Click here to see an important update from IF Member Peggy Law: Watch free films on GI Resistance to criminal wars

Check our Upcoming Events Page
Films: Parzania June 10, Rethink Afghanistan June 24
Southeast Asian Buffet at India Joze July 8
Peru Dinner September 29

Rising from Crisis - Timor-Leste Story

Below is a self-playing presentation developed by Curt and Pamela in 2012 which tells the story of devastation from the past, building in the present and hope for the future.

Thank you, Phil and Trina Carr, for hosting IF's Latin America Dinner!

On the cool and lovely evening of May 12 we gathered in Phil and Trina's beautiful garden to enjoy a delicious feast prepared by Phil himself, good company of friends and IF supporters and the loveable black lab, Gordo.

Our other Phil (McManus) provided a fascinating update on people's movements in Latin America, which in addition to contending with the influence of US government and multinational corporations are now watching the rise of new powers in the region, including China, which is becoming a major investor in development projects.

We were excited to learn that a group of Mexican nonviolence activists, including Pietro Ameglio (in whose honor we held this dinner event), will be traveling across the southern US this summer. The purpose of this Caravan for peace will be to reach out to the American people as partners in ending the drug wars. It will be an opportunity for us to explore how we can help by reducing the US consumer demand that drives the drug trade, to learn how the easy availability of small arms in the US is fueling violence in Mexico, and other important issues.

Crucible: Timor-Leste Rising from Crisis

Picture
"On a per-capita basis, East Timor is the greatest genocide since the Holocaust."
Mark Zepezauer, Author, The CIA's Greatest Hits

East Timor (today, officially called by its Portuguese name, Timor‐Leste) is a country unknown to most people in the United States, and yet we should all know. For 25 years, the U.S. government supported a genocidal occupation by the Indonesian military because it was deemed in our “national interest.” The media silence over the atrocities in East Timor were key to “manufacturing consent” ‐ in the words of Noam Chomsky ‐ and keeping official policies on track.

With heroic courage, the people of Timor voted for independence in 1999 and attained it in 2002. Today, Timor continues to face enormous challenges. After decades of unimaginable human, cultural and material loss under first colonialism and then a brutal military invasion and occupation, Timor‐Leste is struggling to rebuild its society on its own terms. A new country with limited resources, Timor‐Leste’s steps toward self‐determination offer
crucial lessons for grassroots empowerment against domination by other nations, corporate interests, and large development and aid institutions.

This is the arena where conscientious Americans can participate concretely in a people’s movement to construct a sustainable, democratic society. Despite the gross imbalance of power, a network of people’s action groups in Timor‐Leste stands and fights for their genuine self‐determination, and IF stands in solidarity with them.
click here to learn about IF's expanded Timor Leste programs

What is IF?    

IF is an nonprofit humanitarian, educational and social change organization located in the Santa Cruz, CA, area. We are a community of friends seeking hopeful alternatives to the violence, greed and destructiveness of our world.  more about IF