TNI in 1979

January

International seminar on 'Internationalisation of Arms Production'.

January

In the USA, the Letelier-Moffitt trials start. An all-black jury and a black judge form the court. Three accused at the defence table.

February

'China after Mao', conference with sinologists from six countries.

1-4 March

TNI sponsors a consultation on NATO at the Amsterdam Center. Scholars and activists from Europe and the US gather to discuss the new emphasis on NATO. Fred Halliday coordinates the conference for Europe, Michael Klare for the US.

21-25 March

Fellows' Meeting in Amsterdam.

25-28 April

Conference on Eurocommunism with participants from Europe and the USA. This conference, organised by Pedro Vilanova and Carmen Claudin, features a critical evaluation of Eurocommunism in the three years of its existence. Speakers included Fabio Mussi and Vittorio Rieser (Italy), Olivier Duhamel and Jean Rony (France), Carlos Zaldivar and Fernando Claudin (Spain).

May

African Liberation Research Conference, 4-day conference on Southern Africa for liberation movements.

June

First TIE consultation in Rome, with workers from European plants of FIAT, Ford, Massey Ferguson and Peugeot-Citroen-Talbot. Several company networks evolve from this meeting in which workers in the same company meet each other regularly. A Report is included in the TIE Bulletin FORD Special.

May

African Liberation Research Conference, 4-day conference on Southern Africa for liberation movements.

Establishment of International Nuclear Study Group with researchers from US, UK, West Germany, Japan, France and Spain.

August

TNI co-sponsors a conference on 'Debt and Dependency', focusing on the IMF, in Kingston, Jamaica. The conference, hosted by Michael Manley, brings together 30 economists and ministers to discuss the problem of debt and to devise alternatives for the IMF in its role as Currency Cop.

Seminar on Indian Nuclear Industry in cooperation with the Indian Institute for Public Administration.

Feeding the Few. Corporate Control of Food by Susan George is published.

19 September

3rd Annual Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards (Howard University, Washington, DC.). This year's recipients are the Association of Relatives of Disappeared People (Chile) and Alfred 'Skip' Robinson of the United League of Mississippi.

28-30 September

Workshop on 'Civil Liberties in Europe'.

October

Wendy Chapkis joins as new staff the Amsterdam Centre. She replaces Marcia Grandon.

1 October - 1 June 1980

TNI inaugurates two series of weekend seminars - the Letelier seminars, addressing the theme of North-South dynamics, and the Samuel Rubin seminars, addressing developments in the Third World.

Beginning of October

First Letelier Seminar: 'World Economy and Resource Crisis' with Michael Kidron and Richard Barnet. Interview in De Groene Amsterdammer (by Sander Kooistra).

12-14 October

Seminar on Angola.

18-20 October

Working conference in Berlin on 'The Soviet Threat', held at the Free University of West Berlin and at the Berghof Foundation. This working conference, attended by 30 researchers and activists, grew out of the consultation on NATO held in March 1979.

21-22 October

Second Letelier Seminar: 'The National Security State' with Marcus Raskin and Kurt Grunewald. Interviews in Folia and De Groene Amsterdammer by Geert Mak).

October-January 1980

Lecture series on 'The Marginalization of Women in Developing Economies'.

26 October

Marginalization of Women: 'Women in Indonesia' with Ann Stoler and Saskia Wieringa.

2-4 November

TIE is invited to the United Nations Hearing on TNC's in South Africa. The hearing is held in London.

3-4 November

Letelier Seminar: 'NATO and the New Europe' with Claude Bourdet and Ulrich Albrecht.

Letelier Seminar: 'The Politics of Food' with Susan George and David Baytelman.

22-25 November

Fellows' Meeting in Amsterdam.

22 November

Public evening with John Berger and Eqbal Ahmad on the question 'Is there a Marxist ethics?'

23 November

Public evening with Fred Halliday on Soviet foreign policy and his recent trip to Iran.

26-29 November

Consultation meeting TIE.

30 November

Marginalization of Women: 'Migration and Rural Areas' with Sheila Allen and Lenie Brouwer.

Letelier Seminar: 'The Atomic State' with Robert Jungk.

Early December

Ulrich Albrecht, Professor Free University, Berlin, came to a seminar on disarmament at TNI, resulting in interviews in de Volkskrant.

15-17 December

Letelier Seminar: 'The Future of the World Economy' with Immanuel Wallerstein.

TNI Fellow John Berger publishes PIG EARTH, the first volume of the trilogy chronicling the gradual global disappearance of peasant societies. (The second volume, 'Once in Europe, is published in 1983; the third, 'Lilac and Flag' in 1990.)

Saul Landau and Jack Willis' film PAUL JACOBS AND THE NUCLEAR GANG wins an Emmy, a George Polk Award, and a First Amendment Award. The documentary depicts the late Paul Jacobs, an associate fellow of IPS, investigating the cancerous effects of nuclear radiation while struggling with the disease which ultimately felled him.