January 1998

“Plikten är rättigheternas sanna källa.Handlingen är plikten, frukten är rättigheten”Mohandas K. Gandhi, som dog för 50 år sedan Försvaret för de mänskliga rättigheterna (MR) utvecklas snabbt. Nationella centra, folkliga rörelser, kulturpersonligheter, tribunaler och domstolar, media och solidaritetsgrupper, FN och andra mellanstatliga organ konkurrerar om att etablera fakta, övervaka, rapportera och behandla kränkningar och kräva handling och straff samt genomföra projekt, som skall förebygga övergrepp och hjälpa offren för dem. Detta är odiskutabelt bra. Det behövs ständigt ett vakande öga överallt för att befästa de normer, som har skrivits in i nationella och internationella fördrag och skiljer civilisation ifrån barbari. Det är tillika okontroversiellt i och med att man inte kan vara för kränkningar av MR. MR-politik bör dock kunna diskuteras. Det är fortfarande problematiskt att universalisera de i huvudsak västliga MR-normerna tvärs över kulturella skiljelinjer. Kan verkligen en enda kulturkrets normer spridas globalt eller ska det finnas en kärna, en...

“Pligten er rettighedernes sande kilde.Handling er pligten; frugten er rettigheden.”Mohandas K. Gandhi, der døde for 50 år siden. Forsvaret for de menneskelige rettigheder (MR) er i rivende udvikling. Nationale centre, folkelige bevægelser, kulturpersonligheder, tribunaler og domstole, medier, solidaritetsgrupper, FN og andre mellemstatslige organer kappes om at etablere fakta, overvåge og rapportere, behandle krænkelser og kræve handling og straf samt genemføre projekter, som skal forebygge overgrebene og hjælpe ofrene. Dette er ubetinget godt. Der er til stadighed brug for vågne øjne overalt og for at befæste de normer, der er nedfældet i nationale og internationale aftaler og adskiller civilisation fra barbari. Det er også ukontroversielt idet man ikke kan være for MR-krænkelser. MR-politik bør dog diskuteres. Det forblir problematisk at universalisere de hovedsagligt vestlige MR- normer på tværs af kulturelle skillelinjer. Kan og skal én kulturs norm være gældende globalt eller skal en kærne eller fællesnævner, vi alle kan være enige...

LONDON–Clinton’s sex life in the White House is surely only his wife’s concern. It certainly shouldn’t spill over into the nation’s business and even more certainly it shouldn’t spill over into foreign affairs. And yet we have officials in the Kremlin telling the New York Times that “they were increasingly worried that President Bill Clinton, enmeshed in a deepening scandal at home, would attempt to assert his leadership abroad with a rapid military strike on Baghdad”. Pace, Moscow. There were some good and sound reasons for a military strike long before the scandal broke. If ever there was a case for using military force in the post-communist world this is probably it. There are no doubts about Saddam Hussein’s moral qualms–he has none. He has used poisonous gas not only during his war with Iran but against his own people. There are no doubts about his geopolitical ambitions–he has tried...

LONDON–The split at the top of the British government could not have come at a worst time. Just as Britain is stepping into the presidency of the European Union the unpleasant rivalry, until now sublimated, between the camps of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his effective number two, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has hit the political headlines, threatening to throw Britain’s young Labour government into spasms of internal conflict just as all its attention is needed for what is certainly to be the most difficult task of its period in office, constructing the right relationship with its European partners. The political calendar is turning fast and time is not on Britain’s side. What has been talked and negociated about for many years is going to reach its denouement in mere months. On May 10th a summit presided over by Mr Blair will decide the membership of the European...

LONDON–A circle is closed next week when the long awaited trip of the Pope to Castro’s Cuba finally takes place. 507 years after catholic Spain started the rape of the continent with an historic voyage that began from here, the Church in a new guise leads the charge to usurp the last outpost of Latin dictatorship and render it a member of the continent-wide family of democracies. Five hundred and seven years from Columbus to Castro is a long time to wait for democracy to arrive, especially when measured against the much earlier rapid progress of its northern cousins in the United States and Canada. And for that we have no one to thank but catholic Spain and catholic Portugal. North America was settled by pilgrims, idealists, political and religious refugees. They wanted to create a New World and democracy became the chosen instrument. It was flawed, of course. It...

