Articles by Johan Galtung
We found 998 results.
Good News From The Holy Land
Johan Galtung,
28 Dec 2009
There was midnight mass in the little village church. The news–or olds–from the Holy Land were recited by the young priest: For us is today a Savior born, Jesus Christ, the Messiah. The amens filled the church. Next morning an AlJazeera panel about the Holy Land: “West Bank settlers are dominated by a messianic-eschatolgical minority”, […]
→ read full articleA Week of Bad Climate
Johan Galtung,
21 Dec 2009
The mountain in Copenhagen gave birth to a mouse that can hardly crawl. No legally binding agreement, only vague promises for Mexico in 2010. There are national and corporate interest- guided pledges with figures ending in 0 for a year ending in 0 (USA 18%, though). Adding confirmed proposals reduces warming by 2050 from 4.8 […]
→ read full articleA Nobel War Prize Speech by a War President
Johan Galtung,
14 Dec 2009
President Obama’s Nobel Prize acceptance lecture in Oslo 10 December 2009–the Human Rights Day!–added tragedy to the comedy. It was vintage Orwell, war is peace, serving outdated thoughts by nations trying to legitimize their warfare, with the eloquence and charm that came through to many of that persuasion. A reactionary speech, more becoming to war […]
→ read full articleGlobal Warming in Copenhagen
Johan Galtung,
7 Dec 2009
Of course we all wish the Copenhagen conference the best of luck. It is billed as a conference on a major social evil, even a martian invasion of the world supposedly uniting us all. The problem is, as usual, whether it is the right approach; and what may be lurking underneath the surface. We have […]
→ read full article“Incredible India”…
Johan Galtung,
30 Nov 2009
… they say in the publicity spots. Yes it is truly incredible how India is selling itself to that bidder, USA, in one display of americanization after the other. The Washington angle to this is easily understood. Their empire falling, fighting three unwinnable wars on terrorism, Afghanistan and Iraq, allied with problematic regimes in Israel […]
→ read full articlePTSD and PGED: Post Glory Exuberance Disorder
Johan Galtung,
23 Nov 2009
Washington: There is much talk about post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, these days. Yes, it must be tough to kill so many Afghans who fight secularism, Kabul and foreign soldiers dying for that fraudulent dictator Karzai, and invasions by some chess game drunk players. And, at a risk of an IED, US$ 10 per piece, […]
→ read full articleA Paradise Lost; An Empire Gained
Johan Galtung,
16 Nov 2009
Asunción: The tragedy Paraguay suffered is emblematic. It carries messages of the soft vs the hard Occident, and of soft development vs hard “growth”. And how a genocide drove out the soft. The reference is to the attack in 1865 on Paraguay by the Triple Alianza (or Quadruple): Argentina-Uruguay-Brazil, indeed encouraged by No. 4, England, […]
→ read full articleThe Trilateral Conflict USA – North Korea – South Korea
Johan Galtung,
9 Nov 2009
Seoul: Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen; a great honor to be invited for a keynote on unification–a key concern of mine since 1972–in a room in the National Assembly, the symbol of democracy. And we are meeting in the context of the 20th anniversary of that 1989 miracle, the Fall of the Berlin Wall, and then […]
→ read full articleDisconnected Giant on Clay Feet
Johan Galtung,
2 Nov 2009
Greensboro-NC, USA: What is the mood of the giant these days? One method is through the excellent TV channel C-span, with congressional hearings, politics in the open, debates over the double crisis, the economy, and the war. Another method is to ask people, like down in Heartland USA, North Carolina, bordering on the Blue Ridge, […]
→ read full articleChina and the Economic Crisis
Johan Galtung,
26 Oct 2009
Chongqing: The American Friends Service Committee (the Quakers) and the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament–a state-supported NGO like many in the West–had a conference 18-21 October on the economic crisis and social conflict and harmony. World experiences in conflict resolution and state-civil society cooperation were shared with Chinese experts; to handle the […]
→ read full articleTurkey Getting Unstuck
Johan Galtung,
18 Oct 2009
Istanbul – Imagine a country losing an empire in their command for more than five centuries, ending with the occupation of Istanbul 1918 at the end of World War I. England (Mr. Sykes), France (M. Picot) and the Russians had conspired, engineering Arab uprisings against the Ottomans (“Lawrence of Arabia” being a part of that)–promising […]
→ read full articleThe Nobel Peace Prize
Johan Galtung,
12 Oct 2009
The Nobel Peace prize to a president for rhetoric, with no real achievement, is like a peace prize for a movie to a former vice-president, with no real achievement either. True, people are touched by a rhetoric everybody has heard, and even by a movie few have seen; but neither of them meets the criteria […]
→ read full articleGandhi and Mao: Two Giants Compared
