Mark Weiss wrote:
"But let's take a repressive place close to home."
Consider also the position of the east timorese poet and political leader,
Xanana Gusmao - who strongly believes in the power of language and poetry
to effect real social change.
Gusmao wrote from Cipinang Prison, Jakarta in 1999:
"For many years I have stressed the importance of cultural resistance in
the struggle of East Timorese people for freedom and self-
determination. ...we East Timorese must strive to protect and cultivate our
unique ethnic traditions and the many language(s) that form part of our
patrimony. Especially important is the cultivation of our national
language, Tetum, which must be reformed and extended so that it can be the
medium of a modern literature...Above all I appeal to the East Timorese
people to make a greater effort to write our Tetem language, producing
poetry...in our language...it is important to encourage young Timorese men
and women of talent to contribute to the development of a new Tetum
literature. They must understand that the key to our identity and survival
as a people is our common language."
maria
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