Fredrik S. Heffermehl (1938-2023)

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION .

An article by  Peter van den Dungen in World Beyond War

Norwegian peace activist and lawyer who waged a long campaign against the Norwegian Nobel Committee for not respecting the will of Alfred Nobel.
A growing unease that the persons Alfred Nobel had in mind as deserving winners of his peace prize were losing out and that the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decisions were often failing to respect Nobel’s intentions (as expressed in his will), led Norwegian lawyer and peace activist Fredrik S. Heffermehl to start a campaign to oblige the Committee to bring its awards more in line with the requirements of the will. With considerable justification he argued that successive Committees had never undertaken a legal analysis of it (as regards the prize for peace) or considered the circumstances which had given rise to the prize.

Heffermehl, who has died at his home near Oslo on 21 December (only weeks after celebrating his 85th birthday on 11th November), was a leading member of the Norwegian peace movement, of the International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms (IALANA), and one-time vice-president of the International Peace Bureau (1910 Nobel laureate). As an active supporter of many public campaigns concerning the abolition of war, disarmament, peaceful conflict resolution, strengthening of the United Nations and international law, and global cooperation, he was well aware that the lack of funding inevitably limited the extent and success of such efforts in which mobilisation of large numbers of people is dependent on raising awareness, inspiring hope, and encouraging engagement. The contrast with the military establishment and the vast resources at its disposal could not be greater. This now consists of an increasingly out of control Juggernaut, the military-industrial complex that U. S. President Dwight Eisenhower (a World War II four-star general) had warned against in his 1961 farewell address to the American people. At the end of the 19th century Alfred Nobel had predicted a return to barbarity within a few decades if the powers that be failed to reform the international system so that recourse to war was no longer an option. Both world wars, and the countless wars since then and continuing today, have confirmed his premonition. For the second year in succession, the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists stands ominously at ninety seconds to midnight – a time of unprecedented danger.

The questions of what is peace, and who deserves what is widely regarded as the world’s most prestigious prize, are raised every October when the Norwegian Nobel Committee announces the name(s) of the new laureate(s). Another opportunity for further debate presents itself two months later when the award ceremony takes place in Oslo on 10th December, the day when Alfred Nobel died in 1896. The prize for what he called ‘champions of peace’ is one of five annual prizes that the Swedish inventor and successful entrepreneur included in his last will and testament drawn up the previous year. The will specified that most of his enormous wealth should be invested in a fund, the interest on which should be used to annually award prizes to those who have conferred ‘the greatest benefit on mankind’. Unlike the prizes for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature, the prize for peace was (and remains) controversial. Heffermehl was its most severe, persistent and passionate critic while also being the most eloquent interpreter of what the prize should have been and still could be.

There was already dismay among those in the know in 1901 (when the first prize was awarded) that Frédéric Passy, the grand old man of the French and international peace movement, had to share the prize with Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross. The will specified that the peace prize should go to ‘the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses’. Although the work of the Red Cross is highly meritorious, whether it meets the criteria specified by Nobel is highly debatable. The prize was not meant for helping victims of war, but for efforts leading to its abolition. The same is true for awards that have honoured work promoting, e.g., human rights, freedom of the press, labour relations, food security, care for the environment.

It cannot be doubted that Nobel was greatly influenced by his friendship with the Austrian baroness Bertha von Suttner, author of the bestselling anti-war novel, Lay down your arms (1889) that was translated into most European languages. She wrote the novel after having learnt of the existence of a peace society (the International Arbitration and Peace Association, created in London in 1880 by Hodgson Pratt), in order to bring more people into the peace movement. Soon, she herself became a famous and highly respected leader of it. Money is the sinews of war, and she pleaded with Nobel that it was also the sinews of peace. She founded the Austrian Peace Society, co-founded the German Peace Society and was much involved in the annual conferences of the international peace movement that were held in the quarter century before World War I. Nobel frequently replied positively to her request for funding without which she would have been unable to pursue her work. In her penultimate letter, after Nobel had mentioned his poor health, she urged him to continue his support ‘even from beyond the grave’. It was widely known at the time that Nobel’s posthumous support for the peace movement (through the creation of a peace prize) was due to Bertha von Suttner who was widely expected to be the first recipient. She had to wait until 1905.

In a remarkable campaign stretching back nearly two decades and documented in many articles and several books (English editions in 2010 and 2023), Heffermehl argued that Nobel’s prize was meant to support the peace movement and also to allow young and talented idealists who were working towards a world without war not to have to worry about earning a living as well. In his most recent and highly original book, The Real Nobel Peace Prize: A Squandered Opportunity to Abolish War (see https://realnobelpeace.org/), he examined every award, and all nominations received by the Committee, through this lens, making extensive use of its archives.

(Article continued in the column on the right)

Questions related to this article:

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

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His meticulous research resulted in a list in which more than half of all laureates (including presidents and foreign ministers) have been replaced by leading promoters of peace and international law. He demonstrated how, again and again, promising ideas and initiatives promoting disarmament, demilitarisation and the abolition of war have been overlooked in favour of work promoting, e.g., Norwegian foreign policy, or concerning areas which have only a tenuous link to the pursuit of world peace and a new global order of cooperation, not confrontation. Heffermehl also showed decisively that the Committee could not have been more wrong when, on fifteen occasions (excluding the years of World War II when Norway was occupied), it decided to make no award on the spurious ground that no candidate was considered qualified. There are no instances of this disreputable practice after 1972.

Heffermehl’s middle name was Stang; he was related to Fredrik Stang, a law professor who was also a leading politician as well as a chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee for almost two decades (1921-1940). Heffermehl attended the annual Nobel peace prize ceremony in Oslo for the first time in 1964 when Martin Luther King delivered his Nobel lecture. He was routinely invited to all ceremonies in future years but this came to an abrupt end when he started his campaign after having carefully examined Nobel’s testament. As recounted in great detail in his most recent book, he found the best peace ideas and people in the archives of the Norwegian Nobel Committee (because of the fifty-year secrecy rule, Heffermehl could only consult them for the period from 1901 until the early 1970s). However, they were often overlooked or deliberately sidelined when it came to choosing laureates. Although the United Nations was established ‘to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war’ – which was also the objective of Bertha von Suttner and Alfred Nobel – that promise remains unfulfilled. The belief in security by military power continues to reign supreme, even in the nuclear age. A former Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman, Heffermehl observed that what he often found missing in the military sector was consumer protection. While arms and weapons are the most profitable of all markets, he found little truth in its promises of security. Indeed, he argued that the arms industry is selling solutions to problems that it actively creates. Nations respond to fear of other nations by making themselves more frightening, guaranteeing an endless upward spiral in both cost and danger.

