Articles by UN
We found 3984 results.
Statement on Syria
United National Antiwar Coalition – TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Aug 2012
The ominous signs of impending war with Syria escalate. NATO holds a special meeting to respond to the downing of a Turkish fighter plane and issues threats of future action. The U.S. government is supplying arms and logistical support to Syrian militias. The media bombards us with arguments that support foreign intervention. While activists may hold different views of Syria’s internal political system, we must all agree that the U.S. government has no right to impose its will on other countries, especially those formerly colonized and exploited by the West.
→ read full articleThe Hexagon Map of the Multipolar World
Johan Galtung, 13 Aug 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Aug 2012
Some time ago the geopolitical map was based on the direct East-West conflict, the two superpowers USA/USSR with alliances, and the neutral-nonaligned treated as a residual category. The world was Bipolar. The implosion of the USSR made it Unipolar, “the only surviving superpower”, 2-1 = 1. Or so we were told. Today we have four huge states: the three largest in population, China-India-USA, and the largest in area, Russia. And the EU, a region with five middle-range states: UK-France-Germany-Italy-Spain. But there is one more pole on the geopolitical map: Islam.
→ read full article
U.S. Guns: The Awful, Shocking Truth!
Gunwar – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Aug 2012
Over the last 5 to 6 years, over 60,000 people have lost their lives in Mexico’s drug-related wave of violence. More than 70% of the weapons seized in Mexico in the last three years and submitted for tracing came from the U.S. Source: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives-ATF.
→ read full articleObama More Sympathetic to Israelis Killed in Bulgaria than to Sikh Americans Murdered in Wisconsin
Ali Abunimah – The Electronic Intifata,
13 Aug 2012
As soon as news came of a bomb attack that killed Israeli tourists in Bulgaria on 18 July [2012], US President Barack Obama condemned it in the most strident terms – even though, then, as now, the perpetrator and his motive remain unknown. Such sentiments at the killing of innocent people are understandable. But why has Obama so far refused to condemn in equally strong terms Wade Michael Page’s murderous rampage that killed six people at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin yesterday [5 Aug 2012]?
→ read full articleNepal: From Contradictions to Compelling Constructive Visions
Naakow Grant-Hayford, Galtung-Institut – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Aug 2012
Federica Riccadonna is a research associate of the Galtung-Institut for Peace Theory and Peace Practice and currently a visiting researcher at the Asian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Transformation-ASPECT in Kathmandu. She depicts the Nepalese society as one in the throes of a deeply fraught political transition towards a more stable and just future and identifies important contradictions underpinning – and potentially able to undermine – the current constitutional and federal peace-building efforts, going on to suggest plausible progressive ways ahead.
→ read full articleThe Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic
Richard A. Muller – International Herald Tribune (NYT),
6 Aug 2012
CALL me a converted skeptic. Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I’m now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause.
→ read full articleThe Nordic Countries in a World in Crisis
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Aug 2012
Knowing that India and China can meet alone the world’s demand for industrial goods at higher quality/price ratios, and that the South is able to fulfill a world demand for resources and agricultural products, one Western approach was to switch from real to finance economy. Building on the old City of London-Wall Street traditions in private banking and using debt bondage as power, cheap credit and speculation has been another approach, but it backfired.
→ read full article(Portuguese) Willy Brandt Vinte Anos Depois
Johan Galtung, Forum Abel Varzim – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Aug 2012
Morreu há já vinte anos, o grande estadista alemão. A Alemanha, a Europa e o mundo têm amplos motivos de gratidão e muito a aprender com este mestre da política, em condições de grande tensão e polarização. O que era a sua “Ostpolitik” – uma nova fórmula de política para com o Leste? Ele tornou a Alemanha de Leste razoável, ao ser ele próprio razoável. Brandt tornou possível o Kohl de 1989.
→ read full articleExtradition Gives America Jurisdiction over the Globe
Wendy McElroy – The Future of Freedom Foundation,
6 Aug 2012
Since June 19 [2012], WikiLeaks whistle-blower Julian Assange has eluded the British authorities by secreting himself within the diplomatically shielded Ecuadorian embassy in London. Given that the embassy is Ecuadorian, the nation is England, and the charges are Swedish, why does America inevitably enter any discussion of Assange? In a word, “extradition.” The U.S. government has had a secret indictment against Assange for more than 12 months that could be produced in a flash should Assange arrive on Swedish soil.
→ read full articleThe Politics of the Economic Crisis
Johan Galtung, 30 Jul 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jul 2012
The transfer of capital from investment in the real economy to speculation in the finance economy done digitally, in microseconds, is to a labor-free economy. Workers, the plague of industrial capitalists, quarrelsome, on strike, always demanding more, are out. The longer the buying and selling chains in the finance economy, the more commissions-and hence, “economic growth”-, the fewer jobs. A handful can do it; Lehman Brothers taking huge risks that are compensated by huge Goldman Sachs bonuses.
→ read full article(Italian) Non Molta Pace? Anche Colpa Dei Mediatori
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jul 2012
Più difficile è sostenere una pace positiva: cooperazione per vantaggi reciproci e uguali e armonia, consonanza emotiva. Gli studi per la pace non sono soli in questa difficile situazione. Gli studi sulla sanità si concentrano molto più sull’assenza di malattia che sulla presenza di salute positiva, con solo vaghi sforzi per configurarla esplicitamente. Come la psicologia: profusa sui disordini mentali, ma tuttora carente sull’assetto psicologico positivo. Si possono individuare quattro spiegazioni, non giustificazioni.
→ read full articleWill Libya Become Another Somalia? Or Worse?
