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To end terrorism, end state terrorism September 6, 2002 One year ago, two dates punctuated a continuing cycle of violence and counter-violence: the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, with about 3,000 civilians killed, and the October 7 start of the attack on Afghanistan, with about 6,000 civilians killed so far. How can we break out of this vicious cycle? Some days after September 11, a psychologist gave advice on CNN to parents with children asking difficult questions. One young boy had asked "What have we done to make them hate us so much that they do such things?" A mature question, unlike the answer: "You could tell your child that there are good people in the world, and evil – -". That boy had arrived at the stage of reciprocity on psychologist Jean Piaget’s scale of child development, seeing the actions of others at...

Upprop för fred och ekonomisk utveckling i Irak 3 september 2002 Sedan tolv år stöder och deltar de nordiska länderna i ekonomiska sanktioner mot Irak. Sanktionspolitiken har betecknats som "ett pågående folkmord" av flera höga FN-tjänstemän – inklusive Denis Halliday, Hans von Sponeck och Jutta Burghart – och av representanter för ett stort antal FN-organ och hjälporganisationer. FN:s egna rapporter är vid det här laget välkända: som en direkt följd av sanktionerna och även bombningarna har ca 1,5 miljoner människor dött. Enligt Unicef dör 5000 barn i månaden av brist på mat, mediciner och rent vatten, svårt skadad infrastruktur och en krossad ekonomi. Genom sitt stöd för sanktionspolitiken deltar Sverige och Danmark i ett brott mot mänskligheten. Under sanktionerna har inga undantag gjorts för import av utrustning och kemikalier för vattenrening. Utan sådan utrustning har invånarna i detta ökenland ingen tillgång till rent dricksvatten. I FN:s Säkerhetsråd har USA och...

Petition for Peace and Economic Development in Iraq September 3, 2002 For twelve years, the Nordic countries have supported and participated in economic sanctions against Iraq. These sanctions have been described by many high United Nations officialsæincluding Denis Halliday, Hans von Sponeck and Jutta Burghartæand representatives of UN agencies and NGO’s as "an ongoing genocide". The figures stated in reports issued by the UN itself are well known by now: more than 1.5 million Iraqis have died as a direct consequence of the sanctions and ongoing bombings. According to UNICEF 5000 children a month are dying from lack of food, medicines and clean water, a severely damaged infrastructure and a devastated economy. No exemption has been made to the sanctions to allow for the import of water purification equipment and chemicals. Without these the population of this desert country has no access to potable water. In the UN Security Council,...

… hvad den anden hånd gør! 3 september 2002 Samtidig med at Vesten – USA og dets allierede inklusive Storbritannien og Danmark – bekæmper terrorister med den ene hånd, skaber de samme allierede med den anden i hobetal af nye terrorister gennem bombardementerne i Afghanistan og gennem deres dobbeltspil og hykleriske politik i Mellemøsten. Da præsident Bush umiddelbart efter 11. september arbejdede på at skabe en global koalition imod Afghanistan, var han klar over at Mellemøstkonflikten var et problem han måtte løse hvis han skulle have sine arabiske venner i Golfen og Saudi Arabien (kun beklageligt at de fleste terrorister kom netop derfra!) til at bakke op om aktionen – eller i hvert fald ikke gå åbenlyst imod den. Derfor fik Israel i første omgang en kold skulder da det søgte at udnytte situationen ved at forsøge at sidestille palæstinensernes frihedskamp med terrorisme og ivrigt rundsendte billederne af jublende palæstinensere...

Myten om Camp David 27 august 2002 Store begivenheder kræver ikoner. Camp David forhandlingernes ikon blev en stump TV-film med Barak, Clinton og Arafat vej på ind ad døren til forhandlinger en smuk julidag år 2000. Clinton er den venlige vært, og de to mellemøstlige herrer pjatter om hvem der er mest høflig, et after-you-Sir-ritual mellem den stive Barak og den mere slebne Arafat spilles igen og igen. Så gode venner var de vist, siger billedet, men hvorfor gik det så alligevel galt? Det gjorde det fordi Arafat ikke ville tage imod Baraks generøse tilbud om at få næsten hele Vestbredden og dele af Østjerusalem tilbage. Forklaringen kom et par måneder senere, den 28. september, da den anden intifada brød ud og bekræftede manges antagelse om at palæstinenserne i virkeligheden ikke ønsker fred. Denne fremstilling vil formentlig forekomme mange læsere bekendt, for det er den forenklede myte der i nu...

Så vælg da freden! 27 august 2002 Det er nu næsten to år siden det palæstinensiske oprør intifadaen brød ud, og i mellemtiden er omkring 650 palæstinensere og 170 israelere blevet dræbt. Det har fået mange – heriblandt en del israelere – til at spekulere på om der mon skulle findes andre løsninger på det største problem i Mellemøsten. Men i næsten et år fortalte Bill Clinton og de israelske ledere til de efterplaprende medier at palæstinenserne sidste år havde sagt nej til fred da de i Camp David afviste Ehud Baraks generøse tilbud. I dag ved vi – både fra en amerikansk deltager i topmødet og fra israeleren Ron Pundak, en af de såkaldte arkitekter bag Osloaftalen – at der aldrig kom til at foreligge noget konkret skriftligt tilbud, end mindre et generøst! Det palæstinenserne fik stillet i udsigt var en stat opdelt i 4-5 dele uden indbyrdes forbindelse,...

