Moderators: Lúcio Sousa (UAb) and Marisa Ramos Gonçalves (CES)


Overview

This seminar is part of the series The Weft of Memory: dates to count, organised by the coordination of the thematic line Europe and the Global South: heritages and dialogues. The series aims to mark and reflect on less resounding dates, but equally determinant for the construction of the 25th of April 1974 and the independence of Portuguese-speaking African countries and East Timor. The seminars take place online, whenever possible on the date to be marked, every month, at 16h00, throughout 2023.

In this round table of testimonies, four Timorese with experiences in civil resistance in Timor-Leste and Portugal — Fátima Guterres, Bernardina Alves, Lídia Araújo and Luís Costa — share their experiences of this period in the first person: the expectations surrounding April 25, the decolonisation process, the internal conflict and Portugal's abandonment of the territory, which culminated in FRETILIN's unilateral proclamation of Timor-Leste's independence, on November 28, 1975, anticipating the imminent invasion by Indonesia.

This session is part of the Colloquium April 25 in Timor-Leste: Unilateral Proclamation of Independence in 1975 (online and in person) at the Mário Soares e Maria Barroso Foundation (Lisbon)

Bio Notes

Fátima Guterres was born in Timor-Leste. On December 7, 1975, when Indonesia invaded Dili, she fled to the mountains. She was the head of the OPMT (Popular Organization of Timorese Women) and Secretary of the COMDOP (Operational Command of FALINTIL). In 1979 she was captured in combat by the Indonesian army and subjected to imprisonment and torture. In 1987, through the International Red Cross, she managed to come to Portugal with her family. Once here, she continues to work in favour of the struggle of the Timorese people. She was vice-secretary of the OPTT (Popular Organization of Timorese Workers) and collaborated, from 1989 to 1998, in the Timor-Leste Days at the University of Porto. She takes part in debates and seminars throughout the country. In 1997 she took part in the 8th International Conference on Women and Health in Rio de Janeiro and a series of debates and conferences in São Paulo. Author of several books, especially the autobiographical book Timor - Paraíso Violentado (2014) and Naha Mauk, Os Dias Eram Assim (2023).

Bernardina Alves was born in Timor-Leste. She took refuge in the mountains when the Indonesian army invaded on December 7, 1975. In the resistance, she was the coordinator and General Assistant of OPMT, having worked with President Nicolau Lobato. She was captured and arrested by the Indonesian military. She was able to leave Timor with her family through the International Red Cross. In Portugal, she took part in and contributed with her testimonies to the struggle for Timor's independence in meetings with national and international solidarity groups.

Lídia Araújo is a native of Timor-Leste. She fled to the mountains during the Indonesian invasion on December 7, 1975. In the resistance, she was the head of OPMT. During the 78/79 siege and annihilation, she was captured by Indonesian troops during a raid and imprisoned for three years. During this period, she was obliged to report three times a week at INTEL, Indonesian Intelligence Services. She came to Portugal in 1990 with her husband, who had been arrested in Jakarta, through the International Red Cross and Amnesty International. In Portugal, she contributes to the struggle for Timor-Leste's independence with solidarity groups.

Luís Costa was born in 1945, in Fatu-Berliu, Timor-Leste. He studied Humanities and Philosophy in Évora and Theology in Leiria. He was ordained a priest in December 1973, and in November 1974 he returned to Timor and was placed in the Ossú mission. From January 1976 to March 79 he was in the mountains with the resistance. He has been a member, since 1984, of the Fretilin Committee in the Diaspora, collaborating on activities for the Timorese cause. He is a Professor of Tetum and Timorese culture, researcher, and author of works such as Dicionário Tetum-Português (2000), Guia da Conversação Português-Tetum (2001), Borja da Costa - Selecções de Poemas (2010), Língua Tetum: Contributos para uma Gramática (2015) and Ué-Lenas - Lenda de Timor Lorosa’e (2018).

Lúcio Sousa is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Sciences and Management at the Open University (UAb). Researcher at the Institute of Literature and Tradition Studies (IELT-FCSH-UNL) and external associate researcher at the Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS), York University - Toronto. PhD in Social Anthropology from UAb (2010) with a thesis on the ritual practice and social organization among a Bunak-speaking community in the Bobonaro district of Timor-Leste. Research on Timor-Leste focuses on ritual practices and citizenship, ethnography in a colonial context and culture policies. Since 2011, he has been teaching and researching forced migration and refugees - the subject of his master's thesis, in 1999.

Marisa Ramos Gonçalves is a researcher at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, a fellow (CEEC-IND) of the Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) and a professor in a doctoral program at CES/FEUC. She received her doctorate from the Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts, University of Wollongong in the area of history and human rights. She is currently working in the research project "Transnational histories of solidarity in the south - researching 'other' knowledges and struggles for rights across the Indian ocean", in Timor-Leste and Mozambique (CEEC-IND). Her work focuses on the intersections between history and memory, post-colonial studies, education, knowledge systems in the Global South, particularly in Timor-Leste and the Asia-Pacific region, and she has published on several topics.

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This activity will be provided through Zoom platform and does not require registration >  https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/95693517205 | ID: 956 9351 7205

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