Counter Currents – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jul 2012
Libya seems well on its way to becoming the next Somalia, with much of the country already ruled by tribal/clan based armed militias. As was the case in Somalia, Libya is in the process of separation, with the eastern, oil rich, Cyrenica region having issued a de facto declaration of independence. Tripoli, the capital of Libya, seems to be headed in the direction of where Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia was 20 years ago, with various well armed militias from outside the city taking up residence and clashing over territory and the spoils of power.
→ read full articleSri Lanka: Militarizing the Land and Terrorizing the Minds
Nirmanusan Balasundaram – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jul 2012
Even three years after a destructive and protracted war, the repressive and intransigent character of the ethnocratic Sri Lankan state remains same and nothing but naked brutality lies at its heart.
→ read full articleNot Much Peace? Also the Mediators’ Fault
Johan Galtung, 23 Jul 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jul 2012
Most difficult is to argue positive peace: cooperation for mutual and equal benefit and harmony, emotional resonance. Peace studies are not alone in this predicament. Health studies focus much more on absence of disease than on presence of positive health, with only vague efforts to spell it out. Like psychology: long on mental disorders, but still short on positive psychology. There are, say, four explanations, not justifications, around.
→ read full articleAssassination Nation
Doug Noble - CounterPunch,
23 Jul 2012
Fifty Years of US Targeted ‘Kill Lists’: From the Phoenix Program to Predator Drones – Those who are mortified by the latest revelations of Obama’s kill list have much to learn from a more comprehensive, historical perspective on US killing around the globe.
→ read full articleSyria’s Deadly Bomb Attack on Assad Cabinet: Is This ‘The Price’ Clinton Warned Of?
Finian Cunningham – Global Research,
23 Jul 2012
The deadly bomb attack on the top-level meeting of President Bashar Al-Assad’s senior cabinet ministers leaves little doubt that Western intelligence was involved. While two groups claimed responsibility – the Syrian Free Army and a little-known jihadi organisation calling itself the Lord of the Martyrs Brigade – the weight of evidence points to crucial Western military support in executing the strike.
→ read full articleGloomy Thoughts on India Today
Antony Copley – The Gandhi Foundation,
16 Jul 2012
These reflections are prompted by attending the Gandhi Foundation Award ceremony in the House of Lords of the Gandhi International Peace Award for 2011 to Binayak Sen and Bulu Iman and a seminar given by two very bright graduate students of the University of Kent on the writings and film making of Arundhati Roy. The majority of the forest people find themselves in the crossfire of a civil war between the Indian army and the Maoists. Is there scope for non-violent satyagraha?
→ read full article(Italian) Willy Brandt 20 Anni Dopo
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Jul 2012
È morto vent’anni fa, il grande statista tedesco. La Germania, l’Europa e il mondo hanno ampi motivi di riconoscenza e molto da imparare da questo maestro di politica in condizioni di gran tensione e polarizzazione. Che cos’era la sua formula di Ostpolitik – una nuova politica verso l’Est? Brandt rese più facile alla Germania dell’Est la resa a quella Ovest quando i tempi furono maturi, l’accettazione dell’articolo 23 della Germania Federale che concepiva l’Est come parte dell’Ovest.
→ read full articleBreivik: A Part of Norwegian Reality (Part III)
Johan Galtung, 16 Jul 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Jul 2012
The court gave him a podium to broadcast his views, nationally and internationally. Of course he had his right to tell his version, the ‘what’ and ‘why’. But he had confessed and horrible details added little to the worst misdeed in Norwegian history. The open court process could have been limited to one week. And the incapability of both sides of the psychiatric divide to reflect what political conflict polarization does to people is not a court issue. And Norway has to come to grips with what happened.
→ read full articleA Gift for Santa
David Inkey, UN Poet – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Jul 2012
I want to live in a world where the past tense, the present tense,
and the future tense–all avoid pre-tense.
(Italian) Dalla Westphalia alla Weltinnenpolitik
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Jul 2012
Il mondo come sistema di stati, il sistema Vestfalia del 24 ottobre 1684, sta giungendo al termine. Un holon pieno di contraddizioni. Per cui la guerra era un diritto (se dichiarata) e il perseguimento degli interessi della nazione dominante in ciascuno stato era la regola. Con le colonie gli europei conquistarono terre e persone; e come imperi comandarono attraverso le elite locali.
→ read full articleHuman Rights Council Establishes Working Group to Negotiate a Draft Declaration on the Right to Peace
The UN Office at Geneva – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Jul 2012
Also Adopts Text on National Human Rights Institutions – 5 July 2012 The UN Human Rights Council this afternoon decided to establish a working group to negotiate a draft declaration on the right to peace and adopted a resolution on national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights. 34 votes in favor, 12 abstentions, and 1 against, the USA.
→ read full articleWilly Brandt Twenty Years Later
Johan Galtung,
9 Jul 2012
He died twenty years ago, the great German statesman. Germany, Europe and the world have much to be grateful about, and much to learn from this master of politics under great tension and polarization. What was his Ostpolitik–new politics toward the East–formula? Brandt made it easier for East Germany when time was ripe to capitulate to the West, to accept the West’s Article 23 that conceived of East as a part of West. He made the DDR-Deutsche Demokratische Republik reasonable by being reasonable himself. Brandt made Kohl 1989 possible.
→ read full articleSinking Into Murky Water with Russia
Raminder Kaur - Countercurrents,
2 Jul 2012
Now that nuclear relationships have broadened to encompass US and French corporates in the aftermath of the Indo-US deal, Indian authorities are not just having an affair, but pimping Mother India in the pursuit of profits. Koodankulam has become a region of civil war fought on non-violent grounds led by the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy against a venal state that threatens with violence.
