The Dance of Bliss and the Silence of West Papua
On cosmic harmony, extraction, and the seventy-three dead.
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May 3, 2026
Morning Star flags
Asia-Pacific / Assimilation / Commonwealth Government / Corruption / Discrimination/Racism / First Nations/Indigenous / Genocide / Government / Human Rights / Indonesia / Racism / Refugees / United Nations / West Papua
Treaties, lies and the Morning Star Flag
“The West Papuans have become the victims of Australia’s regional foreign policy arrangements that prop up the anti-refugee policies of Operation Sovereign Borders.” Ian Rintoul, Refugee Action Coalition. Fifty-two years…
December 1, 2013
Australian Aborigines / Commonwealth Government / Corruption / Discrimination/Racism / First Nations/Indigenous / Government / Indonesia / Racism / Refugees
Australia’s Racism Problem Just Won’t Go Away
This post has been proferred by Imogen, a reader of Blak and Black. As South Korean-born Dami Im’s X-Factor win in Australia is celebrated with a number one single it’s a shame…
November 29, 2013
Never a number
On the ground floor of the Art Gallery of NSW I saw one of the most moving pieces of sculpture I can remember visiting. It did not surpass the sublime…
May 20, 2013
Asia-Pacific / Australian Federal Police / Commonwealth Government / Culture / Discrimination/Racism / First Nations/Indigenous / Genocide / Government / Human Rights / Indonesia / International Law / Law Enforcement / Racism / Rule of Law / Shared humanity / United Nations / West Papua
West Papua – time we were #idlenomore
“We recognize international law …” Every country that is a member of the United Nations recognizes international law, Bob, at least as far as it serves their purposes. It seems…
March 6, 2013
Asia-Pacific / Australian Aborigines / Disability / Discrimination / Discrimination/Racism / First Nations/Indigenous / Human Rights / Indonesia / Pacific Neighbours / PNG / Queensland / Racial Discrimination Act / Racism / Religion / Respect / Shared humanity / Solomon Islands / United Nations / Vanuatu / West Papua / Xenophobia
Promises and passages – it’s all an illusion
The racism that permeates Australia has not altered since the days of the blackbirders.
December 8, 2012
Asia-Pacific / Australian Federal Police / Commonwealth Government / Discrimination/Racism / First Nations/Indigenous / Genocide / Government / Human Rights / Indonesia / Law Enforcement / Racism / Shared humanity / West Papua
West Papua: Remembering 51 years of oppression
Dusk is falling across Melbourne and West Papua, but not over the dreams of the Papuan people. Today, remembering 51 years of oppression having been denied the right to self-determination,…
December 1, 2012
Asia-Pacific / Corruption / Globalisation / Human Rights / Indonesia / International Law / Julian Moti / Neo-Colonialism / Pacific Neighbours / Rule of Law / Shared humanity / United Nations / West Papua
A process of truth and judgement
Judgement is our oldest belief, our most habitual holding-true or holding un-true, an assertion or denial, a certainty that something is thus not otherwise, a belief that here we really…
October 9, 2012
Asia-Pacific / Corporate profit / Corporate responsibility / Corruption / Genocide / Human Rights / Indonesia / International Law / Rule of Law / Shared humanity / West Papua
The limits of Shiva’s dance: West Papua, Australia’s role in genocide
West Papua is being exploited for it's resources, environmentally polluted and it's people fail to benefit from the profits.
July 5, 2012
Asia-Pacific / Corruption / Genocide / Human Rights / Hypocrisy / Indonesia / International Law / Rule of Law / Shared humanity / United Nations
West Papua the Guernica of the 21st Century sans outrage
We were about eighteen miles east of Guernica when Anton pulled to the side of the road jammed on the brakes and started shouting. He pointed wildly ahead, and my…
June 17, 2012
West Papua Rally, Melbourne 2012
Asia-Pacific / Australian Federal Police / Genocide / Human Rights / Indonesia / International Law / Justice / Law Enforcement / Rule of Law / United Nations
The assassination of Mako Tabuni: the AFP is the devil in everyone’s democratic aspirations!
Indonesia's Detachment 88 has killed West Papuan independence activist Mako Tabuni.
