All day flag raising events in solidarity with West Papua independence movement.

Event location: Trades Hall Victoria 6pm

The Morning Star was also be raised on flag poles in Ballarat Castlemaine and Kyneton!

West Papuan LIVE MUSIC, DANCING, FOOD and…We so are excited to announce the LAUNCH screening of the latest music video on the West Papuan culture and struggle: Sorong Samarai experience – from the tip of West Papua to the tip of PNG – One People, One soul, One destiny at December 1 flag raising at Trades Hall Melbourne!!

December 1st 1961 was to be West Papua’s Independence Day according to the Dutch decolonisation plan, but international actors such as Indonesia, the USA and the United Nations intervened and stopped this from taking place through signing the New York Agreement without the consultation or involvement of the West Papuan people. It was on this day however that the West Papuan Morning Star flag was raised and it therefore continues to be an important day for West Papuans all over the world in their continuing struggle for independence.
Each year West Papuans and their supporters raise flags in solidarity to show that they are still fighting and remember what could have been 55 years ago. Instead West Papuans continue to be shot and killed for raising the Morning Star as it is seen by the Indonesian government as an act of treason.
The Morning Star flag is a symbol of freedom and flying it is an act of acknowledgement and recognition of the hardship of the West Papuan people who have endured 55 years of human rights abuses and environmental destruction under Indonesian occupation.