Johan Galtung,
5 Oct 2009
The past week had two important anniversary messages. One came through loud and clear in the Western media: the 60th anniversary of the triumph of the Chinese Revolution, guided by Mao, restoring China to its own people, violently, on October 1. The other message was considerably more subdued: the 140th anniversary of the birth of […]
→ read full articleThe Tide is Turning: UNGA 64
Johan Galtung,
28 Sep 2009
This UN General Assembly will go down in history because of three persons: Hu Jintao, Qaddafi and Chávez, from the three Third World continents. And Obama will be less remembered for a speech–a high school essay promising to honor the UN multilateralism his country is committed to as a UN member–than for Chávez’ comment about […]
→ read full articleThe Cold War as a Metaphor
Johan Galtung,
21 Sep 2009
The Cold War is worth remembering. There is much to learn about conflict and meta-conflict. For West vs. Islam. That self-inflicted threat to humanity lasted officially 40 years 1949-89. But it started with the Bolshevik revolution October 1917, and ended with the combined collapse of Communism and the Soviet Union. 1917-1991. Almost a century. I […]
→ read full articleSpirituality and Conflict Work
Johan Galtung,
14 Sep 2009
There is an important connection: with some spirituality conflict work is much easier, whether directed toward the past as conciliation after violence–and after a solution has been found–toward the present as mediation, or the future as peace-building, weaving webs of positive peace as a protection against conflicts turning violent. An example: the ubuntu ‘I am […]
→ read full articleThe World Peace Academy in Basel
Johan Galtung,
7 Sep 2009
Ladies and gentlemen: Today, 4 September 2009, will go down in the history of peace studies as a day to remember: a true world peace academy has been inaugurated, here in Basel, the city straddling three countries, Switzerland, Germany and France. The WPA, brilliantly conceived and launched by Pierre and Catherine Brunner, has a three-point […]
→ read full articleMore Creativity, Please!
Johan Galtung,
31 Aug 2009
The world is often seen in terms of two or more nuclear superpowers; a more positive perspective would be two culinary superpowers, China and France. We had just enjoyed a *** (Guide Michelin) French meal. Indescribable, so better not try. But immensely creative. Tastes unknown were conjured unto the human palate. The esthetics of each […]
→ read full articleGlobal Domestic Policy: Wrong Approaches
Johan Galtung,
17 Aug 2009
The self-appointed Inter Action Council, IAC, chaired by German ex-Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (of US missile stationing fame) had its 27th Annual Meeting in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia 10-13 May, with 20 other former prime ministers and presidents, many right wing social democrats, attending. They issued a Final Communique with a Present State of […]
→ read full articleGlobal Domestic Policy – GDP
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
10 Aug 2009
The slogan was coined by the famous German nuclear physicist, philosopher and peace researcher, Carl Friedrich von Weizscäcker, who passed on in 2007 at the age of 94. The term Weltinnenpolitik caught on, with GDP as translation into English; in search of one appealing word. But that is but a word. What does it stand […]
→ read full articleThe Power-Shift to the South
Johan Galtung,
3 Aug 2009
The South is coming, with or–hopefully without–a vengeance. Look at the basic facts in the power distribution. The abrahamic Occident expanded three times: islam 622-1492 from Iberia to the Philippines; christianity from 1492 on all five continents; and judaism in its zionist form from 1948 in the Middle East. They left and leave behind […]
→ read full articleAfter the US Empire: A World of Regions?
Johan Galtung,
27 Jul 2009
A key hypothesis in the recent The Fall of the US Empire – And Then What? (www.transcend.org/tup) is that the successor system to the US Empire will be neither a hegemony run by one big actor like China or the EU, nor globalization run by the TNCs, but a world of regions with regional currencies. […]
→ read full articleTurkey, EU, France and Germany
Johan Galtung,
20 Jul 2009
Of course Turkey will become a member of the European Union, with French and German support. It will take some time, but they need each other. The marriage is written in the stars. When, it is more difficult to say. Probably by 2015, for sure by 2020; it may also come much sooner for reasons […]
→ read full articleWhy That Much Violence These Days?
Johan Galtung,
13 Jul 2009
We find it all over, right now in the streets of Tegucigalpa, Tehran, Urumqi; as massive killing in connection with US-Allies attacks on Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, and elsewhere. There will probably be much more, looking at the world conflict maps. Politically, each nation ruled not by its own kind but by some “majority”, […]
→ read full articleHonduras and Iran: What is going on?
