The lecture I mentioned in yesterday's blues update ;) was Johan Galtung talking on the 15 contradictions which will, according to his thesis, lead to the fall of the US Empire within 20 years.

A friend of mine from Germany, who is involved with knowledgebay (www.knowledgebay.de - an e-learning system I have great faith in and will discuss in detail later here on my updates), and myself recorded his speech (which was in Norwegian) and I took notes. I found Galtung's lecture fascinating, altho he seems to make sometimes rather quick conclusions about things.

But nevertheless, Galtung is the person who made his fame by among other things in 1985 predicting the fall of the Soviet Union - by just a few months of error.

Here is a transcript of a radio interview with Galtung made in Australia earlier this year:
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2003/s828529.htm
(you can also listen to the interview).

I cannot help having the blues these days. There is something nagging at me, a feeling of deep frustration over myself, and the way I conduct my life. I study, and yet I do not study. I am involved, and yet I am not involved. I am inspired, and yet not inspired at all. There is this general feeling that there is a veil before my eyes; I can glimpse through it, but not really SEE things as they are. This veil has been there a long time, maybe forever, and it got even stronger after my father died last march. I have begun to realise that I have - how to put it - issues. I relativize (sic) everything, the value of a project is something I always question. I question so much that at the end there is nothing left, and what I once believed in becomes so vague, so hazed.

When I was a child, I believed in very few things. But one thing I did believe in was this hope of one day seeing my father again and recognising myself in him. I did meet him twice before he died of cancer, and I did manage to recognise myself in him, but I chickened out. I did not visit him more than those two times, and now I regret that so damned much.

The exams for this semester is over, and I am wondering - what now? I have christmas vacation untill the beginning of january now. I work every second week, and I have this magazine I am editor of. My best friends are in other countries, and I am too closed to let anyone truly inside here in Bergen, Norway. Perhaps the problem is my lack of feeling needed. Just being a waste of space. Of course, blabla, this is not the case. Of course my deeds are needed, useful, inspiring, and etc forever, but in moments of these darker moods - as I wrote I question so much. I think too much. The relative value of life. The absolute values of life.

I guess I will study ahead for next semester. Get to know other aspects of renaissance English literature than say Shakespeare, or John Donne. I guess there are many others whose names I have never heard. Like, this semester I realised how Rich the American literature is. Emerson, Dickinson, Ginsberg, Poe, Eastman, etcetc.

This veil is driving me crazy. :) Well, perhaps not clinically crazy, but it sure gives me some sleepless nights. I sometimes pinch myself, yes, pain is real. Pleasure is real. Friendly faces, colors, textures, the well-known taste of newly brewed sencha green tea.

Superficiality and essence; there seems to be too little essence around me. Significant meanings. I sometimes wish I was religious, that I could actually Just Believe in some deity; bow to Dogma and clutch some symbol in my hands. Or bow to the power of money, and aim for evermore. Nevermore.
Quoth...

Listening to Shostakovich's preludes & fugues, Tatiana Nikolayeva playing.

In an hour I will go to a lecture, listen to a guy whose message is that the US empire will fall for such and such reasons. Pax Americana?

Stars, are the billions of stars there for us, the 6 billions here on Earth, and those who comes before us, and the ones after us? We cannot even see all of them. Why? What is the reasoning behind it? Is it sensible to even ask for a Reasoning? A logical explanation? A testing of one's faith..

My moods will disappear again, and I will be evermore in my normal mode of life. Doing, expressing, reading, living. Having some opinion on this or that.

moods are very private things, yet so many of us are expressing them to "everyone" these days, on countless weblogs or updates or younameit. the public/private sphere has become so vague. 30 years from now someone can read this piece of writing and confront me with it. "were you often depressed in your youth?" . It is amusing, how the internet changes our lives. tracks. The sand will suddenly remember your paths.

And at the end of it there is the Art of Living. :)

If it is one thing that is clear to me, it is that the impending War Against Terror is being conducted with a dear cost to the protection of basic human rights and the rule of Law. The Guantanamo prisoners is a case in point. Detained with the access to a lawyer, without a trial, and for a lengthy period, the human rights of these people are being waved away with the term "enemy combatant". All kinds of excuses are being used, one of them being that "We give them better treatment and better food than they ever would be able to get in their own home country". This is to stray from the issue, and it is a disgrace to the early history of the United States that the country is doing these deeds.

