DUTCH ACTIONS CONDEMNED

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25246, 26 July 1947, Page 9

DUTCH ACTIONS CONDEMNED

EVENTS IN INDONESIA VIEW OF CANTERBURY TRADES COUNCIL The Canterbury District Trades Council of the New Zealand Federation of Labour at a meeting on Thursday evening pledged its support to any organisation taking action to obstruct the Dutch in their operations in Indonesia. It was considered that - action by the New Zealand and other democratic Governments was necessary to bring about an immediate end to the fighting. The following statement was issued yesterday by the trades council: “We strongly support any organisation taking action to obstruct the Dutch imperialists in their war of colonial subjection and exploitation against the people of Indonesia. The council also strongly supports the protest made by the executive of the Federation of Labour and its cable to the World Federation of Trade Unions calling for international action by its affiliations against the Dutch, to prevent the destruction of the young Indonesian Republic. “The Trades Council is pleased to note' that strong disapproval of the actions of the Dutch Government is being expressed by wide sections of democratic opinion the world over, and not alone by the Labour Movement which is traditionally opposed to imperialist terror of the kind now being used by the Dutch to suppress the Indonesian Republic. “The council notes with horror and contempt the tactics and methods used by the Dutch imperialists. At the close of the war with Japan, the Dutch themselves were too weak to curb the rising tide of nationalism in Indonesia and, in our view, shamefully, Britain held the ring for the Dutch. This was followed by temporising negotiations by the Dutch to enable them to build up their own strength against the time when, on the feeblest of pretexts, negotiations could be brutally broken off and the Indonesians taught that ‘it is a terrible thing to fail in rebellion.’

“So much for democracy and the four freedoms of the Atlantic Charter! So much for the ‘blood and sweat and tears’ of all those brave men and women everywhere who fought and still fight for freedom and democracy! Those who would not be bondsmen must ever struggle to be free! Long live the Indonesian Republic.” A further resolution was carried congratulating the Australian waterside workers on their actions in tying up Dutch shipping in the present crisis.