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A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any form of government. The term originated from the United Nations (UN), and is normally used to refer to organizations that are not a part of the government and are not conventional for-profit business. In the cases in which NGOs are funded totally or partially by governments, the NGO maintains its non-governmental status by excluding government representatives from membership in the organization. The term is usually applied only to organizations that pursue wider social aims that have political aspects, but are not openly political organizations such as political parties.

The number of internationally operating NGOs is estimated at 40,000.^[1] National numbers are even higher: Russia has 277,000 NGOs;^[2] India is estimated to have around 3.3 million NGOs in year 2009, which is one NGO per less than 400 Indians, and many times the number of primary schools and primary health centres in India.^[3][4]

Definition[link]

NGOs are difficult to define and classify, and the term 'NGO' is not used consistently. As a result, there are many different classifications in use. The most common use a framework that includes orientation and level of operation. An NGO's orientation refers to the type of activities it takes on. These activities might include human rights, environmental, or development work. An NGO's level of operation indicates the scale at which an organization works, such as local, international or national. "Confronting the Classification Problem: Toward a Taxonomy of NGOs"

One of the earliest mentions of the acronym "NGO" was in 1945, when the UN was created. The UN, which is an inter-governmental organization, made it possible for certain approved specialized international non-state agencies - or non-governmental organisations - to be awarded observer status at its assemblies and some of its meetings. Later the term became used more widely. Today, according to the UN, any kind of private organization that is independent from government control can be termed an "NGO", provided it is not-profit, non-criminal and not simply an opposition political party.

Professor Peter Willets, from the City University of London, argues the definition of NGOs can be interpreted differently by various organizations and depending on a situation’s context. He defines an NGO as “"an independent voluntary association of people acting together on a continuous basis for some common purpose other than achieving government office, making money or illegal activities." In this view, two main types of NGOs are recognized according to the activities they pursue: operational NGOs that deliver services and campaigning NGOs. Although Willets proposes the operational and campaigning NGOs as a tool to differentiate the main activities of these organizations, he also explains that a single NGO may often be engaged in both activities. Many NGOs also see them as mutually reinforcing.

Professor Akira Iriye defines NGO as "a voluntary nonstate, nonprofit, nonreligious, and nonmilitary association."^[5]

Types[link]

Some find it helpful to classify NGOs by orientation and/or level of co-operation.

NGO type by orientation

• Charitable orientation
• Service orientation
• Participatory

• Empowering orientation;

NGO type by level of co-operation

• Community-based organization
• City-wide organization
• National NGO
• International NGO

Apart from "NGO", there are many alternative or overlapping terms in use, including: third sector organization (TSO), non-profit organization (NPO), voluntary organization (VO), civil society organization (CSO), grassroots organization (GO), social movement organization (SMO), private voluntary organization (PVO), self-help organization (SHO) and non-state actors (NSAs).

Non-governmental organizations are a heterogeneous group. As a result, a long (and sometimes confusing or comical) list of additional acronyms has developed, including:

• BINGO, short for 'business-friendly international NGO' or 'big international NGO'
• TANGO, 'technical assistance NGO'
• TSO, 'third sector organization'
• GONGO, 'government-operated NGOs' (set up by governments to look like NGOs in order to qualify for outside aid or promote the interests of government)
• DONGO: Donor Organized NGO
• INGO stands for international NGO; Oxfam, INSPAD,^[6] Institute of Peace and Development "A European Think Tank For Peace Initiatives";
• QUANGOs are quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations, such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). (The ISO is actually not purely an NGO, since its membership is by nation, and each nation is represented by what the ISO Council determines to be the 'most broadly representative' standardization body of a nation. That body might itself be a nongovernmental organization; for example, the United States is represented in ISO by the American National Standards Institute, which is independent of the federal government. However, other countries can be represented by national governmental agencies; this is the trend in Europe.)
• National NGO: A non-governmental organization that exists only in one country. This term is rare due to the globalization of non-governmental organizations, which causes an NGO to exist in more than one country.^[7]
• CSO, short for civil society organization
• ENGO: short for environmental NGO, such as Greenpeace and WWF
• NNGO, short for 'Northern nongovernmental organization'
• SNGO, short for 'Southern nongovernmental organization'
• SCO, also known as 'social change organizations'
• TNGO, transnational NGO; The term emerged during the 1970s due to the increase of environmental and economic issues in the global community. TNGO includes non-governmental organizations that are not confined to only one country, but exist in two or more countries.
• GSO: Grassroots Support Organization
• MANGO: short for market advocacy NGO
• NGDO: non-governmental development organization

USAID refers to NGOs as private voluntary organizations. However, many scholars have argued that this definition is highly problematic as many NGOs are in fact state and corporate funded and managed projects with professional staff.^{[citation needed]}

NGOs exist for a variety of reasons, usually to further the political or social goals of their members or funders. Examples include improving the state of the natural environment, encouraging the observance of human rights, improving the welfare of the disadvantaged, or representing a corporate agenda. However, there are a huge number of such organizations and their goals cover a broad range of political and philosophical positions. This can also easily be applied to private schools and athletic organizations.

Development, Environment and Human Rights NGOs[link]

NGOs are organizations that work in many different fields, but the term is generally associated with those seeking social transformation and improvements in quality of life. Development NGOs is the most highly visible sector, and includes both international and local organizations, as well as those working in humanitarian emergency sector. Many are associated with international aid and voluntary donation, but there are also NGOs that choose not to take funds from donors and try to generate funding in other ways, such as selling handicrafts or charging for services.

Environmental NGOs are another sub-sector, and sometimes overlap with development NGOs. An example is Greenpeace. (see: List of Environmental NGOs). Just like other NGOs networks, transnational environmental networks might acquire a variety of benefits in sharing information with other organizations, campaigning towards an issue, and exchanging contact information. Since Transnational environmental NGOs advocate for different issues like public goods, such as pollution in the air, deforestation of areas and water issues, it is more difficult for them to give their campaigns a human face than NGOs campaigning directly for human rights issues.

Some of the earliest forms of transnational environmental NGOs started to appear after the Second World War with the creation of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). After the UN was formed in 1945, more environmental NGO started to emerge in order to address more specific environmental issues. In 1946, the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was created with the purpose of advocating and representing scientific issues and collaboration among environmental NGOs. In 1969, the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) was funded to increase and improve collaboration among environmentalists. This collaboration was later reinforced and stimulated with the creation of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Program in 1971. In 1972, the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, tried to address the issues on Sweden’s plead for international intervention on trans-boundary pollution from other European industrialized nations.

