Archive 1986 – 2017

Introduction Political acceptance is based on a successful struggle concerning the understanding of reality. In a conflict the issue is how the parties and the conflict are portrayed to the international public opinion. Eye witnesses on the spot, who are a danger to the credibility of the propagated image, represent a threat to an acceptance of the performed policy as justifiable. A strategic response is then, primarily, to prevent their presence and, secondarily, to limit it. Thirdly, their credibility ought to be undermined, if possible. The intention of this paper is to argue: – that Israel over the years has followed this strategy successfully in the Israeli – Palestinian conflict;– that this strategy is now in danger and may even be counterproductive, as the undertaken measures are meeting increasing criticism and resistance;– that this critique is formulated by the international community and particularly enacted by the civil society, consisting of...

AbstractIn this article, conflict resolution procedures focussing on reconciliation and forgiveness are analyzed in contrast to traditional court hearings. Forgivesness is seen as a process in the individual, which can either be facilitated or complicated but never demanded by the institution offering the framework. Especially three elements are identified as necessary in order to bring forgiveness about. These elements are knowledge of what happened, a willingness to forgive and restitution of dignity obtained by, among other things, the victim receiving some kind of reparation from the perpetrator. Examples are given from the author’s work in South Africa and former Yugoslavia. 1. Indledning. De senere år har studier af forsoning fået begyndende anerkendelse som akademisk disciplin. Flere steder i udlandet er etableret institutter til formålet, f.x International Forgiveness Institute ved Wisconsin University, USA og Department of Peace Studies, ved Bradford University, England. De teoretiske studier har nær sammenhæng med en voksende...

ARTIKELSAMLINGSveriges förändrade säkerhetspolitik och debatten om den Benjamin Ferencz, 2001Interview on terrorism as a crime against humanity Arun Gandhi, October 2, 2001Terrorism and nonviolence Rabbi Michael Lerner, September 17, 2001Where the violence comes from Scott Taylor, Esprit de Corps, CanadaMacedonian Backgrounder – and the Americans in Aracinovo (From Esprit de Corps, August 9, 2001). Kjell Magnusson, Uppsala Universitet, September 12, 2001Makedonien: Så knäcktes ett föredöme Om dumhet, undfallenhet och Makedoniens väg mot katastrofen… Marianne Eriksson, Herman Schmid och Jonas Sjöstedt, Aftonbladet 29 dec 2000EU vill gå i krig för svenska pengar Miroslav Hadzic, Ph.d., BelgradeCritical points for the security of Serbia/FR Yugoslavia Ny film om Gandhi i Sydafrika“Där våldet slutar börjar kärleken John Pilger, AftonbladetMedierna som maktens tjänstehjon(September 15, 2000) Karin Wegestahl, TFF vän, i ArbetetInsatser itan FN godkännande? Sveriges allt mer oklara säkerhetspolitiskahållning måste diskuteras? (August 20, 2000) New book by Riane Eisler, TFF friend and author of “The Chalice...

Democratic processes and conflict management Project outline November 2000 to May 2002 HISTORY OF THE PROJECT It was initiated in 1996 in connection with H.H. the Dalai Lama’s visit in Copenhagen. As a result Danish Centre for Conflict Resolution set up a study group to work for two years with Tibetan issues under the supervision of Lakha Rinpoche. After two facts finding missions to Dharamsala and interviews with a number of key persons from the Tibetan community in exile the purpose was stated. The project is a partnership project between the Tibetan community in exile and Danish Centre for Conflict Resolution. It is funded by Danish Centre for Conflict Resolution and DANIDA under the Danish Foreign Ministry. THE PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT The purpose was created in close collaboration between the partners: To sharpen the tools of democratic processes, co-operation and conflict management, in order to strengthen the Tibetan exile...

Washington’s new world order weapons have the ability to trigger climate change The important debate on global warming under UN auspices provides but a partial picture of climate change; in addition to the devastating impacts of greenhouse gas emissions on the ozone layer, the World’s climate can now be modified as part of a new generation of sophisticated “non-lethal weapons.” Both the Americans and the Russians have developed capabilities to manipulate the World’s climate. In the US, the technology is being perfected under the High-frequency Active Aural Research Program (HAARP) as part of the (“Star Wars”) Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI). Recent scientific evidence suggests that HAARP is fully operational and has the ability of potentially triggering floods, droughts, hurricanes and earthquakes. HAARP is a mass destructive weapons – not part of any negotiations From a military standpoint, HAARP is a weapon of mass destruction. Potentially, it constitutes an instrument of...