→ read full articleFrom Westphalia to Weltinnenpolitik
Johan Galtung, 2 Jul 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jul 2012
The world as a state-system, the Westphalia system of 24 October 1648, is coming to an end. A holon filled with contradictions. Thus, war was a right–if declared–and the pursuit of the interests of the dominant nation in each state the rule. European conquered others, as colonies, land and people; and as empires ruling through local elites. A major contradiction with many collapsing after WWII, the Soviet empire in 1990-1, and now there is only the declining US empire left.
→ read full article
Playing For Change Day 2012 (VIDEO OF THE WEEK)
PFCfoundation – TRANSCEND Media Service,
25 Jun 2012
What if you had one day to change the world with music?
→ read full articleItaly: A Portrait
Erika Degortes and Johan Galtung,
25 Jun 2012
For quite some time now reading Italian newspapers or listening to news and radio broadcasts turned into an insult not only to information itself but to all Italians. National television channels are literally monopolized by football and all kinds of weather apocalyptic scenarios. In Italy the system of censorship is very sophisticated: they just talk about anything else, the discourse goes astray.
→ read full articleBreivik: Living In the Historical Present (Part II)
Johan Galtung, 18 Jun 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jun 2012
The police explores concrete logistic collaborators and-or ideological support; like Peter Mangs in Sweden, the “laser man” who killed what looked like immigrants, wrote a rightwing manifesto and an autobiography; or “Fjordman” with 111 mentions. Breivik was a member of a Norwegian rightwing anti-immigration party, Fremskrittspartiet–a legal stand in a democracy–but left. He also left the Free Masons, with the following Compendium comment:
→ read full article
Rational Conflict Resolution: What Stands in the Way? (Video of the Week)
Johan Galtung | World Peace Academy – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Jun 2012
Lecture by Prof. Johan Galtung at the World Peace Academy – Basel, Switzerland, 7 Jun 2012
→ read full articleAnother Bank Bailout
Paul Krugman, Nobel Economics Laureate – International Herald Tribune-NYT,
18 Jun 2012
Oh, wow — another bank bailout, this time in Spain. Who could have predicted that? The answer, of course, is everybody. In fact, the whole story is starting to feel like a comedy routine: yet again the economy slides, unemployment soars, banks get into trouble, governments rush to the rescue — but somehow it’s only the banks that get rescued, not the unemployed.
→ read full articleSanctions Have Nothing to Do With Human Rights in Burma
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jun 2012
Sanctions have, in the final instance, little or nothing to do with the fact that the Burmese are oppressed and persecuted by the regime in Naypyidaw. There are western allies and/or business partners whose human rights records are equally appalling – Israel, Egypt under Mubarak, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, etc., as well as China and Vietnam – and these countries aren’t subject to any sanctions.
→ read full articleThe Arab Spring and the Image of Islam
Johan Galtung, 11 Jun 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Jun 2012
Europe has a right to limit its immigration. But once there, as citizens, there is only one way: the rule of law, human rights and democracy. And democracy is more than elections: no discrimination, tolerance, transparency, dialogue of civilizations, based on respect and a minimum of knowledge, engaging in mutual learning.
→ read full articleKoodankulam: Aruna Roy’s Letter to Sonia Gandhi
Aruna Roy - TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jun 2012
May 23, 2012 – Dear Mrs. Gandhi,
I have already forwarded two petitions on 21st January and 20th April 2012 to bring the matter regarding the protests against the non observation of norms in the nuclear plant at Kudankulam; the clamping down on protestors. Place for dissent is shrinking in India, which is a matter of great concern.
Breivik: A Victim of Collective Psychosis (Part I)
Johan Galtung,
4 Jun 2012
Polarization-escalation is part of conflict dynamics; structuring the attitudinal and behavioral space within and around the victim in an “us vs them” dichotomy. This gives identity and meaning to “us”, and monolithic, evil, unity to “them”. Within the poles all relations are positive, between all are negative; essentializing both. Not only is “us” cohesive, everything mutually supportive, but so is “them”; not only are the poles irreconcilably contradictory, but so are all elements in “us” to all in “them”. Black-white is the world.
→ read full articleTrust Deficit: People’s Struggle at Koodankulam
S.G. Vombatkere, CounterCurrents – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jun 2012
A cursory glance at the Site Evaluation Report shows that its 12 pages are of limited legibility, with no title page, no authorship, no ownership, no publisher, no date, no index, and no names of the site selection committee. With it bearing no authorship, no publisher, no names, etc., could this “orphan” SER be an attempt to dodge responsibility for a haphazard site selection carried out by this highly scientific and technical department staffed by the best brains in India?
→ read full articleUsing a Bogey
Bharat Jhunjhunwala – Deccan Herald,
4 Jun 2012
Opposition to Kudankulam – Instead of raising the issue of foreign hand, the government must ponder why the locals support the agitation. About 23,000 people have decided to surrender their voter ID cards in protest against continuation of work on the Kudankulam Nuclear Plant which is slated to be commissioned in a mere 40 days or so.
→ read full articleThe Rendition Project
Rendition Research Team, University of Kent – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Jun 2012
Researching the Globalization of Rendition and Secret Detention – Welcome to The Rendition Project website. This site is the product of a collaborative research project between Dr Ruth Blakeley at the University of Kent and Dr Sam Raphael at Kingston University, funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council.
→ read full articleNeither Capitalism nor Socialism: Eclecticism
Johan Galtung,
28 May 2012
The following are notes for an epilogue to a forthcoming book, Peace Economics, about how to overcome the flagrant structural violence in the misery crisis, and the threat of direct violence, not only terrorism and state terrorism, but a major world war to get the West out of the system–like the Second World War lifted them out of the Great Depression.