Transnational environmental NGOs have taken on diverse issues around the globe, but one of the best-known cases involving the work of environmental NGO’s can be traced back to Brazil during the 1980s. The United States got involved with deforestation concerns due to the allegations of environmentalists dictating deforestation to be a global concern, and after 1977 the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act added an Environmental and Natural Resources section.

Human rights NGOs may also overlap with those in development, but are another distinct category. Amnesty International is perhaps one of the best-known.

During the early 1980s the Brazilian government created the Polonoreste developing program, which the World Bank agreed to finance. The Polonoreste program aimed to urbanized areas of the Amazon, which were already occupied by local indigenous groups. Rapid deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon called the attention and intervention of UNESCO, who utilized its Program on Man and the Biosphere to advocate against the Polonoreste program, on the grounds of violating the rights of the indigenous groups living in the Amazon. In the case of deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon, the environment NGOs were able to put pressure on the World Bank to cancel the loans for the Polonoreste program. Due to the leverage that the U.S. has over the bank, in 1985 the World Bank suspended the financial aid to the Polonoreste Program. The work of environmental NGOs in the Brazilian case was successful because there was a point of leverage that made the targeted actor vulnerable to international pressure.^[8]

Even though NGOs might have common goals relating to development or environment issues, interests and perspectives are diverse. A distinction can be made between the interests and goals among those NGOs located in industrialized countries—often referred to as the states of the North—and NGOs from nations located in developing countries—referred to as states of the South. There is sometimes tension between them. Southern states blame the developed nations for over-consumption and pollution resulting from industrialization, and for sustaining inequalities in the international economic system

There is also a distinction among groups that take on particular and specific socio-economic issues. The Women’s Environment and Development Organization was created in 1990 with the purpose to advocate for gender inclusion in work related to the Earth Summit. Other groups might focus on issues that include racial minorities and individuals from lower income backgrounds.^[9]

Activities[link]

There are also numerous classifications of NGOs. The typology the World Bank uses divides them into Operational and Advocacy:^[10]

NGOs vary in their methods. Some act primarily as lobbyists, while others primarily conduct programs and activities. For instance, an NGO such as Oxfam, concerned with poverty alleviation, might provide needy people with the equipment and skills to find food and clean drinking water, whereas an NGO like the FFDA helps through investigation and documentation of human rights violations and provides legal assistance to victims of human rights abuses. Others, such as Afghanistan Information Management Services, provide specialized technical products and services to support development activities implemented on the ground by other organizations.

NGOs were intended to fill a gap in government services, but in countries like India, NGOs are gaining a powerful stronghold in decision making. In the interest of sustainability, most donors require that NGOs demonstrate a relationship with governments. State Governments themselves are vulnerable because they lack strategic planning and vision. They are therefore sometimes tightly bound by a nexus of NGOs, political bodies, commercial organizations and major donors/funders, making decisions that have short term outputs but no long term affect. NGOs in India are under regulated, political, and recipients of large government and international donor funds. NGOs often take up responsibilities outside their skill ambit. Governments have no access to the number of projects or amount of funding received by these NGOs. There is a pressing need to regulate this group while not curtailing their unique role as a supplement to government services.

Operational[link]

Operational NGOs seek to "achieve small scale change directly through projects."^[11] " They mobilize financial resources, materials and volunteers to create localized programs in the field. They hold large scale fundraising events, apply to governments and organizations for grants and contracts in order to raise money for projects. They often operate in a hierarchical structure; with a main headquarters staffed by professionals who plan projects, create budgets, keep accounts, report, and communicate with operational fieldworkers who work directly on projects^[11] Operational NGOs deal with a wide range of issues, but are most often associated with the delivery of services and welfare, emergency relief and environmental issues. Operational NGOs can be further categorized, one frequently used categorization is the division into relief-oriented versus development-oriented organizations; they can also be classified according to whether they stress service delivery or participation; or whether they are religious or secular; and whether they are more public or private-oriented. Operational NGOs can be community-based, national or international. The defining activity of operational NGOs is implementing projects.^[11]

Campaigning[link]

Campaigning NGOs seek to "achieve large scale change promoted indirectly through influence of the political system."^[11] Campaigning NGOs need an efficient and effective group of professional members who are able to keep supporters informed, and motivated. They must plan and host demonstrations and events that will keep their cause in the media. They must maintain a large informed network of supporters who can be mobilized for events to garner media attention and influence policy changes. The defining activity of campaigning NGOs is holding demonstrations.^[11] Campaigning NGOs often deal with issues relating to human rights, women's rights, children's rights. The primary purpose of an Advocacy NGO is to defend or promote a specific cause. As opposed to operational project management, these organizations typically try to raise awareness, acceptance and knowledge by lobbying, press work and activist events.

Both[link]

It is not uncommon for NGOs to make use of both activities. Many times, operational NGOs will use campaigning techniques if they continually face the same issues in the field that could be remedied through policy changes. At the same time, Campaigning NGOs, like human rights organizations often have programs that assist the individual victims they are trying to help through their advocacy work.^[11]

Public relations[link]

Non-governmental organisations need healthy relationships with the public to meet their goals. Foundations and charities use sophisticated public relations campaigns to raise funds and employ standard lobbying techniques with governments. Interest groups may be of political importance because of their ability to influence social and political outcomes. A code of ethics was established in 2002 by The World Association of Non Governmental NGOs.

Project management[link]

There is an increasing awareness that management techniques are crucial to project success in non-governmental organizations.^[12] Generally, non-governmental organizations that are private have either a community or environmental focus. They address varieties of issues such as religion, emergency aid, or humanitarian affairs. They mobilize public support and voluntary contributions for aid; they often have strong links with community groups in developing countries, and they often work in areas where government-to-government aid is not possible. NGOs are accepted as a part of the international relations landscape, and while they influence national and multilateral policy-making, increasingly they are more directly involved in local action.

Corporate structure[link]

Staffing[link]

Some NGOs are highly professionalized and rely mainly on paid staff. Others are based around voluntary labour and are less formalized. Not all people working for non-governmental organizations are volunteers.

Many NGOs are associated with the use of international staff working in 'developing' countries, but there are many NGOs in both North and South who rely on local employees or volunteers. There is some dispute as to whether expatriates should be sent to developing countries. Frequently this type of personnel is employed to satisfy a donor who wants to see the supported project managed by someone from an industrialized country. However, the expertise these employees or volunteers may be counterbalanced by a number of factors: the cost of foreigners is typically higher, they have no grassroot connections in the country they are sent to, and local expertise is often undervalued.^[10]

The NGO sector is an important employer in terms of numbers.^{[citation needed]} For example, by the end of 1995, CONCERN worldwide, an international Northern NGO working against poverty, employed 174 expatriates and just over 5,000 national staff working in ten developing countries in Africa and Asia, and in Haiti.

