for justice and rights for women victims of past violations of human rights in Timor Leste. She spoke to Green Left’s Coral Wynter and Jim McIlroy during their recent visit to the capital, Dili.
Timor-Leste joined the global climate strike for the first time, on September 24.
More than 400 people took part in the climate strike in the capital, Dili. The protest stared from the Palacio Governo, marching to Bidau for speeches and a concert.
The Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea (MKOTT), a Timorese activist group based in Dili, condemned the Australian government on August 9 for its ongoing prosecution of Witness K and his lawyer Bernard Collaery, over the exposure of Australian secret service bugging of Timorese government offices, labelling it as an "attack on freedom of expression and democracy".
Stephen Langford, long term solidarity activist with Timor Leste and secretary of the Australia East Timor Association NSW in the 1980s and 1990s, was awarded the Order of Timor Medal in a special ceremony in Maliana, Timor Leste, on May 20 as part of Independence Day celebrations.
The Indonesian government illegally occupied Timor Leste for 24 years from 1975 to 1999. The Australian government was complicit in the invasion, never opposing the actions of the Indonesian government, despite five Australian journalists being killed by the Indonesian military just before the invasion.
In a July 7, press conference in Dili, Luta Hamutuk a prominent civil society activist group in Timor Leste condemned the new Australian policy on refugees as "racist".