→ read full articleFORUM: Why People in Tamil Nadu Are Protesting Nuclear Energy
Prof. Monisha Dasgupta – Center for South Asian Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa,
28 May 2012
Power Games: Why people in Tamil Nadu are protesting nuclear energy – S.P. Udayakumar is a member of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy and the National Alliance of Anti-Nuclear Movements. He is one of the leaders of the non-violent protests against the Koodankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu.
→ read full articleBig Brother Brainwash Comes To Koodankulam
Veena Joshi Datta – The Sunday Standard,
28 May 2012
BANGALORE: The Centre has decided to counsel protestors at Koodankulam on the necessity of nuclear power plants for the development of the country by engaging a team of psychiatrists from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore for the job.
→ read full articleDire la Guerre, Penser la Paix
Johan Galtung, 21 May 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 May 2012
Important is not only to think peace, but to speak, write and contribute to making, building and keeping it. War is a social evil, causing untold suffering like slavery, colonialism, patriarchy, preventable-curable diseases; soon to join the others in the cemetery for social evils. And talk about “just war” is like talking about just slavery, just colonialism, just patriarchy, and disease as God’s or Nature’s cleansing humanity of those unfit for salvation-survival.
→ read full articleHigh Noon in Koodankulam
Niranjan Ramakrishnan – CounterPunch,
21 May 2012
Many countries are rethinking their nuclear plans post-Fukushima. Some are proceeding to draw down their nuclear power operations… “As the world sleeps, India awakes to freedom”, Jawaharlal Nehru declared as he became free India’s first prime minister. It was the midnight hour of August 14-15, 1947. Today we might be on more solid ground in paraphrasing Nehru’s words: “As the world awakes to its dangers, India sleepwalks into nuclear peril“.
→ read full articleContemporary Slavery: Understanding the New Face to an Old Evil
UNOY – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 May 2012
On 27 June 2012, Metin Kazak MEP will open a conference in the European Parliament organised in conjunction with UNPO examining the current extent and forms of slavery across the world. Discussing cases from the Haratin in Mauritania to the human trafficking that afflicts Europe, the conference will raise awareness of contemporary slavery and, in bringing together policy makers and experts, posit possible solutions to the mitigation and halting of the practice.
→ read full articleSri Lanka: Mu’l’livaaykkaal – The Slaughter Unheard and Unpunished
Nirmanusan Balasundaram – Colombo Telegraph,
21 May 2012
Criminal goals of ethnically cleansing as many Tamils by orchestrating the slaughter of at-least 40,000 unarmed Tamils in Mullivaaykaal during the finals day of the war. The denial of food and medicine prior to the final assault was intentionally and strategically coordinated by the regime.
→ read full articleAfrica Human Development Report 2012: Towards a Food Secure Future
United Nations Development Programme – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 May 2012
The 2012 Human Development Report for Africa explores why dehumanizing hunger remains pervasive in the region, despite abundant agricultural resources, a favorable growing climate, and rapid economic growth rates. It also emphasizes that food security – the ability to consistently acquire enough calories and nutrients for a healthy and productive life – is essential for human development.
→ read full articleRational Conflict Resolution: What Stands In the Way? (*)
Johan Galtung,
14 May 2012
Six conflicts, four current, one past and one future are shaping our present reality. Conflict is a relation of incompatibility between parties; not an attribute of one party. It spells danger of violence and opportunity to create new realities. Humanity has vast positive and negative experiences. We should all join building on them, wherever they can be found.
→ read full articleThe Politics of Equality
Johan Galtung,
7 May 2012
The less inequality, the easier to sit down and talk it over, or accept a mediator. The less inequality, the easier to clear past traumas, to reconcile. The less inequality, the easier to solve conflicts by trading or compromise, or transcending the issues, finding something new. The less inequality, the easier some cooperation for mutual and equal benefit can come about. The less inequality, the easier for empathy to grow, making parties suffer the other’s suffering, and enjoy the other’s joy. These four–reconciliation, resolution, equity, harmony–are not conditions for peace. They ARE peace.
→ read full articleMemories Conscious and Subconscious
Johan Galtung, 30 Apr 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Apr 2012
Two kinds of memories serve politics: glories and traumas. The glories–victory, liberation, constitution–are celebrated as the birth of a nation. The traumas–defeat, invasion-occupation, decline and fall–are surrounded with the oath NEVER AGAIN! We are guided not only by future goals, but also by past memories. They set the discourse, the frame for what happens. Anybody attacking the USA on US territory invokes Pearl Harbor; 9/11 is then sedimented on top of that, tripling the response should there ever be one more. Better know the wounds imprinted on the collective soul
→ read full articleCapitalism: A Ghost Story
Arundhati Roy, Outlook India - The Gandhi Foundation,
30 Apr 2012
Rockefeller to Mandela, Vedanta to Anna Hazare…. How long can the cardinals of corporate gospel buy up our protests?
→ read full articleUSA-Pakistan-Afghanistan: A Global Perspective
Johan Galtung,
24 Apr 2012
Pakistan can probably only survive as a federation with very much autonomy for the parts, and as part of a Central Asian community with eight Muslim neighbors. The more open the border the more will the Durand wound heal, not by Pakistan or Afghanistan yielding territory to the other, or a new Pashtunistan, but more creatively. And that region will be more interested in good relations with China–already owner of enormous resources in Afghanistan–than with the USA.
