Tag Archives: Izzy Brown

FREEDOM FLOTILLA AT WEST PAPUA FREEDOM FORUM, DARWIN 2015

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Uncle Kevin Buzzacott and the West Papua Freedom Flotilla will be participating in the West Papua Freedom Forum in Darwin in July on the anniversary of the Biak Massacre with a focus on Indigenous networking between Australia and West Papua.

Larrakia and Arabunna Aboriginal Elders June Mills and Uncle Kevin Buzzacott, along with Australian West Papua organizations, Indigenous groups and non-indigenous supporters will converge at the forum from the 4th to the 6th of July to participate in workshops, talk, storytelling and musical performance.

Exiled West Papuan leader, former political prisoner and member of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Jacob Rumbiak, will also attend the Freedom Forum after returning from the Solomon Islands where he has been facilitating West Papua’s submission for membership into powerful regional body, the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

“We work for world peace and justice, we start from our region, the Pacific.” Mr Rumbiak said.

Uncle Kevin Buzzacott has confirmed that the West Papua Freedom Forum will result in a public statement and action plan to commemorate the Biak Massacre atrocities in which more than 150 people were brutally tortured, killed and their bodies dumped at sea, after a pro-independence protest on the northern West Papuan island of Biak in July, 1998.

“We can’t have this murder on our doorstep. We must contest the Indonesian authority. We must free West Papua at all cost.” Mr Buzzacott said.

Flotilla Media Contact for Freedom Forum:
Uncle Kevin Buzzacott, Arabunna Elder 0431157747

Flotilla Media Contact for West Papua:
Ronny Kareni, West Papuan Media Spokesperson 0401222177kev_fb

WEST PAPUA FREEDOM FLOTILLA DIRECT ACTION 2015

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West Papua Freedom Flotilla spokesperson Izzy Brown has confirmed that the Freedom Flotilla will set sail from Darwin this year to undertake their latest direct action on the high seas to highlight damage caused by multinational corporations and colonial governments on the land and people of West Papua, specifically targeting major shareholder Rio Tinto and the Freeport Grasberg mine in Timika.

”We’re targeting Rio Tinto and the Freeport Grasberg mine because the genocide they are committing on the West Papuan people is disgusting. Not only are they funding the Indonesian military to kill indigenous West Papuans, they are also poisoning the land and water beyond repair and disregarding global environmental standards,” Ms Brown said.

The Freedom Flotilla to West Papua successfully defied the Indonesian Navy and Australian authorities in 2013 when they completed their mission to reconnect West Papuan and Aboriginal Peoples.

After a 5000 kilometre journey from Lake Eyre in South Australia all the way to the so-called Indonesian border north off the Torres Strait Arabunna Elder, Uncle Kevin Buzzacott, delivered sacred water from his own country and ashes from Aboriginal tent embassies around Australia directly to West Papuan leaders.

The secret ceremony took place between two small boats off the south coast of Papua, avoided interception by authorities and gained global media attention putting West Papuan issues in the spotlight.

Flotilla Media Contact for Direct Action: Izzy Brown 0497513584 or 0410535896flag-dawn_fb