February 2006

February 28, 2006 Martin Smedjeback In the early hours of the 5th of August 2005 a group of planters entered AWE (Atomic Weapons Establishment) Aldermaston and planted vines and fig trees.They were soon arrested for their conversion of a nuclear weapons research facility into a peace garden.This is the story of the trial that followed in Newbury Magistrates Court the 7-9th of February 2006. An invitation arrived A letter came to my apartment in Stockholm in December 2005. It read: I ask you, who can resist such a kind invitation? Our vine and fig tree community, about ten people from five countries, began preparing for the upcoming trial. We sent out invitations to friends to come to the trial. We received good help from the law firm Bindman and Partners. They sent us a CD with pictures from the action and a DVD with a video recording of “the crime...

LONDON – As UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan nears the end of his controversial term the names being banded around to succeed him seem more attuned to satisfying particular regional constituencies than looking for the best person around. A Jacques Delors or Mikhail Gorbachev or Sam Nunn could never have become secretary-general. At the time their names were talked about it had to be an African candidate, and although Annan has some sterling achievements under his belt he has never quite had the freedom to be his own man. He has had to live under the dark cloud of being the person in charge of the UN’s peacekeeping department in 1994 and who failed to see what was going on in Rwanda when genocide was unleashed and the world turned away. He has certainly known that Washington would shamelessly use that against him if he tried to take the bit between...

LONDON – Lost somewhere in the mists of history is the knowledge that it was the pro-American Shah of Iran who initiated Iran’s quest to build a nuclear bomb. And it was the anti-American revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini that initially suspended work on the bomb, from 1972 to 1985. Fanning the panic of proliferation has been a mainstay of the Bush Administration, supported in the wings by the British government and more recently France’s president, Jacques Chirac. It is a high stakes game that can slide too easily into the call for regime change, as it did with Iraq. Yet current would-be proliferators are arguably not as dead set on proliferating, nor even as advanced in their capabilities, as their antagonists suggest. But unyielding critical rhetoric combined with a lack of incentives to back down seems to only have the effect of making the likes of North Korea and...

I Damaskus har Sveriges, Norges och Danmarks ambassader stormats och stuckits i brand. Nordiska medborgare uppmanas att lämna Mellanöstern och skandinaviska företag bojkottas i hela arabvärlden. Hur kunde det gå så illa? Hur ska det sluta? Oron växer. Liksom frågorna: Finns det något man kan göra? Ja, det finns det. Det finns konstruktiva saker att göra också i Göteborg. Detta än inte en konflikt mellan Islam och den västliga sekulära världen. Detta är något som startade som en provokation från en liten klick intellektuella som tror sig vara liberala genom att smutskasta den heliga förebilden för en redan förtryckt grupp invandrare. Nu har konflikten eskalerat till en nivå som få kunde ha förutsett. Många har burit eld till brasan den senaste tiden. Västliga politiker, bloggare och mediefolk har var på sitt sätt försökt att hävda att principen om yttrandefrihet hotas om inte provokationerna får spridas fritt. Alla länder har begränsningar...

LONDON – The Western democracies, so keen on exporting their political model to the rest of the world, seem to be perfecting the art of shooting themselves in the foot, and I’m not even going to mention the war in Iraq. The cartoon affair which showed up Danish democracy as religiously illiterate at the onset and by last week’s end defensively bigoted was preceded only two weeks earlier by President Jacques Chirac of France boldly announcing that any (presumably Islamic) nation that supported groups that tried to use terrorism and weapons of mass destruction against France should expect a nuclear riposte. In an age when a terrorist group could at best detonate a so-called “dirty bomb”, conventional explosives wrapped around some stolen nuclear waste and kill at most a thousand people, or biological weapons like the anthrax letters that killed all of half a dozen people in the U.S. four...

Engelsk version Dansk version Mohamedkarikatyrerna (1) Förtrycksfrihet Mohamedkarikatyrerna (2): Det finns ju ett sammanhang ! Mohamedkarikatyrerna (3): Vi måste lära att se vår egen kulturblindhet Den allmänna massmediebevakningen i västvärlden inriktar sig på de tolv karikatyrerna av Profeten i danska Jyllands-Posten. Denna inriktning är för smal både i tid och rum, och den gör våldsdåden på “gatan” i arabvärlden oförståelig och överdriven. Dansk TV och andra massmedier har nu vinklat affären i en särskild riktning: Danmark och den danska regeringen är nästan oskyldiga, Danmark har blivit missförstått och är offer för elak propaganda; reaktionen är orimlig och de protesterande runt om i den muslimska världen är obildade ligister medan deras moderata ledare egentligen förstår situationen och vill ha samarbete, danska exportvaror och stabilitet. Vi får höra, samma sak från CNN, hur Danmarks diplomati är sysselsatt dygnet runt för att göra allt bra igen, George W. Bush stöder Danmark och snart...

Af Jan Øberg, TFF direktør10. februar, 2006 Den generelle mediedækning i Vest fokuserer på Jyllands-Postens 12 karikaturer af Profeten. Dét fokus er for snævert i både tid og rum. Det får samtidig vreden på den arabiske “gade” til at fremstå som ubegribelig og overdrevet. TV-Avisen og andre medier har nu vinklet historien i en bestemt retning: Danmark og regeringen er næsten uskyldig, vi er blevet misforstået og offer for tarvelig propaganda og løgn; reaktionerne i den muslimske verden er urimelig og de, der protesterer, er uuddannet pøbel, men deres moderate ledere forstår situationen og ønsker samarbejde, danske eksportvarer og stabilitet. Både CNN og “Profilen” giver ministre mulighed for at fortælle hvordan de arbejder 24 timer i døgnet, 7 dage om ugen på at gøre det hele godt igen, George W. Bush er med dem og snart vil sagen – skal man forstå – forhåbentlig være glemt og det vil være...