Arguably Heffermehl had an over-optimistic view of the potential of the peace prize to materially contribute to the abolition of war (as long as it was awarded in accordance with the founder’s intentions). As he put it succinctly and memorably, ‘the prize that should have been and the world that could have been’.

More than ever, survival in the atomic era necessitates ‘the reduction and abolition of standing armies’ that Nobel stipulated and putting recourse to war (now with weapons of mass destruction) beyond the law. It is thanks to Heffermehl’s campaign that during the past fifteen years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee developed the habit of justifying its choice of laureate by indicating how it fulfils Alfred Nobel’s mandate – even though this frequently amounts to paying lip-service only. As part of his campaign, Heffermehl compiled every year a list of individuals and organisations known to have been nominated and entitled, in his estimation, to receive the prize. He criticised the secrecy surrounding the nomination process and encouraged greater transparency and wider participation. He also took issue with the selection process of the five members of the Committee: whereas knowledge of, interest in, and support for the peace movement should have been a condition to qualify for membership, these attributes have rarely been in evidence. Members are appointed by a committee of the Norwegian parliament in a way that reflects its political composition; membership of the Committee is regarded as a badge of honour but does not necessarily imply expertise. For a long time, members of the Committee were not only members of parliament but at times also prime minister, or foreign minister leading Heffermehl to quip, ‘The managers of the Norwegian military also managed the prize to abolish the military’.

Although the Committee dismissed his campaign as one man’s misguided obsession based on a misreading of Nobel’s will, he enjoyed the support of many legal scholars from Norway and beyond, and even from former justices of the Norwegian Supreme Court, including a former Chief Justice. It goes without saying that his campaign was also supported by leading representatives of the global peace and disarmament movement who, like Bertha von Suttner, are dependent on financial support without which progress is hard to achieve. Against the Committee, Heffermehl also drew on the fascinating private diaries of Gunnar Jahn, a jurist and leading politician, who was a member of the Committee for almost thirty years and who served as its chairperson for a quarter of a century (1941-1966). In his earlier book, The Nobel Peace Prize: What Nobel Really Wanted (2010), Heffermehl included long extracts, translated for the first time from the Norwegian, showing that on several occasions Jahn threatened to resign because he could not countenance the choice of candidate by fellow members. On such occasions, Jahn justified his unease, and preference for another laureate, by explicitly referring to the terms of Nobel’s will and finding that his colleagues were instead putting forward a candidate whose otherwise praiseworthy work had little to do with peace in the understanding of Alfred Nobel. In his diary Jahn complained that the other committee members were not the least interested when he mentioned Nobel.

In his forensic examination of Nobel’s will, Heffermehl was also able to draw on the insight of Ragnvald Moe, a long-serving secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. In a book that was unusual in tracing the history of the Nobel peace prize and of the peace movement from 1896 to 1930 (published in 1932 in French), Moe noted the changes Nobel had made pertaining to the prize for peace in his final testament compared with the previous version and concluded that they ‘more adequately cover the various aspects of the peace movement in the 1890s’.

Very recently Heffermehl’s campaign achieved an astounding climax when a former chairman of the Committee (2009-2015) declared that Nobel’s understanding of peace (and ‘champions of peace’) should be the guiding principle of the Committee and poses restrictions on the nature of the work that can be considered for the award. He is the prominent politician, Thorbjørn Jagland, a former Norwegian prime minister and foreign minister. In 2009 he combined the posts as Nobel committee chair and president of parliament, and afterwards combined being a committee member and secretary general of the Council of Europe. In his memoirs (2021), he wrote that ‘there can be no doubt that Alfred Nobel wanted the world to overcome nationalism and militarism. A new world order had to develop – he wanted to do something with the world. It is clear that the criteria in the will are restrictions on who the prize can be awarded to. It cannot be given to all people of good will who wish the best for humanity. The winners of the award must have a clear agenda which can be said to lead towards the goal of the abolition of militarism and nationalism and the formation of a new international order’. Heffermehl quoted Jagland’s words in his speech at an event in central Oslo last November launching The Real Nobel Peace Prize and rightly claimed that he had now an ally with impeccable credentials. It may well be that Jagland, eventually, had been persuaded by the case so tenaciously pursued by Heffermehl. Heffermehl said, ‘I wish to declare my war of sixteen years with the Nobel awarders over. We can proceed on the basis of a common interpretation’. It is ironic that only a few weeks later he passed away at this crucial turning point. It remains to be seen whether his campaign will have had a lasting impact on future decisions of the Nobel Committee.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global

Book review: The Real Nobel Prize

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

A CPNN book review

Frederik Heffermehl begins his book, “The Real Nobel Prize” with the words from the testament of Alfred Nobel: a prize “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for creating the brotherhood of nations, for the abolition of reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

Nobel tasked the Norwegian parliament to establish a five-member committee to award the prize.

The internal committee’s archives are available until 50 years ago, and for more recent years Heffermehl examined the reports from consultants and the committee’s shortlist to determine if Nobel’s intentions were respected. “It was a daunting task. The material is enormous. Fortunately, the Nobel Foundation, at its website nobelprize.org, presents all laureates with a short essence of the reasons – under Facts.”

Considering the choices made by this committee over the years, Heffermehl says, “No doubt, the Norwegian committee has honored many fine people and purposes, humanitarian aid, democracy, resource conservation, the fight against poverty and child labor, for the environment, climate, human rights, education” but these do not correspond to Nobel’s testament as expressed above. Heffermehl concludes that only 36 awards over the 134 years pass the test.

If his Nobel’s will had been carried out correctly in recent years, Heffermehl argues that the prize could have gone to the following nominees:

2020: Federico Mayor, who created the Culture of Peace Programme at UNESCO.

2021: Julian Assange, who distributed to the world press “a huge and horrifying amount of revealing documents on US diplomacy and war crimes in Asia.”

2022: Alfred de Zayas, who “has become a leading, most prolific defender of improving global co-operation and “Building a Just World Order”, the title of his latest book.

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Question for this article:

What are the most important books about the culture of peace?

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Instead, the prize in 2020 went to the World Food Programme “for its efforts to combat hunger.”

The prize in 2021 went to Maria Ressa (Philippines) and Dmitry Muratov (Russia) “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression.” As Heffermehl says, “In 2021 the committee had several nominations asking it to help stop the probably deadliest onslaught against media feedom in human history”, e.g. Assange, “but the committee did not wish to embarass the US war machine. . . ”

In 2022, the prize went to three human rights advocates, Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, Memorial from Russia, and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties. “As was the case in 2021, all three laureates were financed generously by a tool for the US secret services, the National Endowment for Democracy. They used their acceptance speeches to ‘parrot US State Department:Pentagon talking points’, even directly asking the the Norwegian government for weapons. . . the prize was used to take sides in an ongoing war, instead of against all war and war culture.”

