December 2001

ARTIKELSAMLINGSveriges förändrade säkerhetspolitik och debatten om den Benjamin Ferencz, 2001Interview on terrorism as a crime against humanity Arun Gandhi, October 2, 2001Terrorism and nonviolence Rabbi Michael Lerner, September 17, 2001Where the violence comes from Scott Taylor, Esprit de Corps, CanadaMacedonian Backgrounder – and the Americans in Aracinovo (From Esprit de Corps, August 9, 2001). Kjell Magnusson, Uppsala Universitet, September 12, 2001Makedonien: Så knäcktes ett föredöme Om dumhet, undfallenhet och Makedoniens väg mot katastrofen… Marianne Eriksson, Herman Schmid och Jonas Sjöstedt, Aftonbladet 29 dec 2000EU vill gå i krig för svenska pengar Miroslav Hadzic, Ph.d., BelgradeCritical points for the security of Serbia/FR Yugoslavia Ny film om Gandhi i Sydafrika“Där våldet slutar börjar kärleken John Pilger, AftonbladetMedierna som maktens tjänstehjon(September 15, 2000) Karin Wegestahl, TFF vän, i ArbetetInsatser itan FN godkännande? Sveriges allt mer oklara säkerhetspolitiskahållning måste diskuteras? (August 20, 2000) New book by Riane Eisler, TFF friend and author of “The Chalice...

LONDON – The age of Euro-pessimism is dead. From January 1st on every child in the countries of European Union, bar those in Britain, Sweden, and Denmark, will hold in their hands the first coins of their future – a Europe without borders, barriers and, most important, wars. Of course, it can all be undone, but not in a moment. The common currency binds in a most extraordinary way the destiny of the peoples of this peninsular protruding from the landmass of Asia. If culturally it is a potage of languages, peoples and traditions (and long may it be so!), politically it is no longer a moveable feast of sovereign states whose borders are battered and changed by continuous argument and warfare. I’ve spent my Christmas in a small out of the way Spanish village where I once briefly lived whilst writing a book. Over coffee the headmaster of the...

Sveriges förändrade utrikes- ochsäkerhetspolitik – och debatten om den The change in Sweden’s foreign andsecurity policy – and the debate about it På TFF:s site – On TFF’s site PressInfo # 134, 17 oktober, 2001Sverige og 11. septemberEn konkretisering af PressInfo 133 – om Sveriges støtte til bombningerne i stedet for at understrege FNs Charter om fred med fredelige midler. Og om hvorledes kritiken vokser. PressInfo # 134, October 17, 2001Sverige och 11 septemberKonkretisering av PressInfo 133 – om Sveriges stöd till bombningar istället för att understryka FN:s stadgans normer om fred med fredliga medel . Och om hur kritiken växer. PressInfo # 134, October 9, 2001Sweden and September 11Concrete examples of how the Swedish government chooses to acquiesce in the policies of the U.S. and the European Union (EU) rather than defending the interests of small states and the UN norm of peace by peaceful means. PressInfo # 133, 12 oktober,...

By TFF associates Chaiwat Satha-Anand9/11, 9/20 and Gandhi’s Puzzle: Fighting Postmodern Terror/ Modern Warfare with Peaceful AlternativesThis paper is an attempt to understand the conditions of the world as different peoples and states turn more to the prospects of violence as evident in Afghanistan, Palestine, Philippines, Nepal or India/Pakistan, among others, and a way out of this tyranny of violence. Jonathan Power, TFF associate, Jan. 10, 2002Poverty could breed more bin LadensIt’s an undisputable, well-researched, fact that poverty, particularly when it exists in a society of gross inequalities, breeds violence, crime and the urge to deal out deadly punishment on conventional society. Jonathan Power, TFF associate, Dec. 18, 2001Will the lost children of the street be the next bin Ladens?Despite fifty or more years of the Third World foreign aid industry the rich countries have still not got their priorities right. Problems of this magnitude left unattended will come back...

LONDON – “Without more aid there is a greater danger of terrorism, I am convinced of that”, said Romano Prodi, the president of the European Commission the other day. “It may not be a casual effect at the moment, and I cannot tell you whether the outburst from the South will be next year or in two years’ time, but I know we are building a tragedy for tomorrow.” Top marks for a useful bit of alarmism. But the truth is that aid over the years has encouraged the very factors of development that produce the abrupt dislocations in societies that lead to malevolent behaviour, often violent, and make a percentage of young people a particularly easy prey to demagogues who wish to turn that violence outwards. Despite fifty or more years of the Third World foreign aid industry the rich countries have still not got their priorities right. Despite...

LONDON – Perhaps one can see an end to the war in Afghanistan, even to Osama bin Laden himself, but can anyone see an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? America has shown that with its awesome armoury that defeat is swift for anyone who publicly dare step into the ring for a round or two, which the Taliban, by giving refuge to bin Laden, decided to do. (Of course, it is another matter if Qaida now bunkers down in secret cells all over the place.) But who is going to deliver the decisive blow with Palestine/Israel? This is a war of attrition that could knock on and drag on until not much is left standing. On the Palestinian side the outcome certainly could be a degree of material destruction that could make much of the country rubble; on the Israeli side it is more likely to make it simply unliveable....

