LETTER TO THE EDITOR: DELAY IN PASSING THE WORK HEALTH SAFETY BILL
2011

The Editor

The Guardian Weekly

However, Vegemite was originally developed by an a food technologist for, Dr Cyril Callister, for an Australian company, Fred Walker & Co. in 1923. The company later became
the Kraft Walker Cheese Co. and was taken over by the American Kraft Co. after
the death of Fred Walker in 1935.

So I found it rather amusing that Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd had some problems convincing US airport security personnel that Vegemite was not part of a dangerous biological Aussie plot, but a tasty breakfast treat that he should be allowed to carry on a plane. I have to say that I think that it is neither tasty nor is it a treat as Kevin Rudd claims. Nor is it as good and safe as Paul Chisholm says.

After more than six years of legal battles, Mr Madeley’s heartbroken mother, Andrea Madeley, has added another ally in her quest to strengthen South Australia’s workplace safety laws  State Coroner Mark Johns.

In a scathing report released yesterday, Mr Johns said: “It is extremely disturbing that SafeWork SA failed to carry out an audit following Mr Madeley’s death for nearly six years, and only then at the same time as an inquest was started.

“I simply cannot understand how such a workplace existed in South Australia in 2004, bearing in mind the existence of SafeWork SA and its various predecessors, and the Workcover Corporation, which also takes an interest.”

Mr Madeley was crushed to death when his dust coat became entangled in an unguarded, 40-year-old boring machine, built in the USSR.

Mr Johns said: “A horizontal boring machine had been operated at Diemould for years in a condition which could only be described as deplorably unsafe. It could have been guarded, but was not. It could have had a braking system, but did not. It could have had an automated lubrication system, but did not.

“Many other things could have been done, but any one of these would have been sufficient to save Mr Madeley’s life.

“It (an audit) could have commenced in June 2004 but it was not until this inquest was about to be commenced (last year) that a compliance project was actually conducted.”

 He said the conditions belonged in the 1950s and not the modern age, where occupational health and safety had become a key part of the workplace.

“Mr Madeley’s death was preventable. A regime of proper inspection by SafeWork SA … (might) have identified such an obviously unsafe machine … and prevented its further use,” Mr Johns said.

Mrs Madeley said the process (since her son’s death) “has just about killed me, but this has to be the most positive thing that has come out of the whole process.”

She would never find closure over her son’s death, but the Coroner’s findings did support her crusade for better workplace practices. “SafeWork SA is not doing enough, pull your finger out,” she said outside court.

 ”Let’s not wait until someone dies, let’s be proactive, not reactive.” Since her son’s death, Ms Madeley has set up Voices for Industrial Death, an organisation that fights for workers’ safety rights.

In 2009, Diemould was fined $72,000 in the Industrial Court  a third of the cost of replacing the horizontal borer  after pleading guilty to a breach of workplace safety laws.

Mr Johns also called for “major reform” to the current system of criminal prosecution for fatal industrial accidents. “In my opinion, it is just plain wrong that the prosecution of Diemould took five years to arrive at a plea of guilty. There must be a way to improve that,” Mr Johns said.

Industrial Relations Minister Bernard Finnigan said he would need to read the Coroner’s findings before any action was taken.

“I take seriously the need to avoid industrial deaths and I trust the Coroner’s findings will be of assistance in this regard,” he said.

During the inquest into Mr Madeley’s death, there were suggestions some of the Diemould employees testimonies had been “coached” by the company in order to avoid responsibility for the accident.

Mrs Madeley said it was “symbolic” of the way Diemould had handled her son’s death.

“They should just tell the truth, they should not have to be forced to court to do it,” she said.

“If you make mistakes and apologise you can understand that.

“It was always about their (Diemould) legal responsibility.”

A Safe Work SA spokesman said it was reviewing the findings and would make a statement at a later date.

MY COMMENT

  The Australia East Timor Friendship Association SA Inc,  the Australian Institute of International Affairs (SA Branch) and Kathleen Lumley College invite you to…

A BOOK EVENT

The Men Who Came Out of the Ground:

A Gripping Account of Australia’s First Commando Campaign: Timor 1942

by Paul Cleary

TIME:    7.30 PM

DAY:      WEDNESDAY

DATE:    27 OCTOBER 2010

VENUE:  KATHLEEN LUMLEY COLLEGE 

                            51 Finniss St, North Adelaide

        (opposite The British Hotel)

Meet the author, Paul Cleary, buy the book and have it signed

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Paul Cleary is a senior writer at The Australian and a researcher in Indigenous development at the Australian National University. He was an adviser to the East Timor government during the Timor Sea oil negotiations, and author of Shakedown—Australia’s Grab for Timor oil.

