PressInfo

 12 oktober, 2001  Der var en gang et Sverige, som var anderledes og som ønskede at gøre en forskel i verden. Igennem de sidste få år, er det blevet det tilpassede Sverige, som har afviklet sin kreativitet og sin uafhængige udenrigspolitik. Som et land med kun 8 millioner indbyggere byggede Sverige sin velfærd på tung industri, videnskab, skandinavisk velfærdstænkning, lighed og på et stærkt civilsamfund fyldt med aktive folkelige bevægelser. Man talte faktisk om “Folkrörelses-Sverige”. Som udenrigspolitisk aktør gjorde Sverige en forskel ved kraftigt at fremme mål som international solidaritet, alliancefrihed, kernevåbenafrustning, fælles sikkerhed, tillidsskabelse og fredsbevarelse gennem en aktiv neutralitetspolitik. Det var en sikker støtte for FN. Det tog et standpunkt, når små nationer blev angrebet, og regeringen fremmede folkebevægelser som Den store Fredsrejse og Folkerigsdagen for Nedrustning i 1980erne. Sveriges udenrigspolitik baseredes på offentlig debat og engagement og var således i betragtelig grad forankret i folkelig støtte. Det...

The images of the hijacked planes crashing into the World Trade Center are nightmare images of unspeakable horror that will forever be a part of our reality. Imagine, however, another nightmare — that of a mushroom cloud rising over an American city. This is a threat we can no longer ignore. Perhaps today citizens and leaders alike will better understand the seriousness of the nuclear threat. Our leaders have failed to grasp that our present nuclear weapons policies contribute to the possibility of nuclear terrorism against our country. Large nuclear arsenals do not protect us any more than a missile shield would have prevented the attacks against the World Trade Center or the Pentagon. In 1998 India and Pakistan both demonstrated their nuclear capabilities. Pakistan, which borders on Afghanistan, is now the only country in the world to recognize the Taliban regime. Should there be a US led war in...

America and Americans on September 11 experienced the full horror of what must surely be the greatest display of grotesque cunning in human history. Its essence consisted in transforming the benign, everyday technology of commercial jet aircraft into weapons of mass destruction. There has been much talk about Americans discovering the vulnerability of their heartland in a manner that far exceeds the collective trauma associated with the attack on Pearl Harbor. But the new vulnerability is radically different and far more threatening. It involves the comprehensive vulnerability of technology closely tied to our global dominance, pervading every aspect of our existence. To protect ourselves against the range of threats that could be mounted by those of fanatical persuasion is a mission impossible. The very attempt would quickly turn the United States into a prison-state. And yet who can blame the government for doing what it can in the coming months...

LONDON – The American nation appears not only immensely distressed and angry about the bombings but surprised too. It cannot understand why anyone should be moved by such hatred against it and, inured from the rest of us by the isolationism of most of its political representatives and its media, it has little idea of the currents swirling against it. An event of this magnitude was not only unimagined, it was unimaginable. Yet long before George Bush became president with his forceful in-your-face, take-it-or-leave-it attitude to the world outside on issues as diverse as global warming and anti-missile defences, America has been turning in on itself, to the point of self-destructiveness. William Pfaff, the astute American commentator, wrote recently that “America is a dangerous nation while remaining a righteous one” and America’s pre-eminent foreign policy observer, George Kennan, ambassador to the Soviet Union during Stalin’s time, wrote quite a few...

NATO will not leave Macedonia NATO people emphasise that Operation Essential Harvest in Macedonia is a very limited mission; it will only be in Macedonia for one month and only to collect 3,300 weapons. It is not monitoring, it is not peace-keeping and it is not peace-enforcement. And, as we have shown in PressInfo 125 it is not a disarmament mission. It’s a “collect-not-too-many weapons” mission. When NATO’s mission approaches its termination, there is likely to be an intensive media effort to emphasise that the KLA/NLA kept its promise and handed in 3,300 weapons. It will be heralded by NATO and the EU as a major step in the direction of peace by that side. However, following the logic of this whole affair it is a quite reasonable hypothesis that both parties will spend the time productively to acquire new weapons. Because: a) The Macedonians and the government have no...

Macedonia in NATO – NATO in Macedonia Successive Macedonian governments officially argue that the country must become a member of NATO. Macedonia is heading for NATO membership. However, since Macedonia is not yet “mature” enough to be in NATO, NATO will be in Macedonia. Macedonia has not had, or been allowed to have, an independent national security commission that could investigate various future options for the country. NATO membership is the only idea in Skopje. If there are sceptical security experts and defence intellectuals, they do not seem to speak out. The local NGOs vary in their enthusiasm; however, peace groups, women’s groups, etc who are not only sceptical but downright opposed to it have little influence. What NATO membership will cost, in money terms, in the next, say, twenty years is not analysed and there is no talk of a referendum &endash; but, of course, a lot of talk...

