A demonstration was staged in front of an Indonesian naval ship in Auckland on Sunday as a protest against military involvement in West Papua.
Indonesias KRI Banda Aceh, a landing platform dock, is one of the many warships participating in the New Zealand Navy's 75th birthday celebration.
The demonstration was held by a collective of Maori and Pacific women, Oceania Interrupted, and fellow solidarity group West Papua Action Auckland.
The demonstrators numbered less than two dozen but Oceania Interrupted spokesperson Leilani Salesa told Johnny Blades that they made their presence known.
Demonstrators in Auckland hold up Morning Star flag to Indonesian sailors
Photo: Supplied
Transcript
LEILANI SALESA: We made our opposition to New Zealand's military ties to Indonesia known by staging a peaceful protest.
JOHNNY BLADES: And you have got some concerns, haven't you, about the Indonesian military's activities or the role they play in West Papua?
LS: We are absolutely concerned about the ongoing human rights violations in West Papua committed by the Indonesian military. We stand in opposition to their presence. We believe that they are engaging in a process of active colonisation and there is decades of documentation of their ongoing human rights abuses of peaceful West Papuans who stand in opposition to their presence.
JB: When you did the protest did it register with the Indonesian Navy, did they take note, did they see your protest?
LS: Our presence was absolutely seen, felt and heard. We raised the morning star flag at every given opportunity and to stand next to the KRI Banda Aceh and to raise and hold the morning star flag. To do an act that we know our West Papuan brothers and sisters in West Papua would be punished for was a really powerful moment for us. And it sends a really powerful message that the world is watching. And we stand in opposition to the atrocities that they continue to commit.
JB: Now Oceania Interrupted has done a number of demos or events over the last couple of years especially. What are you hoping to achieve?
LS: Oceania awareness was formed to raise awareness amongst Maori and Pasifika communities here in Aotearoa New Zealand about the situation in West Papua. We know there is very little written in mainstream media about West Papua. And what we wanted to do is we wanted to use interventionist art and stage public interventions to call attention to the situation. And we do that as indigenous Pasifika and Maori women by using our bodies and using visual and performance arts. And what we know we have done is we have been part of a surge in a rise of awareness. Within, throughout all of Aotearoa and what we have done is we have been part of a movement that puts West Papua on the tip of people's tongues and in the forefront of their minds.
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