Nov. 3, 1997 Contact Pauline Austin (541) 346-3129 EUGENE--South Pacific islander Jose Ramos-Horta, co-winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring self-determination to the oppressed people around the globe, will speak at the University of Oregon on Wednesday, Nov. 12. The free public lecture on "Peace Makers: The Power of Nonviolence and East Timor," is from 7:30-9 p.m. in the Ballroom of the Erb Memorial Union, 1222 E. 13th Ave. Indonesia, under the leadership of the Suharto regime, in 1975 forcibly annexed East Timor after the withdrawal of the Portuguese colonial government. East Timor is the tiny South Pacific island that is home to Ramos-Horta. The Suharto regime, according to the Nobel committee, has "systematically oppressed" the Timorese people. The committee adds that one-third of East Timor's 800,000 people have died "due to starvation, epidemics, war and terror." The United Nations has never recognized Indonesia's sovereignty over East Timor. Ramos-Horta, who has acted in exile as foreign minister for East Timor's independence movement, won the Nobel Prize jointly with Bishop Carlos Filipe Zimenes Belo, the most influential leader in predominately Catholic East Timor. Ramos-Horta believes that the plight of the East Timorese mirrors the situation of peoples around the globe. As part of his continuing commitment to the defense of human rights, Ramos-Horta founded the Diplomacy Training Programme (DPT) at the University of New South Wales. The mission of the DPT is to train indigenous peoples, minorities and human rights activists from the Asia Pacific region in the U.N. human rights system. "The movement for democracy, human rights and rule of law is irreversible. Even in our tortured region, Asia, unprecedented events are taking place," Ramos-Horta said in an April 1996 speech to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. The UO talk is part of the UO Freeman Lecture Series, presented by the UO Center for Asian and Pacific Studies (CAPS), and the Carlton and Wilberta Savage Endowment in International Relations and Peace. The Freeman Foundation, a national philanthropic organization, funds CAPS-sponsored lectures, which focus on contemporary Asia. The Portuguese exiled Ramos-Horta from his homeland in 1970 for subversive allegations against the colonial government. Except for a brief return in 1975, he has remained in exile. In recent years, Ramos-Horta has urged a peaceful solution--calling on Indonesia to permit a referendum on East Timor's future. Since winning the Nobel Prize, he has been able to focus world attention on political repression around the world. -30- #P-6021/Local,OrDailies,PDX,A&E,Special