Johan Galtung,
6 Jul 2009
The brief answer is Obama’s answer: we have to see how it all sorts itself out. Politically this usually means–like Condi Rice’s famous “birth pangs of a new Middle East Order” during the massive killing in Lebanon Summer 2006–that something is going on that should not be interfered with. Or that Obama wants neither to […]
→ read full articleMilitary Peace Missions and Cultural Awareness
Johan Galtung,
29 Jun 2009
Inaugural Speech CITpax Seminar, European Commission, Madrid, 17 Jun 09 Officials from the Ministry of Defense, Officers from the Army, Ladies and Gentlemen, Power comes in hard and soft varieties, be that as economic power, exploitation vs equity; military power, offensive vs defensive; or political power (dictatorship vs democracy). Or as cultural power, legitimizing the […]
→ read full articleWomen and Men, Peace and Security
Johan Galtung,
15 Jun 2009
European Commission Speech – Making the Difference: Strengthening the Capacities to Respond to Crises and Security Threats; Brussels, 03/May/09 Ladies and gentlemen, My approach to this topic is based on 50 years experience with how women and men relate to peace and security issues; in formal and informal politics, in mediation and mediation training, in […]
→ read full articleConcluding Remarks: Wrapping Up, the Road Ahead
Johan Galtung,
10 Jun 2009
Keynote Speech, European Commission, Making the Difference: Strengthening the Capacities to Respond to Crises and Security Threats – Brussels 04 Jun 09 This fine conference has 4 tracks–Security and Development, Strengthening Cooperation, Lessons Learnt-Geography; Lessons Learnt-Thematic–with 4 sessions for each on specifics and 16 rapporteurs. My role is to wrap up, presenting an overview indicating […]
→ read full articleWhat Peace Research Would Be Like If Founded Today
Johan Galtung,
8 Jun 2009
On the occasion of the Peace Research Institute, Oslo-PRIO 50 Years – Oslo City Hall, 5 June 2009 Lord Mayor, friends: Incredible all that happened only 50 years ago! Like PRIO, the institute we are celebrating today, In the English name there are four letters. There was some thinking behind all of them, not only […]
→ read full articleDialectics of History: Germany-Israel
Johan Galtung,
31 May 2009
“I feel uneasy. I love him, but how do I know how he is?” The councilor said, “Watch how his father treats his mother. This is his key model. Unless challenged to the contrary this is what he takes for normal, natural. If you have problems with that as his model, rather challenge it now. […]
→ read full articleOn Truth
Johan Galtung,
27 May 2009
Norwegian Literature Festival, Lillehammer-Norway, 26 May 2009 The idea of Truth is as relevant for the arts as for the sciences. Truth is an attribute of a symbolic articulation–a thesis, a text, a painting-sculpture, a piece of music–when held up against reality: does it reflect, agree with what we consider “reality”? Some deny the existence […]
→ read full articleObama 100: Trop Beau, Ce Président!
Johan Galtung,
17 May 2009
“Too handsome that president” was the conclusion of the French women’s magazine Voici (27/12/08) “le président plus sexy jamais élu”, the most sexy president ever elected, “attendu comme le Messie”, awaited like the Messiah”. In the swimming trunks, also appearing in an IHT column 16/05/09 calling Michelle’s remark about being “proud about her country for […]
→ read full articleCambodia’s Killing Fields and the Rule of Law
Johan Galtung,
12 May 2009
There are many of those fields in this country treated extremely badly by history. An enormity of structural violence by Phnom Penh on the countryside for centuries, legitimized by a Hindu caste system, softened by a Buddhism that eventually became state religion. Thai and Vietnamese invasions and occupations. French colonialism (as part of “Indo-China”) 1863, […]
→ read full articlePiracy and Somalia
Johan Galtung,
4 May 2009
To start with the conclusion: the piracy issue–in 2008 40 of 100; in 2009 so far 25, attacks succeeded, 18 vessels with about 310 sailors captive, ransom average $2-3 million–can be solved but only if treated as part of the whole Somalia complex. But USA and EU detach piracy as a crime to be fought, […]
→ read full articleJesus, Judas and Che Guevara
Prof. Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Apr 2009
There is an exercise called Western Civilization, and a dramatic narrative at the center of that exercise with two persons in the key roles, Jesus and Judas. Easter times, now, are here to remind us of the drama. The outer events, delivered through the millennia, by Mark in the 70s, Matthew in the 80s, then […]
→ read full articleInto Africa: Cameroon
Johan Galtung,
14 Apr 2009
This is about non-news from a country not high on the scale of countries, elites not world famous, no particular event to report, only something quite permanent: a country that works, with smiling, gentle, generous, kind people, 18 million of them, in the midst of Africa; in peace with itself and others. True, there is […]
→ read full articleG20, and NATO, and the World.
