ANNUAL REPORT 2001

TNI

July 2005

The key concerns of TNIs Asia Programme in 2001 reflected geo- political developments impacting on the agendas of peace and social movements in Europe and East and Southeast Asia. In the first half of the year, there was a major focus on the reconciliation and reunification process in the Korean Peninsula, which has implications for peace across the entire region and indeed the world. The context for the latter part of the years work was the fallout from the events of September 11 and the US-ledcoalition against terrorism. The War on Terrorism now provides a useful cover under which the US continues to push its missile defence programme in the Asia-Pacific, as well as the consolidation of its military presence in the region. It is also being used by certain governments in the region to justify the erosion of civil liberties, the repression of political opponents, and the failure to find political solutions to conflicts.

Korean Reunification

When South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung went to Pyongyang in 2000 to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, the gesture caught the imagination of the world and sparked hopes that the glacial structures of the Cold War in Northeast Asia would melt quickly. The rapprochement efforts offered a big window of opportunity, not only for addressing the 50-year division of Korea but also for altering the security calculus in East Asia, laying the basis for a new era of peace.

Given the pivotal role of Korea in the security equation in the Asia Pacific region and internationally, prospects for global peace will be greatly affected by the success or failure of the reunification process. On the one hand, peaceful reunification involving the military withdrawal of external powers from the peninsula would greatly accelerate demilitarisation in the region and internationally. On the other hand, support from Asia and the rest of the world, the EU in particular, could be critical in accelerating confidence-building measures and in bringing about a peaceful and progressive reunification in Korea. As was the case during the Korean War and the Cold War, the future of Korea and that of Asia and the world are intertwined, and today, they hang in the balance.

Early in 2001, however, when President Bush took office in Washington, it became clear, that the US posed an obstacle to the Korean process. The Bush administration has actively undermined Korean reconciliation efforts and by the years end, had reiterated its declaration that North Korea should be regarded as part of the axis of evil of rogue states. The US has an interest in preserving their long-term military presence on the peninsula, is constructing a missile defence system that would cover not just the United States but also Northeast Asia, all of which needs to be understood in the context of the US strategy to contain China and prevent a Japan-China alliance that might threaten US military interests, profits and power in Asia. Such a strategy was outlined in the Pentagons Vision 2020 document released in June 2000. It was reaffirmed in 2001 by the Bush Administration with the publication of the Rand Report.

The EU, on the other hand, has attached great importance to peace and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula, sending a high level delegation to the region during the Swedish Presidency of the EU. Relations between the EU and the Republic of Korea were further strengthened when the Framework Agreement came into force in April 2001. The EU and the Republic of Korea agreed to enhance political dialogue, looking to the occasion of the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in 2002.

Meanwhile, no clear signal was forthcoming from North Korea that it would push through for a Second Summit.

Seoul Conference

It was in this context that TNI co-organised a major international conference in Seoul in August 2001. Its objective was to give the process of reconciliation and reunification a push from below and internationally, with a view to making it irreversible.

The conference attracted over 100 participants, including activists from peace and other social movements, scholars, journalists and members of parliament. They came from Korea, as well as other parts of the Asia-Pacific, Europe and the USA. The conference was convened in the name of the Committee on Korean Reconciliation and Reunification for Global Peace comprised of TNI, Focus on the Global South, Thailand; Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA), Hong Kong; the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Japan; Nautilus, United States; the Council for Alternative Security in Asia-Pacific (CASAP); the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation (KCRC); Peoples Solidarity for Korean Reunification; seven major religious groups in Korea and the Hankyoreh newspaper.

TNI published a special booklet, Melting the Iceberg: Ending the Cold War in the Korean Peninsula & The Search for Global Piece, in association with Focus on the Global South, specially for the event.

Missile Defence

A key issue on the agenda of the Korean conference was the US missile defence plans in the region. TNI has continued to monitor developments and support calls for the establishment of a nuclear weapon free zone in North East Asia. It has been able to draw on the expertise of Indian fellows, Praful Bidwai and Achin Vanaik, both committed to nuclear weapons abolition and actively involved in the Asia Pacific Alternative Security Network with Walden Bello and others from TNIs networks in the region.

Bidwai and Vanaik argue that missile defence is a misnomer, given that it is technically impossible for the system to provide foolproof defence. On the other hand, there is every indication that sea, land and space bases will be armed with sophisticated weapons intended for offensive purposes. Bidwai and Vanaik have been analysing the likelihood that the missile defence programme will fuel a new nuclear weapons arms race, particularly in Asia. China obviously feels threatened, which impacts on India and therefore Pakistan. Relations between India and Pakistan, already tense, have been further fuelled by the accusation that Pakistan harbours terrorists active in Kashmir. After the October attacks on the Indian Congress, three quarters of a million soldiers amassed on the border between the two nuclear rivals. In addition, the plans signal the end of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the US and Russia.

TNI has also been paying attention to the missile defence programmes development in Europe, where Britain and Denmark would be key bases while the nuclear umbrella would cover all NATO allies. In May, at the annual meeting of the TNI fellowship, the issue was discussed at length with anti-nuclear weapons activists from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in Britain, the Movement in India for Nuclear Disarmament and Abolition 2000 in the USA (see fellowship section of this report). At the end of the year, TNI brought a number of anti- nuclear activists and experts from Korea, the UK, the USA and Israel for a public discussion on the issue in The Netherlands, making the connections between globalisation and militarisation, the international response to September 11 and US moves to consolidate its hegemony worldwide.

