‘Playing the tourist card’: Clandestine solidarity in occupied Timor-Leste

Abstract

Concepts of solidarity and justice have become salient in relation to tourism. This article describes clandestine activity in the name of solidarity but under the guise of tourism. When Indonesia opened Timor-Leste to tourism in 1988, solidarity activists entered as tourists to obtain information and media that would contradict the official Indonesian position on the status of the territory and its people. Maintaining personae, these activists simulated tourist behaviour in order to avoid detection by the authorities. The information and media they gathered was critical in bringing pressure to bear on Indonesia to resolve the conflict.