Archive 1986 – 2017

Mahatma Gandhi and the Revival of Nonviolent Politics in the Late 20th Century I. What is the Gandhian Legacy? Gandhi’s successful challenge to British colonialism is viewed as a heroic anomaly in a world still generally interpreted by way of a ‘realist’ prism that regards violence and hard power relations as the main causative agents of history, while at the same time deliberately excluding moral and legal considerations as distractions from a rational decision process. Although the memory of Gandhi is revered everywhere, the life and ways of Gandhi have not been treated as influential in relation to subsequent patterns of political practice, either within states or at a global level. Instead, there has been a widespread belief that what Gandhi achieved was unique to his time, place, and person. In this sense, the persisting importance of Gandhi, outside of the efforts of academic programs devoted to peace studies and...

LONDON– There is not going to be another Tiananman Square in Hong Kong. The Chinese communists’ ruling cadre may have little natural empathy for Hong Kong’s political freedom but they know, whatever protests meet them after the July 1st. hand-over by Britain, that a violent clamp-down of such proportions would alienate the western world in a manner that could not be so easily repaired as it was after the events of June 4, 1989. If Presidents Bill Clinton and Jacques Chirac or Chancellor Helmut Kohl then chose to continue to be as accommodating to China’s interests as they are now they would be overwhelmingly overruled by both public opinion and their legislatures. The Beijing authorities are shrewd enough to know that, while the student protestors of Tiananman Square were naive enough to think their own mass could somehow defy and triumph over their government to the extent that they pointedly refused...

LONDON– Let’s imagine what post-Mobutu Congo could become. It has diamonds, copper and gold. It has rain and sunshine in abundance. It is not, given its immense size, overpopulated. It has wise political leadership, a stable democracy, economic and financial discipline and good governance. It is the heart of Africa, not Conrad’s “The Heart of Darkness.” In a word it is not the Congo it is Botswana which, bar the rain (Botswana is a desert country), could be the Congo’s twin. Botswana in the 1960s was one of the poorest African countries, far poorer than the Congo. Today it is a prosperous middle-income country. During the 1970s it grew at a world record breaking 16% a year and in the 1980s a handsome 11%. in the 1990s it suffered a few bumps when it was blighted by the worst drought of the century and the diamond market hit the floor. (Diamonds...

LONDON– In Paris on Tuesday (May 27th.) President Boris Yeltsin and NATO’s 15 heads of government are going to sign a “Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security.” As the Economist noted last week it is “Russia’s second surrender.” Seven years ago the Soviet Union ended its hold on eastern Europe. Now Russia will allow its three most important ex-allies, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, to join the military ranks of its long-time protagonist, NATO. The western nations are making a mistake of far reaching consequences, one they stand a more than even chance of living to rue. They missed one historic chance to change for the better the face of Europe in 1991-93, when the radical democrats held the strings of power in Moscow, by refusing to provide Russia with the economic wherewithal to make its transition to capitalism a less debilitating and wrenching experience. And now they...

The Appeal of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Peace! If the Third Millennium could begin under the sign of non-violence… It’s the dream of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. They invite you to join them to influnece all governments of the planet. The Appeal of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates “FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD”To Heads of States of all member statesof the General Assembly of theUnited Nations. Today, in every country throughout the world, there are many children silently suffering the effects and consequences of violence. This violence takes many different forms: between children on the streets, at school, in family life and in the community. There is physical violence, psychological violence, socio-economic violence, environmental violence and political violence. Many children – too many children – live in a “culture of violence”. We wish to contribute to reduce their suffering. We believe that each child can discover, by himself,...

LONDON– Once again in Europe the discussion about admitting new members is coming to the boil and, once again Turkey, promised membership of the Union over 30 years ago, is not on the list. In fact it is even worse than that. Turkey is being actively blackballed. At a get-together of European Christian Democrats in March a prominent member, Wilfried Martens, was widely quoted as saying, “The European Union is in the process of building a civilization in which Turkey has no place.” It was also widely noted that another participant, Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany made no effort, unlike other leaders present, to distance himself from Mr. Martens. The hand of European chauvinism is again being dealt to Turkey, home to Istanbul, the city that strides two continents, the only city to have served as the capital of three empires, the historic meeting place of east and west, cradle of...