Johan Galtung,
6 Apr 2009
The white, tall, Anglo-American, Wall Street defenders in London won; but Lula was wrong about blue eye color, and one was black. No “turning point” (Obama) in the 29 points, but: * one trillion, in bailout money for the financial economy, no stimulus for the real economy, protecting wrong banks, not right people, on top […]
→ read full articleRetired in all Lands, Unite!
Johan Galtung,
30 Mar 2009
You have only your exclusion, your marginalization to lose. We simply have a major flaw in our social construction: the institution of obligatory retirement, the final stage in biological life, the R in Childhood-Education-Work-Retirement. Nobody will argue against the right of the tired to be retired, from the duties of work, of inputs into […]
→ read full articleThe Energy-Environment-Development Triad
Johan Galtung,
23 Mar 2009
A very felicitous idea to bring together three major concerns in what could become a political, economic and intellectual pact. Like a poor, creative family in Kerala wanting to boil their rice, having neither electricity nor kerosene nor wood nor matches but a sheet of black paper, a used tire, a piece of window glass […]
→ read full articleEconomy, Economics, Economists
Johan Galtung,
9 Mar 2009
What would we say about meteorologists unable to foresee major hurricanes devastating humans beings and their creations, like towns and houses, whirling them into the air to crashland them far away? We might accept their inability to do anything about it, but would we accept the absence of any early warning? No, and they are […]
→ read full articleFreedom of Expression vs. Freedom from Humiliation
Johan Galtung,
2 Mar 2009
Basic thesis: A false dichotomy. With some skill we can deliver both, refusing to be trapped by fundamentalists of either kind. How? Well, let us first do our best to clarify the two freedoms. On the Big Island, Hawai’i, a US army physician was once asked to identify the most vulnerable points of the […]
→ read full article1421 1434
Johan Galtung,
20 Feb 2009
In 1421 the Chinese traveled to America – more than 70 years ahead of the event used by the West to celebrate itself: Columbus “discovering” America and taking the Watling Island in the Bahamas in possession for Spain 12 October 1492. “These remarkable Chinese admirals rounded the Cape of Good Hope sixty-six years before Bartolomeu […]
→ read full articleClass, Nation and the Philippines
Johan Galtung,
14 Feb 2009
Key comments in the conversations in Manila 4-9 February 2009 about the process between Government panels and Parties for change in class and nation relations were: paralyzed, no prospect, limbo, stuck, insincere, agreements unimplemented, broken. But Parties are mesmerized by the peace process, and want to get unstuck. How? The key positions of the Parties–lifting […]
→ read full articleFamily-School-Work Bullying: What is on?
Johan Galtung,
5 Feb 2009
There is much talk of global warming and overheated finances. But society is also overheating, only that sociologists have not come up with good figures for heating, melting and negative growth. The three pillars of our societies, the Family delivering children reasonably socialized to School, which in turn delivers students reasonably educated to Work, which […]
→ read full articleObama: The First Ten Days
Johan Galtung,
29 Jan 2009
Few politicians have been met with so high expectations as the 44th president of the USA, Barack Obama. So many people love the USA, and love to love the USA, making a distinction between the USA and its foreign policy. Love makes blind, the saying goes, and much blindness was needed to love the USA […]
→ read full articleStatement to the European Parliament on Conscientious Objection
Johan Galtung,
26 Jan 2009
Mr. Chairperson, Parliamentarians, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have six points, three about conscientious objection for soldiers-officers in bello, when the war–organized violence with one or more governments–is on, and three about objection ad bellum, to specific wars or war as such. But first a question: Why is the right to conscientious objection important? For the […]
→ read full articleA Murderer Says Good-Bye
Johan Galtung,
21 Jan 2009
Iraq, from being “a brutal dictatorship, is now an Arab democracy”, he said, W, after having set the USA back more than his eight years. And Iraq? Let us try an evaluation. Politics, like all human action, is about ends and means; a useful if not sharp distinction. Bush’ phrase covers two ends–let us accept […]
→ read full articleGaza
Johan Galtung,
12 Jan 2009
Beyond the immense human tragedy unfolding in the Gaza atrocity a question takes shape: have the Israeli leaders, politicians and military alike, totally lost their senses? A sledgehammer for a toothache, those tiny needle-pricks of missiles fired in anger, 8 killed–and then killing 800? Where is the sophistication of the attack on Egypt, timed to […]
→ read full articleWelcome to you, 2009!
