2005
PressInfo 231, December 9, 2005
Is the European Union pro-peace?
Read the Constitution/Treaty text and you are in for a surprise! Contrary to what you have heard repeatedly, there is no hope for real conflict-resolution and peace there. In this field, the EU is more in need of reform than the United Nations. This PressInfo also includes information about TFF’s work concerning the EU, not the least Johan Galtung’s analysis and Erni & Ola Friholt’s constructive re-formulations of the Treaty. By Jan Oberg.
PressInfo 230, December 4, 2005
Ending the war on Iraq
The solutions proposed in the American political mainstream are not convincing: wait until the Iraq military can bring stability to the country seems like waiting for Godot. We should have learned better from our Vietnam experience. Mobilise the U.S. anti-war opinion, help Iraqi reconciliation and consider the 8 balanced steps that must be taken now to get us out and reshape our policies in the region. By Richard Falk.
PressInfo 229, December 2, 2005
Tookie Williams – from gang leader to children’s book author and peace activist…but
He is scheduled to die by injection on December 13. Breaking news is that the California High Court won’t spare him. Unless Governor Schwarzenegger intervenes to stop the execution. TFF Associate Annette Schiffmann writes the Tookie story and tells you how you can help save his life – but please act now!
PressInfo 228, 10. november 2005 (dansk)
Kosovo – mange andre muligheder end uafhængighed
Det internationale samfund mangler en principfast politik og strategi for Kosovo. Det gør det muligt for visse aktører at hævde at der kun findes én løsning – deres egen. Udviklingen i spillet om Kosovo lover ikke godt for alle dem, der måtte håbe på både retfærdighed og fred i og omkring provinsen.
I princippet er der mange mulige løsninger – og vi nævner dem. Men en stagnerende politisk tankegang og fraværet af en principfast politik plus ren ønsketænkning om fremtiden gør det stadigt særere at se en rimelig løsning. Og derfor kan vold bestemt ikke udelukkes i fremtiden.
PressInfo 228, 27 oktober, 2005 (svensk)
Kosovo: Många valmöjligheter utom oberoende
Det internationella samhället saknar en principfast politik och strategi för Kosovo. Det gör det möjligt för vissa aktörer att hävda att det bara finns en enda lösning: deras egen. Utvecklingen i spelet om Kosovo bådar illa för alla som hoppas på både fred och rättvisa i och kring provinsen. I princip är många lösningar möjliga, men ett stagnerande politiskt tänkande och avsaknaden av principfast politik kopplat till rent önsketänkande om framtiden försvårar avsevärt en rimlig lösning. Därför kan våld definitivt inte uteslutas i framtiden.
PressInfo 228, October 27, 2005
Kosovo: Many options but independence
The international community lacks a principled policy and strategy for Kosovo. This plays into the hands of actors who believe that there is only one solution: their own. The latest developments in Kosovo bodes ill for those who want both justice and peace in and around Kosovo. In principle many solutions are possible, but rigid thinking and lack of principle coupled with wishful thinking remain major stumbling blocks and, thus, new violence can not be excluded.
PressInfo 227, September 21, 2005
Tackling terrorism is women’s work
Search and you will see how much women do for peace all over the world. They should be chiefly responsible for driving a powerful ‘human security’ or ‘soft’ approach to tackling the threat from terrorism – based on winning hearts and minds through addressing the real human needs that, frustrated and ignored, fuel violence. By Scilla Elworthy.
PressInfo 226, September 10, 2005
Remembering the Nonviolent September 11
While we remember September 11 and, hopefully, October 7, 2001 – there is another September 11 to be commemorated: that of 1906. On that day in South Africa, the Indian nonviolent movement was born. Gandhi later called his Indian movement: “Satyagraha” or ” the Force which is born of Truth and Love or non-violence.” This movement went on to free 300 million people from the power of the British Empire and gave the twentieth century a most remarkable demonstration of the power of nonviolent struggle.
PressInfo 225, July 26, 2005
The Real Threat is Nuclear Terrorism
The tragedy of the terrorist bombs in London only foreshadows much worse future catastrophes if the world continues on its current course. But there are four things we can do to secure the survival of humankind without nuclear weapons. “It is much more realistic to get rid of all nuclear weapons than waiting until they are used, whether deliberately or by accident,” says Dietrich Fischer in this PressInfo that leads up to the 50th Anniversay of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945.
