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HQ activities and all the rest What follows is an account of what is done mainly at the TFF HQ in Lund with board members, advisors and some of the Associates. It does not tell you what all TFF Associates - about 75 around the world - do on their own or as Associates of the foundation. It also does not report on routine activities such as articles being posted on the homepage or lectures and teaching by Associates. However, if you added it all up, TFF's network represents a uniquely broad and productive community for peacemaking.
December The foundation's second Burundi project on a grant from the Swedish Bernadotte Academy ends by December 31, 2007. Jan Oberg concludes his stay in Japan and returns to Lund on December 20. TFF's Board works with a shortened presentation of our plan for Iraq, to be promoted from early 2008. The two-part video on Challenges Facing Development NGOs with Norman Cook is edited and ready to be uploaded by New Year. Hans von Sponeck participates in the World Against War Conference in London on December 1 and speaks with passion about the situation in Iraq as well as presents TFF's 10-point peace plan.
November On November 29, Jan presents TFF's Iraq Plan at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, FCCJ. A video from this event will appear in 2008. TFF Associate and country co-ordinator, Ina Curic, continues various activities in Burundi. While the Amahoro Coalition has, for all practical purposes, discontinued its work due to lack of responses from donor countries and other reasons, a new Amahoro Youth Club picks up the pieces. Ina Curic directs a number of discussion meetings among this youth, guides them in setting up this Club and runs a 3-day training course on NGO management and matters related to the future activities of the Youth Club. A three-part video with TFF Associate, professor Hisae Nakanishi, about the US, Turkey and Iran - on which she is a leading expert since several years - is launched.
October We launch TFF Video Channel on YouTube on October 27, right after UN Day, planned to become the most comprehensive peace videoteque on YouTube with TFF produced videos as well as a lot of others gathered for educational purposes in so-called "playlists". A short intro video is produced in Nagoya. Various Board members promote TFF's 10-Point Peace Plan in lectures. media interviews and articles. The Board, now spread our in Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Japan meets and co-ordinates over Skype: Vicky Rossi continues her work with the UN in Jerusalem. Jan Oberg's "mouse" arm problem now passes one year - during which he has been able to write less than he usually does. As the Board has already decided that TFF shall seek less conventional ways to reach out, Jan begins to explore video production and YouTube - something that can be done without over-using his arm.
September Oberg will serve as visiting scholar at Nagoya University, Japan, from September 10 to December 20 at GSID, the Graduate School of Development at the invitation ofprofessor Hisae Nakanishi. He gives single lectures, conduct research, advise students and give guest lectures at other universities, among them his "old" universities, the International Christian University and Soka University. TFF is establishing itself on FaceBook, to explore the potentials of that online community for reaching out.
August TFF publishes a comprehensive, constructive, long-term plan for peace in and with Iraq at a press conference in Copenhagen. Jan Oberg does research in Denmark on Aage Bertelsen (1901-1980). An article about Bertelsen will later on be written by Oberg and Johan Galtung who also knew Bertelsen well. [ Bertelsen was a leader in the rescue of 6.000 Danish Jews to safety in Sweden in October 43 (cf the book "October 43"), a progressive pacifist and the headmaster of Aarhus Cathedral School from where Jan graduated in 1969. ]
July On the last day of the month, Denmark withdraws almost all of its troops from Iraq. Comments and a 1 min video (in Danish) is produced. Aleksandar Mitic and Jan Oberg publish articles and monitors the situation in Kosovo where the status process enters a most critical phase and a UN SC resolution turn out to be impossible TFF Associates Richard Falk and Hisae Nakanishi analyse, each in their own articles, the election and conflict development in Turkey at the time of its election. More materials enter the homepage than usually. We begin to investigate possibilities of viral marketing strategies including the use of Internet communities such as Facebook Moblos.com and Newsvine. Board members Christian Hårleman, Hans von Sponeck and Oberg meet for a strategy discussion at the HQ on July 26-28. The Board works on a comprehensive, long-term plan for peace in and with Iraq. Various teams of TFF Associates publish Open Letters - one to Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and one that protests the appointment of Tony Blair as Envoy the Quartet in the Middle East.
June Time for website and foundation maintenance, including archive, library, and communications equipment. And perhaps a few days of holiday now and then? Analysis and status of the foundation's work in Burundi and the situation of the Amahoro Coalition there. Oberg teaches at the European Peace University in Bad Schlaining, Austria, in the first week of the month. Afterwards he serves as adviser to a number of students, commenting on and grading papers and theses.
