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Brown Bag: Self Determination for West Papuans, with Herman Wainggai and Jeremy Bally
Friday, August 30th
3:00pm - 5:00pm
Metropolitan Building 5183
West Papua is the most protracted conflict in the Asia - Pacific, yet it remains largely hidden, a secret story on the margins of our consciousness as American . West Papua is also scene of one of the most significant nonviolent struggles in the region. Despite this vast array of evidence of West Papuan commitment to freedom, against the backdrop of intense suffering and deprivation, the international community has been deaf to the call of the people for recognition of their struggle. Like other nations, West Papuans search for democracy, justice, freedom and equality, but West Papua continues to be haunted by what has been called a ‘memoria passionis’, or a collective ‘memory of suffering. The ongoing conflicts, however, inspire West Papuans to endeavor to solve their ‘memoria passionis’ through non-violence rooted in the ancient wisdom and profundity of their culture.
Come and listen to our guest speakers from West Papua and Canada:
Herman Wainggai, a Visiting Scholar at George Mason University, a leader in West Papua's self determination struggle and mentor of the non-violent students movement in West Papua has been living in exile in Australia. As a leader imprisoned for subversion in the provincial capital of Jayapura, West Papua, Indonesia, having previously spent long periods in jail for his activities and former political prisoner with experience of life both before and after assertions of state and corporate control into his peoples’ territories, will share the character, viability and qualities of life in a locally self-governing and sustainable culture, as well as his peoples’ nonviolent resistance to armed and violent oppression.
Jeremy Bally was born and raised on the West Coast of Canada. A cyclist and musician, he first heard about West Papua through a concerned friend who’d just stumbled upon the story herself. Over two years of engaging more deeply with the issue, the vision for Pedalling for Papua began to take shape, and in 2011 he flew to Indonesia to see first hand what the situation on the ground. Inspired by a new language and a journal full of sobering accounts from interviews conducted over a 5 week period, he arrived back home and began preparations for the first campaign.