Archive 1986 – 2017

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...

If you believe that Western politics should serve as a model of decency, fairness and principled policies, consider these topical news from ex-Yugoslavia: From 1993, Ceku went down and helped the most extremist people in his native Kosovo to build the KLA, the Kosovo Liberation Army behind the back of Dr. Rugova, the only pacifist leader in the now chopped-up country. (I know what Ceku did because I have had him tell me the story himself). KLA and Ceku was generously assisted by the German Intelligence Service, BND and after the US took KLA off its list of terrorist organizations – by CIA. The moderate, pragmatically non-violent Kosovo-Albanian leader Dr. Rugova, who recently passed away, was dangerous; imagine he had achieved an independent Kosovo by non-violent means: what a catastrophe for those who believe in violent intervention, bombings and occupations as roads to peace. The International Herald Tribune writes that...

/pi232DK_Muhammed.html”>Mohammed (1) Undertrykkelsesfrihed Mohammed (2) Men der er jo en større sammenhæng! Mohammed (3) Splinten og bjælken This article in English Artikeln på svenska Hvis en begivenhed udvikler sig til den værste politiske krise siden 1945 i et ellers stabilt og demokratisk land som Danmark, turde det være på sin plads at stille nogle mere grundlæggende spørgsmål: Hvad handler det hér om? Kan de der leder og lever i Danmark lære noget af det både som danskere og som vesterlændinge? Kan andre i Vesten? Og kan vi gøre tingene bedre i fremtiden? Hvis vi selv stiller sådanne spørgsmål inviterer vi også andre, inklusive dem der brænder flag og ambassader, til at tænke over om der måske findes bedre metoder til at udtrykke deres nok så legitime uenighed. Som tingene står nu gør ekstremister på begge sider intet andet end at bekræfte de værste billeder af “den anden” og således kan...

Hvis du har den opfattelse at vestlig politik bør tjene som model for anstændighed, fairness og principfast politik ude i verden, så kig lige på disse aktuelle emner fra det tidligere Jugoslavien: Dét indebærer ganske enkelt at han ikke fortjener titlen “mægler” for at mægle betyder blandt andet at man lytter til og respekterer alle sider med henblik på at finde en retfærdig og holdbar løsning på en konflikt, ikke at man har et mandat fra en tredjepart til at bokse en bestemt på forhånd given løsning igennem. Ahtisaari er altså ikke mægler men problemknuser for magter, der kan diktere en bestemt løsning. Er Kofi Annan mon bare en smule bekymret? Mens samtlige eksperter og diplomater er fuldstændigt enige om at Kosovos albanske ledere ikke i de forløbne 7 år har levet op til krav der er blevet stillet til dem vedrørende menneskerettigheder, tolerance og de fordrevnes ret til at...

 17:e mars – 2:e april, 2006 Jan Öberg, 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 Denne artikel på dansk Om något leder till den värsta politiska krisen sedan 1945 i ett annars stabilt, demokratiskt land som Danmark, borde det föranleda att man ställer en del djupare frågor. Vad handlar detta om? Kan de som leder och lever i Danmark lära sig något av det, både som danskar och västerlänningar? Kan andra västerlänningar? Och kan vi göra någonting annorlunda i fortsättningen? Om vi ställer frågor sådana som dessa, inbjuder vi också dem som brände danska flaggor och ambassader till att reflektera över om det kan finnas bättre metoder att visa sitt legitima missnöje. Som saken står i dag, bekräftar extremister på bägge sidor bara de värsta bilderna av “den andre” och civilisationen...

LONDON – Given what we now know about the way the Turkish army fought the terrorist group, the PKK, in south east Turkey during the 1990s, we perhaps should not be surprised that its local commander between 1997 and 2000, General Yas¸ar Büyükanit, is now being accused of being behind the well documented army atrocities visited upon Kurdish villages at that time. Even if he isn’t guilty, as the recent statement of a public prosecutor puts it, of “establishing a criminal group, falsifying documents and misconduct in office”- and the evidence seems to be based on the testimony of a single local businessman- one would be surprised if he was entirely ignorant of what went on. Establishing the degree of his involvement- hands on or simply turning a blind eye- in the crimes of the era is going to take many months if not years. It is clouded further by...