Global Vandkunst – forslag om nyt vandprojekt 6 augusti 2002 Hver eneste gågade i Danmark er vist forsynet med en vandkunst. Kaskader, rislende og perlende, springende og strømmende vand i tilsyneladende uendelige mængder. Lignende kan opleves i udlandet. I Kassel, hjemby for den internationale Documenta-ud-stilling, er etableret en vandkunst ned gennem hele den skrånende gågade. I Amsterdam og Venedig gør de menne-skeskabte kanaler det ud for gader. Og Stockholm ville ikke være sig selv uden Skærgårdens vandskab. Kunst-nere har længe dyrket vand. Vand er uendeligt. Vand er vedvarende. Vand er tidløst. Derfor kunne den japanske Hokusai (1790-1949) igen og igen fortrylle sit publikum med træsnit af blåhvide skumsprøjt og bølger. I dag kan den amerikanske fotograf Roni Horn udsende et storværk ‘Dictionary of Water’ – 96 næroptagelser af Themsens bølger og blanke vand. (89 euro, Edition 7 L) Man behøver ikke være tørstig for at forstå at vand både er...

Kosovo Extremists Out of Control August 6, 2002 After the terrorist attack in Klokot village near Vitina on July 31, in which five Serb homes were destroyed by powerful explosives, and the recent unsuccessful raid on the Holy Archangels monastery near Prizren, it is more evident than ever that Albanian terrorist groups act freely and with impunity in Kosovo today. Their targets are Serb civilians, their homes and holy sites &endash; especially cemeteries. Dozens of Orthodox churches destroyed after the war in Kosovo were demolished with explosives, despite the strong NATO-led military presence in the area. Such devastating attacks could have been executed only by well-trained people with military experience and surely not by ordinary frustrated civilians. The cause of today’s terrorism is the simple fact that the paramilitary structures of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, continued operating after the war either within the internationally sponsored Kosovo Protection Corps, KPC...

USAs politik over for Irak: Politiske alternativer – et sammendrag July 26, 2002 USAs nuværende politik over for Irak har slået fejl. Våbenkontrol – Artikel 14 i FNs Sikkerhedsråds resolution 687 (resolutionen om sanktioner) udpeger som mål, at der i Mellemøsten skal etableres en zone, "der er fri for masseødelæggelsesvåben og alle fremføringsmidler hertil samt et globalt forbud mod kemiske våben". – I år 2000 blev 20% af den internationale våbenhandel på 80 mia $ importeret af de seks provestlige monarkier i området ved den persiske bugt. I stedet for at arbejde frem imod en regional våbenkontrol i området er USA stadig den største leverandør af alle slags våben til dette område, der allerede er overforsynet med våben. Alternativer – USA skal fortsætte med et ensidigt forbud mod våbeneksport til Irak. – IAEA og FN skal foretage regelmæssige inspektioner i Irak, langs Iraks grænser og -med frivilligt samtykke fra de...

Is Civilization a Good Idea? July 26, 2002 When someone asked Mahatma Gandhi what do you think of Western Civilization, he promptly replied, "It is a good idea!" Having traveled on the ancient Silk and Spice Roads and beyond, I am dubious of distinctions between Eastern and Western Civilizations. It is much more realistic to think of civilization in the singular rather than plural. There are many cultures but only one global civilization. Globalization is not a new phenomenon. Cultural exchange has been going on for centuries. We can find few cultures in the world that have not borrowed from others. The first globalization took place along the ancient Spice and Silk Roads. The second globalization occurred when Columbus "discovered" the New World. The European colonization of Africa, Asia, and Americas forcibly brought East and West into intimate contact. The third globalization is now in progress through global communication and...

Letter from United States Citizens to Friends in Europe May 10, 2002 LETTER FROM UNITED STATES CITIZENS TO FRIENDS IN EUROPE The central fallacy of the pro-war celebrants is the equation between "American values" as understood at home and the exercise of United States economic and especially military power abroad. Following the 11 September 2001 suicide attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush has declared an open-ended "war on terrorism". This war has no apparent limits, in place, time or the extent of destruction that may be inflicted. There is no telling which country may be suspected of hiding "terrorists" or declared to be part of an "axis of evil". The eradication of "evil" could last much longer than the world can withstand the destructive force to be employed. The Pentagon is already launching bombs described as producing...

The Nonduality of Good and Evil: – Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago In his autobiography Gandhi writes that "those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means" (p. 370). Perhaps this is more obvious to us after September 11th, but it should always have been obvious: religion is about how we should live, and politics is about deciding together how we want to live. The main reason it has not been obvious is because most modern societies have been careful to distinguish the secular public sphere from the personal, private world of religious belief. This has been essential for creating a multicultural climate of religious tolerance, but at a price: such tolerance effectively "displaces morality" by "asking you to inhabit your own moral convictions loosely and be ready to withdraw from them whenever pursuing them would impinge on the activities and choices...