Archive 1986 – 2017

Prinsessan Dianas förfärliga död ändrade på många sätt vår värld. Medias onda makt exponerades även om det bland de sörjande måste ha varit ganska många konsumenter av de förnedrande veckotidningarna. Samtidigt knöt medias goda makt människor överallt i världen samman i en onekligen egendomlig gemenskap. Den upprepades, även om i mer normal skala, när Moder Theresa dog. De var båda o-konstituerade ledare, det vill säga vare sig produkter av demokratiska val, av diktatur eller ekonomisk makt. De var ledare i eller av det civila samhället, inte av regeringar eller internationella organisationer. De hade makt, men inte av den vanliga typen som ytterst bygger på tvång och våld. Båda talade till hjärtat, men sannerligen också till förnuftet, medan de flesta valda makthavare vare sig talar ifrån det ena eller till det andra. De var kvinnor som valde att inte följa den utstakade karriären utan gjorde något konstruktivt av sitt utanförskap. Av...

  New Report “Conflicts and humanitarian emergencies can be handled more effectively if five parties intensify their co-operation — governments, humanitarian organizations, civil society organizations, area experts and conflict-resolution experts. The types of conflicts we face now and in the foreseeable future require of us that we think, act and organise ourselves in new ways,” say Morten Kjarum, director of the Danish Centre for Human Rights in Copenhagen, and TFF director Jan Oberg in this report. Early analysis, early listening and early action reduce human suffering and save resources. Comprehensive information about a conflict area, the conflict itself and the actors are essential for the successful handling of complex conflicts and humanitarian emergencies. Humanitarian workers represent a great reservoir of knowledge and experience that must be utilised better. Furthermore, basic knowledge of conflict-understanding, conflict-resolution and negotiation, as well as human rights, ought to be central components in the education and...

GENEVA, Switzerland–In Shakespeare’s time–and even later–the blood feud now proclaimed by Princess Diana’s brother, Charles, would have been settled on the battlefield, a resounding re-match of Plantagenet versus York. It was Erasmus, writing in the early sixteenth century, who said that wars occurred because they were a way of life among a militarized, aristocratic, ruling class. Humanity has moved on since then and today the alleged dishonoring of the house of Spencer by the house of Windsor will be fought in the newspapers and on television, above all in the court of mass public opinion. The British, one of the most warlike of nations, as Margaret Thatcher showed not so long ago with her war against Argentina over the inconsequential Falklands Islands–two bald men fighting over a comb, as one wag at the time put it–are now undergoing a discernable sea-change in their attitudes. Martial virtues are being sublimated. Even...

  “Symbolic or shallow democracy will be the only outcome when foreigners impose elections under extremely adverse circumstances as is the case in Dayton-Bosnia. They could even be dangerous in their consequences because some local results are likely to be implemented by force. One increasingly wonders whether the international community is in Bosnia for the sake of the people living there or to uphold an illusory image of itself as effective post-Cold War conflict-“managers” – says TFF’s director, Jan Oberg who has followed the situation since February 1992 as head of the foundation’s conflict-mitigation team to all parts of former Yugoslavia. “The leading Croatian party, the Bosnian branch of President Tudjman’s HDZ in Zagreb, has suggested to its members and voters to boycott the elections. It argues that the conditions for fair and free elections are not in place and complain that international election officials favour Muslims over Croats in...

LONDON– Stripping off all the layers–the drunkenness of the driver, the tortured ambiguity towards the press of the victim–the death of Diana still deeply challenges those in the media courageous enough to face up to the moral and philosophical dilemma with the same scrupulousness and sanity that Einstein applied to the invitation to participate in the Manhattan project. You can say “no.” The human conscience is the most supreme and sublime element in creation. It embraces and embodies the impulses of both the animal and the divine. This is the switching mechanism that determines whether the individual will advance towards civilization or regress towards barbarism. It is the spring, the tension, that everyone lives with every day, in small things and in big. Ideology that allows the individual conscience to be subsumed into a greater collective cause simplifies the individual’s choices, hence its attractiveness, particularly in a time of turmoil, ultra...

En gång i tiden trodde jag att “globaliseringen” skulle öka våra möjligheter att begripa hela det fascinerande, mångfaldiga världssamfundet och tänka på dess väl och ve när vi själva träffade beslut. Så har det inte blivit. I realiteten är kapitalismen det enda som globaliseras. Det ska – säger människor med dragning mot det auktoritära – bara finnas ett enda ekonomiskt system, ett enda sätt att tänka på om utvinning, produktion, konsumtion och avfallshantering. (De bästa böckerna just nu är förresten William Greiders “One World, Ready or Not. The Manic Logic of Capitalism” samt Hans-Peter Martin och Harald Schumans “Globaliseringsfällan. Angreppet på demokrati och välfärd”). De allmänpolitiska och säkerhetspolitiska dimensionerna av globaliseringen sitter fast i en kombination av – mer eller mindre – nationalistisk statlig “Realpolitik” och amerikaniserad djungellag, det vill säga selektiv folkrätt. Och den kulturella dimensionen karaktäriseras av den motbjudande idén att de(t) främmande alltid skall behandlas som ett...