There is nothing that justifies terrorism. To kill other people in order to promote your own political or religious point of view is indeed something worth fighting against. But to brush aside the Geneve convention; indeed any Law institution in the name of this fight against terrorism is NOT the way to go. It is a violation of the human rights of those who are affected by it directly (being imprisoned on Guantanamo for whatever reason), it is a step which is sure to further radicalize certain people to a point where they feel that the US of A surely is the enemy, and it is a lowering of standards which may well end in mayhem.

The latest terrorist acts in Istanbul is a tragic example of how certain extremists are willing to go to any means, even killing themselves, in order to escalate the conflict which they at the bottom of their hearts want to "solve". Those behind the deeds are however only achieving the following:

* A further set of possible violations on the Human Rights of individuals in Turkey, a country which has long fought with these issues regarding the dealing of their kurdish population.

* Loss of civilian lives, and with it an even stronger public dissent with whatever political goals these madmen might have.

* And because of the latter point, it gives Israel an even stronger case in their own warfare against the Palestinian people.

Turkey is a country which is politically unstable. The moderate Islamic voices which have gained importance the last years are now weakened, and we might see a situation of turmoil in the country. Surely this is part of the intention of those behind the bombings, apart from sending a strong signal to the UK as a warning against UK's support of Bush.

Indeed, it seems to me to be in the very interests of the terrorist that Turkey grabs a few innocents, makes a few cases, and goes even further in the "War Against Terror". Their goal is chaos, their means violence. They do not care about human rights at all; all they care for is their goal. The ultimate goal, of course, is not chaos, I do believe in the good intentions even in these people, but they seem to think that before there can be peace, there must be much more bloodshedding.

We need to adhere to the Human Rights if we are to end the escalation of this war. Nobody wins by violating the Human Rights of individuals in the name of security for all.

Give the detainees at Guantanamo a fair trial NOW!

*This is quite amusing, altho a bit explicit in wording / dltq*

FOUR LESSONS OF BUSINESS...

Lesson Number One

A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day.

A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?"

The crow answered: "Sure, why not."

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested.

All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Management Lesson:

To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.


Lesson Number Two

A turkey was chatting with a bull.

"I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy.

"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. "They're packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the tree.

The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.

Finally after a fortnight, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.

Management Lesson:

Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.


Lesson Number Three

When the body was first made, all the parts wanted to be Boss. The brain said, "I should be Boss because I control the whole body's responses and functions." The feet said, "We should be Boss as we carry the brain about and get him to where he wants to go."

The hands said, "We should be the Boss because we do all the work and earn all the money."

And so it went on and on with the heart, the lungs and the eyes until finally the asshole spoke up. All the parts laughed at the idea of the asshole being the Boss. So the asshole went on strike, blocked itself up and refused to work.

Within a short time the eyes became crossed, the hands clenched, the feet twitched, the heart and lung began to panic and the brain fevered.

Eventually they all decided that the asshole should be the Boss, so the motion was passed.

All the other parts did all the work while the Boss just sat and passed out the shit!

Management Lesson:

You don't need brains to be a Boss - any asshole will do.


Lesson Number Four

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold, the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, it began to realize how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out!

He lay there all warm and happy and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.

Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung and promptly dug him out and ate him!

Management Lessons:

1) Not everyone who drops shit on you is your enemy.

2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.

3) And when you're in deep shit, keep your mouth shut

We need to have more bridges between the "three sectors"; these being the public sector (government, etc), the private sector, and the NGOs/third sector. Social change can only come once there is a communication and cooperation between the three sectors.

To cut it down to concrete examples:

Myself, I am member of Liberal Youth, the Norwegian youth party of Venstre (The Liberals, roughly), which is currently a part of the government. Venstre has three ministers, that of communications and transportation, of agriculture, and of Law/justice. The government is a minority coalition between the Conservatives, The Liberals and the Christian-democrats. In Liberal Youths, I have the last year worked with debt relief for developing countries, using Sierra Leone as my case study. At a conference in October, arranged by the Norwegian Delete the Debt coalition, I held a presentation on Sierra Leone's debt situation and Norway's role in this. Sierra Leone today owes Norway about 15 Million US$, and this debt stems from the end of the 70s when Norway sold telecommunications equipment to Sierra Leone.