→ read full article(Castellano) A Coruña: El Concello Retira la Ayuda a los Toros y Solo Habrá Feria si se Autofinancia
G. Malvido & Á. Fernández – La Opinión A Coruña,
23 Apr 2012
El Gobierno local suspende la ayuda a la feria taurina que, cada año durante las dos últimas décadas, se ha desarrollado en agosto. El portavoz municipal, Julio Flores, no descarta que llegue a haber corridas en verano, aunque, eso sí, tendrán que realizarse a cargo de la empresa organizadora y no con dinero público.
→ read full articleCases against Koodankulam Protestors a Parody of Law: Fact Finding Team
Battleground Koodankulam – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Apr 2012
Just between 10 Sep 2011 and 23 Dec 2011, the Police had filed 107 FIRs against 55,795 people. Of this, 6,800 have been charged with “sedition” and/or “waging war against the State,” perhaps the largest ever number in British or independent India for one police station. The recent FIR alleging “attempt to murder” by S.P. Udayakumar, V. Pushparayan and other leaders was fabricated and designed to malign the peaceful movement and its leaders.
→ read full articleThe Meaning of Burma’s Elections
Giles Ji Ungpakorn – Socialist Worker,
16 Apr 2012
A critical assessment of the Burmese military’s attempt to use the veneer of democracy to establish legitimacy for its continued rule.
→ read full articleContinuities in US History
Johan Galtung,
16 Apr 2012
We sense a theme: no recognition of collective actors with a cause. Conflict is seen as rebellion-insurgency-treason of individuals, perhaps with leaders (get them!). A theme inherited from the English: wherever they invaded and occupied, they were law and order and legitimacy; any resistance was insurgency. Up till today, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia. When resistance is equated with rebellion, insurgency and treason, then peacemaking becomes very difficult. There is nobody to sit down with to talk it over, to search for solutions; only rebellious individuals.
→ read full articleWhat Do You Want USA, Up or Down?
Johan Galtung, 9 Apr 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
One wonders what the US political leaders want. The incumbent lives in this world, playing an ultra-realist game: extra-judicial executions in maybe 70 countries, drone attacks; minimizing US losses, maximizing direct hits at what he sees as the problem, concrete identified individuals, not concrete unidentified conflicts. He has neither the moral nor the intellectual courage to do that.
→ read full articleWhat Really Explains Thein Sein Regime’s Current Pursuit of ‘Ceasefire’ with the Karens while Killing the Kachins
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Apr 2012
Obviously, the Burmese generals and ex-generals have outsourced the business of “strategic peace” to its commercial elements – Burmese commercial interests. Investors from Norway, Germany, etc. are licking their lips while the locals do the foreplay with the ethnic virgin lands (and untapped resources).
→ read full articleThe Face of the Crisis – And Alternatives
Johan Galtung, 26 Mar 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
The trade in derivatives is now at $1 quadrillion a year (15 zeros), ten times the industrial economy of the whole 20th century. Many got rich, but the system collapsed. Maybe prison would have been more adequate for intellectual sloppiness? That equation is a part of the closed paradigm of economism. Does it offer a solution, not only for banks and bankers, but for the bottom 99.9%? The 0.1%/99.9% income ratio USA 2007 was 140; an unbelievable inequality, both cause and effect of the crisis.
→ read full articleProject Brings Peace Journalism to Uganda
Steven Youngblood, Peace Portal – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Mar 2012
As I taught Peace Journalism in Uganda for five weeks in 2009, I kept hearing from the journalists in my seminars that they liked and needed what I was teaching. However, they emphasized that Uganda needed many more peace journalism lessons. At their urging we put together a proposal for a comprehensive Peace, Development, and Electoral Journalism project for 2010-2011. It’s our hope that this model can replicated elsewhere, since it proved to be such a powerful tool for peace and reconciliation in Uganda.
→ read full articleA New Kind of Anti-Capitalism?
Shaun Harkin – Socialist Worker,
26 Mar 2012
First published in Argentina, Anti-Capitalism: The New Generation of Emancipatory Movements aims to be an accessible guide to understanding what capitalism is, why the “traditional left” failed, and the content, strategies and goals of the new “anti-capitalist” movement. This book aims to be an introduction to ideas that can be termed broadly as “horizontalism.”
→ read full articleSyria
Johan Galtung,
19 Mar 2012
The search could be for solutions, not for the solution. UN-supported facilitators, with knowledge of mediation, rather than with guns and binoculars. To do this, let the parties, outside and inside Syria, talk. Let them state their goals, the Syria they would like to see. What comes to mind is a Swiss solution. One Syria, federal, with local autonomy, even down to the village level, with Sunnis, Shias and Kurds having relations to their own across the borders. And non-aligned, which rules out foreign bases and flows of arms.
→ read full articleMillennium Development Goal Drinking Water Target Met
Danny Schechter – Al Jazeera,
19 Mar 2012
6 Mar 2012 – The world has met the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water, well in advance of the MDG 2015 deadline, according to a report issued today by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). Between 1990 and 2010, over two billion people gained access to improved drinking water sources, such as piped supplies and protected wells.
→ read full articleEvangelist Sued in U.S. for Inciting Anti-Gay Hatred in Uganda
Charundi Panagoda and Jim Lobe – Inter Press Service-IPS,
19 Mar 2012
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a federal lawsuit in Massachusetts Wednesday [14 Mar 2012] on behalf of the Sexual Minorities of Uganda (SMUG) and against Scott Lively, a right-wing evangelist, for inciting a hatred that has led to increased violence against LGBT persons. He is also the author of “The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party”, a 1995 book that claimed Nazism was created and propagated by homosexuals, and a second book, “Seven Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child”, a how-to guide for parents to “prevent” their children from becoming homosexual.