Funding[link]

Small NGOs may operate with little or no funding, while large NGOs may have annual budgets in the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. For instance, the budget of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) was over US$540 million in 1999.^[13] Funding such large budgets demands significant fundraising efforts on the part of most NGOs. Major sources of NGO funding are membership dues, the sale of goods and services, grants from international institutions or national governments, and private donations. Several EU-grants provide funds accessible to NGOs.

Even though the term "non-governmental organization" implies independence from governments, many NGOs depend heavily on governments for their funding.^[14] A quarter of the US$162 million income in 1998 of the famine-relief organization Oxfam was donated by the British government and the EU. The Christian relief and development organization World Vision United States collected US$55 million worth of goods in 1998 from the American government. Nobel Prize winner Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) (known in the USA as Doctors Without Borders) gets 46% of its income from government sources.^[15]

Government funding of NGOs is controversial, since, according to David Rieff, writing in The New Republic, "the whole point of humanitarian intervention was precisely that NGOs and civil society had both a right and an obligation to respond with acts of aid and solidarity to people in need or being subjected to repression or want by the forces that controlled them, whatever the governments concerned might think about the matter."^[16] Some NGOs, such as Greenpeace do not accept funding from governments or intergovernmental organizations.^[17][18]

Overhead costs[link]

Overhead is the amount of money that is spent on running an NGO rather than on projects.^[19] This includes office expenses,^[19] salaries, banking and bookkeeping costs. What percentage of overall budget is spent on overhead is often used to judge an NGO with less than 10% being viewed as good.^[19] The World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations states that ideally more than 80% should be spent on programs (less than 20% on overhead).^[20] The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has specific guidelines on how high overhead can be to receive funding based on how the money is to be spent with overhead often needing to be less than 5-7%.^[21] While the World Bank typically allows 10%.^[22] A high percentage of overhead to total expenditures can make it more difficult to generate funds.^[23] High overhead costs may also generate criticism with some claiming the certain NGOs with high overhead are being run simply to benefit the people working for them.^[24]

Monitoring and control[link]

In a March 2000 report on United Nations Reform priorities, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan wrote in favor of international humanitarian intervention, arguing that the international community has a "right to protect"^[25] citizens of the world against ethnic cleansing, genocide, and crimes against humanity. On the heels of the report, the Canadian government launched the Responsibility to Protect R2P^[26] project, outlining the issue of humanitarian intervention. While the R2P doctrine has wide applications, among the more controversial has been the Canadian government's use of R2P to justify its intervention and support of the coup in Haiti.^[27] Years after R2P, the World Federalist Movement, an organization which supports "the creation of democratic global structures accountable to the citizens of the world and call for the division of international authority among separate agencies", has launched Responsibility to Protect - Engaging Civil Society (R2PCS). A collaboration between the WFM and the Canadian government, this project aims to bring NGOs into lockstep with the principles outlined under the original R2P project.

The governments of the countries an NGO works or is registered in may require reporting or other monitoring and oversight. Funders generally require reporting and assessment, such information is not necessarily publicly available. There may also be associations and watchdog organizations that research and publish details on the actions of NGOs working in particular geographic or program areas.^{[citation needed]}

In recent years, many large corporations have increased their corporate social responsibility departments in an attempt to preempt NGO campaigns against certain corporate practices. As the logic goes, if corporations work with NGOs, NGOs will not work against corporations.

In December 2007, The United States Department of Defense Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) S. Ward Casscells established an International Health Division under Force Health Protection & Readiness.^[28] Part of International Health's mission is to communicate with NGOs in areas of mutual interest. Department of Defense Directive 3000.05,^[29] in 2005, requires DoD to regard stability-enhancing activities as a mission of importance equal to combat. In compliance with international law, DoD has necessarily built a capacity to improve essential services in areas of conflict such as Iraq, where the customary lead agencies (State Department and USAID) find it difficult to operate. Unlike the "co-option" strategy described for corporations, the OASD(HA) recognizes the neutrality of health as an essential service. International Health cultivates collaborative relationships with NGOs, albeit at arms-length, recognizing their traditional independence, expertise and honest broker status. While the goals of DoD and NGOs may seem incongruent, the DoD's emphasis on stability and security to reduce and prevent conflict suggests, on careful analysis, important mutual interests.

History[link]

International non-governmental organizations have a history dating back to at least 1839.^[30] It has been estimated that by 1914, there were 1083 NGOs.^[31] International NGOs were important in the anti-slavery movement and the movement for women's suffrage, and reached a peak at the time of the World Disarmament Conference.^[32] However, the phrase "non-governmental organization" only came into popular use with the establishment of the United Nations Organization in 1945 with provisions in Article 71 of Chapter 10 of the United Nations Charter^[33] for a consultative role for organizations which are neither governments nor member states—see Consultative Status. The definition of "international NGO" (INGO) is first given in resolution 288 (X) of ECOSOC on February 27, 1950: it is defined as "any international organization that is not founded by an international treaty". The vital role of NGOs and other "major groups" in sustainable development was recognized in Chapter 27^[34] of Agenda 21, leading to intense arrangements for a consultative relationship between the United Nations and non-governmental organizations.^[35] It has been observed that the number of INGO founded or dissolved matches the general "state of the world", rising in periods of growth and declining in periods of crisis.^[36]

Rapid development of the non-governmental sector occurred in western countries as a result of the processes of restructuring of the welfare state. Further globalization of that process occurred after the fall of the communist system and was an important part of the Washington consensus.^[14]

Globalization during the 20th century gave rise to the importance of NGOs. Many problems could not be solved within a nation. International treaties and international organizations such as the World Trade Organization were centred mainly on the interests of capitalist enterprises. In an attempt to counterbalance this trend, NGOs have developed to emphasize humanitarian issues, developmental aid and sustainable development. A prominent example of this is the World Social Forum, which is a rival convention to the World Economic Forum held annually in January in Davos, Switzerland. The fifth World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in January 2005 was attended by representatives from more than 1,000 NGOs.^[37] In terms of environmental issues and sustainable development, the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 was the first to show the power of international NGOs, when about 2,400 representatives of NGOs came to play a central role in deliberations. Some have argued that in forums like these, NGOs take the place of what should belong to popular movements of the poor. Others argue that NGOs are often imperialist^[38] in nature, that they sometimes operate in a racialized manner in third world countries, and that they fulfill a similar function to that of the clergy during the high colonial era. The philosopher Peter Hallward argues that they are an aristocratic form of politics.^[39] Whatever the case, NGO transnational networking is now extensive.^[40]

Legal status[link]

The legal form of NGOs is diverse and depends upon homegrown variations in each country's laws and practices. However, four main family groups of NGOs can be found worldwide:^[41]

• Unincorporated and voluntary association
• Trusts, charities and foundations
• Companies not just for profit
• Entities formed or registered under special NGO or nonprofit laws

The Council of Europe in Strasbourg drafted the European Convention on the Recognition of the Legal Personality of International Non-Governmental Organizations in 1986, which sets a common legal basis for the existence and work of NGOs in Europe. Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to freedom of association, which is also a fundamental norm for NGOs.