LONDON– Short two and a half years ago, the then foreign minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, observed, “I don’t think we have in the Middle East a process of peace. We have a war for peace, because it calls unfortunately for victims and casualties.” Probably, not even in the most pessimistic moments of this melancholic man, did he himself forsee that soon after he spoke he’d witness the triple whammy of the murder of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the subsequent victory at the polls of Likud’s party Binyamin Netanyshu and the effective pacing of negotiations under the Oslo accords by terrorist elements on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides. While Mr. Netanyshu may not have wanted the tide of events to move in his direction by such a route he and his Likud philosophy is the clear beneficiary. The political cul de sac that Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians now find...

Engang troede jeg at “globalisering” medførte at vi fik muligheder for at begribe hele det fascinerende, mangfoldige verdenssamfund og tænke på dets vé og vel, når vi selv traf beslutninger. Sådan blev det ikke. Kapitalismen er i realiteten det eneste, der globaliseres. Der skal – siger mennesker med hang til det totalitære – kun være ét økonomisk system, én måde at tænke om udvinding, produktion, forbrug og affaldshåndtering. (De to bedste bøger lige nu om dette er forresten William Greiders “One World, Ready or Not. The Manic Logic of Capitalism” samt Hans-Peter Martin og Harald Schumans “Globaliserings-fällan. Angreppet på demokrati och välfärd”). De almenpolitiske og sikkerhedspolitiske dimensioner af globaliseringen sidder fast i en kombination af – mere eller mindre – nationalistisk statslig “Realpolitik” og amerikaniseret junglelov, dvs. selektiv folkeret. Og den kulturelle dimension karakteriseres ved det rædselsfulde tanke at de(t) fremmede altid skal behandles som problemer, ikke som en berigelse,...

LONDON– Using aid as a political weapon goes in phases and fashions, fits and starts, lulls and storms. The only consistent factor is that invariably it is the U.S. that sets the tone. Other Western and Middle Eastern aid givers follow in a straggle. Sometimes they do, more often they don’t, as Japan has just made plain over Cambodia, much to Washington’s chagrin. With Jimmy Carter as president it was a sword to be wielded in every direction and certainly in Latin America, combined with a high decibel rhetoric on human rights, did help in the battle to vanquish tyranny and restore democracy. Since Carter’s days there has been the occasional spate of activity but of a less spirited kind. But now the Carteresque fervor is back in vogue. Madeleine Albright’s State Department is charging at every windmill. Although it is far too early to say whether she will have any...

A Civilian U.N. Authority Supported By NGOs for a Negotiated Settlement in Kosovo “The Serbs and Albanians have proved that they themselves are unable to start and sustain a process towards conflict-resolution and reconciliation. International attempts, lacking analysis as well as strategy, have failed, too. The overall situation has deteriorated and violence is escalating, slowly but surely. It simply cannot go on like that in the future and go well,” says Jan Oberg, director of the Transnational Foundation which has been engaged in the conflict in the Kosovo region of Serbia, Yugoslavia since 1991. “New thinking should be applied sooner rather than later,” he urges. “With the breakdown in Albania, Serbia has lost the argument – never very credible – that the Kosovars want to unite with Albania. President Milosevic recently visited the region with no new proposals. The pragmatic non-violent policies of the Kosovar leadership is being undermined. The Kosovars have failed...

LONDON– By what yardstick does India wish to be measured as it celebrates this week (along with Pakistan) the 50th anniversary of independence as a sovereign country? As the world’s largest functioning democracy it has clearly achieved renown and every day by example it lays low the lie that China is too big to be ruled any other way than by dictatorship. As a military power it has an unshakable superiority over all its neighbors, save China. And if India’s rulers remain wise, as they have been since prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s tragic mistake, not long after independence, to go to war with China over an unimportant peace of Himalayan real estate, that power equation need never again be put to the test. Moreover, with Pakistan, its estranged twin, at long last under civilian rule that is both democratic and sensible, now is the time to solve the Kashmir dispute and...

LONDON– Do we so quickly have to repeat history, the first time as a near tragedy, the second as what would be farce, if it didn’t emanate from such a serious source? Last week, the Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, speaking at the annual forum of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, called for a review and possible re-write of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights. The Declaration, he declared, “was formulated by superpowers which did not understand the needs of poor countries.” But he’s had his attempt at a re-write. It was a tragedy in the making, only averted by the relentless efforts of the human rights lobby, not least from the Asian non-governmental groups. It’s only a mere four years since the World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna fought off an attempt by Malaysia, Singapore, China, Syria, Iran and Iraq to drastically water down the Universal...