May We are preparing yet another mission to Burundi with seminars and further development of the TFF Amahoro Coalition. It takes place May 17-28. TFF facilitates contact between the Burundian President and an Australian film team that tours 16 countries for a documntary of peace. Our project on "Sweden - Integration" proceeds very well. Project dirctor is co-founder Christina Spännar and TFF Associate Vibeke Bing. Funding has gratefully been obtained from the Swedish Migration Board with EU support. This is a continuation of the first project in the municipality of Eslöv in Southern Sweden and encompasses also various institutions and authorities in the city of Malmö. A 3-day seminar with all involved parties and a number of immigrant was held at the end of May. Board member Vicky Samantha Rossi, in Jerusalem, continues her work, the interviews and her tasks for the Holy Land Foundation. Board member Annabel McGoldrick, with the Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies, University of Sydney since autumn last year, works on her thesis on how the media influence our psyche and on the film mentioned under April. A series of writings on Burundi and on the ever more present Kosovo issue are produced for the international press as well as for TFF's homepage.
April TFF Associate and former board member Anette Carlsson creates a film project for Burundi. Fund-raising begins for this one-hour documentary for cinemas, DVDs and the Internet; it will describe the country's peace process in general and the work of the Amahoro Coalition and its Open Amahoro Centre project in particular. TFF Board member Hans von Sponeck visits the United States and lectures at a series of universities, among them Harvard, and gives several interviews related to his book on sanctions, the situation in Iraq and the wider Middle East. Another film project concerning Burundi is in the making: Annabel McGoldrick's and Jake Lynch's documentary, How to survive the 21st century to accompany the Global Peace Index - see VisionofHumanity.com. As part of it, the film crew will visit Burundi and interview both high-level leaders and members of TFF's Amahoro Coalition. Much public writing and speaking - however the Danish columns by Oberg in "dato" ceases as the newspaper is closed down. Co-founder Christina Spännar finalizes the application and budget for the foundation's largest project ever, a further development of her Sweden - Integration project.
March New TFF Associate Yusra Moshtat and Oberg writes about Iraq, the need for US withdrawal and the Kucinich plan in Göteborgs-Posten. The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs decides to support the Amahoro Open Centre in Burundi; it's the first grant of all to come through. Oberg writes about Burundi in the Christian Science Monitor on March 15 - a breakthrough for international media attention to the country's peace process. The Handbook of Peace and Conflict Studies edited by Charles Webel and Johan Galtung is published by Routledge in London.TFF Associates Galtung, Johansen, Falk, Fischer, Krieger, McGoldrick, Lynch and Oberg are among the authors of this prestigeous publication. Jonathan Power's Conundrums of Humanity -The Quest for Global Justice is published by Martinus Nijhoff. It summarizes his life and thinking about 12 world problems. Oberg returns from 10 days in Burundi where two seminars have taken place with TFF's Amahoro Coalition. A third is planned - and the foundation will also, later this spring, give a seminar for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that seeks to facilitate an international communications trategy for the country. At the end of February and early March TFF associates publish various articles on Kosovo in the International Herald Tribune, Danish Jyllands-Posten and the Swedish Aftonbladet. Also, new Associate Yusra Moshtat and Jan Oberg criticise foreign minister Bildt for his lack of attention to the Iraq conflict - in the Swedish Svenska Dagbladet.
February Planning for three seminars in Burundi continues.A series of articles by TFF Associates are written and published commenting on UN Envoy Ahtisaari's proposal for the future status for Kosovo. On February 10, Oberg participates in a panel discussion in Munich at a parallel peace conference to the Munich Security Policy Conference. On the 12th he is in Gothenburg speaking on Iraq and on the 17th in Oslo speaking on whether the EU is a peace promoter or not. On February 5, Oberg gives a one-day minicourse on peace journalism at a Gandhi festical in Vanlose, Copenhagen and lectures in the evening about the situation in Iraq and how peace could unfold after the occupation. Jan Oberg and Associate Trine Pertou Mach participate in a DVD produced by a television station in Odense Denmark, entitled "EU - The Good Superpower?"
January Jan Oberg is in Burundi January 15-23 to prepare future training seminars and meet with people at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Oberg participates in a seminar on "Why are nuclear weapons still around" arranged by Swedish Physicians Aganist Nuclear Weapons, Sigtuna, Sweden, January 14. The "Features" section is re-introduced on the homepage, in a general section and on each Area and Resource page. Vicky Rossi becomes a Board member of TFF. While working out of Jerusalem, she also travels in the footpath of Gandhi in India and interviews Arun Gandhi.
Board meetings Beginning this year, Board meetings are held over Skype. The Board holds a Skype session on the first Tuesday of every month for coordination, follow-up and decision-making, always called by the founders or Board chairman.
Fund-raising 2007 In 2007 we received € 18.345 (= US 26.998) in individual donations from our Nordic friends and friends in the rest of the world. In Euro terms, this is a 6% decline from 2006. In 2006 we received € 19.432 (=US$ 25.383) or in individual donations from our Nordic friends and friends in the rest of the world. Thanks to every single one of TFF's friend! Jan Oberg & Christina
Spännar
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