Political Blog
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Gerard Henderson's wacky West Papua stance continues
Gerad Henerdon's recently came out (Crikey August 11) against Howard’s failed asylum seeker legislation.While this was refreshing he used the opportunity to continue his whacky vilification of those who advocate for West Papua (see SMH and Lateline ).
His argument, if you can call it that, is that anyone who supports independence for the troubled province is wrong to because they have no hope of succeeding. That's hardly a moral argument. Regardless, I suspect it is exactly the type of thing Mr Henderson said about East Timor and what many said about South African apartheid and the Berlin wall before they both fell.
Worse still, Henderson seems to deliberately conflate the concept of 'independence' with 'self-determination'. The difference is important. Of course if West Papuans want independence they should have it. But if they instead want some kind of autonomy they should have that instead. It is a pro-choice argument which affirms the fundamental UN human right of all peoples to have self-determination.
This would obviously have to involve some kind of act of self determination (a vote) to determine what West Papuans actually want. This is the key demand of many West Papuans and their supporters. Is Mr Henderson really against West Papuans having a vote? A strange position for a right wing policy institute director I would have thought.
Mr Henderson is relentless in his pursuit of those who backed or appeased oppressive communist regimes in the past. But when it comes to near neighbours being brutally attacked and suppressed right now, Gerard's silence is deafening.
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I hope you enjoy some of my ideas and analysis. I am unashamedly Green and much of what you will find here relates to Green politics however I write about a range of current state and national political issues that might have wider appeal.
