Benny Wenda: ‘Green State Vision’ our pathway to saving world’s third-largest rain-forest

Today in Glasgow at the COP26, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua Provisional Government has launched the ‘Green State Vision’ for an independent West Papua free from genocidal and ecocidal Indonesian colonialism.

This Vision is our offer to the world. We have the just solution to the global climate crisis. My people have been looking after New Guinea’s green land for tens of thousands of years. Our rainforest are the lungs of the world, and we are its best guardians. The Indonesian government and multinational corporations are destroying our forest and killing our people.

You cannot separate indigenous West Papuans from the mountains, forests or rivers. To us, we are connected to our environment. We cannot come and tear down the forest like Indonesia is doing now in the name of ‘development’. We have been at peace with nature and all beings in our land for tens of thousands of years. The Green State Vision means peace, it means self-determination and independence. It means life and the preservation of survival of beings.

If we become independent, we make these promises to the world. The new independent government will immediately introduce an international standard of ecocide into the legal framework of our country. We are serving notice on all corporations operating in our land that they must stop the destruction of our natural world, or risk having their licences revoked by the independent government. We will place our land rights, and the rights of all beings, above the rights of private companies to take our resources.

We want a free, democratic West Papua, where my people can fish and garden in peace, without being shot or tortured by military and police.

We have our government-in-waiting, our constitution, and our cabinet. Now we have our Vision to guide us to our goal of independence and beyond. If you support us, you are making history in the struggle for survival for all human beings and our planet. We are the solution to this climate crisis.

Benny Wenda
Interim President
ULMWP Provisional Government

See full press release here.