October 2003

STOCKHOLM – For well over a year the world has been so preoccupied by the argument over the micro picture, whether or not Iraq, North Korea and Iran were building nuclear weapons, that the big picture- that this is the right time to take a big step forward on world wide nuclear disarmament- has been all but overlooked.  Indeed, one can argue that the small picture worries are not that important, but the big picture worry- that Russia, the U.S., Britain, France and China still have missiles ready to point at each other- is the one to lay awake at night about. Certainly with Iraq there can now be little debate about its supposed nuclear weapons’ programne. The UN disarmament process following the first Gulf war in 1991 did its job better than Washington ever imagined. Whether Iran is or is not building nuclear weapons is an on going discussion among...

By Francis Daehoon LeeDeputy Secretary, Peace and Disarmament Centre of PSPD October 31, 2003 1. Introduction Like so many male affairs, international politics surrounding the so-called North Korean nuclear issue hides more than it tells. It portrays countries and governments as they are, as unitary units, as if they are there forever by themselves, while unseen things are being shaken from the bottom. Until recently, life in Korea has been dominated by what we call ‘division system’ and this is since the division of Korea in 1948. The mutual interaction of pretentiously non-interacting two Koreas since then has deeply penetrated in the way politics and economics are conducted and how each state defined itself and its people vis-à-vis the other. In South Korea, the purpose of the state, growth, and ideology was defined as what North Korea is not, and vice versa in North Korea. This is why, for example,...

På ettermiddagen nærmet det seg 35 grader i skyggen, men der hvor vi vandret frem var det ikke mye skygge å få. Selv ikke når vi fikk litt grønsakssuppe til en flere timer forsinket lunsj fantes en skyggeplett å oppdrive. Men hva er man ikke villig å lide for å dra sitt strå til stakken når visjonen var en fredfull framtid i Midtøsten? Vi var noe over hundre deltagere fra Europa, USA, Israel og Palestina som med de beste intensjoner foretok en ukes marsj og planla å krysse den grønne linjen uansett hva israelske myndigheter måtte mene om det. Ingen var særlig overrasket da soldater, politifolk og en håndfull agenter i sivile klær var “velkomstkomité” da vi etter flere dager kom til grenselinjen. Vi hadde på forhånd avtalt at det var opp til den enkelte om hun eller han skulle utfordre Israelske myndigheter og passere over til Palestina. De andre...

A few years ago, while giving talks in several Indonesian cities, I was struck by how often questions were raised during the discussion periods relating to the work and ideas of Edward Said. Indeed, anywhere that intellectuals with a progressive or internationist outlook gather on this planet, there is an awareness and appreciation of the indispensable contributions that Said has made to the life of free and independent inquiry, and beyond this, to a whole style and method of thought that takes ideas and culture seriously as crucially linked to structures of oppression and processes of emancipation. Said’s work is also connected with the confusions of a Janus-faced identity of intellectuals that is so characteristic of this era, that of seeming to belong everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. There are at least two forms of connection that emerge from Said’s life and writings. First of all, being uprooted, Said’s embraces the...

Sandheden om vores tilstedeværelse i Irak er en del af en større problematik. Efter den kolde krigs afslutning er Danmark nu blevet krigs- og sidst også besættelsesmagt. Danmark deltog i bombningen af Jugoslavien. Det har ikke ledt til holdbar fred og udvikling i området. Den 7. oktober 2003 indledtes det tredje år af krig og kaos i Afghanistan – som hævn for 11. september. Vi har bombet sammen med andre for at opnå rolige tilstande i landet, men Afghanistans præsident har ikke engang kontrol med hele hovedstaden Kabul. Knapt halvdelen af landets indtægter kommer fra opium, krigsherrerne er tilbage, og de humanitære behov skrigende. Kun en brøkdel af løfterne om hjælp til landet er blevet indfriet. Jagten på Bin Laden er en fiasko eller indstillet. Og i andre konflikter hvor vi er engageret men ikke har deltaget i krig – som f.eks. Kroatien, Bosnien, Kosovo og Makedonien – er der...

For enhver regering er spørgsmålet om at deltage i krig det alvorligste. Alene af den grund er en omfattende høring, der skal klarlægge argumenterne for Danmarks deltagelse i krigen i Irak, på sin plads. Rapporterne fra Irak motiverer bestemt til, at beslutningsprocessen bag vor deltagelse i krigen og besættelsen bliver endevendt. Men hvad skal være høringens videre formål, fokus og fremgangsmåde? Hvem eller hvad skal den gavne? Ønsker man interessant ny viden eller at fastlægge ansvar og eventuel skyld? Skal vi snarere end at se bagud drøfte, hvad vi kan lære for at håndtere fremtidige konflikter bedre? Skal kommissoriet være bredt frem for snævert? Åbenhed eller låg på? I heldigste fald kan den foreslåede høringsform kan give indblik i, hvilke kundskaber regeringen havde, og hvilke analyser der blev gjort i forskellige ministerier. Drøftede man forskellige alternativer til krig, som man siden afskrev som mindre realistiske end krigen? Og hvordan vægtede...