Critiques[link]

Stuart Becker provides the following summary of the primary critiques of NGOs:

There’s a debate that, NGOs take the place of what should belong to popular movements of the poor. Others argue that NGOs are often imperialist in nature, that they sometimes operate in a racist manner in Third World countries and that they fulfill a similar function to that of the clergy during the colonial era. Philosopher Peter Hallward argues that they are an aristocratic form of politics."^[42]

Issa G. Shivji is one of Africa's leading experts on law and development issues as an author and academic. His critique on NGOs is found in two essays: "Silences in NGO discourse: The role and future of NGOs in Africa" and "Reflections on NGOs in Tanzania: What we are, what we are not and what we ought to be". Shivji argues that despite the good intentions of NGO leaders and activists, he is critical of the "objective effects of actions, regardless of their intentions".^[43] Shivji argues also that the sudden rise of NGOs are part of a neoliberal paradigm rather than pure altruistic motivations. He is critical of the current manifestations of NGOs wanting to change the world without understanding it, and that the imperial relationship continues today with the rise of NGOs.

Jessica Mathews once wrote in Foreign Affairs in 1997: "For all their strengths, NGOs are special interests. The best of them ... often suffer from tunnel vision, judging every public act by how it affects their particular interest"^[44]. Since NGOs do have have to worry about policy trade-offs, the overall impact of their cause might bring more harm to society^[45].

Another criticism of NGOs is that they are being designed and used as extensions of the normal foreign-policy instruments of certain Western countries and groups of countries.^[46] Russian President Vladimir Putin made this accusation at the 43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy in 2007, concluding that these NGOs "are formally independent but they are purposefully financed and therefore under control."^[47]

Challenges to legitimacy[link]

The issue of the legitimacy of NGOs raises a series of important questions. This is one of the most important assets possessed by an NGO, it is gained through a perception that they are an “independent voice”.^[48][49] Accountability may be able to provide this and also be able to assist activities by providing focus and direction^[50] As non-state actors with considerable influence over the governance in many areas, concerns have been expressed over the extent to which they represent the views of the public and the extent to which they allow the public to hold them to account.^[51]

The origin of funding can have serious implications for the legitimacy of NGOs. In recent decades NGOs have increased their numbers and range of activities to a level where they have become increasingly dependent on a limited number of donors.^[51] Consequently competition has increased for funding, as have the expectations of the donors themselves.^[52] This runs the risk of donors adding conditions which can threaten the independence of NGOs, an over-dependence on official aid has the potential to dilute “the willingness of NGOs to speak out on issues which are unpopular with governments”.^[49] In these situations NGOs are being held accountable by their donors, which can erode rather than enhance their legitimacy, a difficult challenge to overcome. Some commentators have also argued that the changes in where NGOs receive their funding has ultimately altered their functions.^[49]

NGOs have also been challenged on the grounds that they do not necessarily represent the needs of the developing world, through diminishing the so-called “Southern Voice”. Some postulate that the North-South division exists in the arena of NGOs.^[53] They question the equality of the relationships between Northern and Southern parts of the same NGOs as well as the relationships between Southern and Northern NGOs working in partnerships. This suggests a division of labour may develop, with the North taking the lead in advocacy and resource mobilisation whilst the South engages in service delivery in the developing world.^[53] The potential implications of this may mean that the needs of the developing world are not addressed appropriately as Northern NGOs do not properly consult or participate in partnerships. The real danger in this situation is that western views may take the front seat and assign unrepresentative priorities.^[54]

The scale and variety of activities in which NGOs participate has grown rapidly since the 1980s, witnessing particular expansion in the 1990s.^[55] This has presented NGOs with need to balance the pressures of centralisation and decentralisation. By centralising NGOs, particularly those that operate at an international level, they can assign a common theme or set of goals. Conversely it is also advantageous to decentralise as this increases the chances of an NGO behaving flexibly and effectively to localised issues.^[56]

See also[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Mark Butler, with Thulani Ndlazi, David Ntseng, Graham Philpott, and Nomusa Sokhela. NGO Practice and the Possibility of Freedom Church Land Programme, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa 2007 Churchland.co.za^{[dead link]}
• Olivier Berthoud, NGOs: Somewhere between Compassion, Profitability and Solidarity Envio.org.ni, PDF Edinter.net Envio, Managua, 2001
• Terje Tvedt, 19982/2003: Angels of Mercy or Development Diplomats. NGOs & Foreign Aid, Oxford: James Currey
• Steve W. Witt, ed. Changing Roles of NGOs in the Creation, Storage, and Dissemination of Information in Developing Countries (Saur, 2006). ISBN 3-598-22030-8
• Cox, P. N. Shams, G. C. Jahn, P. Erickson and P. Hicks. 2002. Building collaboration between NGOs and agricultural research institutes. Cambodian Journal of Agriculture 6: 1-8. IRRI.org^{[dead link]}
• Ann Florini, ed. The Third Force: The Rise of Transnational Civil Society (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Japan Center for International Exchange, 2001).
• Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink. 1998. Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Cornell University Press
• Rodney Bruce Hall, and Biersteker, Thomas. The Emergence of Private Authority in Global Governance (Cambridge Studies in International Relations, 2003)
• Dorthea Hilhorst, The Real World of NGOs: Discourses, Diversity and Development, Zed Books, 2003
• Joan Roelofs, Foundations and Public Policy: The Mask of Pluralism (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003).
• Ian Smillie, & Minear, Larry, editors. The Charity of Nations: Humanitarian Action in a Calculating World, Kumarian Press, 2004
• Simon Maxwell and Diane Stone. (eds) Global Knowledge Networks and International Development: Bridges Across Boundaries (Routledge, 2005: I-xix; 1-192).
• Sidney Tarrow, The New Transnational Activism, New York :Cambridge University Press, 2005
• Thomas Ward, editor. Development, Social Justice, and Civil Society: An Introduction to the Political Economy of NGOs, Paragon House, 2005
• H. Teegen, 2003. ‘International NGOs as Global Institutions: Using Social Capital to Impact Multinational Enterprises and Governments’, Journal of International Management.
• Jennifer Brinkerhoff, Stephen C. Smith, and Hildy Teegen, NGOs and the Millennium Development Goals: Citizen Action to Reduce Poverty, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
• S.Goonatilake. Recolonisation: Foreign Funded NGO's in Sri Lanka, Sage Publications 2006.
• Teegen, H. Doh, J., Vachani, S., 2004. “The importance of nongovernmental organisation in global governance and value creation: an international business research agenda“ in Journal of International Business Studies. Washington: Vol. 35, Iss.6.
• K. Rodman, (1998)."‘Think Globally, Punish Locally: Nonstate Actors, Multinational Corporations, and Human Rights Sanctions" in Ethics in International Affairs, vol. 12.
• Grant B. Stillman (2006), NGO Law and Governance: a resource book, ADB Institute, Tokyo, ISBN 4-89974-013-1.

