We open with a word on Tom Hyland, who passed away during the editing of this book. Tom, a self-poclaimed “malai maubere” or “foreign Timorese,” gave his life to Timor-Leste and inspired many in the solidarity movement and in Timor-Leste. We dedicate this book to his memory and that of the three activists remembered in our tributes: Max Stahl, António Barbedo de Magalhães, and Carmel Budiardjo.

The chapters were originally prepared for the international workshop Solidarity with Timor-Leste’s struggle for self-determination: actors, institutions, contexts, held in Portugal in May 2022 within the framework of the major project “The Self-determination of Timor-Leste: Transnational Perspectives”, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology’s grant FCT/PTDC/HAR-HIS/30670/2017). Additional support came from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Eve Dutil provided research assistance.

We are grateful to all the authors for their precious collaboration.