→ read full articlePeace Mathematics – Does It Exist?
Johan Galtung, 12 Mar 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Mar 2012
It does, even in print; pardon some publicity! You may start at the end with the table of contents, then, here, the book epilogue:
Enthusiast E and Skeptic S: Dialogue at a Higher Level:
S: I worried that you would put something belonging to all of us, peace, into a big machine with parameters and then the machine would produce outputs about what to do. Like economists do with something belonging to us, our own livelihood. I liked your distinction between equations and formulas, between mathematics and mathematese…
From Empire to Global Fascism
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
A disconnect between speech and action is Obama’s trade mark. A key to his global fascism: instead of acknowledging wrongs of US foreign policy, he hides his extra-judicial killings with drones and JSOC’s (Joint Special Operations Command) in, maybe, 120 countries. Covert, CIA, less overt, Pentagon; with little Congress control. JSOC has been operating an extra-legal “kill-capture” campaign that a former counterinsurgency adviser calls “an almost industrial scale counterterrorism killing machine”.
→ read full articleUS Must Seize Opportunity to Support Palestinian Nonviolence
Yousef Munayyer – Al Jazeera,
5 Mar 2012
More than ever, polling data shows, Palestinians are supporting nonviolent resistance. A series of polls of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza which included a question on nonviolence reveals an undeniable trend in the past 18 months. In June of 2010, 51 per cent of Palestinians polled responded that nonviolent resistance was a preferred alternative to stalled negotiations. In a poll at the end of 2011 that number jumped to over 61 per cent.
→ read full articleCheerleading Is No Revolution: “Democracy in Burma”
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Mar 2012
Cheerleading is no revolution. That society is not going anywhere humanistic. The current discourse of revolutionary changes is nothing but a self-interested spin from vultures and vampires of all stripes and colours, native and foreign.
→ read full articleDon’t Northwoods Iran
Jacob G. Hornberger – The Future of Freedom Foundation,
27 Feb 2012
Another option for avoiding the appearance of being the aggressor power is the Operation Northwoods option. During the Kennedy administration, the Pentagon and the CIA wanted to invade Cuba to effect regime change there. But they didn’t want to appear as the aggressor power. So, the Joint Chiefs of Staff came up with a proposal that it unanimously approved and presented to JFK. To Kennedy’s ever-lasting credit, he rejected Operation Northwoods.
→ read full articleJapan’s Spiritual Crisis
Johan Galtung, 27 Feb 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
This author published with Ikuro Anzai, ‘Nippon wa Kikikan’, Is Japan in a Crisis? And the answer was yes, a spiritual crisis. Japan sold its soul to Washington, and is left in a spiritual vacuum; neither US nor Japan. Walking through the marvelous bullet train, Shinkansen, only sad, grey, tired faces; no laughter, no enhancing conversation seen or heard.
→ read full articleBan Ki-moon Hails Latin American Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone on 45th Anniversary
UN News Centre- TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Feb 2012
14 February 2012 – On the 45th anniversary of the treaty that created a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Latin America and the Caribbean, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today hailed the pact as an example of how regional initiatives can advance global norms on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful use of atomic energy.
→ read full articleTen Questions for Coming Leaders China-USA
Johan Galtung,
21 Feb 2012
Well, Japan fears something, probably what Western aggressors fear too: Of course, we never did anything wrong, but one day they may come and treat us the way we treated them. China has as a principle not to confront the USA, and has attacked neither Japan nor the US; the latter are the ones that attacked China. Hence, a little et tu Brute, watch yourself, may be useful in identifying key world problems.
→ read full articlePreventing a Nuclear Iran, Peacefully
Shibley Telhami and Steven Kull – International Herald Tribune,
20 Feb 2012
Despite all the talk of an “existential threat,” less than half of Israelis support a strike on Iran. According to our November poll, carried out in cooperation with the Dahaf Institute in Israel, only 43 percent of Israeli Jews support a military strike on Iran. Most important, when asked whether it would be better for both Israel and Iran to have the bomb, or for neither to have it, 65 percent of Israeli Jews said neither. And a remarkable 64 percent favored the idea of a nuclear-free zone, even when it was explained that this would mean Israel giving up its nuclear weapons.
→ read full articleFor a Latin America Free from Colonialism – The Malvinas Islands Are Argentinean
Socorro Gomes, World Peace Council – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
The decision made in several multilateral forums – such as Mercosur, Unasur and Alba – with a view to support the Argentinean claim so that England returns to negotiations, therefore complying with the United Nations resolutions on the issue, constitutes a significant fact in Latin American solidarity. In defense of a peaceful continent, free from colonialism and foreign military bases.
→ read full articleIsrael-USA vs Iran: Talk Peace!
Johan Galtung, 13 Feb 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Feb 2012
When Israelis were asked “what would be better: for both Israel and Iran to have the bomb, or for neither to have it, 65 percent of Israeli Jews said neither. And a remarkable 64 percent favored the idea of a nuclear-free zone, even when it was explained that this would mean Israel giving up its nuclear weapons.” (IHT, 16 Jan 2012). Vox populi vox Dei.
→ read full article“Responsibility to Kill” (R2K): Washington Gives Green Light to Toxic Terror in Bahrain
Finian Cunningham – Global Research,
6 Feb 2012
“Responsibility to Protect ” (R2P) or “Responsibility to Kill” (R2K)? Just as Bahrainis are being poisoned in their homes from indiscriminate firing of massive teargas by regime forces, Washington is showing its approval by going ahead with an arms sales deal to the Persian Gulf kingdom.
