Past Event

Xanana: Leader of the Struggle for Independent Timor-Leste by Sara Niner

10th Dec 2009

Presenter: Sara Niner
Website:
Event Duration: 120 minutes

Launching the political biography of Xanana Gusmão, leader of the East Timorese struggle for self-determination and first President of the new nation of Timor-Leste.

Twenty-four years of warfare with Indonesia transformed Xanana from an apolitical outsider into a tough guerrilla commander and, ultimately, the central unifying figure of East Timorese nationalism.

In 1999, upon his bittersweet homecoming after years of imprisonment in Indonesia, Xanana faced the unenviable task of leading a traumatised people out of the terrifying violence and destruction that ended the Indonesian occupation. Today, the politics of East Timor remain volatile and complex, and many challenges still exist for this tiny new nation.

This is the story of a remarkable man and gifted leader.

Dr Sara Niner is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Arts Faculty at Monash University. She is the editor of To Resist is to Win: the Autobiography of Xanana Gusmão with selected letters and speeches.

See http://saraniner.blogspot.com for more information about the author and the book