Genocide

One more Palestinian killed by Israeli army in Gaza while two Palestinians, including a child, are shot dead in occupied West Bank.

Melissa Barrera is no stranger to a certain type of espionage. Dangerous missions. Sometimes starting in the dark of night. One particular covert operation she regularly took part in is one many daughters have had to take with their resolute mothers — Black Friday shopping.

She recalls crossing the border from her hometown in Monterrey, Nuevo León, in the wee hours of the morning to McAllen or Brownsville in Texas to score primo deals at the big-box stores.

“It felt like a treasure hunt for me,” she recalled. “In my mind, it was like a mission, getting the things that we had to get. I like challenges and being given instructions. That was very satisfying for my personality type.”

That experience prepared the Mexican actor for her role as a spy juggling secret identities in Peacock’s “The Copenhagen Test,” premiering Dec. 27. The espionage thriller stars Simu Liu as an intelligence analyst whose brain has been hacked, putting his thoughts and memories in the hands of unknown perpetrators. Barrera co-stars as Michelle, a spy tangled in the web of deceit.

“It was a challenge. I’d never done anything like this before, in the sense that you really don’t know who Michelle is,” said the actor, who chatted over Zoom from Barcelona where she’s filming another thriller, “Black Tides.”

“It was also confusing for me as an actor, because we didn’t have all the scripts at the beginning, so I had made up who I thought Michelle was — and then I would get more scripts and I was like, ‘Well, that goes out the window.’ It was a constant construction.”

Those Black Friday missions weren’t the only ways in which Barrera was innately prepared for the role. Growing up, she devoured the Jennifer Garner spy series “Alias.” She spent hours as a teen watching and rewatching episodes on DVD. It was Garner’s ass-kicking turn as Sydney Bristow, and her many stealthy alter egos, that planted a seed in Barrera.

“I was obsessed with that show,” she says. “As a young teenager, I was like, ‘I want to be a spy.’ I would research online: ‘How do you get recruited as a spy?’ That’s how obsessed I was.”

She longed for intrigue, for covert operations, for wigs. Not just the kind of spy business that equates to elbowing señoras at Best Buy for a deeply discounted TV. And then came “The Copenhagen Test.”

“I just thought that it was so fun, the role playing within the role playing that happens,” she said. “I read the scripts, and they were really good. And I got to be a spy. I was like, this is a no-brainer for me. I’ve been asking for this since I was 12, so it was a dream come true for young me.”

From “Episode 101” of “The Copenhagen Test”: Melissa Barrera as Michelle and Simu Liu as Alexander.

A spy series is just the latest in a long wishlist of roles for Barrera, who got to flex her dramatic side in “Vida,” her vocal and dance prowess in the musical “In the Heights,” and dive into scream queen territory in “Scream V” and “Scream VI.”

“I think it’s valuable for Latinos onscreen to bring in some of their background when it fits, and when it doesn’t, there’s no need to push it — I’m representing Latinos just by being there,” said Barrera, with a nod to ongoing discussions surrounding Latino inclusion in Hollywood. “[Yet] I’ve always wanted to explore all parts of myself. I’ve always wanted to try different things. I think it’s been happening, because I do believe that whatever you put out into the universe comes to you.”

It’s not just dream acting roles that Barrera puts out into the universe, hoping it produces something good. The 35-year-old is an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights, wearing her beliefs quite literally on her chest — during our call she sports a hoodie with the phrase “words not actions” in the shape of a watermelon, a symbol of perseverance and resistance for Palestinian people. She’s never shied away from using her voice, in particular for this specific human rights issue, and it’s come with its consequences.

Two years ago, Barrera was fired from the forthcoming installment of the Scream franchise, “Scream VII,” as well as dropped from her agency for posts she shared and wrote on social media calling Israel’s attacks on Gaza acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

“Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp,” read one of her Instagram stories in following the events of Oct. 7. “Cornering everyone together, with no where to go, no electricity no water … People have learnt [sic] nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING.”

Her firing drew widespread attention and critical discussion over what was viewed by many as the latest form of Hollywood blacklisting. Last year, Barrera spoke to De Los about the backlash, saying, “It wasn’t easy to be labeled as something so horrible when I knew that wasn’t the case. But I was always at peace because I knew I had done nothing wrong. I was aligned with human rights organizations globally, and so many experts and scholars and historians and, most importantly, Indigenous peoples around the world.”

Over a year later, her stance hasn’t changed. In fact, that period changed everything for Barrera.

“I’ve always had that inner inquietude, that kind of yearning for equality and for justice and for eliminating any kind of prejudices and racism and colorism, which is very prevalent in Mexico,” she explained. “But I honestly think it was Palestine that did it for me, that crumbled everything for me. After that, it’s been a before and after in my way of thinking and my way of viewing the world; in my way of viewing the industry and the way that I want to move forward.”