→ read full articleA Light in Algerian Darkness: Mourad Dhina 6 Feb 2007
Johan Galtung,
6 Feb 2012
On Sunday, 15 January 2012, French minister of foreign affairs, Alain Juppé, met Aung San Suu Kyi at her residence in Rangoon and decorated her with the insignia of Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honor. The day after, January 16th, the men of the French minister of interior, Claud Guéant, arrested in Paris the Algerian political figure and human rights defender Mourad Dhina. So similar conflicts, so similar resistants but very different French treatment.
→ read full articleArne Næss: The Next Hundred Years
Johan Galtung,
31 Jan 2012
Oslo, 27 January 2012 – Norway’s by no comparison greatest philosopher was born one hundred years ago today, and died close to the age of 97. A world philosopher, a human being with an incredible radiation. Nobody who came close remained the same. What was his basic theme? In one word: nonviolence, but in a broader and deeper sense than most approaching demanding idea.
→ read full articleThe French Study: Childhood Leukemia Spikes near Nuclear Power Plants
John Laforge - CounterPunch,
30 Jan 2012
The “International Journal of Cancer” has published in January [2012] a scientific study establishing a clear correlation between the frequency of acute childhood leukemia and proximity to nuclear power stations. The paper is titled, “Childhood leukemia around French nuclear power plants – the Geocap study, 2002-2007.” This devastating report promises to do for France what a set of 2008 reports did for Germany — which recently legislated a total phase-out of all its power reactors by 2022.
→ read full articleThose Poor, Moody Standards
Johan Galtung, 23 Jan 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Jan 2012
What are the three credit rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch–95 percent of the rating “industry”–about? Not very transparent, yet “Standard & Poor’s: silent but deadly” (El País, 16 Jan 2012), stimulates some reflections.
→ read full articleDavos: The 1% World
Johan Galtung, 16 Jan 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Jan 2012
How are the 1%’ers going to handle the country that has attacked more other countries and peoples than any other, and mainly in defense of a special type of hyper-connection: hyper-capitalism? It still has a monopoly on the world reserve currency exercised by a club of private banks, among them the worst culprits in the finance economy coup, the Federal Reserve. How are they going to handle the US hold on the rating agencies? And the growing inequality, from comfortable seats at the top? Answer: the same way as feudal aristocracy in France in the 18th century; by not handling it.
→ read full articleLearning from the Northern Ireland and South Africa’s Conflicts (Cont’d)
Pierre Celestin Bakunda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
16 Jan 2012
Through my own participant observation during research at Queen’s University from September 2008 to March 2009, the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement is of a great help. Nowadays both communities coexist in peace even though some isolated cases of attacks can be observed. Some people believe that the wounds would take generations to be healed while others think that the South African process through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission-TRC would be an asset to grant forgiveness and amnesty to the ones who committed wrongdoings.
→ read full article(Italian) Chi Era Gesù?
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Jan 2012
La chiesa non era strapiena come soleva esserlo per la messa di mezzanotte alla vigilia di Natale. Ma il rituale si svolse come era stato fatto per secoli, attorno alla “piccola bibbia” di Giovanni 3:16, “Perché Dio amava il mondo tanto da dare il suo unico Figlio cosicché ognuno che creda in lui non perirà ma avrà vita eterna”.
→ read full articleWhere Are We Heading?
Johan Galtung, 9 Jan 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Jan 2012
The clouds are dark. And we sense one on the horizon, black; a point so far. The name of the cloud: using a major war, even with Russia-China, to revive an economy in depression; destroying capital, rebuilding.
→ read full articleWho Produces the Wealth in Society?
Duncan Hallas – Socialist Worker,
9 Jan 2012
Marx’s purpose in analyzing capitalism was, first, to show how working people were exploited, and second, to uncover what he called the “economic law of motion” of the system. The first point becomes clear when you consider other system of exploitation that existed in the past.
→ read full article2012: The Davids and the Goliaths
Johan Galtung, 2 Jan 2012 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2012
So, what is the message? Davids all over the world unite, you have only your goliaths to lose? Something like that, but with a major proviso: use david’s nonviolent slingshots. David knew what he wanted, so did Goliath: to slay each other. We have had enough of that. Smartness yes, but nonviolent, and of the positive variety, taking in, not only on, the adversary. Let the Icelands and Argentines teach them how to get their economies in order. Reduce the armor; save! Get down from nine feet to normal.
→ read full articleTen Social Justice Trends Changing the World
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2012
Global Trends:
[1] The Decline and Fall of the US Empire; [2] The Decline of the West; [3] The Decline of States and Rise of Regions; [4] The Rise of the Rest; [5] The Rise of China.
Social Trends:
[6] The Rise of Nations; [7] The Rise of Civil Society; [8] The Rise of Youth; [9] The Rise of Women; [10] The Rise of Inequality and Revolts.
Violence and Conflict Theories & Obstacles to Peace in Africa’s Great Lakes Region
Dr. Pierre Celestin Bakunda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2012
Parson Talscott analyses Marx’s theory in terms of social classes and class conflict in the light of sociological theory. His analysis brings about the state of the weaker and the powerful classes showing that Marxian ideas have had an important place, forming a point of departure for the formulation of many of the fundamentals of theory of social institutions.
→ read full articleWho Really Has Power In Burma?
Thelma Young – Waging Nonviolence,
26 Dec 2011
The question remains how much power does President Thein Sein actually have? Some have compared him with De Klerk or Gorbachev, and Thein Sein might genuinely want reform, but his powers are limited. Constitutionally the military still has complete autonomy in not just its own affairs, but also has vast powers over the three branches of government. “The whole constitution is based on a “wait and see” strategy: if the civilian government does what the Tatmadaw [the armed forces] wants, then it will be allowed to rule; if not, then not.”
