Jan Oberg TFF director October 28, 2026 Exactly one month has now passed since I published my criticism of the introduction to the special issue on Johan Galtung published by the Journal of Global Security Studies, JoGSS, and of Tor Egil Førland’s chapter about Galtung which serves as a preview to his forthcoming biography of Galtung to be published by PRIO. See the original on The Transnational here and the same article on TFF Substack with many general and critical comments and, in particular, the people who decided to withdraw from the biography project in protest. The special issue itself was extraordinary. It was devoted to the intellectual legacy of one of the founders of peace research and contained a number of strong assessments of his personality, scholarship, intellectual trajectory, and public role. Such assessments are, of course, entirely legitimate. No scholar is beyond criticism, and neither was Johan Galtung....
4 Responses
I certainly admire your optimism, despite all the negative developments and destructive and genocidal wars that we have been witnessing over the past few years and decades. I also partially share your optimism in the sense that, given the nature of modern warfare and the growing awareness of the people, especially the young generation, everybody will come to realise that we have only two options. Either we decide to blow up the world, including ourselves, or we have to learn to live together in peace in a multipolar world. There is no third option, despite what some people imagine. The age of empire and a global hegemon is over. Certainly, the people in the Global South, which constitute the vast majority of mankind, and increasingly the majority of the people in the West who have seen the futility of the empire and its enormous material, military and moral cost to the entire humanity, will not support the minority of blind, misguided, arrogant and aggressive leaders who wish to revive the age of the empire. Therefore, as you say in the interview, if some madmen do not blow us all up in the short term, the future is rosy and glorious beyond our imagination when the ideals enshrined in the UN Charter will finally be realised.
As usual, dear Farhang, we are on the same line. There are no Plan C or D. Many many thanks. I refuse to be re/depressed by the present situation – because that is where those kakistocrats want us to be – and give up resistance as well as visions. We must learn to think beyond the past and the present and think of the future, debate and plan it… democratically. All my best – JAN
I happened to tune in to CGTN just in time to catch your whole interview, and appreciated it very much. It was full of timely wisdom from beginning to end. Your mailings also contain a lot of valuable material, and I’ve used some of your articles with my English class at a peace school. Thank you for all you have done over the years to educate people for a peaceful world. By the way, my first encounter with you was through your keynote speech at the IIPE in Seoul, years ago.
Dear Marion Kim – thanks a million for your upbeat comment. It’s great to link up again after all these years, and I am of course delighted to hear that my articles can also be used in that manner. Thanks for spreading the message of peace – ours and your own. There is now a link to it if you want to share it with others. https://transnational.live/2024/03/27/the-pursuit-of-global-democracy-global-governance/ All my best – JAN