Meanwhile, missile defence is set to be a priority issue of mutual concern on the agenda of the Asia- Europe Peoples Forum to take place in Copenhagen in September 2002 alongside the inter-governmental Asia- Europe Meeting.

Democratisation and Human Rights in Asia

Democratisation and human rights in Asia have long been a concern of TNIs Asia programme, which participates in solidarity campaigns, facilitates consultations and advocacy initiatives between Asian activists and European counterparts, development NGOs, politicians and policy-makers.

Labour Rights in Korea

TNI has been monitoring the struggle for labour rights in South Korea and assisting in publicising the international campaign against the repression of Korean Congress of Trade Unions (KCTU) leadership, which has included the regular imprisonment of its president.

Burmese Democratisation

TNI works closely with the Burma Centre in The Netherlands and keeps the opposition-in-exile posted on relevant developments in the Asia-Europe Meeting process. It lobbies European and Asian members of ASEM to play a more active role in efforts to liberate Burma from the military dictatorship, which took power after the opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi won democratic elections in 1988. Burma was given observer status at the ASEM in 2000. Due to lobby efforts from TNI and other solidarity groups, the Dutch government took a stronger position in 2001, actively discouraging trade, investment and tourism with Burma.

Malaysian Detainees

In 2001, TNI helped launch an important campaign in the Netherlands for the release of six detainees, associated with the oppositional National Justice Party in Malaysia, held since April 2001 under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which provides for two-year renewable terms of detention without trial. The detainees include Tian Chua, an award-winning human rights activist and veteran independent labour organiser, who has been repeatedly harassed and arrested by the authorities over the past few years. Since September 11, the ISA has also been used to intensify repressive crack-downs on opposition forces in Malaysia in the name of thewar on terrorism.

War in Southern Philippines

TNI has been following the civil war in the southern Philippines since Mindanao blew in 2000. This is another case where democratic rights and the seeking of political solutions to conflicts are being further compromised in the name of thewar on terrorism. Through the Voluntary Forces Agreement, part of the diplomatic and political framework for the US military's re-entry in southeast Asia envisaged as part of the Pentagons Vision 2020, preparations were well underway in 2001 for US Special Troops to be part of openinga second front against terrorism in joint operations in Basilan, southern Philippines.

Meanwhile, TNI fellows Joel Rocamora and Walden Bello have been analysing the corrupt nature of the Philippines state, spectacularly exposed when President Estrada was popularly removed from power in 2000. They question whether the neo-liberal economic policies of the new government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo can soothe the seething discontent which led first to the Peron-styled Estrada being elected, then to him being removed in the context of a mass uprising. Rocamora, in particular, has been writing about the politics of reform currently being debated in progressive political circles in the Philippines. Brid Brennan participated in an international conference in Manila on democratisation in the Philippines and the role of international solidarity in supporting such processes.

Communal Conflicts in India

Praful Bidwai and Achin Vanaik have long been concerned with communal divisions, often resulting in violent conflicts, in India. In a number of articles in the Indian press in the latter part of the year, they comment on how the Hindu nationalist ruling party of India has been using thewar on terrorism to stoke the flames of religious tensions. Following the shootings in the Indian Congress in December 2001, the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) passed, a draconian piece of legislation providing for preventative detention without trial. Bidwai commented critically on the inherent anti- Muslim prejudice contained within the Ordinance, as well as the threats to democratic freedoms that are bound to prove counter-productive to any effort to fight terrorism.

Migrant Workers' Rights

In 2001, TNI continued to work with the Commission for Filipino Migrant Workers in the Netherlands and the European Network of Migrant Domestic Workers, RESPECT, which TNI helped co-found in 1999. The struggles for migrant workers rights in both Europe and Asia have suffered setbacks in the wake of the September 11 events. There has been a general tightening up of borders; intensified surveillance of foreigners, particularly those from Muslim countries, including police raids on homes and even detentions. The rise of xenophobic right wing forces in Europe is symptomatic of the social prejudice that has been developing for some time, now being fed by responses to the September 11 attacks which fail to uphold democratic values.

Asia-Europe People's Forum 2002

All of the above work is the basis for TNIs contributions to the agenda of the Asia-Europe Peoples Forum (AEPF), currently preparing for its next major meeting in Copenhagen in September 2002 during the official inter-governmental Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

TNI serves on the international organising committee of the AEPF, with which it has been involved since the advent of ASEM in 1996. Members of the loosely constituted AEPF include NGOs, community organisations, trade unions, and social movements from both regions. TNI hosts a special website monitoring the official agenda of the ASEM and publishes ASEM Watch, an irregular email update service on issues of relevance to the AEPF agenda. A full report on the AEPF in Korea in 2000 was put on-line in 2001. A new book is currently being prepared for publication in time for the next AEPF in Copenhagen in 2002. It will cover key issues relevant to the AEPF agenda, including the role of transnational corporations, free trade agreements, and security matters.

Major demands by the AEPF towards the official ASEM process towards Copenhagen include calls for a permanent inter-parliamentary dialogue, ASEM delegates accountability to national and regional parliaments, and official consideration of the People's Vision document adopted by the AEPF at the Seoul Forum.