More useful are regional histories and analyses of the experience of NGOs. Specific works (although this is by no means an exhaustive list) include:

• T. R. Davies, The Possibilities of Transnational Activism: The Campaign for Disarmament between the Two World Wars, Brill, 2007. ISBN 3-598-22030-8
• H. Englund, Prisoners of Freedom: Human Rights & the Africa Poor, University of California Press, 2006
• Carrie Meyer, The Economics and Politics of NGOs in Latin America, Praeger Publishers, July 30, 1999
• Chhandasi Pandya. 2006. Private Authority and Disaster Relief: The Cases of Post-Tsunami Aceh and Nias. Critical Asian Studies. Vol. 38, No. 2. Pg. 298-308. Routledge Press: Taylor & Francis Group
• Maha Abdelrahman, Civil Society Exposed: The Politics of NGOs in Egypt, The American University in Cairo Press, 2004. Al-Ahram Weekly has done a review of the book.
• Sangeeta Kamat, Development hegemony: NGOs and The State in India, Delhi, New York; Oxford University Press, 2002
• Adama Sow, Chancen und Risiken von NGOs – Die Gewerkschaften in Guinea während der Unruhen 2007 – EPU Research Papers: Issue 03/07, Stadtschlaining 2007 (German)
• Lyal S. Sunga, "Dilemmas facing INGOs in coalition-occupied Iraq", in Ethics in Action: The Ethical Challenges of International Human Rights Nongovernmental Organizations, edited by Daniel A. Bell and Jean-Marc Coicaud, Cambridge Univ. and United Nations Univ. Press, 2007.
• Lyal S. Sunga, "NGO Involvement in International Human Rights Monitoring, International Human Rights Law and Non-Governmental Organizations" (2005) 41-69.
• Werker & Ahmed (2008): What do Non-Governmental Organizations do?
• Steve Charnovitz, "Two Centuries of Participation: NGOs and International Governance," Michigan Journal of International Law, Vol. 18, Winter 1997, at 183-286.
• Abahlali baseMjondolo Rethinking Public Participation from Below, 'Critical Dialogue', 2006
• Akpan S. M (2010): Establishment of Non-Governmental Organizations (In Press).
• Edward A. L. Turner (2010) Why Has the Number of International Non-Governmental Organizations Exploded since 1960?, Cliodynamics, 1, (1). Retrieved from: [3]
• Eugene Fram & Vicki Brown, How Using the Corporate Model Makes a Nonprofit Board More Effective & Efficient - Third Edition (2011), Amazon Books, Create Space Books.

The de facto reference resource for information and statistics on International NGOs (INGOs) and other transnational organisational forms is the Yearbook of International Organizations, produced by the Union of International Associations.

• David Lewis and Nazneen Kanji (2009): Non-Governmental Organizations and Development. New York: Routledge.
• Issa G. Shivji (2007): Silence in NGO Discourse: The Role and Future of NGOs in Africa. Nairobi: Fahamu.
• Jens Steffek and Kristina Hahn (2010): Evaluating Transnational NGOs: Legitimacy, Accountability, Representation. New York: Palgrave, Macmillan.

External links[link]

• NGO Search: NGO/IGO google custom search engine built by the Govt Documents Round Table (GODORT) of the American Library Association.
• Interface journal special issue on NGOs
• A brief history of Non-Governmental Organizations
• Historical Database of International NGOs
• Duke University NGO Library
• Global Policy Forum: The site includes articles on a wide range of aspects of NGOs.
• NGOs - Non-Governmental Organizations
• What is a Non-Governmental Organization? City University, London
• international association of professional certification, (iaopc)

Sigmar Gabriel
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 November 2009
Preceded by	Franz Müntefering
Minister of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
In office 22 November 2005 – 27 October 2009
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Preceded by	Jürgen Trittin
Succeeded by	Norbert Röttgen
Prime Minister of Lower Saxony
In office 15 December 1999 – 4 March 2003
Preceded by	Gerhard Glogowski
Succeeded by	Christian Wulff
Personal details
Born	(1959-09-12) 12 September 1959 (age 52) Goslar, West Germany (now Germany)
Political party	Social Democratic Party

Sigmar Gabriel (born 12 September 1959 in Goslar) is a German politician currently chairing the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

On 15 December 1999, after the resignation of Gerhard Glogowski, who had succeeded Gerhard Schröder in office, Gabriel became Minister-President of Lower Saxony and served until 4 March 2003. After being voted out of office, he became the SPD's "Representative for Pop Culture and Pop Discourse" from 2003 to 2005, for which he was bestowed the nickname Siggi Pop.^[1] From 2005 to 2009 he was the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in the first cabinet of Angela Merkel (CDU).

