Thank you, Rais, for this!!! As I shared on other pages, I am also sharing my email message to the article's writer here. A huge gratitude to your important analysis and contribution. I am deeply saddened. Kyoko
---
Professor Tor Egil Førland,
Professor of History, University of Oslo
Affiliate Professor, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
Scholar in Residence, Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University
I just read a very discouraging article below:
All Over the Place: The Trajectory of Johan Galtung | Journal of Global Security Studies | Oxford Academic
When I accepted to be interviewed by you on Johan Galtung and Fumiko Nishimura on April 28 2026 (April 27 your time), I trusted you with faith in academic/research integrity. I believed you would write a full and fair biography of Johan Galtung and include stories of Fumiko Nishimura. Unfortunately, this article above does not show it at all.
I also read the counter-argument by Jan Oberg, dr hc, TFF director (TFF Transnational Foundation) below:
As the article "The PRIO & ISA Effort to Excommunicate Johan Galtung from Peace Research – And Why It Failed: An academic scandal for all involved parties and why some of us withdraw now." is entirely trustworthy written by a long-time colleague of ours, Transcend Japan, I am deeply saddened.
I realise that several of the interviewees are withdrawing from your book project. I also read another article by a colleague of mine, Raïs Neza Boneza:
I fully understand and agree with this article "From Where I Stood, It Was an Arrival: Galtung, Africa, and the Work of Peace: An open letter to Tor Egil Førland, PRIO, and everyone who claims to work for peace."
As all other Transcend-related colleagues clearly state now, I also withdraw my contribution to your biography. I ask you not to quote, paraphrase, or otherwise use my interview in the book.
Dear Kyoko, thank you for your kind words and your courageous stand. I share your sadness. Your commitment to dignity and integrity gives us strength to continue the work of peace. You are not alone; we stand together.
PRIO came under full US /Norwegian imperialist control decades ago, nowadays pontificating about "just wars".
They also bullied out Ola Tunander, who worked there for almost 30 years.
In 2013, PRIO asked Tunander in an e-mail to accept "quality assurance measures [that] relate to all printed publications, including shorter texts such as op-eds", and uniquely among staff was assigned a person to check on his work.
Tunander stated "This commitment to control everything I wrote, was so strong that it can only be explained by the pressure from the Americans. A candidate for the position as National Security Adviser to President Ronald Reagan, in no uncertain terms, let me know that what I had written "would have consequences" for me.
In the spring of 2015, PRIO's management had decided that I should retire. I said that this was not up to them and that I had to talk to my union, NTL. My immediate superior then replied that it did not matter what the union said. The decision about my retirement had already been made. Every day, for a full month, he came into my office to discuss my retirement."
Thanks to union support, Tunander managed to get an agreement, where he would retire in May 2016 in exchange for continuing as Research Professor Emeritus at PRIO.
Thank you Rais, for pointing out the questions and themes that any serious biographer of Johan Galtung should carefully examine. To do less diminishes his legacy and its potential for bringing us closer to the peaceful, truthful and humane world that we envision.
Thank you, Rais, for this!!! As I shared on other pages, I am also sharing my email message to the article's writer here. A huge gratitude to your important analysis and contribution. I am deeply saddened. Kyoko
---
Professor Tor Egil Førland,
Professor of History, University of Oslo
Affiliate Professor, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
Scholar in Residence, Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University
I just read a very discouraging article below:
All Over the Place: The Trajectory of Johan Galtung | Journal of Global Security Studies | Oxford Academic
Tor Egil Førland
Journal of Global Security Studies, Volume 11, Issue 2, June 2026, ogag007, https://doi.org/10.1093/jogss/ogag007
Published: 29 April 2026
When I accepted to be interviewed by you on Johan Galtung and Fumiko Nishimura on April 28 2026 (April 27 your time), I trusted you with faith in academic/research integrity. I believed you would write a full and fair biography of Johan Galtung and include stories of Fumiko Nishimura. Unfortunately, this article above does not show it at all.
I also read the counter-argument by Jan Oberg, dr hc, TFF director (TFF Transnational Foundation) below:
As the article "The PRIO & ISA Effort to Excommunicate Johan Galtung from Peace Research – And Why It Failed: An academic scandal for all involved parties and why some of us withdraw now." is entirely trustworthy written by a long-time colleague of ours, Transcend Japan, I am deeply saddened.
I realise that several of the interviewees are withdrawing from your book project. I also read another article by a colleague of mine, Raïs Neza Boneza:
I fully understand and agree with this article "From Where I Stood, It Was an Arrival: Galtung, Africa, and the Work of Peace: An open letter to Tor Egil Førland, PRIO, and everyone who claims to work for peace."
As all other Transcend-related colleagues clearly state now, I also withdraw my contribution to your biography. I ask you not to quote, paraphrase, or otherwise use my interview in the book.
In respect, dignity and integrity,
Kyoko Okumoto
Professor, Osaka Jogakuin University
Dear Kyoko, thank you for your kind words and your courageous stand. I share your sadness. Your commitment to dignity and integrity gives us strength to continue the work of peace. You are not alone; we stand together.
With gratitude and solidarity,
Raïs
PRIO came under full US /Norwegian imperialist control decades ago, nowadays pontificating about "just wars".
They also bullied out Ola Tunander, who worked there for almost 30 years.
In 2013, PRIO asked Tunander in an e-mail to accept "quality assurance measures [that] relate to all printed publications, including shorter texts such as op-eds", and uniquely among staff was assigned a person to check on his work.
Tunander stated "This commitment to control everything I wrote, was so strong that it can only be explained by the pressure from the Americans. A candidate for the position as National Security Adviser to President Ronald Reagan, in no uncertain terms, let me know that what I had written "would have consequences" for me.
In the spring of 2015, PRIO's management had decided that I should retire. I said that this was not up to them and that I had to talk to my union, NTL. My immediate superior then replied that it did not matter what the union said. The decision about my retirement had already been made. Every day, for a full month, he came into my office to discuss my retirement."
Thanks to union support, Tunander managed to get an agreement, where he would retire in May 2016 in exchange for continuing as Research Professor Emeritus at PRIO.
Thank you Rais, for pointing out the questions and themes that any serious biographer of Johan Galtung should carefully examine. To do less diminishes his legacy and its potential for bringing us closer to the peaceful, truthful and humane world that we envision.