PressInfo 224, 21. juli, 2005
Purpurhjerter – Mit Hjerte Brænder
PressInfo af TFF-Associerede Annette Schiffmann, som selv er fotograf og fredsaktivist, om Nina Bermans fotografier af sårede veteraner fra Irakkrigen. Der er omkring 37.000 fysisk sårede; de der er psykisk sårede regnes overhovedet ikke. I modsætning til de døde, kan disse mennesker tale om hvordan deres liv er blevet ødelagt – til ingen nytte.
Der er lavet en udstilling med disse dybt bevægende billeder, som man kan leje. Og der er en dokumentarfilm og flere historier fortalt af nogle af ofrene.
Alt kan ses i denne pressemeddelelse.
“Denne udstilling bør vises i alle de nordiske lande, ikke mindst i det krigsførende Danmark. Hjälp till om du kan?” siger TFF-direktør Jan Øberg.
PressInfo 224, 27:e juli 2005
Purpurhjärtan – Mitt hjärta brinner
Om Nina Bermans bilder och boken om sårade veteraner från Irak-kriget. Samma som ovan och under. Av Annette Schiffmann.
Länkar till allt relevant material, foto-serien och dokumentarfilm. “Dessa bilder berör. Till skillnad från de döda soldaterna kan de sårade tala. Utställningen bör visas på många platser i de nordiska länderna – hjälp till!” – säger TFF:s direktör Jan Öberg.
PressInfo 224, July 15, 2005
Purple Hearts – My Heart is Burning
PressInfo by TFF Associate Annette Schiffmann, herself a photographer and peace activist, about Nina Berman’s photos of wounded veterans from the war in Iraq. There are around 37.000 physically wounded; those mentally wounded are not counted at all. Contrary to the dead, these people can talk about how their lives have been destroyed – for nothing. There is an exhibition of these deeply moving pictures that you can rent. And there is a documentary and more stories by some of the victims. It’s all inside this PressInfo.
PressInfo 223, 27. juli, 2005
Økonomisk boykot som ikkevold
Økonomisk boykot var helt central i Gandhis kamp mod det britiske imperium. Enhver boykot af USA må inspireres af gandhiansk ikkevold. Formålet må være at ramme det amerikanske militær, økonomien, politikken og det kulturelle kvælertag om verden, som imperiet har – derimod ikke at dræbe dets børn eller skabe problemer for befolkningen. Af Johan Galtung.
PressInfo 223, July 13, 2005
Economic Boycott as Nonviolence
Economic boycott was very important in Gandhi’s way of fighting the U.K. Empire. Any boycott of the United States should be informed by Gandhian nonviolence. The purpose is to reduce and eliminate the U.S. military, economic, political and cultural choking grip on the world, not to kill U.S. children by hitting the U.S. economy. By Johan Galtung.
PressInfo 223, 27. juli, 2005
Ekonomisk boykott som ickevåld
Ekonomisk boykott var hel centralt i Gandhis kamp mod det britiska imperiet. Varje boykott av USA bör inspireras av gandhiaskt tänkande. Syftet är att minska och avlägsna USA:s kvävande militära, politiska och kulturella grepp om världen. Målet är USA-imperiet, inte republiken USA.
PressInfo 222, July 11, 2005
Srebrenica Muslims Remembered, the Rest Silenced
There is every reason to commemorate the massacre by Serb soldiers on innocent Muslim civilians in Srebrenica ten years ago today. But unless it is considered acceptable to quantify crimes and politically misuse human suffering, there is no plausible reason to forget or silence other cases of massacres, ethnic cleansing and terror bombings in which other innocent people lost their lives. The coverage of the Srebrenica massacre proves that mainstream media have learned nothing since 1990. By Jan Oberg.
PressInfo 222, 11. juli, 2005
Srebrenicas muslimer mindet – resten fortiet
Der er al grund til at mindes massakren udført af serbiske soldater på uskyldige muslimske civile i Srebrenica for 10 år siden. Men med mindre det betragtes som acceptabelt at kvantificere forbrydelser og at misbruge menneskelig lidelse politisk, er der ingen gyldig begrundelse for at glemme eller fortie andre massakrer, etniske udrensninger og terrorbombninger, i hvilke andre uskyldige civile mistede livet. Har medierne lært noget som helst i disse ti år? Af Jan Øberg.
PressInfo 221, April 28, 2005
Where democracy, safety and justice begin.
The culture wars are still on — and heating up on the family front. Yet even now, progressives are more comfortable talking about what’s right or wrong in “public” life — the widening gap between rich and poor, the immorality of an unnecessary war. But family relations directly influence all our relations — public as well as private. We cannot build a healthy democracy on a foundation of authoritarianism and intolerance. By Riane Eisler.