June 15, 2012
Asia-Pacific / Culture / Environment / Genocide / Human Rights / Indonesia / Justice / Mining / Neo-Colonialism / Rule of Law / Shared humanity / West Papua
300,000 dead West Papuan’s: a fair price for our golems?
Sydney: city of mystery, city of marvels. Sydney: its foreshores once teeming with Gadigal; now a captive city pregnant with memories, enveloped by memories of a Gadigal Atlantis. The traditional…
May 24, 2012
Asia-Pacific / Culture / Discrimination/Racism / Environment / Equality / Equality of opportunity / Genocide / Human Rights / Indonesia / International Law / Law / Mining / Neo-Colonialism / Rule of Law / Shared humanity / West Papua
Beware there be Jinn in the forests: Indonesia and West Papua, a clash of cultures
Last weekend I took a stroll through the Mesopotamia exhibition at the Melbourne Museum. While reading the commentary attached to a number of the artefacts I realised, in a profound…
May 20, 2012
Asia-Pacific / Corporate profit / Corporate responsibility / Corruption / Environment / Genocide / Human Rights / Indonesia / Mining / Pacific Neighbours / Shared humanity / West Papua
Portia’s Lament: Western greed and the death of the indigenous cultures of West Papua
Fragments from the Alfoxden Notebook There he would stand In the still covert of some [lonesome?] rock, Or gaze upon the moon until its light Fell like a strain of…
May 9, 2012
Accountability / Asia-Pacific / Corporate responsibility / Corruption / Democracy / Ernst & Young / Genocide / Globalisation / Human Rights / Indonesia / Mining / Rule of Law / Shared humanity / West Papua
Silence no longer so golden
Complicity takes many forms, as discussed in posts by both Bakchos and me. Many believe that silent complicity is the least culpable, but to my mind if the silence enables…
March 14, 2012
Accountability / ACT Government / Asia-Pacific / Corporate profit / Corporate responsibility / Corruption / Discrimination/Racism / Ernst & Young / Government / Human Rights / Indonesia / Mining / Racism / West Papua
Copper and gold: the blood diamonds of West Papua
Ernst & Young has its fingers in projects that disadvantage Indigenous people across the world, including in West Papua.
February 22, 2012
Accountability / Asia-Pacific / Corporate profit / Corporate responsibility / Corruption / Culture / Discrimination/Racism / Environment / Equality / Genocide / Globalisation / Human Rights / Indonesia / Justice / Law / Racism / Rule of Law / West Papua
The Jayapura Five: Our choices and actions do affect the lives of others
Little fly, Thy summer’s play My thoughtless hand Has brushed away. Am not I A fly like thee? Or art not thou A man like me? For I dance And…
February 21, 2012
Accountability / Asia-Pacific / Corporate profit / Corporate responsibility / Corruption / Discrimination/Racism / Ernst & Young / Genocide / Globalisation / Human Rights / Indonesia / International Law / Justice / Law / Mining / Political theory / Rule of Law / Shared humanity / West Papua
Genocide in West Papua, collective responsibility and the role of Ernst & Young
The TNI under Suharto was seen as different from other armies because: Indonesian army sees itself as quite different from other armies in the world, because it was never created…
February 4, 2012
Arc of instability / Asia-Pacific / Assimilation / Culture / Democracy / Discrimination/Racism / Equality / Equality of opportunity / Genocide / Human Rights / Indonesia / International Law / Neo-Colonialism / Pacific Neighbours / Rule of Law / United Nations / West Papua
Indonesia and Australia the illegitimate states of the Asia Pacific Region
What is self-determination? The notion of self-determination as a universal principle, whether viewed through a political, moral, or legal lens, has been and continues to be imprecise and in dire…
January 2, 2012
Accountability / Arc of instability / Asia-Pacific / Corporate profit / Corruption / Democracy / Discrimination/Racism / Equality / Human Rights / Indonesia / International Law / Justice / Neo-Colonialism / Pacific Neighbours / Racism / Rule of Law / Shared humanity / West Papua
The Lombok Treaty: a win for self interest over justice
The current humanitarian crises in West Papua, formally West New Guinea (“WNG”), has at its roots Western colonial greed and paranoia over Soviet influence in the region. WNG was and…
December 19, 2011