East Timor Question: The Struggle for Independence from Indonesia

by Paul Hainsworth (Editor), Stephen McCloskey (Editor), John Pilger

East Timor has long been one of the worlds most infamous trouble spots. Originally colonized by the Portuguese, it was brutally invaded and occupied by the Indonesian military forces in 1975. According to the UN, this resulted in the death of about one third of the population through massacres, starvation and disease. But more recent years have seen the worst chaos, with an escalation of widespread violence contained only through the deployment of multinational forces. This book considers the potential for change against a backdrop of strong popular and political support for the Timorese cause. Addressing East Timor's recent emergence as an issue of global importance, it illustrates how local, grassroots, individual, organizational and campaign initiatives have contributed to this state of affairs, in the context of the increased emphasis which is being placed on ethics, international morality and human rights in contemporary international relations. Drawing on the personal experience of individuals, this work provides up-to-date analysis both of the situation in East Timor and of recent political changes in Indonesia.

222 pages, ebook

First published November 4, 2000

About the author

Paul Hainsworth is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. He is the editor of The Extreme Right in Europe and the USA (1992) and The Politics of the Extreme Right: From the Margins to the Mainstream (2000).