As a Norwegian citizen and scholar concerning the Nobel Prize, Heffermehl has tried to correct the work of the Nobel Prize Committee. He first published his critique in 2007. The first official response came in June 2008 from the speaker of the Norwegian parliament who argued that “Parliament has no power to instruct the Nobel committee.” A few months later he became a member of the committee.

Over the years, Heffermehl has continued to request the Parliament to nominate committee members who would respect Nobel’s testament, and several times he has been joined in his request by other specialists. However, the Parliament even voted against the idea that Nobel’s intention should count in the election of members for the Nobel Committee.

One should not give up, however, and the book provides an appendix on how to nominate, and how to get nominated for the Nobel Prize.

At the end of the book, after listing his many acknowledgements, Heffermehl concludes, “My warmest thanks . . . to the inspiring line-up of peacemakers I discovered in the archives of the Nobel Committee. It has been heartbeaking to follow how our society, blinded by militarism, so far has been unable to benefit from their wisdom and unselfish dedication to our common security and survival.”

– – –

(Editor’s note: On December 12, two months ago, Frederik Heffermehl sent me an email, saying “Thanks for the fine contribution to the Vijay Mehta and David Swanson talk on the net Saturday. I think you should consider my latest book as a very useful tool for peace education and creating awareness of the vast and varied movement for a fundamental change of attitude to weapons and war – launched a month ago: The Real Nobel Peace Prize. I would like to send you a copy – but then will need your postal address.” In reply I sent him my address and then received a copy of his book in the post. I then wrote the above review and sent it to him for his additions and corrections. But I did not receive a reply, and recently learned that he died on December 23. An article about his life is reprinted here on CPNN.)

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, global

Press Release: Peace Starts Here – The Global Movement For Local Peacebuilders

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

A press release from Peace Starts Now

Today (January 31), a cohort of local peacebuilders from around the world launch Peace Starts Here, a global movement for peacebuilders. The campaigners are inviting people to sign a manifesto demanding that local peacebuilders be seen, heard, and better supported locally and globally. 

Peace Starts Here will highlight the effectiveness and necessity of local peacebuilding, while calling for more international support and educating the bigger system about the realities of local peacebuilding. It will also galvanise a movement for change in the sector.


Through a manifesto for change, this campaign aims to ignite a movement that will change the status quo. With five separate asks, the manifesto centres local peacebuilders, and calls on the wider sector to ensure they are supported to lead:

° Make space for local peacebuilders – Create more inclusive ways for local peacebuilders to lead, shape and influence the peace process in their regions.

° Fund more local peacebuilding efforts – Remove the barriers to funding for all genuine grassroots peacebuilding initiatives making a difference for local people, and proactively channel resources to local peacebuilders in communities closest to conflict.

° Support and strengthen local peacebuilders – Build the capacity and resilience of local peacebuilders so they can participate in sustainable peacebuilding and build trust with policymakers, funders and donors.

° Centre peacebuilding around local people – Invest in more human-centred, collaborative, and community-led approaches to global peacebuilding efforts, encouraging local peacebuilders to play an active role in decolonising the role of global actors.

° Learn from local peacebuilders – Promote successful local peacebuilding initiatives to aid learning, insight-sharing and collaboration in the wider peacebuilding sector.

Join the movement today by sharing your thoughts on the asks and signing the manifesto.

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Question related to this article:

How can we develop the institutional framework for a culture of peace?

(Article continued from left column)

Backed by Peace Direct and now with the added support of United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY) and Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP) Peace Starts Here is for local peacebuilders and by local peacebuilders.

Diana Ishaqat, one of the campaign’s co-creators and local peacebuilder, says:
“We are calling for the recognition of local voices for peace. It is us who navigate the consequences of conflict and violence; it is us who should lead in building long-lasting peace. This is the real story of peace, told by local peacebuilders. It starts with them. It starts with their work. It starts in their communities.”

Visit www.peacestartshere.world  to read about the co-creators behind this campaign, their journey and the manifesto asks.

Notes for editors:

° Peace Starts Here is a global campaign created by 10 peacebuilders from around the world

° For the past year, ten local peacebuilders from around the world have worked together to co-create a global movement to improve recognition and support for local peacebuilders. Together, they drafted a manifesto for change based on their experience of the peacebuilding sector, particularly their experience of the marginalisation of local perspectives in international discourse

° The idea of a co-created global campaign began in Beirut, Lebanon in August 2018. Peace Direct’s Peace Exchange event brought together a group of peacebuilders from around the world to discuss how to best resolve conflict in their communities and build sustainable peace. During one of these conversations, the idea of a locally-led, global campaign was born

° The campaign creation phase was facilitated by Peace Direct, an international peacebuilding NGO, InsightPact and creative agency Neo.

Contact details:

° Luis Alvarado Bruzual, Campaign Co-Creator, Caracas, Venezuela – luisalvarado528@gmail.com (GMT -4hrs

° Diana Ishaqat, Campaign Co-Creator, Beijing, China – dianaishaqat@hotmail.com (GMT +8hrs)

° Ruth Mileham, Peace Direct, London, UK – ruth.mileham@peacedirect.org (GMT)

° Amal Atrakouti, Peace Direct, Montreal, Canada – amal.atrakouti@peacedirect.org (GMT -5hrs)

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, global

Powerful Protest Against Racism Sweeps Germany

. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An article from Common Dreams ( licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Up to 300,000 people took to the rainy streets of Berlin, Germany on Saturday as nationwide protests against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Protests were also taking place in dozens of other cities such as Freiburg, Dresden, Hannover, and Mainz, a sign of growing alarm at growing support for the AfD.


Video of protest

Under the slogan “We are the Firewall” — a reference to the longstanding taboo against collaborating with the far right in German politics — protesters turned the space next to the Bundestag, or national parliament, into a sea of signs, flags, and umbrellas.

“All together against racism,” the crowd in Berlin shouted. Some held posters that said “Heart instead of hate” or “Racism is not an alternative.”

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Question related to this article:
 
Are we making progress against racism?

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The new wave of mobilization against Alternative for Germany (AfD) was ignited by a January report by investigative outlet Correctiv. It revealed that AfD members had discussed the expulsion of immigrants and “non-assimilated citizens” at a meeting with extremists.

The report sent shockwaves across Germany at a time when the AfD was soaring in opinion polls, months ahead of three major regional elections in eastern Germany where their support was strongest.

“We absolutely must not allow the stories that we experienced in 1930 or even back in the 1920s to happen again … We must do everything we can to prevent that,” said Jonas Schmidt, who came from the western port city of Bremen told the Associated Press. “That’s why I’m here.”