Paul is fluent in Tetum, the mother tongue of most East Timorese.

ABOUT THE BOOK: 

Acclaimed Australian journalist Paul Cleary tells the little-known story of a small force of Australian Special Forces commandos in Timor, who held off a far superior Japanese force for most of 1942.
 

These Australians were the men of the 2/2 Australian Independent Company – a special commando unit. Declared “outlaws” by the Japanese, recruits were specially selected because of their ability to operate independently, and survive in hostile territory and behind enemy lines.

The Men Who Came Out Of The Ground is the story of their guerilla war. It is expertly researched by the author and contains historic black and white photos.

ISBN: 9780733623189

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Andrew (Andy) Alcock
Information Officer
AETFA SA Inc
Phone:    08 83710480       
                  0457 827 014 
 Email:     andyalcock@internode.on.net

BOOK REVIEW +:

A book review with personal reflections

The Men Who Came Out of the Ground:

A Gripping Account of Australia’s First Commando Campaign: Timor 1942

by Paul Cleary

Hachette Australia [382 pp]

Price: $38.99

This book is, as the title claims, a gripping account of the Australian commandos of the 2/2/ and 2/4 companies who fought in East Timor during World War 2.

The author, Paul Cleary, is a senior writer at The Australian and a researcher in Indigenous development at the Australian National University. He is no stranger to events in Timor Leste as he was was an adviser to this tiny nation’s government during the 6 years of Timor Sea oil negotiations when the Howard Government attempted to bully TL out of its fair share of the oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea. He described these negotiations in his book Shakedown—Australia’s Grab for Timor oil. 

In my opinion, he has employed his  journalistic skills to tell the story of the Australian commandos and their East Timorese allies in the David and Goliath struggle they waged against the Japanese militarybetween 1941 – 1943. He interviewed many of the veteran commandos in preparing the book. Through the stories of the key commandos and their Timorese allies, it tells the darker story of the betrayal of the East Timorese by successive Australian governments.

I first came across a brief reference to the story of the Australian commandos in Helen Hill’s booklet The Timor Story in 1976 not long after getting involved in the East Timor solidarity movement in Australia. This booklet was very useful in those days as there was not much written about East Timor. 

Several years later, I read an account of this history by Bernard Callinan, a senior officer of the commandos, in his book Independent Company .  His book was an interesting read,  but I personally felt that it was very paternalistic towards the Timorese. Cleary’s certainly does not do this.

Cleary’s book shows how the Australians were sent to both the eastern and western parts of the island of Timor in December 1941 because  the Australian Government feared the Japanese would take it over and use it as a base for invading Australia .

The soldiers had been trained in guerilla warfare in the rugged bush of Wilson’s Promontory, Victoria.  

Many of the men chosen for the task came from backgrounds requiring them to live tough – those who lost parents when they were young and had to fend for themselves and those who had had to live off the land such as bushmen and hunters.

Senior officers in the Australian army realised before sending the troops to Timor that they would be greatly outnumbered and much of the training was based on the methods used by the Boer bushmen against the British during the Boer War in South Africa. British officers of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) were also involved in the training of the Australian commandos. The SOE was responsible for sending personnel enemy lines in several countries during WW2 to carry out guerilla fighting and acts of sabotage.

Cleary relates how the people in the east, then a Portuguese colony, were very supportive of the commandos and assisted them at great cost to themselves. In the western end of the island, then a Dutch colony, the people did not give much support at all and the commandos there were very quickly captured by the Japanese military or escaped to the eastern side.

The Australians numbered only less than 400 and were outnumbered by an enemy of  about 15,000, which was later increased to 20,000. The reason for placing the commandos was to prevent enemy airfields being established in the islands to the near north of Australia and to have a small guerilla force to tie down as many Japanese troops as possible to take the pressure of other Allied troops in other parts of the Asia Pacific region.