Few citizens can go to conflict regions to develop an understanding and form an opinion. Most of us rely on the dailies, the radio and television. So, the media stand between the events and each of us. What we obtain is not necessarily reality but an image of it, a part of it, some aspects and angles rather than others. In principle, it can hardly be otherwise. But what if the coverage is systematically biased and what if there is a tendency in what is not covered? Once again there is a Balkan crisis and once again some of us who have been on the ground for about ten years ask: do we have a free press on which those at home can safely rely? Here follow some 20 examples of what could have featured prominently in the headlines about Macedonia the last few months. Most citizens are likely not...

THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION NOW Only two things are worse than violence: to criticise it without presenting alternatives and to fight it with violent means. The turbo-militarisation of the European Union (EU) is the most important on the agenda of the EU Summit June 14-16 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Shall the EU commit itself to killing by weapons in the name of peace and intervene up to 6000 kilometres away from Brussels? If so, shall it be allowed to do so virtually without public debate and without referendums, irrespective of the fact that it will imply that young boys, one day, come home in body bags? Major EU countries have nuclear weapons; others are NATO members. EU bureaucrats and diplomats work intensely to integrate the ‘Peace’ Forces of the EU with NATO. Do you want the EU to support the existence and possible use of nuclear weapons, or to be a...

DEN VIKTIGASTE FRÅGAN JUST NU Det finns bara två saker som är värre än våld: den första är att kritisera våld utan att föreslå ickevåldsliga alternativ; den andra är att bemöta våld med våld. Den senaste tidens intensiva militarisering av den Europeiska Unionen (EU) är den i särklass viktigaste frågan på agendan för EU toppmötet som kommer hållas i Göteborg den 14-16 juni. Ska EU i första hand kunna döda för fredens skull och intervenera i konflikter som äger rum 6000 km ifrån Bryssel? Om ja, ska det då ske i nästan fullständig avsaknad av offentlig debatt och utan folkomröstning, och utan hänsyn till att det kommer att innebära att unga pojkar en dag kommer att transporteras hem i liksäckar? Stora EU-länder har kärnvapen, andra är NATO-medlemmar. EU:s byråkrater och diplomater arbetar frenetiskt med att integrera EU:s fredsstyrkor med NATO:s. Vill du att EU ska stödja existensen och ett möjligt...

The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs did it again this year. TFF is now the only – and the first ever — among peace organisations that have received organisational support during the 1990s and is thrown out.*) The conclusion is clear: You and we did not succeed with our dignified appeals last year. So, let’s forgive these decision-makers – not because they do not know what they do, but because they do not know what we do and have never concentrated their minds and hearts on peace or read Gandhi. They seek international security in past paradigms and personal security in following orders. We will waste no more time or energy being disappointed or begging for handouts. Peace is more important than government grants. TFF will concentrate fully on its tasks and hopes that funds will come in little by little – for instance from you. Our thanks to all...

1986. . . TFF took the first steps in January 1986. We have recently described what TFF is about.Today we are a network of 71 scholars, activists, diplomats, officers in 22 countries. We are Orthodox and Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, Quakers, Gandhians, atheists and, well, God knows what. The foundation has spearheaded the Gandhi-inspired concept and practise of conflict-mitigation. It has conducted over 40 missions to former and present Yugoslavia, to all conflicts regions and parties since 1991. It’s been a small force for the UN norm of “peace with peaceful means” it has done impartial analysis, mitigation and peace education way before all the talk about preventive diplomacy. It’s a small bridge-builder between scholarly and on-the-ground peace work. There are some 60 publications in our TFF Store and Donations. We work also in Georgia and in Burundi and we teach in many countries. TFF reaches out through mails and two websites...

LONDON – He was one of us, I always say, a child of the sixties and seventies, an anti-war protestor, and idealist, and very clever to boot. Moreover he knew poverty and family hardship first hand. It was in his soul to try and make the world a better place, you would have thought. But he blew it, for himself, for his country and for all of us. If an artist were commissioned to paint the eight years of the presidency of Bill Clinton it would be a landscape of missed opportunities. About five years ago I had lunch with the Pulitzer Prize winning editorialist, Paul Greenberg, and my misgivings all fell into place. Greenberg won his formidable reputation as the editorial page editor of the Pine Bluff Commercial, a paper with a circulation of 20,000 out in the sticks of rural Arkansas. “In all his years as governor of...