From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Timor: Book rev: "Telling"
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 09:05:58 GMT

/** reg.easttimor: 344.0 **/
** Topic: New book "TELLING" now available in **
** Written  1:17 pm  Nov 14, 1992 by Mate-Bian.Nian@f101.n612.z90.pegasus.oz.au in cdp:reg.easttimor **
On the eve of the first anniversary of "The Santa Cruz 
Massacre"of the November 12, 1991, a book was launched in 
Sydney. "TELLING" is the name of this new book by Michell 
Turner, a successfull Australian writer, longtime supporter 
of the rights of East Timorese People.

"TELLING" is not just another book about East Timor.  It is 
a living testimony of a war imposed upon a peacefull people 
that refuses to be wiped out from the earth.  "TELLING" 
mirrors the courage and determination of a people to fight 
for their survival; it is a fight which mixes political 
determination with a deep sense of respect for peoples, 
individuals and nations.

"TELLING" does not only talk about today's suffering of the 
Timorese. It revives the history back to the chapters of 
the WWII when the Australian and Japanese "commandos" took 
over East Timor and set the country of the Timorese as a 
central but conveniently ignored stage ofthe WWII. The only 
thing in common between thischapter and the current 
Indonesian occupation is the atrocities - commited by 
different peoples against the same people: the Timorese.

I guess "TELLING" tries to highlight precisely this fact; 
and, by doing so, it tries to awake the readers to the fact 
that the people of East Timor have been through a lot of 
suffering and it is time for the world to wake up and 
recognise that the Timorese, too, as a people and a nation, 
must be respected. And, after all the suffering that, due 
to the excesses of this world, the Timorese have been 
forced to endure, it is time for them to be given a chance 
to live in piece.   By the variety of stories and the 
"natural" language used to express them, "TELLING" allows 
the reader to structure his/her own conclusions; what it 
can't do however, is allowing you - the reader - to stand 
aside and do nothing.

The cover is a collection of cultural testimonies combining 
the features of Timorese traditional and sacred houses - 
Uma Lulik - with a couple and their son. This element 
portrays the survival of the very basic fabric of the 
Timorese Resistance: the Family. The cover is further 
enriched with a clear picture of the last year's November 
12 protest which led to the "massacre of Sta. Cruz". Hence, 
the cover alone is already synthesizing what "TELLING" is 
telling the world.

"TELLING" was promoted in Sydney through a "book reading" 
on the night of the 27 of October.  It prolonged to about 
midnight, the time that in East Timor, last year, the 
courageous student leader, Sebastiao Gomes was killed by 
the Indonesian troops and the Church of Motael was raided. 
The assassination of Sebastiao highlighted precisely the 
content and, I think, the spirit of this book.

"TELLING" was published by the University of New South 
Wales Press", PO Box 1, KENSINGTON, NSW 2033, AUSTRALIA. 
Fax (02) 398 3408 and Tel. (02) 398 8900. Retail price: 
$A19.95; also available throughout Australia at bookshops. 
Also available in North America through:International 
Specialized Book Services, Portland Oregon 97213-3640; Tel. 
(503) 287 3093; Fax: (503) 284 8859. Agio Pereira


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 * Origin: APC (90:612/101)
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** End of text from cdp:reg.easttimor **

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