Kathrin Zauter, another protester, called the strong attendance “really encouraging.”

“This encourages everyone and shows that we are more — we are many,” she said.

Jakob Springfeld, the spokesman for the NGO Solidarity Network Saxony, said he was shocked that it had taken such a long time for mass demonstrations against the far-right, given the AfD had been successful in many smaller communities already. “But there’s a jolt now. And the fact that the jolt is coming provides hope, I believe.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised the protests, writing in a Saturday post on the social media platform X that citizens’ presence at the gatherings is “a strong sign for democracy and our constitution.”

“In small and big cities across the country, citizens are coming together to demonstrate against forgetting, against hate and incitement,” he added.

Europe, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

The Culture of Peace – Utopia or Alternative Security Policy?

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

Received at CPNN by email

Is it possible to see the UNESCO/UN culture of peace program as a blueprint for a feminist, non-violent security policy? Are there alternatives to war and militarisation, or is the culture of peace just utopia? Can a more pacifist view help us out of the increasing horrors of war?

These are questions that Ingeborg Breines, a former UNESCO director and president of the International Peace Bureau, raises in her new book The Culture of Peace – Utopia or Alternative Security Policy? published May 2023, by the Orkana Publishing House, Stamsund/Oslo. The publication, which is written in Norwegian, has gotten good reviews. It consists of 416 pages in hard cover and includes rich reference material and some illustrations.

The publication has three parts. The introduction describes the intentions of the author and the challenges facing the culture of peace vision. (See attached table of contents.) The author argues both for peace on earth and peace with the earth. Drawing on her background she challenges the old thinking that “Si vis pacem, para bellum/If you want peace, prepare for war”. For the survival of humanity it is considered urgent to develop a new paradigm and new structures and practices underlining that “If you want peace, prepare for peace”!

Part I describes the culture of peace program of UNESCO/UN – the origin, the process, the vision, the goals, the partners, the hopes, the enthusiasm, the achievements. The author brings to the forefront a series of guiding documents, inspiring projects and publications such as the International Year for a Culture of Peace, the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World, the Manifesto 2000 on a Culture of Peace, the Seville Declaration on Violence, the Statement on Women’s Contribution to a Culture of peace, the Declaration on the Right to Peace and not least the Constitution of UNESCO with its emphasis on international intellectual and ethical cooperation and its credo: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that defences for peace must be constructed” .

Part II highlights factors that hinder the culture of peace to take roots, notably the broad and growing militarization, not only of society but also of the human mind. The author argues that humanity is facing three alarming existential crises: (i) the climate and environmental catastrophe, (ii) the growing gap between the “haves” and the “have- nots”, and (iii) the nuclear arms threat. She considers that the military-industrial complex seriously – economically, ecologically and ethically – stand in the way of finding innovative and sustainable solutions to the challenges facing humanity.

Part III presents an holistic approach to peace-building based on the eight pillars of the UNESCO/UN culture of peace program: (i) Learn to live together, (ii) Promote sustainable social and economic development, (iii) Promote respect for human rights, (iv) Secure equality between women and men, (v) Foster democratic participation, (vi) Foster understanding, tolerance and solidarity, (vii) Promote free flow of information and knowledge, (viii) Foster international peace and security, with special emphasis on pillar one on education and pillar eight on peace-building.

Part III contains descriptions of relevant international structures and institutions, both within the UN system and regional and sub-regional, as well as peace building projects and ideas, including from the international peace movement and visionary individuals. Seen together, the publication provides both important knowledge and suggestions for an effective transition from a culture of war and violence towards cultures of peace and non-violence.

Blurb

Military expenditure was reduced in the period between the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the attack on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001 and many people started to hope that finally the world’s military and political resources would be used for welfare instead of warfare. UNESCO developed a global program for a culture of peace that got broad and enthusiastic support. Individuals, organisations, institutions and countries contributed to the development of the vision of a culture of peace and got inspiration, energy and sense of community and meaning. The UN, both in a visionary and hopeful way, put the culture of peace as the headline for the new millennium.

But the war against terror changed everything. Also Norway participated in wars in countries where we had no controversies. Fear, enemy images and suspicion were created – again. The climate- and environmental crisis is threatening both humanity and the planet. A worldwide pandemic has further aggravated poverty, violence against women and social unrest.

The war in Ukraine has brought the horrors of war closer to us. Could it lead to disgust for all war, for war as an option? Could the vision and experience of a culture of peace help us stand against a dominating and desperate belief that weapons, ever more numerous, ever more lethal and potentially capable of full extinction of humanity, and that it is necessary in order to build peace and justice? Is the time ripe for acknowledging that it is only through disarmament and détente that we can manage to meet the ecological and social challenges facing us?

This book is a contribution to the strengthening of the world’s fragile peace architecture and gives suggestions as to how a culture of peace may be build through education, diplomacy, dialogue, democracy, justice, gender equality, art, culture and sound common sense.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface
Introduction

Part I – FROM IDEA TO A CULTURE OF PEACE PROGRAM

° The dream of peace and the fight for a world organisation
° Utopia
° The vision
° The League of Nations
° The UN
° UNESCO and the Culture of Peace
– The vision of a culture of peace – a new Millennium – new hope
– The concept of a culture of peace
– The culture of peace program
– The International Year for a Culture of Peace and the UN Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence
for the Children of the World.
– Manifesto for a Culture of Peace
– Culture for peace
– Women and a culture of peace
– National culture of peace programs
– The UN High Level Forum on the Culture of Peace

PART II – WHAT IS THREATENING PEACE AND SECURITY TO-DAY?

° Corona collapse and a new security concept
° Hindrances for a culture of peace
° Military meaninglessness and powerlessness
° ”Security” or peace?
° Militarisation
° Criminalizing war
° War against terror
° Why would a rich country need an arms industry?
° Economic warfare – sanctions
° Hybrid war
° Defensive, non-aggressive defence
° Nato – beyond expiration date
° Closing down Nato
° Our “big” ally
° Star wars
° Norway says no to the UN, yes to Nato
° Russia, our neighbour
° Neighbours as friends, not foes

ENVIRONMENT- AND CLIMATE CRISIS

° Anthropocentric
° Mother Earth
° Nexus environment – security
° The military and the environment
° Ecocide
° Food insecurity
° From capitalism to a new green deal

INEQUALITY AND STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE

° The billionaire report
° The social report
° Inequality between men and women

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Question for this article:

What are the most important books about the culture of peace?