Johan Galtung,
5 Jan 2009
With some trepidation. There is that Rumanian joke born out of pessimism tempered by realism: it will be an average year. Average? Yes, worse than 2008, but better than 2010. The emblematic expression for 2008 are two whirling shoes thrown at the US Empire in person, expressing disgust and contempt. The emblematic expression for 2009 […]
→ read full articleOn The Fruits Thou Shalt Know The Tree
Johan Galtung,
29 Dec 2008
We hear about fundamentalist, violent Islam, sadly correct at times. But what is the Christian counter-message? Read Pope Alexander VI, in his Papal Bull Inter Caetera of May 4 1493, celebrating Columbus and his “discoveries”: Wherein dwell very many peoples living in peace–going unclothed and not eating flesh–disposed to embrace the Catholic faith and be […]
→ read full articleThere Is Gentle Wisdom In Them All
Johan Galtung,
25 Dec 2008
“Best wishes for the Season and the New Year” we easily write and read these days. So let us reflect on the Season, a time for religare, reconnect between that out there, and that in here, in us, for globalizing truths on the still unborn 2009. Seven years ago these unpublished lines for the Season […]
→ read full articleA UN Economic Security Council
Johan Galtung,
22 Dec 2008
The world needs a UN Economic Security Council to intervene against massive economic crimes against humanity. Why? How? To produce, we are told, one needs nature (“land”), workers (“labor”) and capital (adding technology and management). Any healthy economic system based on these factors will see to it that quantity and quality of the stock of […]
→ read full article60 Years: Human Rights as a Discourse
Johan Galtung,
15 Dec 2008
A meeting honoring the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948 was just concluded in Paris: the 9th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, dedicated to “Human Rights and a World without Violence”. An impressive parade of 50 statements, half by Nobel peace laureates and half by “invited guests”. […]
→ read full articleIt’s The Economy, Stupid!
Johan Galtung,
8 Dec 2008
Let’s assume that. Then, what follows? Let’s have a look. Money is needed, for production of goods and services by existing enterprises, and for creating new ones–investment–to produce more goods and services. Money is also sometimes needed to buy and consume those goods and services by existing, and by new consumers as net population increase. […]
→ read full articlePirates, Mumbai, and then?
Johan Galtung,
1 Dec 2008
We are back again to the basics. Atrocities are committed along the Somali coast and in Mumbai, and our thoughts are with the victims and the bereaved. “Life as normal” is a casualty. And yet we have that burning question, why, why, why!? Why is journalism so bad at getting at motives; not that motives […]
→ read full articleProf. Johan Galtung Interviewed by Kimberlye Kowalczyk
Johan Galtung,
30 Nov 2008
The “father of Peace and Conflict Studies” and founder of TRANSCEND on the US presidential election of Barack Obama.
→ read full articleAn Empire Named Charisma?
Johan Galtung,
24 Nov 2008
Change? Or – maybe not, because No, We Cannot? Major foreign policy positions have emerged as Obama had to make some concrete positions known: Jerusalem, united for Israel forever; a surge in Afghanistan and Pakistan to get rid of terrorism once and for all; Georgia and Ukraine members of NATO; a League of Democracies to […]
→ read full articleFull Moon Over Bolivia
Johan Galtung,
17 Nov 2008
La Paz-Santa Cruz 17/Nov/08 A full moon illuminates the mountains, the altiplano, and that vertical capital La Paz, as well as the plains around Santa Cruz, center of the four (of nine) departments of the medialuna, half moon shaped, part demanding autonomía from La Paz, and for municipalities. Deep polarization and serious violence. Why? History, […]
→ read full articleThe Economic Crisis And The US Empire
Johan Galtung,
10 Nov 2008
The crisis in the US economy would also have happened even without the empire. The crisis is an outcome of US hyper-capitalism, capitalism at maximum pressure, with no constraints or “regulation” as the market forces say. And more particularly of the pumping, sucking up of wealth from below, placing 90 million US citizens in misery, […]
→ read full article4 November 2008: A New Beginning?
Johan Galtung,
5 Nov 2008
Yes, it is. The race barrier broken, the referendum on the 43d US president, George W. Bush won overwhelmingly, there will be a basic change in the image of the United States of America all over the world. People around the world love to love USA, warts and all. Bush made it impossible for most, […]
→ read full articleAmerica The Beautiful
Johan Galtung,
26 Oct 2008
We had left Harrisonburg VA early to get the sunrise when crossing the Skyline Drive–a national, historical landmark–with hilly Virginia, a little misty, in front of us. The sun was redlining that traditionally Republican state. The flaming fall colors were lighted by the rising sun as the road twisted and curled and rose and sank […]
→ read full article(A MUST READ) THE FALL OF THE U.S. EMPIRE–AND THEN WHAT?