The commandos showed much daring and the book contains many very exciting descriptions of the skirmishes that occurred between Japanese soldiers and the Australian commandos. Cleary stresses that the commandos considered that they would not have survived had it not been for the courage and generosity of the East Timorese. Many of their East Timorese helpers were young boys, who between the ages of about 9 -13, became criados for the Australians.

Criado is the Portuguese and Spanish word for servant. One close Timorese friend of mine who has also read the book tells me that some Timorese do not like the word criado in this context as they say the Australian commandos treated their Timorese allies like equals.

The young Timorese were either enlisted by the Australians or attached themselves to members of the 2/2nd Company after the Japanese invaded.

They carried their equipment, provided much needed food and shelter; alerted the Australians of the presence of enemy troops; helped them to gather supplies dropped by the RAF, the US Air Force and the RAN; and in some cases, assisted in the fighting and certainly much better than the Portuguese fascist administration and the Japanese.  .

One 2/2nd Independent Company veteran, Archie Campbell, has stated that there was an effective fighting force of less than three hundred Australians, and they were faced with an opposing force of about 15,000 Japanese troops. The Australian men, who survived, attribute their survival to the tremendous loyalty and devotion of the young Timorese boys. Great bonds of friendship were forged between them and the Australians.

One factor that helped relations between the Australians and the Timorese in the early days in Portuguese Timor was that the Australian officers warned their men not to exploit  Timorese women and this was largely observed according to Cleary, but he does mention the rape of a Timorese woman by an Australian soldier.

The Japanese army, however, established brothels and used very harsh methods to coerce the population to support them.

The explains that when the Japanese army substantially increased its numbers in Portuguese Timor, established Timorese militias and used great brutality againt those who supported the Australian commandos, the war in Timor changed. Things became much more difficult for the Australians as they had to deal with greater numbers of enemy soldiers and militias and they could not rely on the ordinary Timorese to provide the support they had in the early days of the Japanese invasion.

Cleary reports that the attitude and the behaviour of some Australians hardened against many of the Timorese. 

Towards the end of the commandos’ time in Timor, they found they were killing more members of the Timorese militias than they were Japanese soldiers and it became obvious that there presence on the island no longer served a useful function.

When the Australians left Timor using ships of the RAN, they had to leave behind the Timorese who had been their allies and leave them to face the reprisals of the Japanese military. Only a very small number of Portuguese and Timorese were able to leave.

Cleary discusses the military awards that were given to the commandos, but there were many heroic acts that were not officially recognised because officers did not report those responsible. He also points out, much to Australia’s shame, that the Timorese who fought alongside the Australians did not receive awards at all.

This fact rankled many of the commandos and many tried to have this omission rectified.

Because of the great respect  the Australian commandos had for their Timorese comrades , in some some cases, a real affection,  particular Australians and East Timorese continued to keep in touch for many years after World War 2. This of course was made difficult because of the Indonesian invasion and long occupation..

 One of the Timorese supporters mentioned in Cleary’s book, Rufino Correia,  died towards the end of April 2010. He was 90 years old and Australian soldiers deployed in East Timor ensured that he was given a funeral that was very different to most Timorese. At his funeral on 22 April 2010, at Dili’s historic Motael Church, they acted as pallbearers and draped his coffin with an Australian flag – a rare honour for a non-Australian citizen.

The reason for the Australian involvement at his funeral was that Rufino was one of the last surviving Timorese men who served with Australian commandos during World War 2. Over the years, many Australian veterans who served in Timor said that the Timorese men were crucial to the survival of Australian troops and not nearly enough has been done to recognise them.

The Australians had set up bases in the mountains outside of Dili. One of them was an observation post at the mountain town of Bazartete where Rufino Correia lived. Rufino met Australian soldiers when the Japanese invaded the town, late at night in February, 1942.

When the Australians were evacuated in 1943, some estimate that 40,000 – 50,000 Timorese were killed by the Japanese military in reprisal for their support of the Australians in addition to those who died because they were caught up in the fighting. Some say a further 30,000 died because they were caught between combatants, had villages bombed or attacked. The loss of about 70,000 East Timorese out of a population of 500,000 was an extremely high sacrifice to make.  