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THE NUCLEAR THREAT

° How to stigmatise, delegitimize and prohibit nuclear arms.
° How many nuclear weapons exist, and where?
° Status symbol?
° It is called balance of terror?
° Usable nukes
° Enough is enough
° First use
° Nuclear weapons agreements
° The Non-proliferation Treaty
° The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear weapons, TPNW
Norway, party to the NATO strategy on nuclear weapons
The International Atomic Energy Agency – verification and dual role
° Environmental and health consequences
° Nuclear weapons and nuclear energy – Siamese twins
° Depleted uranium
° Women and nuclear weapons
° Nuclear free zones
° With the UN for nuclear disarmament and development
° Anti-nuclear arms organisations

PART III – UTOPIA OR PRAXIS? POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE SECURITY POLICY

° Mother Earth and the Matriarchy
° Rather pluralism than unilateralism
° Who do we want to be?
° World future orientation
° Meaning and happiness
° Change and transformation
° Positive thinking
° Emotional intelligence
° Getting out of fundamentalism
° The Seville Declaration on Violence
° Radical love, the ultimate goal?
° Hope
° Creativity

1 LEARN TO LIVE TOGETHER

° Education for all
° Good development requires good education
° Children on the run
° Peace education
° Disarmament education
° Methodology
° It is fun to be nice
° My history – and your history
° What is the situation for peace education in Norwegian schools?
° How to avoid militarization in schools?
° The education of the heart
° Moral codex and ethical standards
° Pakistan – Afghanistan – examples
° To teach a culture of peace in Pakistan

2 PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

° The desired future – the UN Agenda 2030
° Food security
° Limits to growth
° To do without – what is enough?
° Finance capitalistic globalisation
° Human – humanistic – humanitarian
° Ecologic economy
° What is productive work?
° Useful, bullshit and dangerous jobs
° Converting the military industry
° Progressive taxation
° Guaranteed minimum income – basic salary – citizen’s salary
° Social contract
° Democratic multilateralism

3 PROMOTE RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

° The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
° The Human Rights Council
° Universal Periodic Review, UPR
° The International Court of Justice, ICJ
° The International Criminal Court, ICC
° International law – the duty of peace – prohibition of violence
° Humanitarian law– the international law of war
° Responsibility to Protect, R2P
° Norway, a champion of international law?
° From international law to the law of war?

4 SECURE EQUALITY BETWEEN WOMEN AND MEN

° The rights, resources and representation of women
° Gender equality is healthy
° The end of Patriarchy?
° Men and masculinities
° The rationality of care
° Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security
° Sexualized violence
° Feminism – both a tool for change and an imperative
° Feministic foreign policy

5 FOSTER DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

° Are the people allowed to rule?
° Democracy-ranking
° Direct democracy or disciplined democracy?
° Lobbying
° 99% versus 1%
° Non-hierarchical structure and local democracy
° Centralization weakens local democracy
° Military exceptions
° Thinking globally – acting locally
° Regional cooperation

6 FOSTER UNDERSTANDING, TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY

° The grey-pink race and racism
° Symbols and statues
° Longing for meaning
° Religious tolerance – interreligious understanding
° The image of God of Spinoza
° Violations, humiliations of honour and human dignity
° Ethical disposition
° Compassion

7 PROMOTE FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE

° New Information and Communication order
° Languages
° News and fake narratives
° Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Expression
° The language of peace – the language of war
° Getting rid of enemy images
° Dialogue – debate – discussion
° Whistleblowers and human rights defenders
° Peace journalism
° Women in the media – women journalists
° War and cultural industry

8 FOSTER INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY

° Peace by peaceful means
° The right to peace
° Peace as a condition for sustainable development
° Disarmament, essential, but not in vogue
° How to strengthen the political will to disarm?
° Peace race or arms race?
° Dismantling of national capacities for war
° Preventive diplomacy
° Is the UN able to unite the nations?
° Human security
° Common security
° Pacifism
° Civil obedience – civil disobedience
° Nonviolence
° Conscientious objection – civil service
° Equality in the military – on whose terms?
° Community service – new conscription
° Ministries of a culture of peace
° Peace tax
° Peace movement
° Peace research – research for peace?
° The Nobel Prize for Peace Promoters
° Nobel Summits
° Military-free and environment conscious Costa Rica – a role model

IV ANNEXES

° Bibliography
° UN days
° Acronyms

Ingeborg Breines (i.breines@gmail.com)

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, global

English bulletin February 1, 2024

. ARTISTS FOR PEACE . .

The struggle continues to stop the genocidal attacks by Israel against the people of Gaza. The International Court of Justice, responding to the complaint brought by South Africa, has issued orders to Israel to refrain from genocidal actions. Although there is no enforcement mechanism, the ruling reinforces the growing movement demanding a ceasefire.

People around the world continue to protest in solidarity with Palestine. On January 13 there were demonstrations involving up to a half million people, in Washington DC and London, as well as other demonstrations in Paris, Berlin, Rome, Johannesburg, Abuja, Tokyo, Islamabad, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Milan, Dublin, Basel, Amsterdam, Oslo, Uppsala and Tunis.

Artists are playing an important role.

With regard to the genocide against Gaza, artists have mobilized in the UK, US, South Africa, France, Qatar, Dubai, Malaysia, Canada, India, and even in Israel itself. They have staged solidarity events such as murals, exhibitions of paintings, sand sculptures, and the reading of monologues by Gazan youth. Thousands of artists have signed declarations such as that of Musicians for Palestine, Artists for Palestine UK, #MusicForACeasefire, Artists4Ceasefire, and the peace memorandum of artists in Malaysia or they have led events such as the march for peace in Paris.

Singers Mira Awad and Noa, two Israelis, one Arab, the other Jewish, are singing for peace between Israel and Palestine. In December they were featured in a concert of the Berlin Philharmonic.

150 artists, singers, dancers and actors went on stage at the Algiers Opera Boualem Bessaih on January 20 in a gala of solidarity to raise money for Palestine. The event was sold out and broadcast on television.

A special CPNN article is dedicated to the young Palestinian artist Amal Abu al-Sabah who paints murals on the rubble of buildings that have been destroyed, “in order to send a strong message that we will remain on our land and never leave it.”

Responding to the attempts of the German government to ban demonstrations of support for Palestine, hundreds of artists and cultural workers around the world signed a petition calling to boycott German cultural institutions.

Artists are mobilizing for other peace and justice initiatives as well.

In the United States, support for the Black Lives Matter movement is being played out on the major stages of dance. Choreographer Jamar Roberts’s “Ode,” a somber and sensuous dance first performed in 2019 as a response to gun violence, was restaged for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s 65th anniversary in December. Last May, Chanel DaSilva’s “Tabernacle” premiered at the Dallas Black Dance Theatre, fusing Afrofuturism, hip hop, and African dance in a direct response to BLM. And last fall, the French-Malian choreographer Smaïl Kanouté’s “Never Twenty One” made its New York debut, its title borrowed from a BLM slogan.

