Abstract
Democracy and human rights in Timor-Leste have become dominant parts of the discourse during the late struggle and at the beginning of the newly independent state, in addition to serving as emblems. This chapter aims to examine and analyze democracy (as an emblem and in discourse) in Timor-Leste by connecting both aspects with consensual political culture, which results in intertwined, paradoxical and contested variations. The final aim of this chapter is to historicize the historical development of democracy as an emblem and discourse that facilitates and reflects East Timor’s reintegration to global neoliberal capitalism.
Decolonizing means collaborating in the liberation of a people and a revolution is never neutral, it is always a commitment to the cause of Liberation. Therefore, any neo-colonial solution to Timor-Leste’s decolonization process is to open the door to imperialism ….
Nicolau dos Reis Lobato, Fretilin Is the Freedom of the People on the March, 1975
At the moment, we are between two worlds. We all know, I think, that our age is an intervallic ‘today’. ‘Democracy’ too is an intervallic word, a word that does not know where it came from, nor where it is going, nor even what it means.
Alain Badiou, Pornographic Age, 2020
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Notes
- 1.
Gusmão’s pre-independence roles included serving as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces for the National Liberation of East Timor (FALINTIL) leader of Revolutionary Council of National Resistance (CRRN) (1981–1986), National Council of Maubere Resistance (CNRM) (1987–1997) and CNRT (1998–2001).
- 2.
The g7+ is made up of several member countries which either suffer from active conflict or have had recent experience of conflict.
- 3.
See Chapter 8 for a study of the environmental impacts of this megaproject.
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Ximenes, F.A.T. (2022). Democratic Discourse and Consensus in Timor-Leste: Reintegration to Neoliberal Capitalism?. In: Khoo, Y.H., da Silva, A.B., Tam, T.N.T.P. (eds) Rethinking Human Rights and Peace in Post-Independence Timor-Leste Through Local Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan Studies on Human Rights in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3779-7_4
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