BY VIV MILEY & SUSAN PRICE
Progressive forces from around the world spoke out and took action as soon as news of the police and militia raid on the international solidarity conference spread.
In Canada, snap protests were organised across the country in solidarity, according to Paul Kellogg, who was one of those detained in Jakarta.
"On June 10, protests took place in Vancouver and Victoria on the west coast, Halifax on the east coast, Montreal in Quebec and in the central province of Ontario, in Ottawa and Toronto. Another protest was held in Kingston the following day on June 11", he reported.
"The largest action was in Toronto, where between 80 and 100 people rallied outside the Indonesian consulate."
Kellogg, who is editor of Socialist Worker, the newspaper of the International Socialist group in Canada, said that many of those in attendance at the Toronto rally were people who have also been campaigning against police brutality in the city.
Speakers at the Toronto rally which included Dudley Laws, a leader of the Black Action Defence Committee, highlighted the need to continue to build solidarity between Indonesian activists and those campaigning against police brutality in Canada.
"It is not just in Indonesia where police with guns drawn attack people", said Anna Willats from the Committee to Stop Targeted Policing, highlighting a recent raid by armed police in a working-class area of Toronto, which terrorised local residents.
In Spain, a statement was read out at a rally of 100,000 people in Madrid protesting the visit to the country by US President George W. Bush. The statement was signed by representatives of progressive political parties and NGOs, including Spanish Socialist Party MP Joaquin Leguina and Workers Commision leader Joaquin Nieto.
In Pretoria, South Africa, Patrick Bond reports that a demonstration organised by CANSA, the Campaign Against Neo-liberalism in South Africa, was held on June 11 outside the Indonesian Embassy.
In the Philippines, reports Rasti Delizo of the Socialist Party of Labour, a rally was held in front of the Indonesian Embassy in the Makati business district in Manila which condemned the "bloody dispersal by the Indonesian police and paramilitary groups" of the conference.
SPP representatives participated in the previous Asia Pacific Peoples' Solidarity Conference in Sydney in 1998. It called for the repeal of all repressive laws still in force from the time of the ousted Suharto regime.
Also in the Philippines, the secretariat of APCET, the Asia Pacific Coalition for East Timor, issued a statement on June 13 condemning the attack on the conference and the apparent collusion between police and militia thugs, stating "This is a grim spectre for the democratic forces inside Indonesia and the solidarity groups.
"The attack is reminiscent of the November 9, 1996 break-up and closure of the second APCET conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by youth thugs employed by the ruling ... coalition. We also remember strongly the violent May 2000 attack on the office of APCET's Indonesian affiliate, SOLIDAMOR, by armed thugs affiliated with the right wing.
"If Indonesian police acted that way towards an academic conference discussing the impact of economic policies on the Indonesian people, then we fear their actions on more 'political' forums and activities inside Indonesia, even if these are legitimate expressions of the Indonesian people and their support groups.
"We are also concerned that these developments represent a drift in Indonesia towards the right wing. APCET is supporting campaigns for the demilitarisation of Indonesia, as we recognise that a resurgence to power of the right wing in Indonesia will also present security threats to the independent East Timor nation."
In India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) sent a letter of protest to the Indonesian embassy, signed by the party's general secretary, Dipankar Battacharya, expressing shock at the repressive measures used to crack down on the conference and the "violation of human rights and elementary norms of democracy".
In Britain, a picket was held and a letter of protest sent to the Indonesian minister for foreign affairs via the Indonesian ambassador in London. It was signed by veteran Labor MP Tony Benn, journalist and film-maker John Pilger, peace activist Bruce Kent, columnist Paul Foot, prominent academic and leader of the Socialist Workers Party Alex Callinicos and Mike Marquesee and Liz Davies of the Socialist Alliance.
In Scotland, the Scottish Socialist Voice, newspaper of the Scottish Socialist Party, carried reports on the attack and detentions, and several prominent members sent letters of protest to the Indonesian authorities.
In the US, David Finkel and Dianne Feeley sent a message on behalf of the editors of Against the Current magazine to the Indonesian embassies in Washington DC and Canberra.
The statement condemned the actions of police as "a violation of basic rights [which] clearly represent an escalation of the assaults on the recent democratic gains" of the people of Indonesia.
In Mauritius, a protest letter was sent by the left-wing Lalit to the Indonesian ambassador in Australia, condemning "This blatant disregard for elementary democratic rights" by the Indonesian government.
In Hungary, Tamas Krausz and the Left Alternative Association sent a message of solidarity with the detainees and the Indonesian democratic forces.
In Hawaii, ADBwatch, which organised May protests against the Asian Development Bank, released information about the detentions and attack on its email networks, and linked the crisis with the need to sever US military ties with Indonesia.
In Germany, left-wing journalist Wolfgang Pomrehn translated materials about the raid into German and mobilised independent media activist support for the detainees.
In Belgium, Eric Toussaint, a leading figure in the Committee for the Cancellation of Third World Debt, sent a message of solidarity, as did activists from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Poland.