What do you associate with Colombia? Biodiversity? The writer Gabriel García Márquez? The painter Fernando Botero? Or do you think of the world's main source of cocaine, the country with the highest rates of killing and kidnapping, the site of a multi-sided war that has now lasted nearly 40 years?
The point of dedicating this section of Peace News to Colombia is partly to show some of the processes at work behind the headlines, and more still to show what people - Colombians…
Although the US may have been racheting up international tensions over North Korea in recent months, this has not stopped representatives from both North and South Korea getting together to chat about economics. In early November representatives from both countries met in Pyongyang for four days of talks.
In October North Korea made a “nuclear confession”: that it has been enriching uranium to support a nuclear weapons program. But the government in the south maintains that…
In this book, Danilo Zolo offers “an interpretation of the `humanitarian war' waged by nineteen NATO countries against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999”. In so doing, he paints a depressing (but perhaps unsurprising) picture of political manoeuvrings, hypocrisy and double-dealings that are enough to get the word “humanitarian” a bad name. The fact that it takes place against the background of the genuine suffering of the people of Kosova serves only to make it all…
With the classical meaning of a “diplomat is one who listens and reads twice”, I've been diplomatic with this book and diplomacy has paid.
I underestimated the book when I first read it and appreciated it better after going through it twice. Initially I was put off by some inaccuracies of fact and deficiencies of judgement when referring to Colombian history. Soon I came to value the usefulness of the overviews mainly for non-Colombian readers and the ability of the book to fulfil…
International and grassroots peace groups are continuing to urge strong action to defuse the escalating tension between Pakistan and India over Kashmir - mostly out of fear for an “accidental” launch of a nuclear weapon.
The Kashmir flashpoint is the most dangerous nuclear threat in the world today, according to the Movement in India for Nuclear Disarmament (MIND), a New Delhi-based peace group. This is because the temptation to use nuclear weapons is the greatest during war or near-…
Since the violent breakdown in February of the three-year-old peace talks, Colombians have been plunged into yet another round of skirmishes and killings.
From the Colombian state military's massive bombing raids on the demilitarised zone and unofficial support for right-wing paramilitary groups, to FARC's supposedly accidental killing of hundreds of civilians during combat, Colombians are experiencing intensified military activity across the country on a scale not seen for several…
This book was first published in 1961, when the Cold War was in full swing. Not surprisingly, it is a product of its time. It was written with the clear conviction that a nuclear war of catastrophic proportions was highly likely within ten years unless something radical was done to prevent it. A lack of faith in most of the politicians of the day is evident throughout. Consequently, one of the principal themes of the book is that an international government of some kind is required in order…
Diana Francis' book appears at a time when it seems almost impossible to stop the war-machine. In the face of this reality, her book gives us some hope that people determined to achieve lasting peace can make a difference.
It is fascinating and instructive to see how she handles both uncertainties and certainties and how she extends the scope of conflict transformation by introducing nonviolence not only as a means but also as a philosophy and a way of life.
She…
War's Offensive on Women catalogues the failure of the international humanitarian community to address the needs - and rights - of women in war, and provides that community with concrete recommendations for respecting women's human rights in war.
Mertus makes a useful addition to the debate on gender-sensitive approaches to both the protection of refugees and internally displaced persons, and the administration of humanitarian and development assistance.
Identifying…
A small group of Cypriot women, calling themselves “Hands Across the Divide”, has started actively campaigning for peace in Cyprus. They have to communicate by email, because face to face meetings between people living in north and south Cyprus are so difficult to achieve.
Since 1974, the island of Cyprus has been divided by a barbed-wire fence, which runs from coast to coast and through the heart of the principal city of Nicosia. This UN partition line was set up during a period of…
For two years, with a small break of a couple of months, our human rights organisation “Soldiers Mothers of St Petersburg has held a picket every Thursday on Nevskij Prospekt, where members of the group gather opposite the Kazanski Cathedral.
With banners like: “Peace in Chechnya” , “I am against war, and you?” , “From war to reconciliation” , “Forgive us Chechnya” , and “You can t stop terrorism by using terrorism” , we protest against war in general and against the war in…
For more than 20 years, Colombia has been caught up in a brutal conflict between political opponents. On the left, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and other groups have conducted guerilla warfare against the government since the mid-1960s. Unlike other insurgents in the region who were dependent on support from the Soviet bloc, the Colombian “revolution” has been self-financed through kidnapping for ransom, extortion, and by “taxing” coca producers and cocaine exporters.…
Here is an interesting question for you: how does the military protect its soldiers from chemical weapons? The answer, of course, is by exposing them to these toxic gases in “controlled” experiments, as “human guinea pigs”.
Since the British Government opened the “chemical warfare experimental establishment” at Porton Down in 1916, it is estimated that some 30,000 military personnel have been used in such tests.
Porton scientists also conducted these test on themselves. Tests…
The twentieth century has ended up with a dark account of violence and of wars all over the world. After the horrors of World War II it seemed that the situation had to change, that it was not possible to continue with the way things were going. Looking back, clearly it was able go on.
Quite a long time ago we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the International Human Rights Declaration. Amnesty International's report for 2001 says that - according to the information they have been…
Dr Bertell believes it is vital for peace workers to be responsible for communicating knowledge, in every way possible, and also to be willing to seek out information, particularly from those most affected by policies and events. This book is a major contribution to this important exchange.
In Planet Earth, the internationally respected scientist states that the most urgent problem facing humanity really is how to sustain Earth, our life-support system. She goes on to say that we…