During this conference, it struck some of the people behind the conference that "woah, perhaps we could speak with the political parties more?" - they already Are lobbying parliament and government members, but they do not have a long-lasting cooperation with them, it seems. So after christmas there will be a meeting between (nearly) all the youth parties here in Bergen, and the local chapter of this delete the debt foundation. (affiliated with Jubilee 2000). One of my main interests while being active in youth politics has been to encourage more communications between ourselves and NGOs and similar organizations. If we, who have more direct connections to parliamentary and governmental officials, could cooperate closer with organisations such as Amnesty International, then we would have a much stronger case.

To combine the know-how of the NGO's on specific issues with the political knowledge (how the system works etc) of the youth political parties is a goal.

Of course we must not forget the private sector. They could help sponsor important events or conventions. They could be invited to give their opinion on for instance environmental issues. This would often be a win-win situation.

We need to look closer at ways of cooperation with others outside our "own gang". That is, if we are really sincere about our wishes to change the world.

micropayments internationally is an issue. within Europe, for instance, if I want to transfer money to say Belgium, it will cost me (and the receiver) at least a total of a couple of 10-US$ bills in just bank expenses.

If I want to transfer money to a country in the South, I suspect the bank expenses will be even bigger. What is the optimal solution today, and what is "the future" of this market segment?

Say for instance we are a few TIGgers in Norway who collect 200 US$ we want to send to Egypt to help some fellow TIGgers pay for something specific they need to develop their project. Or if I want to send my friend in Nigeria 20 US$. If more than 50% of my gift is lost in bank transfer costs it doesnt really make things motivating.

Micropayments is also a part of the globalisation.

Any ideas on this subject?

I am quite worried. I just read this news story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3272815.stm

Religiously motivated acts of violence is an ugly, ugly thing. I cannot imagine how people proclaiming to be Muslims in Turkey can defend doing such a horrendous attack on a Jewish place of worship on the Sabbath.. The very word Islam comes from a root in Arabic which means to make peace with someone. This act of terrorism is cruel and inhumane, and I cannot see how they (Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front) can possibly face themselves after this. Yes, Israel is doing terrible things against the Palestinian people, and Israel's human rights record is a shame. But to thus attack Jews in other countries because of this is to mix the issues, it is to attack innocent people, and it is only to help escalate the circle of violence further. I am worried that we are entering a very de-stabilised period. The US's "War on Terrorism" will become an even uglier war, and there will be LOTS of eggs broken to make that omelette. We will throw human rights out the window (think of Guantanmao Bay), we will throw our privacy out the window (think of the Patriotic Acts), and we might become ever more fanatical in our aim to wipe out terrorism. It is a sad sad business.

We NEED to support the moderate muslims, the intellectuals, the peace-loving members of the Islamic population. We need to make sure that no more muslims are radicalized and coming to a point where they feel that "everyone is against them", and then as a result their mentality turns to a "i don't care about the others either". To blow a bomb in the face of other people becomes much easier then.

I have been thinking about the concept of twinning for some time. That for instance a TIG member from say Australia twins with one from Nigeria and that they together with other TIG members in their city start bilaterally exploring opportunities for cooperation. When there are 26.000 members here at TIG it is difficult to all cooperate, but we need to create nodes, links of connections. And starting with a few individuals is a good idea, I think.

Already, there are lots of bi-lateral contacts being made through TIG, but a more systematic approach to actually Doing projects together might be good?

What do you think?

Today we finally got ourselves a real editorial board for the international magazine which I am editor of. We are now a team of four guys (no girls were interested :() who will work with the bi-monthly issue of this magazine which will be covering mostly human rights, north-south issues and European Union matters. The next issue, which will be out December 1st, will have human rights as its topic, because the International Human Rights Day is in december.

The editorial board consists of myself, a guy who is marketing director of a prominent Norwegian snowboard/lifestyle magazine, a young man who has some experience with newspapers himself, and the leader of the international committee of Norway's Liberal Youths.

We will now focus on not only making the next issue as good as possible, content-wise, but we will also be looking into funding opportunities. It is our hope that we can soon start printing say 500 or 1000 copies of each issue and send some of them out to other political youth parties here in Norway as well as NGOs such as Amnesty International or the Red Cross.

