Fr Pat Smythe
Parish Priest, RC Diocese of Leeds, England
Dear
friend,
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I would like to express my appreciation
for the great work of the East Timor and Indonesia Action
Network (ETAN) and my hope that it will continue to be as thorough
and effective.
The information continually being
provided by ETAN's listserv was very helpful to our campaigning
efforts in Great Britain for the liberation of East Timor, in which
I became actively engaged in the years following the Santa Cruz
massacre in 1991 until independence was finally achieved a decade or
so later.
I first became aware of the situation in
East Timor through watching Max Stahl's powerful film footage of the
Santa Cruz massacre in 1991 when it was broadcast swiftly after
this horrific event had taken place. My active engagement in the
liberation struggle was urged on further by Death of a Nation, the
subsequent TV documentary by John Pilger, which drew attention to
the shameful complicity of successive British governments and
corporations in the brutal and illegal Indonesian invasion and
occupation of East Timor.
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"I would
encourage all who can to offer financial support, according
to your means, to ETAN's great work - which is so very
focussed and effective."
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Now I find the daily presentation by ETAN of information from a wide
range of sources and ETAN's own objective and dispassionate
commentary and analysis, are quite essential in keeping in touch
with ongoing developments in Timor-Leste.
ETAN's list also
enables me regularly to pass on accurate descriptions of the
prevailing situation to the supporters of our charity, The Peter
Trust (Provision for East Timorese Education and Relief). Our fund
raising (now amounting to 40,000 GBP annually) and its disbursal are
all the more effective because of ETAN.
ETAN is one of the main sources I rely on to ensure that I
have reliable and up-to-date information about West Papua
and Indonesia.
I am never disappointed and I am
grateful to the team for the hard yards sourcing the
information and the wide range of articles.
Best wishes,
-
Maire Leadbeater
Aotearoa/New Zealand
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Without the documentation provided by ETAN - initially in hard copy
and later in digital format - I could not have written my PhD Thesis
and the subsequent book,
The Heaviest Blow - the Catholic Church
and the East Timor Issue, published in 2004.
So
in critical ways ETAN has been really valuable to me: for
campaigning for justice for the East Timorese in action, in the
halls of academe, and in the international Catholic Church; and in
supporting Timor Leste's ongoing development through practical
projects in health, education, job creation, etc. Latterly, this has
included giving consideration to the welfare of the many East
Timorese who now live and work in Britain in order to support their
families in their distant homeland.
Well done to all at ETAN
and thanks to all subscribers past and present.
I
would encourage all who can to offer financial support, according to
your means, to this great work - which is so very focussed and
effective.Fr Pat Smythe
Parish Priest, RC
Diocese of Leeds, England.

P.S. Please consider becoming an ETAN Sustainer
by making a monthly donation by credit card. Help put ETAN on a firmer
financial footing, see information here.