→ read full articleWho Was Jesus?
Johan Galtung, 26 Dec 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Dec 2011
Jesus rejected the finance system in the Jerusalem temple, encouraged tax boycott, and had disciples-apostles from a caste known for violence. He enters with the disciples the enormous 262mx262m temple, carefully divided into sections also for non-Jews, only for Jews, also for women, only for men, only for priests and the Most Holy. He overthrew the tables of the money exchangers and seems to have propagated a very concrete political message about the Jewish people in a federally structured country, independent of Rome, with apostles as political leaders. When asked by Pontius “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “Yes, it is as you say” (Mark 15,2). INRI (Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudeorum), Jesus from Nazareth, the King of Jews they wrote ironically, but that may have been exactly how he saw himself. This is politics.
→ read full article‘Alliance between Banks and Governments at the Heart of Eurozone Crisis’
Edmund S. Phelps, Nobel Economics laureate - Deutsche Welle,
26 Dec 2011
The ‘monstrous irresponsibility’ of European banks contributed to the current euro crisis, says Edmund Phelps. But at its core lies a fatal collusion between governments and banks, argues the Nobel Winner in Economics.
→ read full articleRight Wing Extremism? Or Fascism?
Johan Galtung,
19 Dec 2011
That is what the “peace” of Westphalia was about in 1648: the right to kill, provided the war was declared. Like Norwegian soldiers in Afghanistan, with a mandate from a democratic country and from NATO. There are disturbing reports from them, “combat is better than sex”, fascinated with that mandate to kill, comparisons with the Vikings. Making psychiatry a state servant turns it as useless as the security police.
→ read full article(French) Le Rwanda Dans Son Etat Politico-Economique et Conflictuel
Dr .P. Célestin Bakunda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Des économistes, historiens et hommes d’État ont traditionnellement considéré “une nation” comme un groupe de personnes affirmant le contrôle d’institutions économiques, religieuses, juridiques et éducatives reconnues officiellement légitimes.
→ read full articlePeace Building-Based Conflict Resolution: Lessons from Other Conflicts
Pierre Célestin Bakunda – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Dec 2011
Power, Authority and Leadership for Peace
→ read full articlePoor USA: What a Choice!
Johan Galtung, 12 Dec 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
12 Dec 2011
The Occupy Movement is a sign of US sanity. Leaderless makes it less vulnerable, immensely consciousness-raising, not insisting on any one single analysis or remedy–for the time being. People so concerned that they sacrifice some personal comfort–gaining togetherness and a sense of meaning, a gift for a democracy. The Occupy Movement becomes a movement to revive a dying economy, creating thousands of small enterprises, banks for savings, not speculation. They start a parallel society.
→ read full articleFanon, Coloniality and Emancipation
Eunice N. Sahle – Pambazuka News,
12 Dec 2011
Fifty years after his death, Fanon remains ‘the entry point in any project geared to the realisation of substantive emancipation, as opposed to elite-led projects,’ writes Eunice N. Sahle.
→ read full articleArab Revolutions and the Power of Nonviolent Action
Stephen Zunes – Nation of Change,
12 Dec 2011
Freedom House, in its 2005 study “How Freedom Is Won: From Civic Resistance to Durable Democracy,” observed that, of the nearly 70 countries that had made the transition from dictatorship to varying degrees of democracy in the previous 30 years, only a small minority did so through armed struggle from below or reform instigated from above. Hardly any new democracies resulted from foreign invasion. In nearly three-quarters of the transitions, change was rooted in democratic civil-society organizations that employed nonviolent methods.
→ read full articleNeutralising Burma’s Ethnic Rebellions
Dr. Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service,
5 Dec 2011
In his Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848), Karl Marx wrote: ‘The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.’ Such an assessment is only half-right when it comes to Burma’s internal conflicts, of which ethnicity is of equal importance to class.
→ read full articleThree Crises – Three Ideas
Johan Galtung,
5 Dec 2011
The formula is to raise the bottom, and that can only be done by their own work, it has never been in the interest of the top 1 percent. The root cause is rampant capitalism pumping liquidity upward, sinking the masses into poverty, even misery, and turning the upper 1 permil into speculators. The real economy does not work for lack of acquisitive power, and the finance economy works so well that the gap between money value and created value leads to one crash after the other. Speculation, as opposed to investment with commitment, should be treated as a crime, with names revealed. Moreover, the vast suffering should trigger action, not finance ratings.
→ read full articleRepresentative Schakowsky Receives Letter of Intimidation from Former Blackwater CEO
Yana Kunichoff - Truthout,
5 Dec 2011
Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s (D-Illinois) attempt to end the multimillion dollar business of outsourcing in Iraq and Afghanistan doesn’t sit well with the former CEO of the notorious Blackwater company, Erik Prince, who sent a hand-delivered cease-and-desist letter to the Congresswoman threatening legal action if she continued to make “false and defamatory” statements about him.
→ read full articleArundhati Roy: ‘The people who created the crisis will not be the ones that come up with a solution.’
Arun Gupta – The Guardian,
5 Dec 2011
The prize-winning author of The God of Small Things talks about why she is drawn to the Occupy movement and the need to reclaim language and meaning.
→ read full articleThe Arab Revolt – What Next?
Johan Galtung,
28 Nov 2011
It changes character, like in quantum mechanics, just by watching. The French revolution did that in the late 1780s-early 1790s. However, spring is gone, revolt is in, but so far not revolution. There are layers of rulers and layers of opposition. Unveiling has started.
→ read full article