Review Thirty-one year old Virgil Hawkins’ dissertation is a treasure of information and solid analysis at a time when the largest reforms of the United Nations since its establishment are being discussed. Although not his aim, Hawkins’s book could be said to make the case for the most important UN reform of all: learn from earlier mistakes and get engaged in the most important conflicts; take on the conflicts that cost many human lives and make, finally, the UN an organisation for all humankind not just for the few. The truth Hawkins tells us is this: the Council has failed miserably to respond to the conflicts that cost most lives and concentrated on minor ones – because of members’ narrow interest policies. Globalisation takes place in the economic and military spheres of international society – but there is not yet anything resembling a globalised ethics or conflict-management. Peace enforcement and...

Reviewed and Recommended by TFF The 100 best books Reviewed and Recommended by TFF The New Pearl HabourTo the book Jonathan SchellUnconquerable World – Power, Nonviolence and the Will of the PeopleReview byRichard Falk Robert S. McNamara& James G. BlightWilson’s GhostReviewed by TFF director Jan Oberg Robert S. McNamara, James G. Blight, Robert K. Brigham, BierstekerArgument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy Sven LindqvistA History of Bombing Sven LindqvistExterminate allthe brutes Robert McNamara andBrian VandemarkIn Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam Michel ChossudovskyThe Globalisation of Poverty and the New World Order  Robert BaerSee No Evil  Virgil HawkinsThe Silence of the Security Council in the 1990sRead Jan Oberg’s review Richard FalkThe Great Terror War Daniel EllsbergSecrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon PapersReview by TFF FriendAl Burke Chalmers Johnson“Blowback.”Written in 2000 but is a marvellous explanation of why September 11 happened…  Jonathan Power“Like Water on Stone – The Story of Amnesty International” William BlumRogue State. A Guideto the...

LONDON – Is our aim to prevent war or to pre-empt apparent threats? There is an important difference; not just in the semantics. In Bush-speak pre-emption may mean taking military action in order to avoid some presumed catastrophe looming over the political horizon. Preventing war means taking some bold, resolute action, short of war, to try and remove the probable cause of belligerency. Actually the U.S. can and does do both, despite the presumption by critics that it is obsessed with the second to the exclusion of the first. In Liberia, where it has just withdrawn its forces, the U.S., by putting some ships with marines off shore and a mere 200 peacekeepers on the ground, shored up the morale- and expertise- of a West African peace keeping force that so far has done a remarkable job in quieting the country and forestalling a likely new round of internecine strife. The...

PERSPECTIVE – Sunday 28 September 2003Bangkok Post Reforming IslamConservative Muslims have so sidelined moderates and liberals that an Asian-style economic miracle is needed to break their grip on Islamic politics and religion Neither a lackey of the United States nor historically an oppressor of Muslims, Thailand nevertheless finds itself on the frontline of the War on Terror. The arrest in July of al-Qaeda suspect Hambali in Ayutthaya – and reports suggesting that the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist network has over 100 recruits here – exposed the indiscriminate violence planned by Islamic extremists. Like football hooligans, Muslim terrorists are said to ruin the match for all the real fans, the mainstream Islamists who claim to be peace-loving democrats. But a recent Economist survey of Islam and the West describes how ostensibly nonviolent Islamic groups such as the Muslim Brothers in Egypt create an “atmosphere of militancy in which the men of violence...

The recognition of the work of women and human rights activists in Islam The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Ms Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian judge, lawyer and political activist, was as inspired as it was unexpected. The granting of that prestigious prize to the first Muslim woman, especially from a country where women have had to put up with the medieval status forced on them by the mullahs, sends a number of powerful messages to a whole variety of different audiences. The first message of this award is clearly to Iranian reformers and political activists, especially those who work for equal rights for women. Short background The 1962 “Family Protection Law” passed by the Iranian parliament under the shah was one of the most enlightened documents on the rights of women in the entire Middle East and the Islamic world as a whole. That law granted women votes,...

Migrated from the TFF legacy site archive. War on Ignorance By Maria Ahmed, Bangkok Post Interview with Chaiwat Satha-Anand, TFF associate October 17, 2003 PERSPECTIVE – Sunday 28 September 2003 Bangkok Post Reforming Islam Conservative Muslims have so sidelined moderates and liberals that an Asian-style economic miracle is needed to break their grip on Islamic politics and religion Neither a lackey of the United States nor historically an oppressor of Muslims, Thailand nevertheless finds itself on the frontline of the War on Terror. The arrest in July of al-Qaeda suspect Hambali in Ayutthaya – and reports suggesting that the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist network has over 100 recruits here – exposed the indiscriminate violence planned by Islamic extremists. Like football hooligans, Muslim terrorists are said to ruin the match for all the real fans, the mainstream Islamists who claim to be peace-loving democrats. But a recent Economist survey of Islam and...