BLACK FRIDAY ANTI-SALE IS BACK! 100% OF PROCEEDS GO TO CHARITY!
by HORRIBLENOISE _
Well, I can hardly believe it, but its already been a year since our hugely successful anti-sale to raise funds for 28 too many; a charity that works to end female circumcision in Africa through education.
I promised to do it again, so here I am. As a protest against the ugliness of black friday consumerism, and the ridiculous practice of putting fake discounts on jacked up prices, I instead offer you regular priced items, but 100% of proceeds will go to charity...
and I'M REAL GO DAM EXCITED ABOUT THIS ONE CUZ I BEEN LOSIN' SLEEP ABOUT IT FOR CLOSE TO A DECADE. (and you should be too)
I've chosen to send all profits from this Anti Black Friday Charity weekend to the Free West Papua Campaign.
Despite being arguably both the closest thing to classical colonialism and the most overt and violent instance of genocide occurring on earth at this moment, you've probably never heard shit about The West Papua conflict. Why? Because Indonesia is a massive ally and trade partner to Western nations like the US, and also probably because Papua is simply so remote, and therefore excluded from global discussion and scrutiny.
This is a short documentary that gives a good outline of the issues faced by West Papuans, it is 15 minutes, (less if you watch at 1.25 speed, i know u busy).
If you don't have time to watch, the basic rundown is that native Papuan people have called West Papua home for more than 50,000 years.
West Papua (New Guinea) was colonized for close to a century by the dutch.
In 1963, when colonialism had gone out of fashion for European nations, the Dutch merely handed over west Papua to neighboring Indonesia. In 1969 the UN forced Indonesia to allow a vote by West Papuans to become independent, or stay as part of Indonesia. However, Indonesian officials dubbed them "too primitive" to vote and instead narrowed the vote to about 1000 Papuan elders, all of whom were forced to vote to remain in Indonesia by way of death threats, often at gunpoint.
"This has become one of the world’s longest-running military occupations. Over 500,000 West Papuan people have lost their lives in what experts have described as a “neglected genocide”, and reports of West Papuans being shot, imprisoned, kidnapped and tortured regularly filter out of the country. West Papuan people are jailed for up to 15 years just for raising their own national flag."
Foreign media, human rights groups, UN human rights inspectors and NGOs are banned from operating in West Papua, so we rarely hear about the situation there. Its likely that most Indonesian citizens do not have a full understanding of the nature happenings there.
The following is taken direct from freewestpapua.org:
"The world’s longest‐running military occupation and genocide has killed more than 500,000 people, and is destroying the world’s second‐largest rain forest and 50,000 years of civilization. Indonesia has brutally occupied West Papua since 1963, and still today; rape, torture and illegal imprisonment is a daily reality for the people of West Papua.
The Free West Papua Campaign works peacefully to bring awareness of the situation in West Papua by lobbying governments, and building international solidarity for West Papua’s right to self-determination, and freedom. We work with international lawyers, & parliamentarians, human rights organizations, and community groups towards this aim."
(Pictured above is Benny Wenda, pacifist leader of the Free West Papua Campaign, who lives in Exile in the UK.)
The FWP Campaign is a non-profit organisation that relies on fundraising and donations.
They describe their current budget as a "shoestring", which is a testament to the continued lack of international awareness about the genocide.
The campaign just had a big win, presenting a petition with close to 2 million signatures to the UN, requesting they pressure Indonesia to hold a referendum. This is a great step forward, but it means that now is a more critical time than ever to maintain this momentum: to keep pushing, and to keep spreading advocacy. As stated on the website:
"The people of West Papua’s voices are finally being heard by the world, and we want to continue our critical work to ensure West Papua remains on the UN agenda until they are free."
This is a cause I have been extremely passionate about for a long time, since I first learned about it in university. I now, for the first time, find myself in a position to do something to help. I really hope you will feel the same way. If you're not looking to buy any HONO merch, or you're already HONO'd out for the time being, consider donating directly to the campaign here.
To spice things up, aside from sales on the website going to the campaign, I'll be flash auctioning original art pieces daily via my instagram account.
All facts I've stated here can be sourced to the following:
P.S. You can help even if you're dead broke, here's a list of ways to help the cause & to demand that West Papua to be allowed to vote for its independence!