PressInfo 209-218, April 27, 2005
The Kosovo Solution Series
All the 10 articles, 58 pages, 340 KB in pdf format
Now widely featured in Balkan media, posted or mentioned on leading European sites, Reuters, Transitions Online, EUActive, EuropeanVoice, etc. It circulates European embassies and international organisations. The pdf edition is free but please make an honour payment here when you download and print it out.
PressInfo 220, 18. maj, 2005
Fredsbistand til efterkrigs-zoner – Burundi som eksempel
Hvorfor giver verden ikke omfattende fredsbistand til lande og mennesker, der så åbenlyst kæmper mod alle odds for at nå frem til fred? Hvordan kan man undgå at hjælpe Burundi og ikke engang bidrage med halvdelen af den rent humintære bistand, der er brug for? Der er tale om en meget vanskelig fredsprocess, men der er bestemt håb. Hvorfor er verdens prioriteter så uretfærdige – USA bruger per uge uge 8 x mere på at være i Irak end et års humanitært bistand til Burundi…Af Chantal Mutamuriza, Adolphe Sururu og Jan Øberg.
PressInfo 220, 12:e maj, 2005
Fredsbistånd till efterkrigs-zoner – Fallet Burundi
Varför ger världen inte ett substantiellt fredsbistånd till länder och människor som uppenbarligen kämpar mot alla odds för att återgå till fred?
Hur kan man undvika att hjälpa Burundi och inte ens bidra med hälften av det humanitära biståndet som behövs? Det är en mycket svår fredsprocess men absolut inte utan hopp. Varför är världens prioriteter så orättvisa? Av Chantal Mutamuriza, Adolphe Sururu och Jan Öberg.
PressInfo 220, April 23, 2005
Peace Aid to Post-War Zone: The Case of Burundi
Why does the world not give substantial “peace aid” where people so obviously want peace and struggle hard against all odds? How can we let down Burundi and not even meet half of its humanitarian needs in the midst of a terribly difficult peace process – fragile but also more hope-inducing than most? Why are the priorities of the world so unfair? By Chantal Mutamuriza, Adolphe Sururu and Jan Oberg.
PressInfo 219, April 15, 2005
The International Crisis Group: Who Pays the Piper?
The world’s leading? Professionals in conflict-analysis, -resolution and peacemaking may find reasons to question the image ICG promotes of itself. Is it really independent, non-governmental and research-based? By Jan Oberg.
PressInfo 209-218, April 8, 2005
The Kosovo Solution Series
10 analyses of the future of Kosovo. Referred to by Reuters as where you can learn more.
PressInfo # 218, April 7, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 10
Summary – From “only one solution” towards democracy and peace
Offers the main arguments of the 9 preceding articles in about 800 words.
PressInfo # 217, April 7, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 9
Many models for a future Kosovo
Probably the most comprehensive catalogue of peaceful possibilities for Kosovo ever developed. Offers four types approaches to peacemaking and warns against the international community cutting corners to get out of its dilemma.
PressInfo # 216, March 31, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 8
Positive scenarios. Turn to the future, look at the broader perspectives
Imagine the world in 2025. Who would believe that Serbs and Albanians had fought a war against each other? To achieve real peace, everything depends on a) changing the perspective from the past to the future, b) reducing fear and c) provide for gebuine socio-economic development.
PressInfo # 215, March 31, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 7
Nations and states, sovereignty and self-determination
Offers some clarification of the main concepts and look into what the two basic legal documents actually say. It also points out that the international community has a) not lived up to its own obligations, b) have little understanding of peacemaking and c) have given the Albanians reasons to believe in a soon-to-come independence which it can hardly deliver.
PressInfo # 214, March 30, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 6
What must be Belgrade’s minimum conditions and its media strategy
It’s now time for the international community to become fair players and pay serious attention to Serb viewpoints and long-term interests. Without it there will be no regional stability. Likewise Belgrade must develop a policy and a media strategy so it will get a fair hearing. This PressInfo offers the basic elements. By Jan Oberg & Aleksandar Mitic.
PressInfo # 213, March 29, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 5
The arguments for quick and total independence are not credible
Whom and what would an independent Kosova reward? There is a larger framework and if you can’t work with those next door, can you work with the rest of Europe? The Serb side, not the Albanian, has shown flexibility. The issue of status should be approached with much more creativity and credibility. By Jan Oberg & Aleksandar Mitic.