He has promoted the International Renewable Energy Agency. He called the speeches of Thilo Sarrazin, his party colleague who wrote critically about immigration, "verbal violence," . Gabriel called Israel an "Apartheid-Regime".^[2]

Following the SPD's defeat in the federal election of 2009, Franz Müntefering resigned from the position of party chairman of the Social Democratic Party. Gabriel was nominated as his successor and was elected on 13 November 2009.^[3] Gabriel was re-elected as party chairman for a further two years at the SPD party conference in Berlin on 5 December 2011, receiving 91.6% of the vote.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

v t e The First Merkel Cabinet, 22 November 2005 – 28 October 2009 Franz Müntefering/Olaf Scholz (since 22 Nov 2007) (SPD) | Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) | Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) | Brigitte Zypries (SPD) | Peer Steinbrück (SPD) | Michael Glos/Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (since 10 Feb 2009) (CSU) | Horst Seehofer/Ilse Aigner (since 31 Oct 2008) (CSU) | Franz Josef Jung (CDU) | Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) | Ulla Schmidt (SPD) | Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD) | Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) | Annette Schavan (CDU) | Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (SPD) | Thomas de Maizière (CDU)

v t e Prime Ministers of Lower Saxony Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf Heinrich Hellwege Georg Diederichs Alfred Kubel Ernst Albrecht Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Glogowski Sigmar Gabriel Christian Wulff David McAllister

This article about a German politician or member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Calvin Harris
Background information
Birth name	Adam Richard Wiles
Born	(1984-01-17) 17 January 1984 (age 28) Dumfries, Scotland
Genres	Electropop, electro house, nu-disco, synthpop, Eurodance
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, record producer, DJ
Instruments	Vocals, keyboards, synthesizer
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Fly Eye, Columbia, Ministry of Sound, Ultra
Website	www.calvinharris.co.uk

Adam Richard Wiles^[1] (born 17 January 1984)^[2], better known by his stage name Calvin Harris, is a Scottish DJ, singer, songwriter, and record producer. His gold-selling debut album, I Created Disco, was released in 2007 and contained the top ten singles "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls". His second studio album, Ready for the Weekend (2009), reached number one in the UK Album Chart and includes the chart-topper "I'm Not Alone", the UK top five hit "Ready for the Weekend", and the singles "Flashback" and "You Used to Hold Me".

A remix album titled L.E.D. Festival was released in July 2010 as a free album in the August issue of Mixmag. Harris is currently working on his third studio album—due for release in 2012—which has produced the singles "Awooga", "Bounce", "Feel So Close", and "Let's Go". He has written and produced records for other recording artists including Kylie Minogue, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Dizzee Rascal, Rihanna (on the international chart topper "We Found Love"),^[3] and Kesha.^[4]

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

Harris was born in Dumfries, Scotland. He states that his childhood hero was football star Steve McManaman,^[5] but because he could not play [the game] nor have McManaman's 'curly hair', music was the next best option for a career.^[6] He was first attracted to electronic music in his teens and was recording bedroom demos by 1999.^[7] According to an interview with News of the World, all the while he created music, he started becoming an antisocial person, which affected his personality.^[8] His earliest success was when he was 21: the songs "Da Bongos" and "Brighter Days" were released as a 12" club single and CD-EP by the Prima Facie label in early 2002 under the name Stouffer.^[9] He released one song in 2004, "Let Me Know", with artist Ayah Marar. The song appears on The Unabombers' Electric Soul 2.

[edit] 2006–08: I Created Disco

Harris performing in 2008

Harris signed contracts with EMI (publishing) and Sony BMG (recording) in 2006 after he had been discovered by Tommie Sunshine on the social networking website MySpace and his music was released on Sunshine's label Xylophone Jones Recordings previous to his album on Sony BMG.^[10] Harris had recently moved back from London to his hometown of Dumfries because he was unable to find a job.^[11] Later in 2006, Harris produced a remix of All Saints' hit single "Rock Steady".

Harris' first album, I Created Disco, was released in June 2007. The album contains uptempo electroclash songs that were influenced by music from the 1980s. To promote I Created Disco, Harris embarked on a tour of the UK, supporting Faithless and Groove Armada.^[12][13] I Created Disco has been certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry for sales of 100,000 copies in the UK, where it reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart.

The first single, "Vegas", was issued on limited edition vinyl; the first wide-release single from the album was "Acceptable in the 80s", a tribute to the style and culture of the decade. The song reached the top ten on the UK Singles Chart, remaining on the chart for fifteen weeks.^[14] "The Girls", the album's third single, peaked at number three in the UK, although the fourth release, "Merrymaking at My Place", reached only number forty-three. The fifth and final single, "Colours", was featured in television advertisements for DFS sofas and Kia Motors. In October 2008, Harris was featured on BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix with a two-hour set.

[edit] 2008–10: Ready for the Weekend

In April 2008, Harris stated that the only existing copy of his upcoming album work was lost when his was misplaced during the baggage handling problems at the opening of London Heathrow Terminal 5.^[15] Harris later admitted that this was a lie as the album was not in his luggage at all, and that he hoped that what he said would buy him some more time to finish recording the LP.^[16] The album, Ready for the Weekend, was released in August 2009 in the United Kingdom^[17] and debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, eventually being certified gold by the BPI for selling 100,000 copies. The first single, "I'm Not Alone", released in April 2009, debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number one and was shortlisted for the Popjustice £20 Music Prize. The follow-up single, "Ready for the Weekend" (featuring singer Mary Pearce), went to number three. Other tracks included on the album are "Worst Day" featuring Izza Kizza^[18] and "Yeah Yeah Yeah La La La", which was used in a Coca-Cola advertisement.^[19]

Harris toured around the UK, Ireland, France, the Netherlands and the United States promoting the album. In June 2009, Harris appeared at the Summertime Ball at the Emirates Stadium, and in August, he made an appearance on the first Soccer AM show of the season. Harris performed at Wembley Stadium in October 2009 as part of the pre-game entertainment for the NFL International Series game between the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The third single from Ready for the Weekend, "Flashback", reached the top twenty in the UK, and the fourth, "You Used to Hold Me", entered the top forty. During promotion of the album, Harris hosted a series of videos on YouTube titled JAM TV, in which musicians such as Florence Welch, Goldie and Katy Perry tried to open pots of jam.^[20] In 2010, Harris received a BRIT Award nomination for British Male.

On 14 November, Harris invaded the stage of The X Factor during a performance by John & Edward, holding a pineapple on his head and bending over to point at his buttocks. He was subsequently evicted from the studio by the security team and told not to return to have his say on the ITV2 programme The Xtra Factor—in which he was to have been a "Celebrity Guest". He later apologised on Twitter, saying he was a fan of the boys, "At the end of the day, I had a pineapple on my head. Sorry if I caused anyone embarrassment. PS, I love Jedward (sic)".^[21] The same week, Harris spoke to The Chris Moyles Show and revealed that he had been "inspired to make a mockery of the show", as well as stating that "If you look at music it's a frightening stranglehold that Simon Cowell has got over the entire music chart in the UK at the moment."^[22] On the same day, John and Edward's "mentor" Louis Walsh, appearing on The Paul O'Grady Show, accused Harris of trying to "cash in" on John & Edward's fame, and claimed to not know who he was.^[23]

2010–present: Third album and touring[link]

Harris performing in Australia

Harris played at the 2010 Big Day Out, a music festival which takes place in several major cities in Australia and Auckland, New Zealand. In May 2010, he performed at Evolution Festival, UK in Newcastle upon Tyne, Quayside, and in July he played at Nottingham Splendour and headlined at the Stockton International Riverside Festival in Stockton-on-Tees. In July 2010, Harris released a mix, titled L.E.D. Festival (short for L.E.D. Festival Presents... Calvin Harris). It was available for one month as a free covermount CD in Mixmag.

