TNI in 1990

14 January

Lecture by Charles Mungoshi (Zimbabwean writer) in De Balie in the frame of the series 'The collective Memory'.

11 March

Lecture by Eduardo Galeano (Uruguayan writer) in De Balie in the frame of the series 'The collective Memory'.

March

Mary Kaldor brought together 15 Eastern and Western European scholar activists to explore the possibility of a new journal of opinion on European issues (see TNIdeas No. 1).

March

The Amsterdam Centre revived an old tradition, holding small one-evening public seminars, with a series of talks on 'Perestroika and the Third World' (PTW), with around 30 to 40 people attending.

14 March

PTW, Haile Selassi, Doctoral Candidate at the Department of International Relations at the University of Amsterdam spoke on 'Current Developments in Ethiopia and the Realignment of Forces at the Horn of Africa'

8 April

Lecture by Nuruddin Farah (Sudanese writer) in De Balie in the frame of the series 'The collective Memory'.

8 May

PTW, Marta Harnecker, the well-known Chilean writer/activist spoke on 'Perestroika and Central America', focusing on developments in Cuba, where she resides.

9 May

PTW, three speakers, Maarten van Dullemen, David Truong and Carolyn Gates spoke on 'Restructuring in Vietnam. The Future of Doi Moi'. While the Vietnam discussion was going on in the second floor seminar room, the TNI Central America program team was meeting with Dutch Central American solidarity groups and a South Korean Protestant Minister talked to another group about recent developments in Korea.

13 May

Lecture by Bei Dao (Chinese writer) in De Balie in the frame of the series 'The collective Memory'.

17-19 May

The TNI Philippine Program conference on 'Sustainable Development in the Philippines. The Role of European Governments and NGOs' had to be held at the Populier because the Amsterdam Center premises could not accomodate its 70 participants. The conference brought together a delegation of Filipino NGO leaders and representatives of European NGOs to discuss a program of research and advocacy on European official development assistance to the Philippines.

31 May-3 June

TNI Fellows Meeting on the theme "Walls". Presentations by Mary Kaldor, Dan Siegal and Jenny Yancey ("After the Wall. New Hope in Eastern Europe"), Ferenc Miszlivetz and Howard Wachtel ("After the Wall. New Risks in Eastern Europe"), Fred Halliday and Vladimir Kolontai ("Nationalism and Fundamentalism in the Soviet Union") and Xabier Gorostiaga, Yash Tandon and Mariano Aguirre ("The Marginalisation of the Third World"). Report by Cesar 'Cha' Cala, a volunteer in the TNI Philippine Programme. On Thursday 31 May, Fellows visit the Van Gogh Museum for a "Rockbuster Exhibit" marking centenary of Van Gogh's death.

4 June

Associate Director Dan Smith organised a discussion 'Towards a Green Political Economy' at the TNI Amsterdam Centre with over a dozen European environmental activists attending (see TNIdeas No. 1).

10 June

Lecture by Maryse Condé (Guadeloupean writer) in De Balie in the frame of the series 'The collective Memory'. John Berger closed the lecture series. The contributions, together with other ones from Andre Brink, Frank Martinus Arion and Farooq Khalid, are published in print in 'Het Collectieve Geheugen - Over Literatuur en Geschiedenis' by NOVIB/De Balie (in Dutch).

Early July

Members of the Civic Forum, Solidarity, the East German Independent Women's Association, and others, meet Western peace activists, feminists, Green activists and trade unionists at the Transnational Institute for three days of lively and probing discussions about democracy in the new Europe. The TNI/Pluto Press book After the Wall, edited by Hilary Wainwright, is a record of one of the first post-Cold War meetings of activists from the two halves of Europe.

November

First issue of TNIdeas

November

Fellows' Meeting on (1) the Gulf crisis, the build-up to war and (2) marginalisation, in which we chose to focus on the Third World poor and their movements, on women and children in the Third World and on the natural environment (see report by Niala Maharaj in TNIdeas No. 2).

November

TNI Associate Directors Joel Rocamora and Pedro Vilanova organised a seminar on 'Perestroika and the Third World: Rage, Resistance and Reflection' at the Amsterdam Center. Some 15 participants from Latin America, the Soviet Union, Philippines, the US and Western Europe discussed the ideological impact of changes in the Soviet Union on progressive movements in the Third World and prospects for progressive change (see report in TNIdeas No. 2).

November

For a Dutch/Filipino audience, Walden Bello led a seminar on 'Asia's Miracle Economies in Crisis: Can Toothless Dragons serve as Models for the Philippines?'.

November

10 leading intellectuals from the US and the USSR met 'half-way' in the Amsterdam Center to discuss 'The Nature and Practice of Democracy at the End of the 20th Century'. The seminar was organised by Marcus Raskin of IPS.

December

The TNI Philippine programme co-organised a small seminar of Filipinos in Europe, with key-representatives of organisations concerned with democracy and development in the Philippines, as a follow-up on the May-conference. The group also decided to support the peace process in the Philippines through various educational activities in Europe.