OneBigTribe Papua+Planet fest, Maynooth Mar 21-22

national | miscellaneous | news report Friday March 14, 2003 09:29 by Ruairi - West Papua Support Group: OneBigTribe muscailt at yahoo dot com

BigTribe Concert + Global Forum March 21-22

ALL INVITED TO JOIN THE SPIRIT OF RESISTANCE AND CULTURAL AT THE OneBigTribe event at NUI Maynooth: Friday March 21st (Spring Equinox): €7/10 Concert featuring Papuan tribesman Sem Karoba, Sampari Papuan dancers, Global Harmony and The Hothouse Flowers Saturday March 22nd: €5 Forum featuring talks, workshops, debate, films, ceremony & song. Topics include WOMEN'S STRUGGLE, DEVELOPMENT and DIRECT ACTION.Speakers include Ciaron O’Reilly (Catholic Worker Movement), recently released from Limerick prison for Shannon airport direct action. * All proceeds go to Sem Karoba and his work for West Papuan Freedom. * Organised by Friends of Sem Karoba and West Papua

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Memories of the Irish campaign to free East Timor from a horrific Indonesian occupation will be evoked on March 21st and 22nd as supporters of the West Papua freedom movement gather in Maynooth for the One Big Tribe festival.

The festival commences with a symbolic Papuan dance outside the Dept. of Foreign Affairs on Friday afternoon, followed by a benefit concert at Maynooth Student’s Union on Friday night (starting early at 8pm). The date marks the Spring Equinox. Performers include Sem Karoba, a native tribesman from the lush rainforests of West Papua, Sampari, a Papuan dance troop based in the Netherlands, and the Hothouse Flowers, who have been ardent supporters of West Papua’s plight to save their homeland from Indonesian terrorism and ecological plunder.

Revellers will be fitting in some sleep before joining in a day of talks, workshops, debate and film on Saturday which aim to raise awareness of West Papua and its links to a war weary and ecologically confused world. The event will be brought to a close by a small ceremony and some songs and music from around the world.

Organisers of the event, who include representatives of a wide range of groups and ideologies, agree that this is the start of something big. West Papua is about to be blown onto the media radar as Indonesia steps up its own ‘war on terror’ by further persecuting the Papuan people. To date, up to 300,000 (or 20%) of the population has been killed and the natives are losing land, jobs and rights to Indonesian ‘settlers’ who are arriving in their thousands, partly sponsored by the World Bank.

Human rights abuses are only part of West Papua’s problem. Mining giants BP and Freeport MacMoran are working closely with the military, including some commanders from the East Timor conflict, to ensure they reap the lucrative rewards of Papua’s rich gas, gold, copper and forest resources. The result has been mass environmental wreckage. In addition, native customs, music, language and spirituality are being denied in a form of cultural colonisation reminiscent of the penal laws in Ireland.

However thanks to activists such as Sem Karoba, now living in Ireland, West Papuans are not giving up without a fight. Violence and militancy don’t provide much opposition to the might of the American supported Indonesian military but self taught tribal webmasters such as Sem certainly do.

Sem landed in England a few years ago on a trip paid for by the sale of village pigs and managed to find himself living, learning and campaigning amongst Brighton’s grassroots activists. In Brighton he started his popular website www.westpapua.net which has been at the forefront of telling the world what is happening in his homeland, a job of particular importance as journalists are banned from visiting West Papua.

Indeed, Sem’s vocal but modest work has earned him the scorn of Indonesian officials who haven’t taken kindly to this ‘man from the jungle’ touring the world (he has met with the UN, EU officials and spoke at the recent Green Party conference) in search justice for his people and forests. At present it is too dangerous for him to return home. He knows he may well be jailed, tortured or killed some day but he is not ready just yet.

England was Sem’s introduction to western culture but Ireland has been his saviour. Having been invited over by supporters in Sligo, Sem has found himself a land and people more open to his cultural, spiritual and political messages. ‘Ireland is my second home. The people understand my need to sing, tell my stories and stand up against intimidation. They know from their history. Their songs and language were also banned’.

Some might argue that Sem’s view of the ‘caring Irish’ is a little optimistic but the One Big Tribe event is certainly proof that Ireland could once again be at the forefront of leading a campaign for freedom in a foreign land the world has forgotten. And as Sem Karoba is so keen to convey ‘it is not just political freedom from Indonesia we seek. We seek the freedom to live our own ways and beliefs. To practice our tribal laws and customs and to live in harmony with nature. We do not need cities filled with McDonalds’, Motorways, pollution and crime to do that. We have an ecological paradise that doesn’t need ‘developing’. It needs preserving’.

Contact info for Media/Donations/Support

One Big Tribe info and coordination:
Piera Sarsini
085 7285113 [email protected]
www.onebigtribe.org

Sem Karoba:
086 3746379 [email protected] www.westpapua.net/koteka

West Papua international campaign info:
Mark Doris
087 2969742 [email protected]