Denis Freney

Denis Freney (born September 1936 in Sydney , Australia , † September 1995 , ibid) was an Australian journalist.

Career

Freney grew up in Sydney's suburbs, Sans Souci and Harbord. He attended North Sydney Boys High School from 1948 to 1952 and then studied at the University of Sydney from 1953 to 1955, where he received a Bachelor of Arts. In addition, there was a diploma for teaching in 1956. At the age of 16 Freney became a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), but then switched to the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) at university . When Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev berated Stalin and the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 , Freney was disappointed with the party and joined the Trotskyist movement.

From 1957 Freney worked as a teacher. First in Balgowlah High School. later in Cessnock . In 1960 he left Australia for Europe, where he made contact with members of communist parties and the Trotskyist movement in various countries. From 1961 to 1962 he visited South Africa , then until 1965 Algeria , where he worked with the Algerian press service and Michel Pablo , an adviser to the government and a member of the Trotskyist Fourth International . In 1968 Freney returned to Australia, where he helped organize demonstrations against the Vietnam War . He organized a campaign against the Springbok rugby tour of the South African national rugby team , which led to the breaking off of sporting contacts with South Africa, after which he took part in campaigns for New Caledonia and what is now Vanuatu .

Freney worked as a journalist and editor from 1970 to 1976 at the Tribune, the CPA's magazine, then again from 1980 to 1991.

In July 1974, Freney was contacted by Timorese independence activist José Ramos-Horta when he first traveled to Australia. Portuguese Timor was preparing for independence. Ramos-Horta campaigned in Australia for support for the independent East Timor and the left-wing FRETILIN . At his invitation, Freney traveled to the Portuguese colony for two weeks in October 1974, visited Dili , Baucau and Maubisse and met other FRETILIN leaders, including Nicolau dos Reis Lobato , Ma'huno Bulerek Karathayano , Vicente dos Reis and Alarico Fernandes . Freney was one of the first Australians to campaign for East Timorese independence, even after the beginning of the Indonesian occupation. He built the Campaign for the Independence of Timor-Leste CIET in Australia and organized radio broadcasts and helped the Darwin-based broadcaster, which was in contact with Radio Ma Brille until 1978 . Between 1976 and 1979 he worked as an editor for the East Timor News. Every two weeks he published the East Timor News newsletter , which he personally sold on the streets of Sydney and mailed abroad. During this time Dennis Freney was monitored by the Australian Secret Service.

From 1977 to 1979 Freney was an editor at Seli Hoo, a magazine for the independence movement of New Caledonia and Vanuatu. In the 1970s, Freney wrote one of the first articles in Australia, about the birth of the militant gay liberation movement in New York. Shortly thereafter, he came out himself as homosexual and became one of the earliest gay activists in Australia.

Freney died of cancer in September 1995.

Awards

On August 27, 2014, Freney was posthumously awarded the Collar des Ordem de Timor-Leste by President Taur Matan Ruak in recognition of his commitment to the independence of East Timor. His sister Margaret Millar accepted the medal.

The Denis Freney Memorial Activist Award is named after Freney and has been awarded by the East Timor Relief Association ETRA since 1998 .

Publications

• A map of days: Life on the left , 1991.

Filmography

• The Shadow Over East Timor , 1987 (director).

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Australian: Dynamo of left led Timor protest , September 11, 1995 , accessed November 17, 2019.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} National Library of Australia: Guide to the Papers of Denis Freney , accessed November 17, 2019.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Tempo Semanal Sabadu: Estado TL condecorados Membros da Solidaridade no dia 30 de Agosto de 2014 , August 30, 2014 , accessed on August 30, 2014 on TIMOR CONDECORA .
4. ↑ Decreto do Presidente da República n ° 25/2014 de 27 de Agosto , accessed on September 18, 2019.
5. ↑ ETAN: ETRA Denis Freney Activist Award 1998 , accessed on November 20, 2019.