Music in Prison: The Campaign for the Release of Miguel Angel Estrella, 1977–1980

2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 527-557
Author(s):  
Esteban Buch ◽  
Anaïs Fléchet
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Political Prisoners ◽  
International Solidarity ◽  
Operation Condor ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
As If

The Argentinean pianist Miguel Angel Estrella was arrested in Montevideo during Operation Condor in December 1977. Accused of being a member of the Montoneros, a Peronist guerilla movement, he was tortured and held incommunicado before being transferred to Libertad, where political prisoners from Uruguay were assembled. Thanks to an intensive and international solidarity campaign, launched by his friends in Paris and led by classical music celebrities as well as diplomats, human rights activists, and a myriad of anonymous music-lovers, Estrella was released and expelled to France in February 1980. Drawing on archival materials from the Estrella support committee, diplomatic files, interviews, and recently declassified documents from the Uruguayan military court, this article retraces the construction of an exceptional “cause,” shedding new light on the relations between music and diplomacy during the Cold War. It examines the musician’s experience in prison, where he painfully managed to play Beethoven sonatas on a silent piano, as if mirroring the media’s portrayal of him as a Beethovian hero, a sort of modern Florestan. It also analyzes the connections between ethics and aesthetics, and the role of emotions in international political mobilizations.

The Cold War and Its Transnational Imprint in the Americas

2021 ◽  
pp. 133-158
Author(s):  
Luis Roniger
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
National Security ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Operation Condor ◽  
School Of The Americas ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The U.S

This chapter addresses the geopolitics of the Cold War and its transnational imprint on Latin America. It starts by discussing the rise of the U.S. to hemispheric hegemony, and analyzes U.S. policies and their interplay with domestic constellations of power. Interested in curtailing the advance of the revolutionary Left and radical insurgent movements, the region witnessed a forceful takeover of power and the adoption of transnational counter-insurgency operations, such as Operation Condor, that undermined the rule of law and produced atrocious records of crimes against humanity. The chapter offers an overview of the impact of this geopolitical configuration on Latin American societies, including the controversial role of the School of the Americas, the prevailing doctrines of National Security and the organic conception of nations that led to a genocidal turn in the context of the Cold War.

Co-Optation: The Moroccan Cold War, Israel, and Human Rights

2020 ◽  
pp. 176-223
Author(s):  
Alma Rachel Heckman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Prisoners ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Organizations ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Cold War

Chapter 5 analyzes the infamous Years of Lead and how Moroccan Jewish Communists diverged in their responses. Morocco began to publicly embrace its Jewish past while imprisoning its most well-known Jewish Communists in horrendous conditions. Some prominent Moroccan Jewish Communists worked with the state, notably supporting the 1975 Green March. Others supported Sahrawi independence and faced decades of imprisonment. This chapter examines the development of the state’s narrative of Moroccan Jewish tolerance alongside King Hassan II’s relationship with Israel and the United States. Meanwhile, international human rights organizations militated on behalf of prominent Moroccan political prisoners, among them Jews, pressuring the monarchy to release them. With the end of the Cold War and the death of King Hassan II, the state embraced the previously marginalized and reviled Moroccan Jewish Communists as national heroes, upheld as symbols of Moroccan Jewish exceptionalism within the region.

scholarly journals An Oil Company as a Force for Good? How Statoil put Norway’s Identity as a‘ Champion of Ideals’ to the Test

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-40
Author(s):  
Ada Elisabeth Nissen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Moral Authority ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
International Activism ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Global Arena ◽  
Oil Company

This article explores how Norway’s quest for moral authority to be recognized as a “champion of ideals” came under strain in the 1990s when the Norwegian state’s oil company (Statoil) expanded its operations in- and outside Norwegian borders. While we know a lot about Scandinavia’s international activism after the end of the Cold War, we know less about Scandinavian business’ responses to this policy. Neither do we know much about business’ potential impact on this policy. The aim of this article is therefore to begin address this issue by examining Statoil’s response to some of Norway’s moral and ethical aspirations in the post-Cold War global arena. Particular attention is paid to the tension between Norway’s ambition to be an early mover for sustainable development and a human rights advocate, and Statoil’s approach to environmental problems and human rights violations. As such, the article explores the role of state-owned enterprises in profit-making and global expansion during a formative decade when economy became an increasingly important determinant of Norwegian foreign relations, and ethical and moral objectives with roots in earlier decades were revitalized through an unprecedented number of international initiatives.