Johan Galtung, 22 Oct 2008 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Oct 2008
[Economic Contradictions- (2)]- between productive and finance economy: Domestic and global market turnover being high even if the growth is sluggish in the productive economy in many countries, and distribution being low, there will be heavy accumulation of liquidity high up searching for an outlet. Luxury consumption and productive investment being limited, the obvious outlet […]
→ read full articleReconstructing USA
Johan Galtung, 20 Oct 2008 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
20 Oct 2008
Greensboro and the Blue Ridge, North Carolina, 20/Oct/2008 There is tremendous excitement in the air, carried by the name Obama. Change. The mantra word. The feeling that a New Beginning may be around the corner. For one who has the privilege of organizing workshops on the concrete content Americans might like to see happen, there […]
→ read full articleAlfred Nobel’s Will Betrayed
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Oct 2008
A Norwegian lawyer and peace activist, Fredrik Heffermehl, has done the world a great favor with his book Nobels Vilje, Nobel’s Will, just out, showing that the Nobel Peace Prize committees have strayed away from Nobel’s testament. The prize, according to Nobel’s will, is for “the most or the best work for fraternity between the […]
→ read full articleJohan Galtung’s Published Books
Johan Galtung,
11 Oct 2008
→ read full article
Galtung – 50 Years with Peace Studies
Johan Galtung,
7 Oct 2008
→ read full article
Johan Galtung Talks about His Forthcoming Books
Johan Galtung,
7 Oct 2008
On Understanding Conflict: Matti, 22
Johan Galtung,
6 Oct 2008
6 Oct. 2008 Last month tragedy visited a peaceful place in a peaceful Nordic country, Kauhajoki in southeastern Finland; the second time in less than a year, after November 2007 in Jokela in southern Finland, 19 killed; last month Matti, 22, killed 10 with himself. At their own school, entering a class, gun in hand, […]
→ read full articleTMS Message from Johan Galtung
Johan Galtung,
2 Oct 2008
The US Economic Crisis: 10 Proposals
Johan Galtung, 29 Sep 2008 - TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 Sep 2008
Stavanger-Norway, September 29/2008 What a cynicism to talk about “crisis” as a phenomenon of a month or a year or two, when every day about 125,000 die from system-produced hunger and curable-preventable diseases! Much of the responsibility lies buried in an economism privileging the transaction system above the basic needs of the actors. Economics as […]
→ read full articleIsrael-Palestine: What Peace Looks Like
Johan Galtung,
22 Sep 2008
Israel and Palestine met for peace this weekend or, so did positive parts of their civil societies, under the good auspices not of Italy’s government but of the Regione Toscana, in Pisa, where a tower is leaning, but still standing. The theme was European Union as a mediator. With the Israeli government in permanent coma, […]
→ read full articleThe US Elections
Johan Galtung,
16 Sep 2008
Should the world have the right to vote in US presidential elections given their importance for world affairs?Formally speaking, a better solution would be a UN Peoples’ Assembly. But the second best would be a US president with the interests of the world, all nations, humans and nature on top of his mind and deep […]
→ read full articleJapan: A Stagnant Country with NGO Dynamism
Johan Galtung,
16 Sep 2008
The news from Japan is that there are no news. Thecountry seems lost between a rapidly declining US Empire and a quicklyrising China-India, Chindia, with the yuan-rupee (yupee?) soonovershadowing the yen. The State seems to have no other project thannourishing status quo. Capital is lost in small and big scandals ofthe type capitalism seems to […]
→ read full articleThe Korean Peninsula Conflict is not North-South, but North-USA
Johan Galtung,
16 Sep 2008
Peace studies divide into two parts, negative and positive. Negativepeace studies are about prevention of violence, and the most promisingapproach is to solve underlying conflicts through mediation andconciliation. Positivepeace studies are about building equitable relations, not only formutual but also for equal benefit, and the most promising approachesare through cooperation, harmony and fusion into a […]
→ read full articleOn Conferences and Anti-Conferences
Johan Galtung,
15 Sep 2008
Point of Peace in Stavanger, Norway, just concluded a 3 days so-called summit conference with some Nobel Peace Prize Laureates on Alarms and Solutions; with no solutions. The themes: “Facing the Climate Challenge”, “9/11 And Then What?”, “The Challenge of Informing the Public”, and the Millennium Development Goals, MDG. Much money, much establishment, a crown […]
