Category: Ethics and values

Koran burning in Afghanistan: Mistake, crime, and metaphor

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By Richard Falk

On February 20, 2012 several American soldiers, five having been identified as responsible at this point, took some Islamic writings including several copies of the Koran to a landfill on Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan where they were burned. As soon as Afghan workers on the scene realized that Korans were being burned, they recognized what was happening as an act of desecration, and launched an immediate protest. The protest spread rapidly throughout the country, and turned violent, producing at least 30 Afghan deaths, as well as five dead American soldiers that also produced many non-lethal casualties.Read More »

Arne Næss – the next hundred years

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By Johan Galtung
Speech given in Oslo on January 27, 2012

Norway’s by any comparison greatest philosopher was born one hundred years ago today, and died close to the age of 97. A world philosopher, a human being with an incredible radiation. Nobody who came close to him remained the same.

Arne Næss 27 January 1912 - 12 January 2009

What was his basic theme? In one word: nonviolence, but in a broader and deeper sense than most approaching demanding idea.

Arne Næss was very sensitive to verbal violence in debates; his answer was objectivity. He identified physical violence in political struggle; his answer was Gandhian nonviolence, strongly inspired as a student in Paris early 1930s by Indian students strongly convinced that nonviolence was the way. Read More »

Global etik, tak!

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Af Isabel Bramsen

For et par måneder siden erklærede den islandske præsident at folketinget, Det Hvide Hus og traditionelle magtinstanser næsten er blevet et ”side show” i forhold til sociale medier. Ligeså stille bevæger vi os væk fra nationalstaten som den suveræne magtinstans til globale netværk i forskellige udformninger. Med andre ord er det folk som dig og mig, der har ansvar for, hvor verden bevæger sig hen. Men hvilke værdier skal vi handle efter i denne nye verdensorden?Read More »