PressInfo # 212, March 23, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 4
The situation as seen from Serbia
Serbia is struggling to meet Western requirements. It may be that Kosovo will become independent, but where is the international community’s logic in that given other political processes in the Balkans? By Jan Oberg & Aleksandar Mitic.
PressInfo # 211, March 21, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 3
The main preconditions for a sustainable solution to the Kosovo conflict
To arrive at a sustainable solution in the concrete case of Kosovo, a minimum of professional principles and considerations is necessary. Here we offer eleven. By Aleksandar Mitic & Jan Oberg.
PressInfo # 210, March 18, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 2
The media – strategic considerations
An unbalance between Belgrade and the Kosovo Albanians in the means put into PR advocacy campaigns and lobbying efforts has led to a one-sided media war in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Serbs still lack a media strategy and, at least until very recently, a policy and strategy for a solution to the Kosovo conflict. By Jan Oberg & Aleksandar Mitic.
PressInfo # 209, March 16, 2005 – på dansk
Kosovo Solution Series # 1
Hvorfor løsningen i Kosovo har betydning for hele verden
Sammenfatter hovedpunkterne i serien på 10 artikler. Der gives 12 svar og en mini-analyse af det international samfunds rolle i konflikthåndteringen over de sidste 10-15 år. Desuden nogle få ord om TFFs indsatser og arbejde i Kosovo siden 1992. Af Jan Øberg og Aleksander Mitic.
PressInfo # 209, March 16, 2005
Kosovo Solution Series # 1
Why the solution in Kosovo matters to the world
Executive summary of a series of PressInfos on Kosovo. Twelve reasons and a mini-analysis of the role of the international community in conflict-management. With a few words about the approach TFF has taken since it got on the ground in Kosovo as early as in 1992. By Jan Oberg and Aleksandar Mitic.
PressInfo # 208, March 15, 2005
FN i Kosovo lovpriser en potentiel krigsforbryder – hvorfor?
Er Søren Jessen-Petersen hyggesnak om sin potentielle krigsforbryderven noget, han er blevet tvunget til at sige – i så fald er det ikke af Kofi Annan, der selv har været meget mere forsigtig. Eller er det endnu et eksempal på den tarvelighed, der er kommet til at kendetegne det international samfunds politik for konflikthåndtering i Kosovo?
PressInfo # 208, March 15, 2005
Varför lovordar FN i Kosovo en potentiell krigsförbrytare?
Är Søren Jessen-Petersens hemtrevliga prat om sin potentiella krigsförbrytarvän något han blivit tillsagd att säga av några deltagare i händelsernas större spel; det är inte Kofi Annan, vars eget uttalande var mycket försiktigare. Eller är detta ett exempel på den sjaskighet som kommit att känneteckna världssamfundets politik för konflikthantering i Kosovo?
PressInfo # 208, March 10, 2005
The UN in Kosovo praises potential war criminal – why?
Søren Jessen-Petersen’s cosy chat about his potential war crimes friend could be what he has been told by some participant in the greater scheme of things to say – and it is not Kofi Annan. This could be yet another evidence of the shabbiness that has come to define the international community’s conflict-management policies in Kosovo. See why in this analysis.
PressInfo # 207, 30:e januari, 2005
Tsunamien – den verkliga skandalen och vad vi kan lära av den
TFF-associerade Dietrich Fischer analyserar rapporterna – några av dem av en annan TFF-associerad, Michel Chossudovsky – som visar att den amerikanska basen på ön Diego Garcia tog emot varningar om den komamnde tsunamin medan civila inte nåddes av några varningar. Inget skickades vidare.
PressInfo # 207, 20. januar, 2005
Tsunamien – den virkelige skandale og hvad vi kan lære af den
TFF-Associeret Dietrich Fischer skriver om de rapporter – nogle af dem af en anden TFF-Associeret, Michel Chossudovsky – som bekræfter at den amerikanske militærbase på øen Diego Garcia i De indiske Ocean modtog varlser om den kommende tsunami mens civile ikke blev advaret. Varslet blev ikke sendt videre til nogen. Dette er en kriminel handling af meget stort omfang og bør hives frem i søgelyset. Historien er forbløffende ringe omtalt i ledende verdens ledende medier.
PressInfo # 207, January 16, 2005
The tsunami – the real scandal and lessons to learn
TFF Associate Dietrich Fischer writes about the reports – some of them by TFF Associate, Michel Chossudovsky – that confirm that the US military base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean received a warning of the impending tsunami, but civilians did not. The warning was not passed on. This is a crime of unprecedented proportions and should be exposed. This dimension of the tsunami catastrophe is conspicuously absent from mainstream media in the West.