As Barrera moves forward, using her platform to speak up for injustice is inextricable from her sense of self and her place in Hollywood. What she brings to the screen is her full self, regardless of the role; to play a spy, or a scream queen, or any other character takes knowing who you are and what you stand for. Now, more than ever, Barrera is firmly grounded and ready for action.

Dili, East Timor – On the 50th anniversary of Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor, longtime independence advocate and now the country’s President Jose Ramos-Horta reflected on the last half-century of politics and diplomacy in his country.

Ramos-Horta was serving as the foreign minister of the newly declared Democratic Republic of East Timor in the days leading up to Indonesia’s invasion in December 1975.

Formed by the independence party Fretilin after colonial Portugal’s withdrawal from the country, the new government in East Timor’s capital Dili was under pressure from Indonesia and its threat of invasion.

As the danger intensified, Ramos-Horta flew to the United Nations in New York to plead for international recognition and protection for East Timor’s fragile independence. Despite unanimous support at the UN for Timorese self-determination, Indonesian troops launched their invasion on December 7, 1975.

Ramos-Horta’s colleagues, including Prime Minister Nicolau Lobato and other Fretilin leaders, either went into hiding or were killed in the ensuing attack. Unable to return home, Ramos-Horta became East Timor’s voice in exile for the next 24 years.

During his exile, Ramos-Horta lobbied governments, human rights organisations, and the UN to condemn Indonesia’s occupation, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 200,000 Timorese through conflict, famine, and repression.

Silenced by a military-imposed media blackout for much of the 1980s, it was only in the 1990s that reports of Indonesian atrocities – including the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre – began to filter out and East Timor’s struggle for independence gained international attention.

Ramos-Horta’s tireless advocacy earned him a Nobel Peace Prize, along with Bishop Carlos Belo, in 1996.

A UN-sponsored referendum delivered an overwhelming vote for independence in 1999, leading to a fully independent East Timor in 2002. However, the country continues to face economic challenges and remains one of Southeast Asia’s poorest nations.

In the years overseeing his country’s transition from conflict to reconciliation, Ramos-Horta has held the roles of foreign minister, prime minister and now president.

Al Jazeera’s Ali MC sat down with Ramos-Horta on a recent trip to East Timor, where the president spoke about his country’s long road to peace and hopes for it to prosper from membership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), increased trade with China, and development of the offshore Greater Sunrise gas field.

Al Jazeera: Reflecting on your role as an ambassador for East Timor after Indonesia’s 1975 invasion, what were some of the key challenges that you faced while advocating for your country on the international stage?

Ramos-Horta: First, we were in the midst of the Cold War with that catastrophic US engagement in the wars against North Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

Then, you can say – the US defeat, if not military defeat, it was a total political defeat at the hands of the Vietnamese. So, it was in the midst of all of this that Indonesia invaded Timor-Leste [the official Portuguese-language name for East Timor], on December 7, 1975. The day before, US President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger were in Jakarta, and they officially gave the green light to President Soeharto to invade – immorally – with the use of American weapons.

So, it was within this context that it was very challenging for us to mobilise sympathy, support and the media. The invasion merited only one small, short column in The New York Times.

In Australia, there was more coverage. But the coverage didn’t last long, because Indonesia did a very good job, with Australian complicity, in blocking any news out of East Timor. At that time, not a single journalist came – the first foreign journalist to come here was in 1987.

The absence of [proof of] death is the worst enemy of any struggle. There were terrible massacres on the day of the invasion, hundreds of people shot and dumped into the sea, including an Australian, Roger East [a journalist killed by Indonesian forces on the day of the invasion].

Many, many countless people shot on the spot. Many were alive and dragged to the port of Dili, shot and fell into the sea. Many more killed randomly around town. And zero media coverage, not a single camera.

AJ: How did that lack of media coverage make it difficult for you, as an ambassador overseas, to describe to the international community exactly what was happening in East Timor?

Ramos-Horta: Terribly difficult.

To mobilise people who are potentially sympathetic, you can do so effectively if you have a backup for what you say, what you allege, what you report. This must be backed up with visuals.

But people were sympathetic and listened to me. I was persuasive enough for them to believe what might be going on.

AJ: Given your own personal experience in the struggle for independence in East Timor, does that influence the way that you advocate? Does that bring a more personal response to your diplomacy?

Ramos-Horta: My personal instinct as a person is not shaped by anyone, by any school, any religion. It is me, always, against injustice and abuse.

Then came our experience and the fight for independence. When we fought for independence and for freedom, I went around the world begging for support, begging for sympathy. Then, we became independent.

Well, how can I not show sympathy in a real way towards the Palestinians? Why would I not show sympathy in a real way towards the people of Myanmar? Just showing sympathy, because we cannot do much more.

What can we do? We are not even a mid-sized country. But speaking out – a voice – is very important.

AJ: What are your reflections on what has occurred in Gaza?