An unconventional, deeply personal account of how the author came to study humiliation, write a second doctoral thesis and live as a global citizen. To reach the maturity that permits us to give up the idea of revenge and work to reconciliate and forgive is about the most important thing we can study. And do. This is innovative and free research in the essential spirit of TFF. We congratulate our dear colleague as doctor of psychology! The horrific events on the 11th September 2001 in the United States shook the world. News programmes around the world have incessantly covered the events and their aftermath ever since. The name Osama bin Laden has dominated the news, ways of retaliation or reactions are being discussed. This paper is not a classical empirical paper. It is a paper that attempts to convey conclusions drawn from four years of social psychological research, combined with...

THE CONFLICT WORKERS’ MISSION When tense international crises occur, we tend to react due to impulsive feelings and mainstream attitudes. Prejudice, enemy images and ideas of retaliation and revenge may thus form public opinions, and these may again become part of the escalation of violent hostilities. The conflict worker (2) however has the possibility of using the methods of conflict resolution in order to stay more balanced, think more deeply and come up with sober arguments and alternatives to the use of violence. As conflict resolution is part of the nonviolent mindset, our perspective is how to promote genuine and sustainable security in this crisis (3). Security is the key word. It links to the most important and global of all Human Rights of the UN charter, namely the right to life. As conflict workers we try to rise above war propaganda, rumours, animosity and shortsighted clinging to military escalation as...

Mindst 3 nylige eksempler på gode nyheder fra Balkan er passeret næsten ubemærket. – Jugoslavien har fået en Kommission for Sandhed og Forsoning. – Dr. Ibrahim Rugova’s og LDK’s valgsejr åbner nye muligheder for forsoning i Kosovo/a – Ikke-vold har vist sig at være stærkere end politiundertrykkelse og autoritært styre i Serbien og stærkere end den ekstremistiske vold, der udøves af Kosovas Befrielseshær (KLA/UCK) i Kosovo. I modsætning til vold og krig så trænger ikke-vold og muligheder for forsoning ikke igennem til overskrifterne. Ja faktisk trænger de slet ikke igennem i medierne overhovedet. Destruktive nyheder fremmer pessimismen og en følelse af magtesløshed. Konstruktive eller gode nyheder fremmer det modsatte og signalerer, at freden trods alt kan have en chance. For at sige det kort, de der har magten, såvel som de magt-loyale medier, foretrækker det første fremfor det sidste. Disse tre nyheder indeholder noget vigtigt, som burde foranledige en bredt...

Hver gang en ny krig dukker opp på nyhetsplass blir vi som arbeider med fred oppringt og bedt om en kommentar. Den aktuelle konflikten har da pågått i lang tid uten noen interesse fra hverken media eller omverden. Når volden dukker opp så kommer spørsmålene, interessen, ønskemålene om å forstå og ikke minst kravene på løsninger. For oss er det umulig å kommentere en pågående krig uten å se på historien bak. Ingen konflikt oppstår i et vakum, der er alltid en kompleks årsakssammenheng som ligger til grunn for konflikter og spesielt bruk av ekstrem vold. Mye kunne vært anderledes om aktørene hadde agert klokt på et tidligere tidspunkt. Den voldshandlingene som vi så på TV-skjermene 11 september var en motreaksjon for århundrer av vold utført av den vestlige kulturs forkjempere og USA spesielt. Og det kommer mer. Så lenge vesten ikke avslutter sin imperialistiske, voldelige, krenkende og rasistiske politikk...

New York Times December 7, 2001 As the Afghan war enters into what may be its final days, and the international community begins discussing its next steps, Americans will be learning more about the warrior people known to the British as Pathans, and more correctly nowadays as Pashtuns. Most of the Taliban were Pashtun – as is the new interim leader of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, to whom Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban leader, has ceded power. The Pashtuns number upwards of 20 million, and their squat stony villages straddle the Durand Line that nominally demarcates Pakistan from Afghanistan, where Pashtuns form the largest ethnic group. These are the fighters who inspired reams of fearful and admiring verse from Rudyard Kipling, the sharpshooters blessed with perfect sight who picked off the soldiers of the British Raj. But the Pashtuns also produced one of the most remarkable pacifist movements of the 20th...

London, december 2001 Skyddad från Londons och från hela världens buller, fashion, flärd och fladdrande, ifrån likgiltighet och konsumism kommer jag bakom Tate Moderns tjocka maskinhallsmurar. I ett mörkgrått kapelliknande rum med dämpat ljus. Här visas Mark Rothkos jättestora rundade rektanglar i rödbruna nyanser, mystiskt vibrerande i brunt och svart och, anar man, alla andra jordens färgar. Instrumentellt är de som tibetanska mandalas, former att fokusera ögonen på, en svävande känsla i ett mörklila universum som ger mig lugn. Konturlösa kuber som skapats av en odramatisk, icke-våldsam applicering av färger. Dystra rör de sig in och ur varandra som fönster i – eller ut mot – ett gränslöst rum. Skönhet? Obeskrivlig. Vila? Intensiv. Fred? I kropp och själ. Döden? Sannolikt närvarande. De är meditativa verk, ett närmande till en ansikts- och kroppslös Buddha, till ingenting och allt. Zen? Efter min meditation där i mörkret läser jag om hur de kom till. Rothko...