→ read full article10 Steps to Millennium Development Goals
Johan Galtung,
8 Sep 2008
The Millennium goals by 2015 are well chosen, even laudable: [1]Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; reducing by one half those wholive on less than $1 a day and those who are starving. [2] Ensure that all boys and girls complete elementary school. [3] Promote gender equality and empower women; removing the proportion difference of girls […]
→ read full article12 Approaches to Global Warming
Johan Galtung,
1 Sep 2008
There is much talk about global warming, and rightly so. But we need concrete ideas about moving from talk to action, possibly with two concerns lurking in the back of the mind: What is the human-generated percentage, as opposed to giant cosmic processes; and where is the good laboratory simulation? How much of this is […]
→ read full articleSpirituality and Peace
Johan Galtung,
25 Aug 2008
Our world is clearly missing something, in fact much, in its efforts to achieve peace. And one of them is expressed by the word “spirituality”, about as overused as the word “peace” precisely because they both embody so many of our dreams. Having spent much time demystifying peace (50 Years: 25 Intellectual Landscapes Explored, TRANSCEND […]
→ read full articleEnergy Conversion and Its Discontents
Johan Galtung,
18 Aug 2008
There is much talk about energy and it conversion these days. Actually, as the sum of energy is constant, it is about conversion from one form to the other, like thermal energy stored in oil-gas-coal, or kinetic energy from moving water and wind to electric energy, bio-mass energy to thermal energy, etc. There are problems, […]
→ read full articleCaucasus: The Powder Keg at Work
Johan Galtung,
11 Aug 2008
In 2003, from a TRANSCEND perspective on Caucasus (50 Years: 100 Peace & Conflict Perspectives, TRANSCEND University Press 2008, chapter 39c, see also chapter 64): TRANSCEND was asked in June 1997 to explore possible ways out for the (South) Caucasian situation. As nothing along the lines suggested (broadly speaking, a Caucasian Community for the 3 […]
→ read full articleThe Host Country/Immigrant Contract
Johan Galtung,
4 Aug 2008
A sad drama is unfolding in one European countryafter the other: higher barriers for immigrants, and for citizenship. Denmark, today one of the least tolerant countries, has an exam inDanish facts and values, Germany and France are planning the same,Norway’s opposition party, probably in government next year, iscontemplating; as opposed to Sweden, with citizenship automatic […]
→ read full articlePerfide Albion And Grand Strategy
Johan Galtung,
28 Jul 2008
Like today, Anglo-America (A-A) faced two major challenges in Europe in the first between-wars period: communism from Lenin took power in 1917, and nazism from Hitler was given power in 1933. The latter was a geo-political challenge with Germany demanding revision of Versailles, Neuordnung in Europe with Lebensraum–a New Order and space–as did Italy more […]
→ read full articleG8 and Global Pollution
Johan Galtung,
14 Jul 2008
There are figures in the air. CNN’s Todd Benjaminpointed out that the G8 countries account for 50% of the world wealth,but major developing countries for 70% of the world growth. And AlJazeera estimated the G8 share at 48% some years ago, now down to 43%,whereas-because major developing countries’ share has risen from 12% to27%, like […]
→ read full articleHousing, Food, Oil – What Next
Johan Galtung,
7 Jul 2008
“You see, this is a buying-and-selling car, not a driving car!”, the Chilean said as he wrapped the car I had sold him in plastic. I had used it, as a UNESCO expert, and did like they all do (the standard excuse): had a garage make it look new, and pocketed the difference. Seller and […]
→ read full articleCold War I and II – Solutions Anyone?
Johan Galtung,
30 Jun 2008
Cold War-I, say 1949-1989, came and went. Whathappened? Cold War-II started mid-1990s, building on the ruins of ColdWar-I and is now building up. What will happen? Anything to learn? Whatwas Cold War-I about? Reading the rhetoric of the time byestablishment and anti-establishment we might believe it was about armsrace in general, nuclear arms in particular, […]
→ read full articleThe West and Islam
Johan Galtung,
23 Jun 2008
We have been there before, many times. The West, particularly the United Kingdom-Britain-England, have attacked Islam after the massive Christian attack known as the Crusades. By no means forgetting the Omayyad Islamic attack on the Iberian peninsula and close to 800 years occupation up to Poitiers in France, nor the Ottoman expansion into Southeastern Europe […]
→ read full articleNOBAMA?