Creating a magazine is something I really find intriguing. Giving different voices the opportunity to express themselves is an important passion for me, and it is my hope that I can get even more experience in this field. I will also be focusing more on creating a dynamic web-version of the magazine, which can be interesting to the visitor and hopefully also engage the person to be involved him/herself. Having the opportunity for comments on the different articles, and a intuitive layout on the site, are important issues for me.

Unfortunately, the magazine is Norwegian-languaged, so I cannot share it with all my friends in the international community. Oh well, we will see. Perhaps we will make a translation to English for a special international issue.

To be able to publicize "IT", and present things to readers who for instance know nothing about the subject, is very interesting and I hope to always be involved with this goal.

im tired to death of:

- all the talking
- all the focus on details, and yet not focusing on details at all
- all the small-mindedness
- all the publicity eagerness. "mememememememememe"
- the not invented here approach
- lack of concrete, down-to-earth, strategies
- lack of visions and long-term goals. and when one has visions, like the millennium goals, one does not follow things up at all. countries go from one protokol to the next, and now there is the Kyoto one, and who implements it? and even if implemented, HOW does one plan to implement it?
- focus on how many members we have in X organization instead of how we are actually USING the members we have, utilizing them.
- a too large focus on money as a guarantee to make things happen.

my suggestions:

- think more concrete. be realistic.
- put your money where your mouth is. either you have a passion for something or you do not. to pretend to have a passion for something just out of a wish to seem interested in all the good things, or a wish to be polite, is to have a mask on. if you have a passion for something, then release that passion. let it grow. this is more a mental note to myself than anyone else!!
- focus on what we CAN do, how we are thinking about doing it, and what our time-frame is. what is our next deadline?
- we must establish more loosely knit groups/associations of people who have common interests for different things.
- these (new or old) groups MUST be concrete; not just lofty discussion clubs. we need discussion clubs too!! but then be that, and dont pretend to be everything else.
- we MUST become much better in using the ICT in our path towards a just world; or, rather, a developed world.
- we must be even better at communicating OURSELVES. that is: why do I have passion for this? why do I think you could/should have passion for this? what do I plan to do about this? (this being regardless if I am a leader of a huge youth network, part of the board of a provinsial branch, a mere member of a group, or member of no group at all)
- again, think pragmatic and concretely. set preliminary goals too. what is first priority? how do we get there? then, what is next priority? general talks about saving the world - i have become so tired of them!
- we need to become better at following up our local, national and international governments or international institutions. our city council, our parliament or government, the UN, etcetc. we need to update ourselves on what they DO, why they do it, and what their thinking is. if we are critical towards it, we must be concrete. think media, or think influencing them directly, or using the party politics structure, or NGO's.
- we must be better at bi-partisanship. i might not like the most right-wing, or left-wing, political party in my country. but just because of this, I cannot be blind to cooperating closely with them on our Common interests.

finally, we must become better at realising what WE can do, as individuals, of any stature or position or age, for the betterment of ourselves, or the society around us, finally to Take It Global.

with the internet, we have a revolution. the revolution is too large of most of us to grasp. it is a totally new democratizing tool, no, a tool-box of proportions! it is almost too good to be true. today, you dont need to be in toronto, or new york, or paris, in order to be part of a progressive movement. you can be in way-back rural Russia and be part of an artist ensemble with members from around the world.

globalization surely has its vices, but the power we have as individuals have also grown immensely. we have to grab that power, and this means GRABBING it. not just talking about it.

the above criticism is mostly to myself, but also to others. i have to be more concrete myself. I HAVE to be more realistic, but at the same time have ideals, and visions, and hopes and dreams. the one does not exclude the other.

i spent three years in student democracy on local national and European level and during these three years I was continually frustrated. it didnt seem like what we did had any effect at all. i now realise this was because I tried to do too many things at the same time. i should have made three main goals, and stuck with those. if those were fullfilled, then i could go on to new ones. instead, i felt like everything I did was half-done. of course, many people do not agree with me, but that was my impression at least. now, in youth party politics here in Norway; well, I learned a lot the last year. i have always hated party politics. the partisanship, the power game, it has sickened me. but now i realise that the power game is there because the people are deluded. they have forgotten why they are there in the first place. with the internet, ONE individual can do so much, regardless of position, as long as he is "connected". thus I think connecting youth around the world to the net, and to TIG or a similar network, is a prime focus.

most of all, I am tired of my own vagueness.