Cleary claims that Callinan mostly lived with the Portuguese colonial elite and did not share the very basic conditions that his men did. Evidently, he did not even see his commandos in battle. Callinan, being a member of the National Civic Council (NCC), the right wing movement in the Catholic Church, was not very sympathetic towards East Timor’s struggle for independence against the Indonesian dictatorship.   B. A. Santamaria, the founder of the NCC supported the TNI invasion of East Timor. Callinan was one of his most influential supporters and while he spoke out for East Timor’s independence after the Portuguese decided to grant them their freedom, he later supported the invasion. It is interesting to note that before Santamaria died, he stated he had been wrong about the invasion of Timor by the TNI.   

I consider it rather concerning that there are elements in both the Liberal Party and the ALP who consider Santamaria’s politics worthy of following.

A number of the Australian Timor veterans were mindful of the debt that Australia owes Timor Leste. They established a trust fund which Cleary says has donated and money and goods to the value of more than $350,000. This was in addition to the rest house and swimming pool that were constructed in Dare that were financed by the veterans.

As the years of Indonesia’s occupation dragged on, many of the veterans became very angry about Australia’s betrayal of Australia’s WW2 ally and spoke out publicly. Some kept in contact with their Timorese friends by mail. Arthur Stevenson wrote regularly to Celestino dos Anjos. His last letter arrived in Timor in 1980.

Sadly, four years later, Virgilio, Celestino’s son and senior commander of the FALINTIL resistance, told Stevenson that his father had been one of 200 people killed by the TNI in reprisal for their support of the resistance.

The author emphasises  the work of Paddy Keaneally who was a strong advocate for the Timorese for most of his life. He first visited East Timor in 1989 after the Indonesians opened up the country for overseas visitors for the vist of Pope John Paul II and observed that that the condition of the Timorese was worse than in 1942. Paddy was born in the Republic of Ireland and was a practising Catholic. In November 1991, he attended a mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney to commemorate the 230 young Timorese massacred at the Santa Cruz Cemetry in Dili. After the service, he met Bishop (now Cardinal) George Pell, who had had a long association with B.A. Santamaria. He told a speechless Pell that he had blood on his hands. 

Paddy Kenneally visited East Timor four  times during the Indonesian occupation and had many adventures. He spoke publicly on behalf of the Timorese and even though he was a strong supporter of the ALP, publicly criticised former PM Gough Whitlam  for his role in Australia’s betrayal. In 2005, along with other veterans, he appeared in advertisements funded by the millionaire, Ian Meldrum, who strongly criticised the Howard government over the oil deal forced on Timor Leste by former foreign minister Alexander Downer. In one advertisement, he told John Howard that he did not want him to attend his Anzac Day march.

The author explains that it was Paddy who talked his former comrades into cooperating in the making of the advertisements even though they were mostly very conservative.

I can concur with the author’s description of the commandos. In the 1980s, I remember receiving a phone call from a veteran who had fought in Timor. He was very interested and impressed that the Campaign for an Independent East Timor (CIET) had been formed in Adelaide to support the East Timor struggle for independence. He spoke very fondly of the “Timors”, who had given him and his comrades so much support and never referred to them as criados.

When I suggested that he might like to attend public meetings and rallies, he said that he would leave this to the long-haired and unwashed. I responded by saying that there was a wide range of people in Australia and SA supporting the Timor cause including church people and politicians. He then demanded to know which politicians and when I mentioned Don Dunstan and Peter Duncan, he retorted that they supported “poofters”!  I think there might have been one or two telephone discussions with two or three of the Timor veterans after that.

However, in 1995, when the Keating government organised the Australia Remembers events to mark the 50th anniversary of WW2, Rex Lipmann, an Australian officer who had visited Portuguese Timor during the war, a dentist and business identity in Adelaide, opened the We Will Never Forget You photographic exhibition at Adelaide’s public library. This exhibition was collated by the late Dr Andrew McNaughton, a very prominent activist in the Timor solidarity movement, and was displayed in most major Australian capital cities.

Sister Susan Connelly of the Mary MacKillop East Timorese Mission (MMETM) in Sydney believed that Australia owed a great debt of gratitude to East Timor because of their sacrifice in supporting Australia during WW2. The Mission does very valuable work in assisting East Timorese people in valuable projects, conducts Timor language and culture courses to give Australians a greater appreciation of our neighbour and is a great advocate for Timor Leste.

Sister Connelly and the MMETM organised a nation-wide petition for the people of TL to be awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia. The idea came to her at Paddy Kenneally’s funeral. This campaign was supported by the Australia ET Friendship Association SA (AETFA). Sr Susan spoke at the Australian East Timor Friendship Association  (AETFA) 2009 Independence Dinner seeking support for the petition.

The AETFA Committee collected many signatures for the campaign and wrote to 30 prominent South Australians and received a number of positive responses to the proposal. It also had discussions with David Winderlich, former member of SA’s Legislative Council, who successfully moved a vote of support in the SA Parliament.

Nationally, the petition received an impressive 24,000 signatures.

Recently, the MMETM was informed that the Australian Government had responded by saying that this award is only for individuals and not for nations, but that consideration was being given to acknowledge the Timorese people with more appropriate, forms of recognition”. The Australian Government has yet to say what these more appropriate forms of recognition are.

On hearing of Rufino Correia’s death, Sr Susan commented by saying ”Sadly Rufino died without the full recognition he deserved for his bravery”

Many of us who have followed the Timor saga for some time, would consider that some sort of posthumous medal or award might would be welcome, however, it would be even more useful to give these people something more tangible. 

Australia could reverse the shameful Timor Sea oil and gas treaty (Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea  or CMATS) so that Timor Leste receives its fair share of the profits from the oil and gas deposits in its half of the Timor Sea. Australia could also strenuously encourage the companies involved in the Timor Sea to establish oil and gas processing centres in Timor Leste itself. Timor Leste is the poorest country in SE Asia and urgently needs to expand the number of industries it has to provide people with jobs

One of the major current issues in Timor Leste is the denial of justice about what the people suffered during the 24 years of brutal occupation. The current Timor Leste feels powerless to demand this of the current Indonesian Government even though it is considered to be more democratic and supportive of human rights than the Suharto regime was.

Many East Timorese would be grateful if Australia was to call for an internal tribunal to try the many alleged war criminals in the ranks of the Indonesian military (TNI) and to seek compensation from the TNI from its victims. It could well be that this would be also by the people of other countries like West Papua, Acheh and Indonesia itself, who have suffered at the hands of the TNI.

When the recent finding of the inquest conducted by the NSW coroner into deaths of the five Australian – based journalists at Balibo in 1975 were released. It found that the  Indonesian Special Forces had deliberately killed the five. This news was welcomed, not only by supporters of Timor Leste and its president, Jose Ramos Horta, but also by a human rights group in Indonesia. It considered that this was a first step to obtaining justice for the many victims of the TNI.

Another important step Australia should take would be to cease all cooperation with and aid to the TNI  and KOPASSUS until all officers accused of serious violations against human rights have been brought to justice.
The Australian Government could also raise this issue in the UN and seek a global ban on all military cooperation with and aid to KOPASSUS and the TNI. 

I am advised by experts in international law that seeing such outcomes is highly unlikely, but there was similar action taken on the human rights abuses that occurred in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

Paul Cleary’s book as I said at the outset, is an excellent read. My belief is that its contents will continue to urge people to demand justice for the people of Timor Leste and the other victims of the TNI.

Andrew (Andy) Alcock
Information Officer
AETFA SA Inc

RESCUE OF THE CHILEAN MINERS

FROM THE SAN JOSE MINE

REMINDS US OF CHILE’S PAINFUL

PAST

This week I was sent 2 articles commenting on the rescue of the Chilean miners  from the San Jose Mine and reminding readers of Chile’s troubled past. One was by John Pilger, the progressive Australian journalist, which was sent to me by Don Sutherland, the National Industrial Officer of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, who  added his own moving comment.

In 2004, I visited Santiago for a few days with my wife, Cathy, during a trip to the Carribean and Latin America.

The rescue of 33 miners in Chile is an extraordinary drama filled with pathos and heroism. It is also a media windfall for the Chilean government, whose every beneficence is recorded by a forest of cameras. One cannot fail to be impressed. However, like all great media events, it is a façade.

The accident that trapped the miners is not unusual in Chile and is the inevitable consequence of a ruthless economic system that has barely changed since the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. Copper is Chile’s gold, and the frequency of mining disasters keeps pace with prices and profits. There are, on average, 39 fatal accidents every year in Chile’s privatised mines. The San Jose mine, where the men work, became so unsafe in 2007 it had to be closed – but not for long. On July 30 last, a labour department report warned again of “serious safety deficiencies”, but the minister took no action. Six days later, the men were entombed.

For all the media circus at the rescue site, contemporary Chile is a country of the unspoken. At the Villa Grimaldi, in the suburbs of the capital Santiago, a sign says: “The forgotten past is full of memory”. This was the torture centre where hundreds of people were murdered and disappeared for opposing the fascism that General Augusto Pinochet and his business allies brought to Chile. Its ghostly presence is overseen by the beauty of the Andes, and the man who unlocks the gate used to live nearby and remembers the screams.

I was taken there one wintry morning in 2006 by Sara De Witt, who was imprisoned as a student activist and now lives in London. She was electrocuted and beaten, yet survived. Later, we drove to the home of Salvador Allende, the great democrat and reformer who perished when Pinochet seized power on September 11, 1973 – Latin America’s own 9-11. His house is a silent white building without a sign or a plaque.

Everywhere, it seems, Allende’s name has been eliminated. Only in the lone memorial in the cemetery are the words engraved “Presidente de la Republica” as part of a remembrance of the “ejecutados Politicos”: those “executed for political reasons”. Allende died by his own hand as Pinochet bombed the presidential palace with British planes as the American ambassador watched.

Today, Chile is a democracy, though many would dispute that, notably those in the barrios forced to scavenge for food and steal electricity. In 1990, Pinochet bequeathed a constitutionally compromised system as a condition of his retirement and the military’s withdrawal to the political shadows. This ensures that the broadly reformist parties, known as Concertacion, are permanently divided or drawn into legitimising the economic designs of the heirs of the dictator. At the last election, the right-wing Coalition for Change, the creation of Pinochet’s ideologue Jaime Guzman, took power under President Sebastian Piñera. The bloody extinction of true democracy that began with the death of Allende was, by stealth, complete.

Piñera is a billionaire who controls a slice of the mining, energy and retail industries. He made his fortune in the aftermath of Pinochet’s coup and during the free-market “experiments” of the zealots from the University of Chicago, known as the Chicago Boys. His brother and former business partner, Jose Piñera, a labour minister under Pinochet, privatised mining and state pensions and all but destroyed the trade unions. This was applauded in Washington as an “economic miracle”, a model of the new cult of neo-liberalism that would sweep the continent and ensure control from the north.

Today Chile is critical to President Barack Obama’s rollback of the independent democracies in Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela. Piñera’s closest ally is Washington’s main man, Juan Manuel Santos, the new president of Colombia, home to seven US bases and an infamous human rights record familiar to Chileans who suffered under Pinochet’s terror.

Post-Pinochet Chile has kept its own enduring abuses in shadow. The families still attempting to recover from the torture or disappearance of a loved one bear the prejudice of the state and employers. Those not silent are the Mapuche people, the only indigenous nation the Spanish conquistadors could not defeat. In the late 19th century, the European settlers of an independent Chile waged their racist War of Extermination against the Mapuche who were left as impoverished outsiders. During Allende’s thousand days in power this began to change. Some Mapuche lands were returned and a debt of justice was recognised.

Since then, a vicious, largely unreported war has been waged against the Mapuche. Forestry corporations have been allowed to take their land, and their resistance has been met with murders, disappearances and arbitrary prosecutions under “anti terrorism” laws enacted by the dictatorship. In their campaigns of civil disobedience, none of the Mapuche has harmed anyone. The mere accusation of a landowner or businessman that the Mapuche “might” trespass on their own ancestral lands is often enough for the police to charge them with offences that lead to Kafkaesque trials with faceless witnesses and prison sentences of up to 20 years. They are, in effect, political prisoners.

While the world rejoices at the spectacle of the miners’ rescue, 38 Mapuche hunger strikers have not been news. They are demanding an end to the Pinochet laws used against them, such as “terrorist arson”, and the justice of a real democracy. On October 9, all but one of the hunger strikers ended their protest after 90 days without food. A young Mapuche, Luis Marileo, says he will go on. On October 18, President Piñera is due to give a lecture on “current events” at the London School of Economics. He should be reminded of their ordeal and why.