Daily Life of the American Embassy in Czechoslovakia in 1945—1948

Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6 (104)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Valery Yungblyud
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
The Us ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Leadership Interactions

The article is devoted to the study of various aspects of daily life of the US Embassy in Czechoslovakia in 1945—1948. The author considers the main areas of its work, major problems and difficulties that American diplomats had to overcome being in difficult conditions of the post-war economic recovery and international tension growth. Special attention is paid to the role of Ambassador L. A. Steinhardt, his methods of leadership, interactions with subordinates, with the Czechoslovak authorities and the State Department. This allows to reveal some new aspects of American diplomacy functioning, as well as to identify poorly explored factors that influenced American politics in Central Europe during the years when the Cold War was brewing and tensions between Moscow and Washington were rising. The article is based on unpublished primary sources from the American archives.

The Clinton Administration and Africa: Role of Congress and the Africa Subcommittees

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 14-16
Author(s):  
Daniel P. Volman
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Reagan Administration ◽  
Clinton Administration ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Predominant Role ◽  
Government Relations ◽  
Foreign Operations ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The U.S

Studies of U.S. government relations with Africa have generally focused on the role of the executive branch, specifically by examining and analyzing the views and activities of administration officials and the members of executive branch bureaucracies. This is only natural, given the predominant role that the executive branch has historically played in the development and implementation of U.S. policy toward the continent. However, the U.S. Congress has always played an important role in determining U.S. policy toward Africa due to its constitutional authority over the appropriation and authorization of funding for all foreign operations conducted by the executive branch. Furthermore, Congress enacted legislation on several occasions during the Cold War period that directly affected U.S. policy. For example, Congress approved the Clark Amendment prohibiting U.S. intervention in Angola (although it later voted to repeal the amendment) and also passed the 1986 Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, which imposed sanctions on South Africa over the veto of the Reagan administration.

Navigating the Complexity of HIV/AIDS in African Peacekeeping Missions: Challenges and Prospects

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 361-384
Author(s):  
Ayodele Akenroye
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Hiv Transmission ◽  
Ethnic Conflicts ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
Peacekeeping Missions ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Hiv Aids

The end of the Cold War witnessed the resurgence of ethnic conflicts in Africa, which necessitated the deployment of peacekeeping missions in many crisis contexts. The risk of HIV transmission increases in post-conflict environments where peacekeepers are at risk of contracting and spreading HIV/AIDS. In response, UN Security Council Resolution 1308 (2000) stressed the need for the UN to incorporate HIV/AIDS prevention awareness skills and advice in its training for peacekeepers. However, troops in peacekeeping missions remain under national command, thus limiting the UN prerogatives. This article discusses the risk of peacekeepers contracting or transmitting HIV/AIDS, as well as the role of peacekeeping missions in controlling the spread of the disease, and offers an account of the steps taken within UN peacekeeping missions and African regional peacekeeping initiatives to tackle the challenges of HIV/AIDS. While HIV/AIDS remains a scourge that could weaken peacekeeping in Africa, it seems that inertia has set in, making it even more difficult to tackle the complexity of this phenomenon.

scholarly journals The Right to Survival in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiyoung Song
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Confucian Tradition ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
North Korean Defectors ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Over Time

AbstractFor the past decade, the author has examined North Korean primary public documents and concludes that there have been changes of identities and ideas in the public discourse of human rights in the DPRK: from strong post-colonialism to Marxism-Leninism, from there to the creation of Juche as the state ideology and finally 'our style' socialism. This paper explains the background to Kim Jong Il's 'our style' human rights in North Korea: his broader framework, 'our style' socialism, with its two supporting ideational mechanisms, named 'virtuous politics' and 'military-first politics'. It analyses how some of these characteristics have disappeared while others have been reinforced over time. Marxism has significantly withered away since the end of the Cold War, and communism was finally deleted from the latest 2009 amended Socialist Constitution, whereas the concept of sovereignty has been strengthened and the language of duties has been actively employed by the authority almost as a relapse to the feudal Confucian tradition. The paper also includes some first-hand accounts from North Korean defectors interviewed in South Korea in October–December 2008. They show the perception of ordinary North Koreans on the ideas of human rights.

The Role of Deterrence in a new European strategic environment

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Rob de Wijk
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Security Strategy ◽  
The Crimea ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Complete Overhaul ◽  
Crimea Peninsula

Abstract: The new Russian military doctrine from 2010, the growing international assertiveness of Russia, and eventually the annexation of the Crimea Peninsula in 2014 have forced the West to rethink deterrence strategies vis a vis Russia. Consequently, the old Cold War concept of deterrence was dusted off and the debate picked up from where it had ended in 1990. This article summarizes the end of the Cold War thinking on deterring aggression against NATO-Europe. It explains why the present Western theoretical foundation of deterrence, which still focuses on strong conventional forces backed up by nuclear weapons, no longer suffices, and argues that the new Russian concept of strategic deterrence requires a complete overhaul of the Western approach. It is not only the security of the Baltic member states of NATO or of transatlantic cables that matter, Europe has to cope with desinformation and destabilization campaigns and has to rethink its energy security strategy. Only together can NATO and EU master these challenges.

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