Five months after the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten published 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, controversy over those cartoons is still raging in many Islamic countries. Already dozens of people have been killed in half a dozen countries and demonstrations have taken place in nearly all Islamic countries, from Morocco to Indonesia. The US secretary of state’s statement accusing Iran and Syria of having incited the demonstrations was a cheap and inaccurate shot at two countries which the United States and Israel are targeting at the moment for political reasons. In fact, Iran lagged behind many other countries in reacting to the cartoons, so much so that many newspapers accused the government of indifference. Demonstrations in Iran against the cartoons took place only during the Ashura mourning ceremonies marking the martyrdom of Imam Husayn towards the middle of February. The most violent demonstrations took place in Afghanistan, which is still under...

By Julie Dyer & Michel Tavir TFF Friends Anmeldelsen på dansk March 16, 2006 The book Democratisation in the Middle East, Dilemmas and Perspectives comprises a collection of papers which were originally presented at a Plum Foundation sponsored conference held in Copenhagen in February 2005.  The volume is edited by Birgitte Rahbek, Middle East scholar, author and member of the executive committee of the Plum Foundation. The purpose of this conference was to provide an independent platform for a discussion of recent developments in the Middle East, particularly with respect to the prospects for and the challenges connected with democratisation in the region.   The authors represent a broad spectrum of Middle Eastern and European scholars and others with first-hand knowledge of the region and its history. The contributing authors approach the subject of democratisation from a variety of viewpoints, but are all characterised by their openness toward the concept of a democratic...

Av Jan Öberg, TFF direktör16:e mars, 2006 Kosovo, Ceku, Haradinaj, Montenegro….dubbelmoralens väktare Om Du tror att västvärldens politik bör fungera som mönster för anständighet, rättvisa och ett principiellt politisk handlande, bör Du tänka över dessa aktuella nyheter från före detta Jugoslavien. Kofi Annans utsände i Kosovo, förre finske presidenten Martti Ahtisaari, säger till Der Spiegel att Kosovo rör sig mot oberoende. I en ton som bara kan karakteriseras som arrogant säger han till den serbiska sidan att den borde känna till spelets regler och veta sitt eget bästa. Detta betyder helt enkelt att han inte är någon medlare som lyssnar till och respekterar alla sidor med tanke på att hitta en lösning. Han är agent för makter som kan diktera sin lösning. Är Kofi Annan bekymrad? Kosovo som bombades bort från Serbien och ockuperades genom Natos olagliga krig 1999 tycks således förlorat för Serbien. Kommer de återstående serberna i Kosovo...

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 How Slobo orchestrated the killing of at least 250.000 in Bosnia I think we begin to see the basic element in Milosevic’ perverse tactics. Tell the others to seek independence, get nationalist and go for Greater Slovenia, Greater Croatia, Greater Bosnia, Greater Albania, etc. When they do, he gets a pretext for invading them, smash them up and take their land and – Keine Hexerei – there it is: Greater Serbia! None of the others actually wanted any of it, but he seduced them, one by one! Bosnia’s Muslim leader, Alija – a good-hearted fundamentalist – was the next to be lead by the nose. Slobo asked him for a little favour that could serve as a pretext for invading Bosnia too. He would then help Alija, the ever non-decisive, to get his desired Muslim Bosnia. “Alija, if we cooperate, you’ll get much more than 43%...

 By The 13 NGO members of the TFF Amahoro Coalition in Burundi This is the story about a dream we work to make come true together. We urge you who reads this to help us establish an open center for peace and reconciliation – a center for information, education and public debate, a library and Internet learning center in one. An open center for civil society organisations to co-operate and build strength together. It shall become a place for every Burundian to get engaged and trained to help solidify peace, democracy and reconciliation. It shall make a strong civil society contribution to once and for all put hatred, etnic cleansing and war behind. Up till now, the peace process in Burundi is one of the most promising but least known in the world. Few governments pay any attention. Thus, we need people-to-people goodwill and a helping hand. But first –...

By Jan Oberg, TFF directorLund, Sweden – March 12-13, 2006 How he created the war in Bosnia You may believe that it was the Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats in Bosnia who could not live together peacefully and so started a civil war. But it was Slobo’s evil Master Plan again. He knew he had to get Izetbegovic to ask for independence. When Bosnia’s Muslims then were joined by the Croats, he knew the Serbs would walk out, start their own parliament and go for independence. Since everybody else did it, why shouldn’t they? It was so easy, like a domino game. All he had to do was to make the first move, and the rest would follow. Then he could send in his JNA troops, his Arkan Tigers and Seselj’s White Eagles and say it was all in defence of the poor Serbs who were threatened by a Muslim fundamentalist...