In Colombia, 45 Singers, poets, dancers and musicians have answered the call of the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace and created an album of music to send a message against violence: “enough is enough”. The album contains a mix of Afro-Colombian rhythms, ordinary songs and rap.

In Turkey, hundreds of artists have called for negotiations on a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question. The declaration “Let us be a voice for peace”, is signed by 564 personalities, including prominent musicians, writers, directors, actresses, photographers and painters. It includes the following statement, “We, the people of art and literature, will not stand by and watch Turkey waste another century, propose to weave together a future in which all ethnic, religious and cultural identities live freely and are not oppressed or subjected to pogroms.”

In France, 121 personalities from the cultural and intellectual world have signed an appeal in support of the Turkish declaration, including among the signatories Annie Ernaux and Edgar Morin, and the “Voice for Peace in Kurdistan” collective organized a solidarity conference in Marseille on Saturday, 13 January.

In Cuba, cultural institutions including Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry, the House of the Americas, the House of the Film Festival, the Foundation of New Latin American Cinema, the International Film School, the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, the National Ballet of Cuba, the Hermanos Saiz Association and the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba issued a declaration in support of artists from Argentina in the face of Javier Milei’s attacks on the cultural institutions of that country.

In Algeria, the National Graffiti Festival awarded first prize to the artist Fethi Mjahed for his murals that raise awareness of citizenship ad disseminate the culture of peace.

In Mexico City, the work of 12 artists is on exhibit to promote peace in their neighborhoods of the city. From the portraits made by Esteban Viveros of the people who live in the Guerrero neighborhood; to the landscapes of Jessica Islas, who denounces the burning of the forests in Xochimilco; and the collective work of Atardecer Dwsk that demonstrates that art heals the hearts of those who feel loneliness and depression, the creators seek to question prejudices about the places they inhabit.

With regard to the war in the Ukraine, CPNN readers may recall that many Russian artists, including writers and poets, musicians and music industry workers, television celebrities, hosts and showpeople, actors and actresses, filmmakers, comedians and stand-up artists, opera singers, fashion models, ballet dancers, orchestra conductors, and theater directors are among those who dared to oppose the war last year. Perhaps the most famous is Alla Pugacheva, Russia’s most beloved pop singer.

Speaking at the meeting of Turkish artists, Feyyaz Yaman from Karşı Sanat (Counter Art) expressed the urgent task confronted by artists today. “The silencing environment we are experiencing all over the world today prompts us to seek our rights. If art is to speak a critical language, then it must first weave rights and the coexistence of peoples. We invite artists to stand together against those who continuously impose a process of extermination and to claim this need. We have something to do for this, we need to produce a process of real dialogue. We have to bring together and defend the injustices we have suffered in this environment of differences on our common ground of righteousness. As those who believe in the power of art, we invite everyone to re-establish this peace.”

TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY



Gala of solidarity with the Palestinians at the Algiers Opera

HUMAN RIGHTS



BDS Movement: Act Now Against These Companies Profiting from the Genocide of the Palestinian People

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT



Wealth of five richest men doubles since 2020 as five billion people made poorer in “decade of division,” says Oxfam

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION



Rallies held worldwide as Israeli genocide in Gaza enters 100th day
  

WOMEN’S EQUALITY



The women leading the fight for peace in Palestine: Women in Black

EDUCATION FOR PEACE



The artists Mira Awad and Noa: voices for peace in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY



Wives of Russian soldiers descend on Putin campaign office to demand demobilisation

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION



Oaxaca, Mexico: State Government Promotes Culture of Peace as a Public Policy
d-education

Art for peace in Mexico City

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article by Azaneth Cruz in El Heraldo de México

“Cracks and fissures. Where peace appears” exhibits the work of 12 artists from different neighborhoods of the capital and the State of Mexico and reflects on violence

For the artist Carlos Amorales, the neighborhood is “more synonymous with community than with violence,” a reason that led him to join the mentoring of the artists who participated in the group exhibition Cracks and Fissures.


Credit: Fotos: Especial

The exhibition “Where peace appears,” continues until June of this year at the University Cultural Center (CCU) Tlatelolco. It is part of the Peace Laboratories, a project created in 2021 that seeks to contribute to cultural development, peace building and social transformation in territories affected by insecurity and violence through art.

From the portraits made by Esteban Viveros of the people who live in the Guerrero neighborhood; to the landscapes of Jessica Islas, who denounces the burning of the forests in Xochimilco; and the collective work of Atardecer Dwsk that demonstrates that art heals the hearts of those who feel loneliness and depression, the creators seek to question prejudices about the places they inhabit.

(continued in right column)

(Click here for the original Spanish version of this article.)

Question for this article:

Do the arts create a basis for a culture of peace?

Is there progress towards a culture of peace in Mexico?

(continued from left column)

“We have talked a lot about violence.

We have been talking about violence for 15 years, documenting it and experiencing it more and more closely, however, little is proposed to internalize peace, for this reason we establish different projects that are carried out in the laboratories. An example of this is this exhibition, in which 12 artists share and defend what the neighborhood means to them,” explained Paola Zavala, director of outreach at CCUTlatelolco.

He added that the exhibition: “is an invitation to the counterculture of drug trafficking, to the series, to the activities that incite violence and the objectification of women, to link young people to other successful roles that help us to the construction of communities of peace through art as a space for encounter, reflection, resistance and proposal.”

The exhibition is mentored by historian Alesha Mercado, actress and human rights defender Minerva Valenzuela, collector and architect Roberto Shimizu, curator Cuauhtémoc Medina and artists Eduardo Abaroa and Carlos Amorales.

DETAILS

Participating artists come from Xochimilco, La Merced, Iztapalapa, Magdalena Contreras and Chimalhuacán.

The CCU Tlatelolco Peace Laboratories were created in 2021.

12 artists participate.

The exhibition lasts 5 months.
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EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Decision of the International Court of Justice

. TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY . .

A blog from Mazin Qumsiyeh

Today 26 January 2024 (after 112 days of carnage), the International Court of Justice issued a decision /injunction with six provisional measures (available here ) and will continued deliberation. The six provisional measures requested are an important win for human rights and could be a game changer even as Israel tried to dismiss them and will go on with carnage.