JAN ØBERGs KALEJDOSKOP1997 Dec 1997OSSEs toppmöte: Nya vägar, också på Balkan  Okt 1997Økonomien – en rod till “etniske” konflikter  Sept 1997Diana, Theresa, Turner och det civila samhället  Aug 1997Skapa din egen bild av världen!  Juli 1997Stor mand i lille land Juli 1997Försoningens tid  April 1997Det våras för FN  April 1997Väst och Kroatien vid en vändpunkt  Feb 1997Ett expanderande NATO är konfliktbevarande  Jan 1997Ickevåld i Belgrad, men sedan? 

LONDON– By the day the reports of the magnitude of the famine now overwhelming North Korea become both more vivid and more disturbing. Yet, as is so often the case, Mao Zedong’s dictum that “power grows out of the barrel of a gun” has enough truth in it to ask if the regime’s hold on power is in serious question. The regime could well survive whatever the cost in human suffering and devastating economic decline, always using as a stick to beat back the intrusions of the rest of the world the threat of abrogating its nuclear freeze agreement and adding nuclear weapons to its already sizeable arsenal of chemical and biological weapons. Yes or no. Is this how it will be, or will the regime just collapse one night as it did in East Germany? It is an unanswerable question and one can make a persuasive case either way. Thus...

“Vi slikker sårene og ligger lidt lavt. Vi har lært hvilke fredsbevarende operationer, vi ikke skal lade os skubbe ind i og hvilke mandater vi bør kunne kræve af medlemsstaterne. Reformer er på vej, der er en ny lederstil. Men jeg må minde Dem om at hvis USA fortsætter sin destruktive politik over for FN, så blir verden nødt til at finde på noget nyt inden fem år,” siger han og ser med et øjebliks forbitrelse ud over New York fra 37. etage som søgte han en vision dér på den anden side af smogen. Han er en af FNs vicegeneralsekretærer. Hvis FN havde den legitimitet, organisationen burde have, ville hans ord veje tungere end en stats- eller udenrigsministers. Som forbløffende mange FN-folk udstråler han kompetence, engagement og verbal præcision — forbløffende fordi der er sagt og skrevet så om “FNs inkompetence”. Cirkulerer man i det internationale opdager man snart...

“Vi repar oss, ligger lite lågt. Vi har lärt vilka typer av krig vi inte skall låta oss puffas in i. Vi vet nu vilka krav vi måste ställa på mandat och resurser från medlems-staterna, för att inte misslyckas. Reformer är på väg, det finns en ny ledarstil. Men jag måste påminna Er om att ifall USA fortsätter sin destruktiva politik gentemot FN, så kommer världen att tvingas hitta på något nytt inom fem år,” säger han och ser med ett ögonblicks förbittring ut över New York från 37 våningen som om han sökte en vision där bortom smogen. Han är en av FN:s vice generalsekreterare. Om FN hade den legitimitet organisationen borde ha, skulle hans ord väga tyngre än en stats- eller utrikesministers. Som förbluffande många FN-folk utstrålar han kompetens, engagemang och verbal precision &emdash; förbluffande därför att det har sagts och skrivits så mycket om “FN:s inkompetens”. Cirkulerar...

  Important international actors have considered the recent Croatian election free and fair — despite the fact that approximately 250,000 Serb-Croat citizens were unable to vote in their home country. These Serbs fled Croatia during its military operations in 1995 — the largest single case of ethnic cleansing during the wars. They are refugees in Bosnia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, sometimes referred to as “expellees,” but they remain legitimate citizens of Croatia. The United States, EU governments, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and various human rights organisations could have done politically in Croatia what they did in Bosnia: insist that refugees abroad be given an opportunity to influence the future of their homeland — to which many wish to return. The relatively young state of Croatia would hardly have brushed aside such advice from President Clinton (or the very active and human rights–concerned U.S. ambassador to Croatia,...

LONDON– “If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?” Shylock’s lament (in William Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice”) could be the epitaph for Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s beleaguered prime minister. Through the fog of Netanyahu’s war–a battle that appears to rage just as fiercely against liberal-minded Jews within israel as it does with the Palestinians outside–there is the unbending conviction of a man who believes absolutely that right is on the side of his deeply wronged people in the historic divide between Jew and Arab. To serve this cause he dispenses a bittersweet mixture of justice and revenge. As Golda Meir and Menacham Begin believed before him, not to seek compensation in blood and territory for three millenia of wrongs is in some profound way to forsake the...