ILPS Commission 10 Secretariat
Papua Merdeka! On this momentous day marking the first raising of the Morning Star flag as a symbol of West Papua’s independence, the International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS) Commission 10 reaffirm its commitment and support for West Papuans’ cause for liberation, self-determination, and justice.
We honor the West Papuans courage and steadfastness amidst struggle against settler fascism and imperialist plunder.
On 1st of December 1961, the Bintang Kejora or Morning Star flag was first raised to symbolize the independence of West Papua from the colonial rule of the Netherlands, it embodies the foundational moment of West Papuans as sovereign peoples. The years that followed, however, unfolds how their will as peoples are deliberately sidelined by colonial forces—the Dutch colonial administration, the imperialist United States, and the settler-colonial regime of Indonesia.
The 1969 sham “Act of Free Choice”, brokered by the United Nations, betrayed the self-determination promised to the peoples of West Papua, it legally sealed off the possibility of a liberated West Papuans within the framework of diplomatic decolonization.
The settler-colonial regime of Indonesia has since then brutally ruled West Papuans, where tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, almost all of whom are indigenous peoples.
However, just as the Morning Star flag represents the vision and destination of West Papua, where after the dark of the night, there will be sunrise in the morning. The Morning Star will rise up. The West Papuans through generations have continuously been rising up against extreme human rights violations, ethnic cleansing, criminalization of dissent, systemic racism and weaponized Indonesian laws against activists and civilians, land grabbing and displacement of indigenous populations for palm oil plantations.
Amidst the current wave of global movement against settler-colonialism and the decolonization of nations and peoples, the international community is challenged to heed the calls of West Papuans and support their struggle for liberation and self-determination.
Oppressed nations and peoples must link up together to advance anti-imperialist struggle at the global stage and should support each other’s domestic anti-fascist struggles. Only by defeating these colonizing forces can we truly realize liberation and self-determination.
Papua Merdeka! Long live international solidarity!