 
Quotes from the court ruling

In light of the foregoing, the Court concludes that, prima facie, it has jurisdiction pursuant to Article IX of the Genocide Convention to entertain the case.  Given the above conclusion, the Court considers that it cannot accede to Israel’s request that the case be removed from the General List…..The Palestinians appear to constitute a distinct “national, ethnical, racial or religious group”, and hence a protected group within the meaning of Article II of the Genocide Convention. The Court observes that, according to United Nations sources, the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip comprises over 2 million people. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip form a substantial part of the protected group….;.The Court, pursuant to Article 41 of its Statute, has the power to indicate provisional measures….The Court considers that, with regard to the situation described above, Israel must, in accordance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention, in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of this Convention, in particular: (a) killing members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group. The Court recalls that these acts fall within the scope of Article II of the Convention when they are committed with the intent to destroy in whole or in part a group as such (see paragraph 44 above). The Court further considers that Israel must ensure with immediate effect that its military forces do not commit any of the above-described acts.

The final six decisions of the ICJ (provisional measureS):

(1) By fifteen votes to two, The State of Israel shall, in accordance with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of this Convention, in particular: (a) killing members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(2) By fifteen votes to two, The State of Israel shall ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit any acts described in point 1 above;

(3) By sixteen votes to one, The State of Israel shall take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip;

(4) By sixteen votes to one, The State of Israel shall take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip;

(continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

(continued from left column)

(5) By fifteen votes to two, The State of Israel shall take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts within the scope of Article II and Article III of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide against members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip

(6) By fifteen votes to two, The State of Israel shall submit a report to the Court on all measures taken to give effect to this Order within one month as from the date of this Order.

The most reputable court on earth has effectively ruled and with a huge majority that: 1) there is plausible evidence of genocidal acts requiring immediate intervention justifying taking the case, 2) that Palestinians are at grave risk of genocide (warranting 6 injunctions noted above).


The resolution opened with a summary of the conflict from 7 October and the contentions of South Africa and Israel about what transpired since. The decision constitutes a profound undermining of the persistent use of the Jewish holocaust to justify another holocaust and that Israel is above the law having proclaimed itself (falsely as representing Jews). This must be built upon and strengthened in a global popular effort (growing global movement) not only to force compliance of ending the genocide per the ICJ’s order (pending final ruling which might take months). The resolution implicitly but not explicitly stipulates a ceasefire. But the decision orders refraining from killing Palestinian civilians and refraining from causing any physical or psychological harm under article 2 of the convention. The decision demands the immediate provision of basic services and humanitarian aid (food, water, medicine, fuel) denied by the Israeli army since 7 October. 


The resolution was issued closer to consensus, with a vote of 15 to 2 or 16 to 1, which means that there is international consensus on the existence of Israel’s intention to annihilate. The American judge, the French judge, and the German judge voted in favor of the resolution, contrary to the declared position of their countries. This is an indication that may constitute a message from those countries of their unwillingness to risk undermining the international system they established to sustain their influence. The Israeli judge appointed ad hoc for this case, Aharon Barak, contradicted his government’s legal position, which rejects the court’s jurisdiction in this case in the first place, and that it risks undermining the legitimacy of Israel when it exposes it to precautionary measures based on the Genocide Convention. Judge Barak voted in favor of the decision on the items preventing incitement and providing basic services and aid, meaning that he granted legitimacy to the court’s jurisdiction in accordance with the Genocide Convention in principle. The judge who voted against all the provisions of the resolution was the Ugandan judge, Julia Sabotendi, including the two provisions that were supported by the Israeli judge, reminds us of the Ugandan option for the Jewish state (1903) and its current government being occupied.

Israeli occupation army will probably go on with its killing spree and starvation of the people and clearing out a 1 Km wide zone of Palestinian houses while bombing others from the air, sea, and land. Most of the public as you can see from the video above is brainwashed. But it is a moral defeat for the Colonial project and more and more countries and people are not buying the lies and distortions any more. It is time for the 15 million Palestinians scattered around the world to discard aging leaderships, organize better and with help of all people of good will assert and achieve our right to return and self determination in Palestine. 

What we need to do? Keep pushing, keep posting on social media, speak truth to power, , keep protesting/demonstrating (especially against complicit media and politicians), engage in BDS ; For more on what you can do see ongaza.org and What you can do. You can shorten the 112 day carnage and each day an average of 250 civilians are killed (accelerating now because of famine and disease). Even saving one day means saving hundreds of lives and many remaining homes from demolition.

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Mideast, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Declaration of Cuban Culture institutions in support of artists from Argentina in the face of Javier Milei’s measures

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from Cuba Information

Different cultural institutions in Cuba have expressed their concern about the Argentine government’s attempt to “ignore and mutilate the rich cultural life” and urged “a return to the urgency of recognizing that art and culture are a powerful tool to reconstruct the memory of the continent for its spirituality and the recognition of its diversity, to offer an “other” view of the historical-social reality, to decolonize knowledge and to stop the looting of our heritage and the aggression against our identities.

The declaration was promoted by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry, the House of the Americas, the House of the Film Festival, the Foundation of New Latin American Cinema, the International Film School, the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, the National Ballet of Cuba, the Hermanos Saiz Association and the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba.

(continued in right column)

(Click here for the original Spanish version of this article.)

Question for this article:

Do the arts create a basis for a culture of peace?

(continued from left column)

“There are many challenges for artists faced with the government’s attempt to cut their support and to dismiss their role as guarantor of the national essence. The complex reality that Argentina is experiencing and the continuous messages that come to us from intellectuals and artists about the danger that the culture of that country faces under the government of Javier Milei, demands that we express our solidarity and most sincere support to those who fight to defend the achievements made by that nation. Their creative production is of great relevance , not only for its recognized quality, but for its positive impact in the Latin American and Caribbean region,” according to the declaration.

In the declaration, Cuban institutions from different artistic branches state that “culture is one of the most conflictual domains within Argentine political reality. Intellectuals and artists, especially filmmakers and performing artists, face a scenario in which their performances may be dramatically affected and, as a consequence, the reconstruction of collective memory and national and regional identity would be hindered. Argentine culture and cinematography have a prominent place on the continent. They must be defended as a space where ways of acting and thinking about the past and imagining the future are recombined. They provide a setting for the collective construction of symbolic universes, social practices and political agendas. Culture offers the most important possibilities of choice and freedom.”

(Note: The integral text of the declaration is available on the website. The declaration is still open for signatures at prensa@icaic.cu.)

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EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Gala of solidarity with the Palestinians at the Algiers Opera

. TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY . .

An article from El Watan

The hall of the Algiers Opera Boualem Bessaih, in Ouled Fayet, west of the capital, was packed on the evening of Saturday January 20, for the gala of solidarity with the Palestinians, Salam lel Falastine ( Peace for Palestine). 

