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Hi Rafa,
Welcome to PAPUA MERDEKA, your semi-regular news update from occupied West Papua.
Firstly, we want to thank everyone who continues to donate regularly to the Free West Papua Campaign. We are not eligible for charitable funding or appealing to corporate donors: our challenge to Indonesian colonialism is run entirely on the goodwill and solidarity of supporters like you.
However, right now we’re struggling to fund key campaigns—even with the cheapest flights and hotels, international diplomacy is expensive! So, if you aren’t currently doing so, please consider setting up a monthly donation or buying some Free West Papua merch. Every contribution counts, no matter how small.
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Five Papuan gold miners shot dead in Tembagapura, close to the Grasberg mine
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2026 has been a year of bloody destruction for West Papuans. Indonesia has intensified their military presence across the land, with more than 100 new military battalions having been established since Prabowo Subianto became President in 2024. Tens of thousands of additional troops have been deployed, and mass killings have become a frequent occurrence. In the past two months alone, more than 35 West Papuans have been murdered by the Indonesian occupation army:
- 7th May: Five Papuan gold miners shot dead in Tembagapura, close to the Grasberg mine, while a toddler was reportedly injured and is in critical condition. One of the victims, 17-year-old Nalince Wamang, was hoping to raise money to fund her university studies. But that promised freedom was cruelly snatched away only the next year by Indonesian invasion.
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17-year-old Nalince Wamang among victims shot in Tembagapura
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- 5th May: Seven students shot and injured for wearing Morning Star Flags on their clothes during a graduation parade. Raising the Morning Star, the West Papuan national flag, is strictly illegal under Indonesian law, punishable by up to two decades in prison.
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Sixty years on, with hundreds of thousands of Papuans having been killed and raising the Morning Star now banned in West Papua, it falls to their supporters around the world to raise it on their behalf.
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- 1st–6th May: Four civilians shot dead while tending their gardens in Puncak.
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Four civilians shot dead while tending their gardens in Puncak
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- 13th–15th April: Fifteen West Papuans massacred after Indonesia bombed a refugee camp in Kembru, in the highlands Regency of Puncak. Four attack helicopters bombed the camp, accompanied by ground forces who shot indiscriminately into makeshift shelters. Civilians sleeping in their beds—including 5-year-old Para Walia—were killed as the carnage unfolded.
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Wounded child following Indonesia bombing of refugee camp in Kembru
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- 1st April: Six Papuans, including 14-year-old Martinus Yobee, murdered after Indonesian police opened fire on a village market in Dogiyai.
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WHY NOW?
- This escalation is inextricably related to the unparalleled environmental devastation being inflicted on West Papua by the Indonesian state and foreign corporations.
- Construction continues on the largest deforestation project in human history: three million hectares of sugarcane and rice production in Merauke, close to the Papua New Guinea border.
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Merauke PSN, the largest deforestation project in human history
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- Thousands of soldiers have been deployed to guard the project, which has already displaced a number of Papuan villages. ULMWP President Benny Wenda has described it as a "planet killer" and he is right: upon completion, it will more than double Indonesia’s existing CO2 emissions.
- More than 100,000 West Papuans remain displaced as a result of Indonesian militarisation and environmental destruction. Much of this displacement has taken place in rural areas like Intan Jaya, in the Papuan highlands, where the Wabu Block gold mine has led to the establishment of more than 40 new military checkpoints. Many Papuan refugees have been displaced multiple times over.
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RESISTANCE
- A historic meeting in the Dutch Parliament, as the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) were invited to a hearing of the Foreign Affairs committee of West Papua’s former coloniser.
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- Protests and repression: after the massacres this month in Puncak and Dogiyai, activists held a series mass demonstrations against increasing militarisation across Papua. Unsurprisingly, these were met with brutal repression, as police dispersed protesters using water cannons, tear gas, and beatings.
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Protestors against increasing militarisation were met with brutal repression in Jayapura
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- Free West Papua spokesperson Koteka Wenda spoke alongside former Samoa Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa at the Women Deliver conference in Melbourne, Australia.
- Pacific shifts: International Parliamentarians for West Papua (IPWP) Vice Chair Matthew Wale was elected Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands in May. Congratulations Matthew!
- Green shoots of Indonesian solidarity: Students across Indonesia are hosting screenings of the Indonesian documentary "Pesta Babi" (Pig Feast), which focuses on the lives of indigenous Papuans displaced by the rice and sugarcane corporate mega-project in Merauke. Multiple screenings have been forcibly broken up by police.
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Indonesia solidarity documentary "Pesta Babi" (Pig Feast) on the indigenous Papuans displaced by the corporate mega-project in Merauke
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