Death of a Nation: The Timor Conspiracy

This is the third documentary I've seen from John Pilger and he continues to put out important and quality work. More importantly, he continues to be a voice for the underdog and put domineering oppressive nations on Front Street.

In "Death of a Nation" Pilger brings attention to Indonesia and their attempts to totally annihilate the Timorese people. It seems that after Indonesia got independence from the Dutch they decided to commit some human rights violations of their own, starting in the 60's with General Suharto's elimination of "communists." As Amy Chua, author of "World on Fire" put it, it was an ethnic majority lashing out at a market dominant minority.

But what threat was Timor? None really. Indonesia was feeling itself. That along with some not-so-subtle urging from the west they went on a campaign to usurp East Timor in the name of "defending itself and its interests." Kind of like Israelis today who are constantly "defending themselves" against Palestinians by taking their land and their homes.

"Death of a Nation" does exactly what a good documentary is supposed to do: it informs the viewer of a situation he may know little or nothing about while providing footage and facts to support the content. With so many atrocities that occur worldwide it makes one wonder if humans are in a race to destroy themselves.