 By noon on Thursday, January 18, 2024, all tickets have been sold out. I take my hat off to the Algerian artist who wanted this show to be unique in its kind. I also salute the immense promotional work done by the national press for this event. We were able to bring together 150 artists on stage, supported by sponsors who believed in the project, and by the Ministry of Culture and Arts,” declared Abdelkader Bouazzara, director of the Algiers Opera and organizer of the gala.  


Proceeds from the evening will be donated entirely to the benefit of the Palestinian people.

 
The evening began with the Algerian and Palestinian national anthems performed by the Algiers Opera Symphony Orchestra. The college choir Mamlakatou al tilmidh (The kingdom of children) from Ain Benian (Algiers) then performed Beytouna el Qods (our house el Qods), based on music and words by Mustapha Alouane. Syrian maestro Missak Baghboudarian led the orchestra afterward to play the overture to La forza del destino (The Force of Destiny), an opera composed by Italian Giuseppe Verdi at the request of Russian Tsar Alexander II in 1862 (seven years afterwards, the work was greatly revised by the composer). From another Verdi opera, composed ten years earlier, La traviata, soprano Dina Sirine Khiari masterfully performed the aria Addio del passato (Farewell to the past).

 
“Take your hours out of our time, go away”
 

Covered in a dark burnous, the actor Hassan Kechache declaimed the famous poem by the Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish, Ayahou al maroun bayna el kalimat al abira (You who pass among the fleeting words), criticizing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands:

“You who pass among passing words. Take your names and leave. Take your hours out of our time, go away. Extort what you want, from the blue of the sky and the sand of memory.  Take the photos you want, to know that you will not know how the stones of our earth build the roof of the sky.”

Led by Nadjib Kateb, the Andalusian Orchestra of the Algiers Opera performed in moual Filistine ya bladi (Palestine ô my country), sung by Lamia Madini, followed, in zidane style, to the tune of Qom tara, Seif el Quds, performed by Sarah Belaslouni, based on a poem by the Syrian Abdel Rahim Al Gamoudi. Hassan Kachach returned to the stage to declaim the lyric poem Ardha falestine (The land of Palestine), by the Algerian Mohamed Badji, then interpreted, in Chaâbi style, by Kosseila Ajrad.

This song was widely popularized by Amar Zahi. Less known, the song Asbaha indi el an boundoukia (I now have a rifle) was then sung by Asma Alla, accompanied by the Algiers Opera Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Lotfi Saïdi. Asbaha indi el an boundoukia is an epic style song performed as a duet in 1969 by Mohamed Abdelwahab and Oum Keltoum to a poem by Nizar Kabbani. The famous theme song of the Egyptian soap opera Raafat Al Haggan, composed by Amar Cherii, was then performed by the Symphony Orchestra conducted again by Missak Baghboudarian. 

“If we are to have another gala for Palestine, we must repeat tonight’s gala in every detail. I am delighted that Algerian, Syrian and Tunisian artists came together to play classical music and Andalusian music with a children’s choir and singers. All the artists said their word for Palestine this evening. We have said our word to the world…,” confided the Syrian maestro.

(Click here for the French original of this article.)

(continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

(continued from left column)

The flower of cities

He explained that the choice of La forza del destino is motivated by adopting a language that is addressed to the whole world, not just for audiences in the Arab region. 

“For Rafaat Al Haggan’s music, we were young when the soap opera was broadcast. We all dreamed of becoming like him,” he said. Directed at the end of the 1980s by Yehia El Alami, Rafaat Al Haggan, this three-season series tells the story of an Egyptian spy who hit the headlines in Israel in the 1950s.

The dancers of the Opera Ballet from Algiers then performed a Palestinian dabke to the famous song by Mohamed Assaf, Ala ahdi ala dini. The stage was then given over to Maria Saïdi and Nourelhouda Ghanoumat to sing Chedou baathkoum ya ahl falestine, a song made famous by an old Palestinian Halima Kessouani, since killed by Israeli soldiers. 

Zahratou al madayine (the flower of cities), the famous song of the Lebanese Fairouz, in homage to El Quds, was then taken up by Nada Rayhane, accompanied by the symphony orchestra and the choir of Algiers and Laghouat. 

Dressed in a red dress covered with a white cape, Manel Gharbi then sang Sayfoun fel youchhar (Let a sword be exhibited) by Fayrouz, a song dating from 1967, the year of the Six Day War, before continuing with Win el malayine (Where are the millions?). Produced during the first Intifada in the Palestinian Territories in 1987, Win el malayine, written and composed by the Libyans Ali Al Kilani and Abdullah Muhammad Mansour, was performed as a trio by the Lebanese Julia Boutros, the Tunisian Sawsan Hammami and the Syrian Amal Arafa.
 

“The artist’s message always reaches the heart”

Manuel Gharbi said, “I am proud to have participated in this gala singing this style for the first time, usually I sing Andalusian. I like this style. We are proud as artists to have participated in this evening of solidarity with the Palestinian people. Algeria has always stood in solidarity with the Palestinians and the Palestinian cause. The fact remains that the solidarity of artists is always important. The artist’s message always reaches the heart. Even if the entries for this evening are symbolic, the fact of coming together and showing solidarity remains important. I hope that the voice of artists reaches everywhere in the world.”  She has just produced a duet with Syrian singer Rasha Rizk, a song in tribute to Palestine, composed by Tarik Benouarka. Manel Gharbi wants the song’s video to be shot in Algeria. 

The evening closed with a cover of the cantata Carmina Burana by German composer Carl Orff, translated into Arabic by Rabah Kadem, and sung by the choir of Algiers and Laghouat. A choir directed by Zouhir Mazari.
 
The conductor Lotfi Saïdi said, “I salute the public who came in force. It is a way of expressing support for the Palestinians.  Proceeds from the evening will be donated entirely to the benefit of the Palestinian people. All the artists and institutions of the Algiers Opera took part in this gala. The artists fight in their own way, with music.”

Soraya Mouloudji, Minister of Culture and Arts, declared, for her part: “These international-level artistic works are all linked to the Palestinian cause. A national cause par excellence for Algeria, as underlined by the President of the Republic. Art does not exist solely for entertainment or joy, history has proven that often art is born out of pain and crisis. This evening, the voice of artists confronted obscurantism and the flagrant violation of human rights from which our Palestinian brothers suffer,” She praised “the great effort” made by Abdelkader Bouazzara, director of the Opera, to organize the show “in a short period of time”. 

“We discussed the possibility of organizing similar galas after two or three months to express our solidarity with the Palestinian people,” she said. 

For his part, Abdelkader Bouazzara announced that other shows will be organized at the Algiers Opera and did not rule out the possibility of a national tour. 

The solidarity gala with Palestine was broadcast live on the Echababia channel (Channel 6) and will be broadcast afterwards on all the channels of the ENTV group (ex-RTA). 

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Mideast, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY