ANNUAL REPORT 2001

TNI

July 2005

The year 2001 began on a high note with 15,000 people gathering in Porto Alegre, Brazil for the first World Social Forum. The event symbolised a new hope that Another World is Possible to that being shaped by the neo-liberal globalisation project. Optimism was fired by the success of the recent years of rolling mass actions against the institutions of global power, sharpening contradictions within the system and a consequent deepening legitimacy crisis. The mood was tempered by the September 11 atrocity and the fearsome responses to it by right wing forces everywhere.

The signs of reaction had been apparent even before the gift to the right which was the collapse of the Twin Towers. In Gothenburg, at the EU summit, police opened fire on protestors. In Genoa at the G8 meeting, it happened again. This time with one fatality and sinister indications of police-supported provocation. After September 11, the opportunity was seized to demonise any political opposition. Draconian legislation was quickly passed by many governments. The war on terrorism became a cover for the rolling back of long established civil liberties, and a justification for privileging repressive means in the resolution of what are essentially political conflicts . Free traders jumped on the bandwagon, conflating free trade and democracy and bullying the developing world into keeping the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations going. Big geo-strategic interests came into play at the global level. Energy sources were one prominent common feature on the scene.

TNI's work in 2001, on the one hand, was concerned with providing activist intellectual support for the critics of neo-liberal economics. This it did through its work on the WTO, in particular drawing attention to the implications of further liberalisation of sectors falling under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); its focus on the energy sector; and a new project on Alternative Regionalisms, which aims to bring together work being done on an alternative paradigm for socio-economic development, alternative policies and forms of global economic governance. On the other hand, TNI has concentrated on peace and security issues. The fellows contributed a lot of considered analysis on the implications of September 11 and responses thereto, drawing particular attention to the nature of the wars in Afghanistan, Palestine and Chechnya. Attention was also paid to US plans for nuclear missile "defence" and its impact on Korean reunification efforts and disarmament in the wider region; as well as the consolidation of US military bases in strategic locations globally. TNI's main project in this broad field was the Drugs & Democracy programme which brought out many of the issues through its focus on Colombia. Colombia, like Afghanistan, saw a conflating of the "war on drugs" and the "war on terrorism". The D&D programme had a major impact, particularly in the media and with European policy makers, with its criticisms of the controversial Plan Colombia, the establishment of US military bases in the Dutch Antilles, and of the dismal record of the United Nations Drug Control Programme.

A number of international seminars and conferences were (co) organised by TNI this year. Some were directly related to projects, others were on issues of broader concern, such as that on Media and War and on the future of treaties on biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. The annual fellows' meeting in May attempted to give a bigger contextual analysis for all the issues TNI deals with. One book was published - on humanitarian action, while most output was produced in the form of articles, booklets and briefing papers made available on-line.

Priorities for TNI's research and advocacy programme in 2002 include the launching of a new project critically analysing the development of the new market in carbon emissions; a focus on the politics of privatisation in the energy sector; the campaign against the extension of the GATS agreement, its impact on financial regulation and social services; preparations to impact meaningfully on the next United Nations summit on drugs in 2003; and the further development of the work on regional alternatives to globalisation. TNI plans to play an active role in World Social Forum process at local, regional and international levels.

On the institutional front, TNI grew significantly this year. The new Energy project was launched, with Karen Brouwer being employed as manager. Erik Wesselius came on board as the co-ordinator of the new GATSwatch project. The Drugs and Democracy Programme team expanded with the addition of research assistant, Virginia Montañés Sanchez, seconded from TNI's sister institute in Madrid, Centro de Investigación para la Paz (CI P). She was joined briefly by Pien Metaal and Beatrice Acevedo Holguin, who helped fill a part-time contract position available for most of the year. The Asia programme employed last year's intern, Wout Visser, and took on two new interns towards the end of the year, Neng Magno and Wilbert van der Zeijden, who replaced Wout when he resigned in November. The secretariat was also expanded with the addition of Imogen Vermeulen and later, Natalie van Eijsden, both part-time. We bade a fond farewell to communications officer, Roberta Cowan, who was succeeded by Antonio Carmona Baez. We also welcomed Jaff Napoleon from Energy Project partner, Global Village Cameroon, who spent three months with TNI in Amsterdam doing research on the African Development Bank. He was the first in the Energy network to take up the sabbatical provision offered by the project over the next two years.

Some changes to the fellowship were made in 2001. We thanked Daphne Wysham and Miguel Tuebal for their contributions during their three year terms as fellow and senior fellow respectively. There are now 20 full fellows, 2 associate fellows and 3 senior fellows of the Institute.

On the outreach front, the number of subscribers to our biweekly TNI E-News tripled, bringing record hits to our revamped website. In a major effort to reach out to our local constituencies, we hosted a number of public forums in Amsterdam this year, advertised by means of a subscriber-based email list. We also launched a new ad hoc TNI Briefing series on a range of topical issues. These are produced for distribution at specific significant events, and are put in the public domain through the website. As TNI grows in scope and activity, internal communication is becoming ever more important. To keep fellows, project partners and funders informed about institutional developments, TNI also launched a TNI annual internal newsletter, Actual, in December.

On the financial front, TNI's annual budget in 2001 was Euro 975, 000, which amounted to a 24% increase in income over last year. The bulk of this can be accounted for by subsidies received for new staff employed, the balance of project funds carried over from the previous year, and funds received from the Samuel Rubin Foundation for a new scholarship programme. The year ended down Euro 15,000, which amounted to 1.5% of our annual budget. This was largely due to overspending on printing and under-budgeting on the annual fellows meeting.

Congratulations and warm thanks are due to staff, fellows and collaborators, whose selfless commitment and hard work make TNI an institute I am proud to serve. On their behalf, I thank too the generous funders who make an independent critical institute like ours possible.

Fiona Dove