Harris appeared at the tenth birthday of Our:House in Auckland, New Zealand, in November 2010, alongside Afrojack,^[24] and performed an hour-long DJ set at Australia's Steresonic Festival alongside Tiesto, Carl Cox, Afrojack and Major Lazer in November/December 2010, in several major Australian cities including Sydney and Melbourne. In 2011, he toured with Rihanna in Australia, Poland and the UK as a support act on her Loud Tour; Rihanna was quoted to say that "Calvin is the perfect fit for the Loud tour. He is going to bring something unique and fun for the fans."^[25] Harris headlined the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2011 party.

During March and April 2011, Harris was scheduled to be an opening act/DJ for Katy Perry on the UK leg of her California Dreams Tour, but he withdrew from the tour shortly before his first date, citing production issues and difficulties with Perry's management in his apology to her fans.^[26] Perry publicly criticised Harris via her Twitter feed, stating that the tour's other support acts had expressed no problems with their production arrangements,^[27] but Harris later said "it's all fine" between them and that he would still like to work with her in the future.^[28]

Harris headlined Limelite at Metropolis Fremantle (Western Australia) in March 2011 in celebration of the event's fourth birthday, where he played small samples of his new track, "Awooga", which was subsequently uploaded onto YouTube via his channel, icreateddisco.^[29] Following "Awooga", Harris released the single "Bounce", a collaboration with Kelis that debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart in June 2011. Another single, "Feel So Close", was released in August 2011 and also reached number two, as did the third single, "Let's Go" featuring Ne-Yo (released in April 2012), commissioned for a Pepsi Max advertising campaign. "Feel So Close" became Harris's first solo entry on the Billboard Hot 100 in America, peaking at number twelve. These singles precede Harris's third studio album, which will be released in 2012;^[30] he has said of the LP, "I'm going for pretty epic-sounding dance records. I guess the whole sound has just moved on in terms of production as I've got a new studio and some new gear to make the sounds I wasn't able to make before."^[31] Singer/rapper Example announced via Twitter that he will be featured on Harris's next single, "We'll Be Coming Back".^{[citation needed]}

Harris performed at the 2011 Jingle Bell Ball concert, and has been announced as one of the headline acts at a number of Southern Hemisphere 2011/2012 new year music festivals, including Shore Thing and Field Day^[32] in Sydney, as well as Rhythm and Vines in New Zealand.^[33]

Productions and songwriting[link]

In 2007, Harris caught the attention of pop singer Kylie Minogue after his recordings had been passed on to her by another record producer.^[12] This led to him co-writing and producing two songs on her 2007 album X—"Heart Beat Rock" and "In My Arms", the latter a top ten hit in the UK. Harris said that working with Minogue was "surreal, but fun" although he admitted to Mixmag in 2007 to "needing a few drinks before meeting her". Harris returned to work with Minogue on her album Aphrodite (2010), co-producing the track "Too Much".

In 2008, Harris collaborated with rapper Dizzee Rascal on his single "Dance wiv Me", producing the track and singing the hook. The single reached number one in the UK and has been certified platinum by the BPI, selling 300,000 copies. It was shortlisted for the 2008 Popjustice £20 Music Prize and, in 2009, received a BRIT Award nomination for British Single and an Ivor Novello Award nomination for Best Contemporary Song. In 2009, he produced Dizzee Rascal's next single entitled "Holiday", which also reached number one. He was supposed to make an appearance in its music video, but objected to dancing along in some scenes, wearing a certain shirt for the video and not wearing his "fly eye" glasses.^[1] Also in 2009, Harris made a guest appearance on Tiësto's song "Century" on the Dutch producer's album Kaleidoscope.^[34] Harris produced a track for English singer/rapper Example for his second album Won't Go Quietly (2010), "Time Machine", and mixed The Ting Tings' UK top forty single "Hands", having previously remixed the band's singles "Great DJ" (2008) and "We Walk" (2009).

In 2011, Harris featured on LMFAO's album Sorry for Party Rocking, appearing on the track "Reminds Me of You" which is based on Harris's own song "Awooga". Harris produced Tinchy Stryder's second single, "Off the Record" from his fourth studio album, Full Tank. The track had its première on 15 September 2011, and was released in the UK on 6 November 2011. Following a stint as her support act on the Australian leg of her tour, Harris produced "We Found Love" and "Where Have You Been" for Barbadian singer Rihanna. The former is the lead single from her sixth studio album, Talk That Talk, and was premiered in September 2011. It has reached number one in countries such as the UK and the United States, becoming Harris's first charting appearance on the Billboard Hot 100. He co-wrote and co-produced the bonus track "One Life" for R&B singer Mary J. Blige's album My Life II... The Journey Continues (Act 1) (2011).

In mid April 2012, Billboard published an article on their website claiming that Harris had contributed several tracks to Kesha's upcoming album Spandex on the Distant Horizon, with their specific recording date being left unknown.^[35] Calvin Harris worked with American pop band Scissor Sisters on the single "Only the Horses" from their fourth studio album, Magic Hour. He wrote and produced Cheryl Cole's comeback single "Call My Name", the lead single from her upcoming third album A Million Lights.^[36]. It was also revealed that Calvin is to collaborate with singer/rapper Example again on his upcoming album titled 'Coming Back'.

Failed collaborations[link]

In 2007, Harris contributed the song "Off & On" to Róisín Murphy's album Overpowered, but it was cut from the album; Harris later gave the song to Sophie Ellis-Bextor to record for her 2011 album Make a Scene. He said that Murphy was "a bit mental", "crazy" and a "twat" to reject the songs,^[37] though subsequently apologized in person to Murphy "for throwing my toys out of the pram because I said things that weren't very nice. She said: 'That's all right, we all say silly things sometimes.'"^[38] Harris also produced a remix of Dragonette's debut single "I Get Around" that was rejected by the band, whom he said "weren't very nice to me [...] they said, 'by the way, it's s—t', and then asked me to change everything about it. I told them I couldn't because I was on a bus and that they could basically F--- OFF. That's where we left it."^[37]

In 2007, Kelis discussed plans to work with Harris on her fifth studio album, Flesh Tone (2010), saying that he was "very creative and exciting [...] very, very talented". Although she said they were "looking at doing something together" for the album,^[39] this did not materialise; Harris did, however, produce a remix of Flesh Tone's second single, "4th of July (Fireworks)" and later collaborated with her on his 2011 single "Bounce".

