Archive 1986 – 2017

LONDON – Returning to London after a month away what astonishes me most is how sotto voce is the debate that links the bombings and Britain’s ‘pillion passenger’ role in the American-led war in Iraq. Apart from a few predictable voices, most political contributors have maintained a kind of becalmed dignity, concentrating attention on defeating the homegrown terrorists. This is all very well. It is decorum at its best. The upper lip may be pierced by an earring or two but it does not easily quiver. But there comes a point when Britain has to take its head out of the sand because the whole sorry, very much intertwined, mess of the ongoing war in Iraq and the mushrooming of Islamic terrorism seems to be out of rational control. There is no debate, for instance, about the legacy of empire. By that I don’t just mean the double crossing of...

Fred är det när det inte är krig. Klart som korvspad? När det är fred, sa min pappa till mig, då ska vi köpa det där pianot som du längtar efter. Jag var åtta år och slutet på det andra världskriget var nära. När det är fred, då köper jag jordbruksmaskiner för sparpengarna, och startar en affär. När det är fred, behöver bönderna sådana maskiner. Bara det blir fred, så… Men innan dess hann fler bomber falla på vår by och min pappa blev skjuten, om med tysk eller rysk kula är ovisst. Och min storebror återvände inte från Ryssland. Men så blev det ju fred i alla fall. Fast det var inte alls ett sådant jubel jag senare såg på film från Kungsgatan i Stockholm. Den fred som kom då i maj 1945 till vår by i Österrike smög sig på lite peu à peu liksom. För mig var...

TFF’s Erni Friholt is among the women nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. So are 999 others in this fascinating worldwide initiative to promote the idea of “1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005”! We are so proud of this initiative! Erni Friholt is the only one from Sweden – the other Nordic women being Annelise Ebbe (Denmark), Barbro Sundback (Finland) and Ingrid Eide (Norway). Read about Erni and Ola Friholt’s life together in peace and for peace. The TFF founders and the Friholts have been friends for more than 20 years and they are also advisors of the foundation. More than anyone else, these two people practise the Gandhian principle that “we must be the change we wish to see.” Having said that, there is the much larger framework. Erni Friholt has been nominated together with 999 other strong women for the Nobel Peace Prize. It’s a fantastic...

Based on police record, there have already been 808 victims of violence in Southern Thailand during the first six months of 2005, with 607 people injured and 207 other killed mostly in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. Among those who lost their lives were 6 soldiers, 15 policemen, and 186 civilians. (Bangkok Post, July 2, 2005). Judging by both the growing number of those fallen victims and the ways in which some of them were killed from January 1 to June 20, 2005 , including 8 cases of beheading, the killings of three religious teachers (ustazs) while praying in Pattani on June 21, and the first case of a deliberate killing of a woman who is also a teacher and a local school administrator on June 24, it could be said that the situation of violence in the South has worsened. In light of the intensified violence, amidst rumors about more...

This is Galtung’s speech to the World Tribunal on Iraq, Istanbul Final Session, June 24-26 2005. Distinguished Members of the Jury of Conscience, Fellow Advocate, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends! The testimonies have brought the reality of an Iraq tortured by the US/UK (and a coalition of willing clients) illegal attack, and illegal occupation, into our minds and hearts. With a sense of deep anger at the continued aggression and deep compassion with the victims we have witnessed the reality of crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including nuclear war through the use of depleted, radioactive uranium, on top of the genocidal economic sanctions, and the general “softening up” of Iraq for a quick, decisive war and remolding to the taste of the aggressors. Members of the Jury! What we are witnessing is the geo-fascist state terrorism of US imperialism, following the defunct British Empire, soon to follow...