Av Jan Öberg, TFF direktör9 februari, 2006 Engelsk versionDansk version Mohamedkarikatyrerna (1) FörtrycksfrihetMohamedkarikatyrerna (2): Det finns ju ett sammanhang 1Mohamedkarikatyrerna (3): Vi måste lära att se vår egen kulturblindhet Jyllands-Postens teckningar är tendentiösa karikatyrer. De förknippar Profeten med terrorism, brottslighet och kvinnoförtryck. Ingen av bilderna skulle rimligen någonstans kunna fungera i dialog eller för ömsesidig förståelse eller för att åstadkomma den bildning som det finns stort behov av i förhållandet mellan danskar och muslimer. De är illvilliga. Intensiteten i de negativa reaktionerna kan förvåna. Men om man ser karikatyrerna i ett samanhang av vår nutida globaliserade värld, är publiceringen av bilderna både tanklös och meningslös. Den avslöjar en fullständigt ofattbar brist på allmänbildning och god (journalistisk) uppfostran. Den danska regeringen har tappat greppet Värre är att den danska regeringen varken begrep affären eller behovet att på ett tidigt stadium begränsa skadan. Statsminister Fogh Rasmussen avvisade maningar till dialog och följde...

The general media coverage in the West focuses on the 12 caricatures of the Prophet in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten. This focus is too narrow in both time and space; it makes the outrage in the Arab “street” incomprehensible and exaggerated. The Danish Television and other media have now angled the affair in a particular direction: Denmark and the Danish government is almost innocent, Denmark has been misunderstood and is a victim of mean propaganda; the reaction is unreasonable and the protesters throughout the Muslim world are uneducated mobsters while their moderate leaders actually understand the situation and want co-operation, Danish export goods and stability. We are told, so too on CNN, how Denmark’s diplomacy is working 24/7 to make it all good again, George W. Bush supports Denmark and soon the case will – it is implied – hopefully be forgotten and business resume again. Just a couple of...

Af Jan Øberg, TFF direktør8. februar, 2006 Engelsk versionSvensk version Muhammed-karikaturerne (1): UndertrykkelsesfrihedMuhammed-karikaturerne (2): Men der er jo en større sammenhængMuhammed-karikaturerne (3): Vi må lære at se vor egen kulturelle blindhed Jylland-Postens tegninger er karikaturer med en klar tendens. De forbinder Profeten med terrorisme, kriminalitet og undertrykkelse af kvinder. Ingen af dem kan på nogen måde tjene til at fremme dialog, fælles forståelse eller en nok så nødvendig udveksling af almenviden mellem danskere og muslimer overalt. I deres ensidighed må de opfattes som krænkende. Måske kan intensiteten i de negative reaktioner overraske. Men betragtet i konteksten af vor samtidshistorie og globaliseringen bliver offentliggørelsen af dem både tankeløs og formålsløs. Den afslører en forbløffende mangel på almendannelse og journalistisk kvalitetssans. Den danske regering har tabt sagen på gulvet Værre er, at regeringen hverken synes at have forstået selve sagen eller behovet for tidlig skade-minimering. Statsminister Fogh Rasmussen afviste appeller om dialog...

By Jan Oberg, TFF directorFebruary 7, 2006 Jyllands-Posten’s drawings are caricatures with a tendency. They associate the Prophet with terrorism, criminality and repression of women. None of them could possibly serve dialogue, mutual understanding or much needed public education between Danes and the Muslims anywhere. They are ill-willed. The intensity of the negative reaction may be surprising. But seen in the context of our contemporary, globalizing world, their publication was both thoughtless and purposeless. It reveals a mind-boggling deficit in general education and good (journalistic) manners. The Danish government has lost it Worse, the Danish government understood neither the affair nor the need for early damage-limitation. Prime Minister Fogh Rasmussen turned down appeals for dialogue, following an established pattern also in relation to Denmark’s policy on Iraq and immigration issues: by definition we make no mistakes and have nothing to learn from anyone. If the government had understood the world...

TheMuhammad caricatures (1)Freedom of suppression PressInfo #232  February7, 2006 By JanOberg,TFF director   Muhammad(1) Freedom of Suppression Muhammad(2) But there is a context ! Muhammad(3) We must learn to see our own cultural blindness Denneartikel på dansk Dennaartikel på svenska Jyllands-Posten’s drawings arecaricatures with a tendency. They associate the Prophetwith terrorism, criminality and repression of women. Noneof them could possibly serve dialogue, mutualunderstanding or much needed public education betweenDanes and the Muslims anywhere. They are ill-willed. The intensity of the negativereaction may be surprising. But seen in the context ofour contemporary, globalizing world, their publicationwas both thoughtless and purposeless. It reveals amind-boggling deficit in general education and good(journalistic) manners. TheDanish government has lost it Worse, the Danish governmentunderstood neither the affair nor the need for earlydamage-limitation. Prime Minister Fogh Rasmussen turneddown appeals for dialogue, following an establishedpattern also in relation to Denmark’s policy on Iraq andimmigration issues: by definition we...