Harris has said that in early 2008, he turned down the opportunity to work with American singer Lady Gaga before the release of her top-selling debut album, The Fame. He recalled: "When Lady Gaga first came out, her name rang a bell, so I checked my emails—and it turns out that on 1 January 2008, I got an email asking to work with her. I thought, 'Lady Gaga, what sort of name is that?' So I replied saying, 'Nah, I’m not into that.' Fast forward a year and she's the biggest thing. But I don't regret turning her down as I didn't think the song I heard then was that good."^[40] In a later interview, Harris stated he considers Gaga to be a "good artist".^[41]

American singer Katy Perry expressed an interest in working with Harris in 2009,^[42] and at one point they had pencilled recording sessions for her second album, Teenage Dream (2010),^[43] but no material was released. Harris worked with boyband JLS on songs for their second album, Outta This World (2010), but none of his work appeared on the released LP.^[44] The third single from that album, "Eyes Wide Shut", was said to copy heavily from Harris's own single "I'm Not Alone", but Harris said that it "wasn't [JLS's] fault and had nothing to do with them".^[45]

Concert tours[link]

• Groove Armada: Soundboy Rock tour (2007)
• Faithless: To All New Arrivals tour (2007)
• Ready for the Weekend tour (2009–2010)
• Deadmau5 & Skrillex: 'Unhooked' tour (2010)
• Rihanna: Loud Tour (2011)

Discography[link]

• I Created Disco (2007)
• Ready for the Weekend (2009)
• Third coming album (2012)

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Calvin Harris

• Official website
• Calvin Harris at Ultra Records

Ngô Văn Xuyết (1913-2005) alias Ngo Van (Vietnamese Ngô Văn) was a Vietnamese Trotskyist leader. Born in Vietnam, he joined the Trotskyist movement as a young man. After the repression of Trotskyism in Vietnam in 1945, he moved to France, where he wrote about his experiences and recent Vietnamese history.

This article reads like a review rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Please help improve this article to make it neutral in tone and meet Wikipedia's quality standards. (December 2007)

Ngo Van left his village at the age of 14 to work in a metallurgical works in Saigon, and soon became involved in the strikes and demonstrations and strikes that erupted periodically against the French colonial power in support of freedom of assembly, of the press, of travel and of education. There was already a history peasant revolts against colonialism, which were brually repressed, by the execution of leading activists, or their deportation to the infamous penal colony of Poulo Condore.

He was forced to end his formal education, but, enrolled under a false name, he read Marx in the Saigon municipal library after work. He came into contact with the Trotskyist left opposition group in Saigon opposed to the general line of the Indochinese Communist Party, emphasizing the importance of a movement based on the working class as against the nationalist oriented policy of Nguyen ai Quoc (Ho Chi Minh).

In Saigon, the Trotskyists and Stalinists cooperated for three years (1933-36) in a united front around the legal newspaper La Lutte, which was published weekly in French to get around laws banning publications in the vernacular quoc nu or Vietnamese. Their candidates were elected to the municipal council. But after the French (she says the Popular Front govt was only from 1936) government signed a pact with Stalin’s Soviet Union in May 1935, the French, and soon the Indochinese, Communist Parties gave up their opposition to French militarism and colonialism. Following the October group led by Ho Huu Tuong, Ngo Van and some activists formed the League of Internationalist Communists for the Construction of the Fourth International, while other Trotskyists remained in the La Lutte alliance. Ngo Van set type for the new group’s clandestine literature.

Ngo Van also organised amongst workforce in his factory, who met under the guise of wedding and birthday parties – as all gatherings of more than 19 were illegal – and found himself the spokesperson when a strike for better wages broke out. Militant friends were arrested one after the other. The longer Van remained at liberty, the more acutely he appreciated their courage under torture.

At the age of 24, Ngo Van was arrested in the factory storeroom, where he secretly discussed anti-colonialist campaigns with other activists and hid underground literature and revolutionary publications from abroad. Van was imprisoned in the dreaded Maison Centrale in Saigon, where he, too, was tortured. Stalinist and Trotskyist prisoners were held together: Van later recalled that relations between them were wary, but civil, to avoid provoking tension to the advantage of the common enemy. He joined in a hunger strike demanding political prisoner status equal to that in France.

As a consequence, the prisoners were occasionally allowed French newspapers. This was how they learned about the Moscow Trials, in which Stalin was destroying what remained of the leadership of Lenin’s Bolshevik Party. The Trotskyists were ‘overcome with a profound unease, and a thousand questions without answers kept going round in our heads’, Van wrote in his memoirs. In 1937 the Vietnamese Stalinists, under orders from Moscow, abruptly left the La Lutte group and denounced the Trotskyists as ‘agents of fascism’.

Van and his comrades were constantly being arrested, tortured, imprisoned then briefly freed once more. Once, he was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment simply for recommending books by Trotsky to a friend in a letter, and greeting in the street the well-known Trotskyist Ta thu Thau. Exiled to Travinh, in an island in the Mekong delta, at the end of 1940, he found himself in the middle of a peasant uprising that had engulfed western Cochinchina. Almost 6000 were arrested, over two hundred publicly executed, and thousands killed by bombing authorised by the Vichy governor general, Decoux. At about this time, Van discovered that he was suffering from tuberculosis.

The Japanese moved into south Vietnam in March 1945 and imposed a regime of martial law; allied forces bombed Saigon. The north of the country was by this time controlled by the Vietminh, as the armed front led by the Communist Party was called. They advocated an alliance with the imperialist Allies as a road to ‘national liberation’; the Trotskyists denounced this as an illusion and called on workers and peasants to rise up against all imperialist oppressors, of whatever nationality. Van and his comrades were elated when 30,000 miners in the Hon gai-Cam pha region set up elected councils to run the mines, public services and transport, and organised a literacy campaign.

Books[link]

• Việt Nam 1920-1945, révolution et contre-révolution sous la domination coloniale (1997)
• Revolutionaries they could not break, the fight for the Fourth International in Indochina 1930-1945 (1995)
• In the Crossfire: Adventures of a Vietnamese Revolutionary (2010)

External links[link]

• A short biography of Ngo Van
• Books by Ngo Van
• Short bio of libertarian socialist Ngo Van
• In the Crossfire: Adventures of a Vietnamese Revolutionary

This article about the Vietnam War is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e