Amanda Freund, Newcastle – Newcastle City Council will fly the West Papuan flag from City Hall on December 1 as a gesture of support for the West Papuan people's struggle for independen

City Councillors took part in a protest on the steps of Oxford Town Hall to pledge their support for West Papuans fighting for freedom from Indonesian occupation.

Green Euro-MP Caroline Lucas has joined calls for the UN to hold an independence referendum in West Papua after the Green Party adopted a policy motion condemning the UN-sponsored 'sham

See also below: West Papua Solidarity Meeting clarification

Jakarta – Vice-President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla has requested the Phillippines government not to interfere in Indonesia's internal affairs in relation to the problem of Papua.

The government of the Philippines and the University of the Philippines say they do not support a meeting discussing the issue of independence for West Papua.

Max Lane, Sydney – Indonesian left-wing publisher Joesoef Isak attended the Third Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference (APISC) in Sydney over the Easter weekend.

Tens of thousands of Muslim Indonesians held a peaceful anti-Israel protest and rallied outside the US embassy in what police said appeared to be the largest demonstration the city has

Jakarta – Claims reported in The Jakarta Post that the New Zealand Green Party paid protesters to rally outside New Zealand's Parliament are an outrageous lie, the party's Co-Leader Rod

Rendi A.

Monica Sloan – Oxford MP Andrew Smith has met a West Papuan tribal leader who fled torture to highlight the oppression of Papuans by Indonesia.

Sydney – As East Timor-like tragedies unfold in Aceh and Papua, at both ends of our giant and important neighbour, how real is the democratic transformation of Indonesia?

Jakarta – About 100 Indonesian Islamic activists on Friday protested US military attacks on the Iraqi holy city of Najaf by burning the American flag and a dollar bill outside the count

Robyn Waite, Dili – The Asia Pacific Coalition for East Timor (APCET) is a coalition of Asian human rights groups and East Timor solidarity networks that was founded at a conference in

Jon Lamb – Solidarity protests took place across Australia on May 20, the second anniversary of East Timor's independence.

A Central Sydney rally has called on the Australian Government to give East Timor its fair share of revenue from Timor Sea oil and gas reserves.

James Bowden, Darwin & Iggy Kim, Sydney – A public meeting of 40 people on May 6 had spirited discussion and debate on the Australian government's theft of East Timor's oil and gas

Robyn Waite, Dili – During April 14-16, an empty block opposite the Australian embassy in Dili became a fervent and colourful site of protest, as more than 1500 people mobilised to oppo

Sarah Stephen, Sydney – "Each of us has to choose between being either a champion of human dignity or a collaborator with an increasingly inhuman system", Sister Susan Connelly from the

Bob Burton, Canberra – Australia's effort to block East Timor from billions of dollars of oil resources – by refusing to agree to a maritime boundary between the two countries – will be

Vannessa Hearman, Melbourne – On April 14, 50 members of the Timor Sea Justice Campaign met outside the High Court to launch the group.

Sonny Inbaraj, Dili – East Timorese activists have thrown their support behind their government's refusal to ratify an agreement giving Australia the lion's share of disputed oil and ga

Sydney – A coalition of church and aid groups on Friday called for Australia to grant East Timor concessions in a border dispute over the resource-rich Timor Sea as the countries prepar

About a dozen people have rallied outside the Darwin office of the Member for Solomon this morning, to protest against Australia's treatment of East Timor in oil and gas negotiations.

Neles Tebay – When the territory of Papua was under Dutch rule, the population was almost exclusively Papuan, made up of some 252 ethnic groups.

Hundreds of people have marked the death of the East Timor independence activist Andrew McNaughtan at a memorial service in the Australian city of Sydney.

[Obituary - Dr Andrew Ian, McNaughtan, campaigner for East Timorese Independence, 21-2-1953 – 22-12-2003.]

East Timorese freedom campaigners are mourning the death of a leading Australian human rights activist, Dr Andrew McNaughtan.

Ainur R.

Pip Hinman, Sydney – The Indonesian government has an almost "pathological hostility to separatism", Dr Ed Aspinall, lecturer in South-East Asian Studies at Sydney University, told a fo

Jim Lobe, Washington – Some 90 human rights, peace, and church groups around the world are calling for an international military embargo against Indonesia in light of its current counte

Up to 90 human rights organisations, anti-arms trade and anti-war groups have demanded an international embargo against selling arms to Indonesia

Rachel Watts, Dili – As official celebrations took place in Dili on May 20 to mark the first anniversary of East Timor's independence, more than 120 demonstrators gathered outside the g

Nick Everett, Jakarta – On May 19-21, more than 60 peace activists from 26 countries met at Hotel Wisata to assess the challenges faced by the global peace movement and to develop a pla

Kupang – The military in West Timor strongly deplored the East Timor government's inaction over the recent raising of the Aceh Free Movement (GAM) flag in Dili, saying it could affect t

Nick Everett – On May 21, I was arrested for attending a protest in Jakarta.

Two Australian peace activists arrested at a rally in Indonesia earlier this week are expected to arrive in Sydney tonight.

Pip Hinman – Australia-based Scottish academic Lesley McCulloch and US nurse Joy-Lee Sadler were arrested in Indonesian-occupied south Aceh on September 11.

Kate Stockdale, Darwin – Local community organisations, politicians and activists – meeting regularly as the Refugee Action Network (RAN) – are campaigning to allow all 1800 East Timore

Jakarta – The Indonesian military has withdrawn from Papua province a special forces unit, some of whose members are on trial for the murder of a pro-independence leader there.

Australia's Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock has been asked to establish a special visa category in a bid to allow a group of East Timorese to stay in the country.

Royal Abbott, Melbourne – Five Melbourne mayors have joined the Victorian government in appealing to Canberra to halt plans to forcibly deport 1,400 East Timorese who have been denied p

Ralf Scharmann, Darwin – Traditional owners in several Top End communities have offered sanctuary to 84 Darwin-based East Timorese asylum seekers who are facing deportation.

Vannessa Hearman, Melbourne – Fivo Freitas is 28 years old, he sought asylum in Australia after leaving East Timor in 1999.

Pip Hinman – When Indonesian judge Asril Marwan on December 30 sentenced Joy-Lee Sadler to four months' jail and Lesley McCulloch to five months, he declared that McCulloch should have

Indonesian-based Australian journalist John Martinkus explores the fine line between journalism and activism.

A lobby group in Darwin, Australia, claims Indonesian authorities are persecuting and intimidating civil democratic groups in the province of Aceh.

Marni Cordell – It's cold on the first morning of the Yumi Wantaim gathering, and we – an eclectic mix of faces, ages and colours – are huddled under a large white marquee in Pipemaker'

Kathy Fairfax, Sydney – Husaini Hasan, chairperson of the Government Council of the Free Acheh Movement (MPGAM), told a meeting on July 11 that his people's struggle for a referendum wo

[The following is a slightly abridged version of a speech given by Sarah Stephen, a member of the Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific brigade to East Timor, at a protest o