The Morning star rises, West Papua: The Freedom Campaign
The power of Social Media in sites like Facebook and Twitter have been seen to become the new age of news media and publication. I mean even mainstream evening news is reporting on what the president of the US is posting on Twitter. This rise and popularity of Facebook is due to a number of reasons, its excess ability, its power to engage and the ability to share.
From a digital ethnography standpoint, it is miraculous to see how people present themselves and their sense of identity by supporting different movements or campaigns on social media. Some of these campaigns are shunned by the main media due to several reasons, one of them could be that the mainstream media is forced by the government to not address the issue.
I myself feel reluctant to share about social issues on Facebook. But there is one issue I will go to the grave supporting and that is the Facebook campaign Free West Papua.
The Free West Papua Campaign was created to highlight the mistreatment and genocide of the native people of West Papua who are under the control of the Indonesian government. The reason you will not see this issue broadcast on a new station is because of the relationship between Australia and Indonesia. It seems for Australia’s best interest they wish to keep Indonesia as a friendly neighbouring country whether that is due to trade or past relationships Australia wants to keep Indonesia as a friend and as all friends do, they keep secrets.
This secret is no longer hidden thanks to the political power of Social media and people wanting to stand up and improve human rights and quality of life for everyone in the world.
Personally this campaign hits close to home, as through most of my life I have known about the mistreatment of native Papuan people at the hands of the Indonesian government since I could locate PNG on a map. This issue however for so long has never been mentioned in public media, it is only recently that we have the power to distribute news within seconds. As a person of Papuan descent, it is easier to make the connection of why this campaign is close to my heart. However, I find the most beautiful part of this campaign is seeing photos of people from all different places around the world waving the flag of the morning star in support for West Papua (Figure 3). This facet for myself highlights digital ethnographies perception as not a just group of people who must personally be affected to identify as a member of a cause they just need to care and show their support.
This campaign has a long way to go until West Papua is free, and until the morning star can set in the west. All I ask that you take away from this post is that you take some time while scrolling through your newsfeed to read what is going on, you never know who may need your help, because the world won’t change itself, WE NEED to change the world.