Ramos-Horta: It is one of the most abominable humanitarian catastrophes in modern times, in the 21st century, next to the killing fields in Cambodia during Pol Pot’s regime.

The amount of bombs dropped on Gaza is more than the combined amount of the bombs dropped on London and Dresden during World War II, and more than the bombs dropped on Cambodia by the Americans during the Vietnam War.

The suffering inflicted on civilians, women and children is just unbelievable.

How we, human beings in this 21st century, can descend so low and how Israel, a country that I always admired, first out of sympathy for what Jewish people went through, through their lives, through their history – always persecuted, always having to flee, and then culminating in the horrendous Holocaust. When you survive a Holocaust experience, like the Jews, I would think that you are a person that is the most sympathetic to anyone yearning for freedom, for peace, for dignity. Because you understand.

They [Israelis] are doing the opposite.

And you have to understand, also, the people who are on the other side. You know the Palestinians, who had 70 years of occupation and brutality, they are not going to show any sympathy to the Jews or Israelis. So, this whole situation has generated hatred and polarisation as never before.

AJ: What can the international community learn from the experience of East Timor and people such as yourself?

Ramos-Horta: I am thoroughly disillusioned with the so-called international community, particularly the West, that enjoy entertaining themselves lecturing Third World countries on democracy, human rights, transparency, anticorruption, etc, etc.

They could never find the case to help poorer countries getting out of extreme poverty. But they found billions of dollars for the last three years to pump into the war in Ukraine.

I don’t condemn that. It is white people supporting white people being attacked. But then they are silent on Israel as it bulldozes the whole of Palestine; carpet bombing, killing tens of thousands of civilians.

And yet, with incredible, nauseating hypocrisy, when they are asked to comment on this, they say Israel has the right to defend itself!

Defend itself against children, against women, against students, against academics, against universities, that they bulldoze completely. Defend themselves against doctors and nurses in hospitals that they bulldoze.

And in an incredible contortion, you have the secretary-general of NATO say Iran presents a threat to the whole world. I know the whole world, literally, and I don’t know of anyone in the whole world that I know that considers Iran a threat to them.

I feel nauseated with such dishonesty, such inhumanity. So, I’m thoroughly disappointed. And I was always an admirer of the West.

AJ: Reflecting on many decades in politics in East Timor, is there anything that stands out to you as a personal success or something that you feel most proud about?

Ramos-Horta: I feel proud that we have been able to keep the country at peace. We have zero political violence. We have zero ethnic-based or religious-based tensions or violence. We don’t have even organised crime. We have never had a bank robbery or armed robbery in someone’s home. We don’t have that. And we are ranked among having the freest media in the world and the freest democracy in the world. I’m proud of my contribution in that.

AJ: East Timor is set to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). What will be the benefits of being a part of that?

Ramos-Horta: We’ll be part of a community of 700 million people, a community whose combined GDP is at least $4 trillion.

And that means the possibility of Timor-Leste benefitting from our neighbours is greater. There will be more free movement of capital. There’ll be more people attracted to visit Timor-Leste and more embassies opening.

These are the benefits of being associated with an organisation like ASEAN. There are concrete, material benefits besides the importance of the strategic alliance, the strategic partnership, with our neighbours.

AJ: China is really emerging in the Southeast Asia and Pacific regions. Are there any tensions over East Timor’s relationship with China?

Ramos-Horta: We don’t view China as an enemy of anyone, unlike some in America.

The US is not able to digest the fact that China today is a global superpower, that China today is a major global financial and economic power. That it is no longer the US that rules this unipolar world, that it has a competitor.

But the Chinese are very modest, and they say they are not competing to be number one with the US.

Any rational, intelligent person who is informed about China – even if a leader emerged in China that would view Australia and the US with hostility – would, in his right mind, think that you can overpower the US economically and militarily.

AJ: What is the projected benefit economically for East Timor from the Greater Sunrise Gas Field?

Ramos-Horta: The existing studies point to it taking seven years for the whole project to be completed and deliver gas and revenue to Timor-Leste.

But long before that, the day we sign the agreement, within the following few months, two years, a lot of investments already start to happen. Because we have to build all the infrastructure on the south coast that will run into the tens of millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars.

The pipeline will take its time to reach Timor, but the pipeline will be served by all the infrastructure built on the south coast, plus housing. Hundreds, maybe thousands of houses for workers, for people and so on. Then improvement in the agriculture sector. Farmers in the community benefitting because they will sell produce to the company, to the workers and so on.

Storm Byron is set to hit Gaza as nearly 1.5 million Palestinians shelter in flood-prone camps with little protection. Aid groups say Israel’s restrictions on vital shelter materials — including timber and tent poles — have left families exposed to severe winds, rain, and disease.

Storm threatens hundreds of thousands of displaced people left homeless in Gaza due to Israel’s war on territory.