U.S. presidential election LONDON – When a Mexican man was executed in Texas in 1997 there was a bit of a row because not only had he signed his “confession” in English, a language he didn’t understand, he was denied access to the Mexican consul. After his execution Governor George W. Bush issued a statement that since Texas had not signed the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations it was not bound by it. But the United States of America had and it was legally binding on all states. Is this a forewarning of how a President Bush would treat the rest of the world- with, putting it at its mildest, nothing less than arrogant contempt? As for a President Al Gore he shows every sign of walking in Bill Clinton’s footsteps, with perhaps an even heavier tread. He seems, too often, to regard the Pentagon as the arm of government that...

Photos © TFF 2000 Read PressInfo 91 “Prevent Violence in Montenegro” © TFF 2000 Please reprint, copy, archive, quote or re-post this item, but please retain the source.

Från en balkong i Makedonien ser fredsforskaren Jan Øberg ut över Ohridsjön och Albaniens berg och reflekterar över situationen i dag på Balkan. Sitter på min balkong med utsikt över Ohridsjön i Makedonien, lika stor som vacker. Silvriga vågor rullar i oändlighet in mot kusten under de svarta granarnas silhuetter. Många kilometer borta, där på andra sidan, finns Albanien, vars berg ligger blåröda och självlysande under molnen. Långt uppe ser jag en vit röksvans från ett jaktplan. Vems kan det vara, över Albanien, på väg vart någonstans? Jag är på konferens om säkerhet och demokrati på Balkan arrangerat av Partnerskap för fred (NATO) och Skopje-universitetets Institut för Försvarsstudier. Några timmars bilfärd härifrån mot norr ligger Kosovo. Man håller lokalval, som ska ge intryck av att provinsen är på väg mot demokrati. Makedonien själv har betalat dyrt för västs sanktioner mot Serbien, och förra året övertog NATO i praktiken landet och...

LONDON – Richard Nixon, contending to be president in 1968, wrote a sensational article in the magazine Foreign Affairs in which he anticipiated a more conciliatory U.S. policy towards China. Soon after Nixon’s election, the U.S. moved to recognise communist China, which it had refused to do for twenty two years , and ejected Taiwan from the Chinese seat at the UN. During his election campaign Jimmy Carter promised he wouldn’t “ass-kiss” the Chinese, but like Nixon he ended up turning his back on China’s human rights dissidents, intent on concluding the formal normalization of relations with China. When Bill Clinton campaigned for the presidency against George Bush Senior he charged that Bush was soft on China- Bush had been quick after the Tiananmen Square masacre to send to Beijing his National Security Advisor to reassure the Chinese leadership of Washington’s solid, enduring relationship. Clinton promised if elected that the age...

The Milosevic-West symbiosis In handling the Balkan crisis the last ten years, the United States and European countries could have chosen a pro-active policy based on conflict analysis and a fair, principled implementation. They could have avoided today’s intellectual, political and moral cul-de-sac and avoided the bombing last year. They would not be de facto protectors of Bosnia and occupiers of Kosovo/a. Most Western actors grossly underestimated the complexities of the Balkans, they were occupied with the end of the Cold War, they chose to perceive it all in simplified black-and-white terms. They never acted to only help the parties solve their problems, but were guided by their own more or less nationalist, competing interests in the Balkans. And then, above all, there was the “Milosevic factor.” The West is cosmologically burdened with a tendency to write simplifying, fail-safe recipes for the solution of extremely complex economic, constitutional, historical and...

We are proud to launch TNN, the TFF News Navigator. The Internet permits us to develop a global rather than national focus, to reduce the Western biases of a handful of media conglomerates and to say “no thanks” to standardized and simplified “truths” about matters complicated. TFF’s News Navigator is your tool – a uniquely comprehensive collection of more than 350 links to world news and comments: newspapers, info services, (mega)sites and bureaus as well as magazines of culture, security, alternative economics, media research – and news departments of major international organizations. It gives you access to Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Hindu and many other sources and perspectives on what happens. TNN is remarkably broad but not so big that you get lost – with all links on one page. There are other meta sites with news. But TNN is unique because of its: – choice and combination of alternative &...

The need for a just peace Anger and frustration should be no surprise Discussions and analysis of recent events in Israel/Palestine by peace workers, journalists, human rights activists, and others have been cause for both encouragement, and a great deal of concern. The situation in Israel-Palestine and throughout the entire Middle East today is very alarming, but it is in no way surprising. Anger and frustration at one of the most oppressive and exploitative structures of violence in the world is exploding. A system which Nelson Mandela once referred to as “worse than apartheid” is itself being met with counter-violence in the form of stone-throwing and protest. The cycle of violence, recriminations, fear and anger on all sides is growing, and, given the complete absence of any real attempts at peace on the parts of the leadership on both sides, can be expected to continue. Any ‘peace’ which would be...