I. Framing the Argument The dominant modern idea of citizenshipThe dominant modern idea of citizenship was definitely linked closely to the emergence of individuals endowed with entitlements or rights in relation to the governments of territorial sovereign states. Thus the history of citizenship could be traced from the entitlement associated with freedom from abuses of governmental authority, especially arbitrary exertions of coercion to freedoms to, that is, freedoms of a more affirmative character to participate directly or indirectly in the governing process, and finally, to a series of entitlements associated social democracy or the welfare state (Marshall 1950). Secular varieties of nationalism were not an invariable backdrop, but it was the most characteristic political form in which modern forms of citizenship flourished under conditions in which the state was the focal point of a juridically conceived nationalism, that is, a geographically bounded ideal of political community. This contrasts with an...

Håller USA på att med vapenmakt bygga ett eget globalt imperium, där man ger sig själv en maktens rätt i olika sammanhang?  Recension av Sören Sommelius,TFF konfliktläkare och kulturredaktör på Helsingborg Dagblad FORTRESS AMERICAThe American Military and the Consequences of Peace.William GreiderPublic AffairsNew York 1998 UTANFÖR DEN LILLA staden Killeen i Texas, USA, ligger USA:s största armébas, Fort Hood där 43.000 man är stationerade. Fyrtio procent av den amerikanska arméns utrustning, 11.000 pansarfordon, 2.400 stridsvagnar och en stor mängd helikoptrar, finns uppställda i närheten av staden här, på en rad av inhägnade fält som sträcker sig sammanlagt tio kilometer. Efter det kalla krigets slut har det skett vissa nedskärningar av den amerikanska försvarsbudgeten, skriver William Greider i en ny bok, “Fortress America” med undertiteln “The American Military and the Consequences of Peace” (Fort Amerika. Den amerikanska militären och fredens konsekvenser). Men, fortsätter Greider, USA är fortfarande rustat för att utkämpa...

PressInfos 1998 No 53 (December 23, 1998)Civil Society in War and Peace – New Report No 52 (December 19, 1998)Be Better Informed About the Iraq Conflict No 51 (November 23, 1998)Support Free Media and Education in Serbia Now No 50 (November 12, 1998)Negotiate a Sanctions Lifting Plan No 49 (October 22, 1998)TFF invited to the 1998 State of the World Forum No 48 (October 11, 1998)Peace Proposal: Forums for Human Rights and Peace Education in Eastern Slavonia – and elsewhere No 47 (October 1, 1998)Questions Before Bombing Serbia No 46 (September 4, 1998)Time To Try True Nonviolence In Kosovo/a No 45 (August 25, 1998)Human Rights In Kosovo/a – Not So Simple No 44 (August 25, 1998)Kosovo/a – Half Truths About How It Began No 43 (August 24, 1998)Kosovo/a – Half Truths About Demography and Ethnic Cleansing No 42 (August 17, 1998)The Kosovo War: No Failure, All Had an Interest In...

  Our most recent publication“Learning Conflict and Teaching Peace in Former Yugoslavia” tells youhow TFF conducted the “Learning Conflict” Program in formerYugoslavia 1996 and 1997 – and what we learnt from workingwith 105 ethnically mixed participants during eight coursesin Croatia, Bosnia (both entities), Yugoslavia andMacedonia. This is a practical account of whatwe did and how we did it, rather than a treatise on thephilosophy and methodology of teaching peace in war-tornsocieties. Many organisations now offer varioustypes of courses and training to NGOs. What we usually seeand hear, if anything, is that these courses are a successand sometimes even contribute to promote the organisationthat delivers them. So too with TFF, we are no different.The level of intensity, comments and the general atmosphereindicate that these courses were a success: our participantsgave the experience as a whole 4,2 of 5 possiblepoints. However, few NGOs take the trouble totell others what we tell you...