Johan Galtung,
16 Jun 2008
He held his cards close to his breast, this Barack Obama. Rather than talking program he talked Change and Together, and his incredible charisma did the rest. Now a nominee. But cards must be shown. Democracy is about transparency, including of what the candidates stand for. He is surrounded by advisors, there are leaks, and […]
→ read full articleThe May 1968 Revolution 40 Years Later
Johan Galtung,
2 Jun 2008
I will never forget that day. There was the standard French ritual: barricades, cobblestones, cars, buses even, turned over, tires burning, tear gas, CRS police in full gear, and hordes of students jumping from car to car to get away from the drifting clouds. One sensed 1789-1830-1948-1870/71. And strikes, grève. But then it changed tonality […]
→ read full articleA Vision for Sudan
Johan Galtung,
26 May 2008
Dear friends in peace, Peace Be Upon You, Sala’am Aleikum! My task at the end of this very impressive conference with 150 participants here in Hermansburg on the Lüneburger Heide is to fly above the nitty-gritty of failing implementations of the many peace agreements, report the visions, and indicate possible solutions that have been tried […]
→ read full articleThinking Colombia
Johan Galtung,
19 May 2008
What a brilliant idea! The Senate of the República and the Universidad Nacional organize Thursday meetings in the Congress on how to think about Colombia, opened by president Alvaro Uribe, the president of the Congress, Nancy Gutiérrez, and then a foreigner, this author, amply covered by the press and TV channels. Many countries might benefit […]
→ read full articleIsrael at Sixty
Johan Galtung,
12 May 2008
Casalmonferrato 09 May 2008 The synagogue in this rather remote little town, in the middle of the Milano-Genova-Torino triangle, dates from 1735. They came here, Spanish Jews, expelled by that primordial ethnic cleansing, at the hands of the Spanish reyes católicos Ferdinand and Isabella, from 1492 onwards. Moros, Jews, heretics, or all those suspected thereof; […]
→ read full articleCatastrophes, Aid and Peace Politics
Johan Galtung,
5 May 2008
Four natural catastrophes have touched our hearts theselast years: the tsunami hitting the coastlines of the Indian Ocean; thehurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans, USA; the cyclone hitting Myanmar; and the earthquake hitting Sichuan in China. All four clearcases of natural violence, nature’s violence, against us, humanbeings. Of course, we sometimes attribute intent to Nature as revengefor […]
→ read full articleA Little Future History?
Johan Galtung,
28 Apr 2008
I have in front of me the 120 members of the SwissZulassungs-kommision who decide whether a young man who refusesmilitary service should be accepted as conscientious objector and betransferred to Zivildienst, civil service. Criteria: is theirconscience, not necessarily religious, compelling, and is the youngman’s construction of reality, from inner conscience-intentions to theouter actions-consequences contradiction-free? […]
→ read full articleThinking Conflict
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Apr 2008
In an important article in the leading Austrian newspaper Der Standard (16-17 Feb 2008), Hans Küng, the famous president of the World Ethos Foundation, calls for more than “change” from a new US president. He calls for basic change, guided by a new ethos. And Küng gives a number of examples of misguided policies by […]
→ read full articleThe Democratic Illusion
Johan Galtung,
14 Apr 2008
Democracy is about people choosing leaders who areaccountable downward, to the people. So, what kind of leaders do wechoose? Not too impressive in the Western democracies. George W. Bush obviously suffers from a mental disorder, some kind ofautism, living in his own bubble, repeating the same message offreedom–even saying that his criterion for success is […]
→ read full articleTibet
Johan Galtung,
7 Apr 2008
All over the same story: nations imprisoned in statesagainst their will, wanting freedom-independence-autonomy, like forTibet, the “Xizang autonomous region” next toNepal-India-Bhutan-Myanmar; – once–like Samis in Norway–primitivehunter-gatherers and then traditional agriculturalists, united by the5th Dalai Lama in 1642; – then the Big conqueror/civilizer, the Qing Chinese dynasty, came in1720 and occupied till the Qing collapse in […]
→ read full articleThe Crime Against the Serbs: Kosova Independence
Johan Galtung,
10 Mar 2008
That the USA was the first out to recognize the break-away state was to be expected. From a country devoid of historical understanding but filled with the solid egocentrism of oil pipelines, with an enormous base, Camp Bondsteel, at Urosevac near Pristina, as a part of the encirclement of Russia-China, so militarist that they could […]
→ read full article50 Years of Fidel
Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Mar 2008
Late 1958, 50 years ago, the revolution won, Batista fled, Fidel and his brother Raúl entered Habana early 1959. The rest is history. Castro’s resignation as President is a mini-event. He has put his mark on the history of Cuba, Latin America, the whole world. He has survived politically 10 US presidents (5 even serving […]
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