Human rights and the illegal US/UK attack on IraqBy some counts the attack on Iraq is US aggression no. 239 after the Thomas Jefferson start in the early 19th century and no. 69 after the Second world war; with between 12 and 16 million killed in that period alone. All of it is in flagrant contradiction of the most basic human rights, like the “right to life, liberty and security of persons” (Universal Declaration, UD:3) and the condemnation of the “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” (UD:5). Johan Galtung, TFF Associate, July 14, 2005 The Korean Peninsula: From the DMZ to a Zone of PeaceWhat world conflict formations are the two divided Koreas part of? How can we envisage them coming closer to each other? Can the present 2+4 talks be supported by a parallel process? And how can today’s De-Militarised Zone be turned into a Zone of Peace...

TFF Associate and a towering figure in academia and culture. Read about him here. He has been forbidden to give a lecture on human rights and democracy in Tetouan in Northern Morocco.

LONDON – “Women hold up half the sky”, said Mao Zedong, although by and large in communist China women had a tough time playing second fiddle to the men. Here in Sweden women do almost hold up half the sky. If foreign minister Anna Lindh had not been murdered last year there might well be a female prime minister in power. For a decade half the cabinet have been women and women occupy nearly fifty percent of the seats in parliament. It shows. When the government dares to suggest that it is thinking about raising taxes in this most highly taxed of nations to pay for better health and social services the country takes the news quietly. When the government decides to cut back on its military spending, likewise. The country, long socially progressive, has now copper bottomed its welfare state by putting woman in the driving seat. According to...

By Lewis MacKenzie Retired Major-General Lewis MacKenzie was the first commander of theUN peacekeeping forces in Sarajevo. Reproduced from The Globe and Mail, Thursday, July 14, 2005 – Comment This week marked the 10th anniversary of the United Nations’ second greatest failure since its creation in 1945 — the genocide in Rwanda being the undisputed No. 1. With much fanfare, the ceremonies focused on the massacre of “up to” 8,000 Bosnian men and boys by General Ratko Mladic’s Bosnian Serb army in Srebrenica in July of 1995. In the vast majority of recent media reports, the background and responsibilities for the disaster in Srebrenica were absent. Preferred was the simple explanation: a black and white event in which the Serbs were solely to blame. As someone who played a modest role in some of the events preceding the massacre, perhaps a little background will provide some context. In early 1993,...

Where democracy, safety and justice begin   PressInfo # 221  April 28, 2005 By Riane Eisler, TFF Associate*   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, policies ignoring global warming. But family relations directly influence what people consider normal and moral in all relations — public as well as private. Progressives cannot let reactionary fundamentalists continue to dominate public discussion of “private” life and “family” values. We cannot build a healthy democracy on a foundation of authoritarianism and intolerance. Family relations affect how people think and act. They affect how people vote and govern, and whether the policies they support are just and genuinely democratic or violent and oppressive. Slogans like “traditional values”...

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, policies ignoring global warming. But family relations directly influence what people consider normal and moral in all relations — public as well as private. Progressives cannot let reactionary fundamentalists continue to dominate public discussion of “private” life and “family” values. We cannot build a healthy democracy on a foundation of authoritarianism and intolerance. Family relations affect how people think and act. They affect how people vote and govern, and whether the policies they support are just and genuinely democratic or violent and oppressive. Slogans like “traditional values” often mask a family “morality” suited to undemocratic, rigidly male-dominated, chronically violent cultures. They market a “traditional family” where...

You haven’t heard much about it. It’s a good story from Africa. About peace. About a very difficult peace process that is by no means secured for the future. But it offers hope for the future of the 7 million people in one of the world’s poorest countries. Should it all fall apart and a new genocide happen – then you will hear about it. Why are good stories, stories about peace, never newsworthy? We’ve collected a few news stories from the last months. Troubles, indeed – but there is hope! TFF works there – to help civil society monitor the official peace process. Read more here. Newest features at the bottom Atlapedia OnlineAbout Burundi – a little general information before you start The International Monetary Fund, IMFIMF Completes First Review Under Burundi’s PRGF Arrangement News24.comBurundi polls to test stabilityBurundi prepares for local polls ReliefWebUN head of mission, Carolyn McAskie, urges Burundians to...