Yesterday I mentioned getting to hear Desmond Tutu speak last year. First of all, I realized it was two years ago, second, I decided to dig-up an email I'd sent to my friends about the experience and to post it here:
Otherwise, I'm reconnecting with old friends and things are going well. Which brings me to the experience I had today which prompted me to write in the first place. One of my friends, Gro, had an extra ticket to a lecture at the Nobel Peace Institute today and invited me.
I got to attend a lecture by Archbishop Desmond Tutu!! Yes! THE Desmond Tutu, Nobel Laureate from 1984 for his work against apartheid in South Africa, peace activist, famous African, former head of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and generally phenomenal man. (For those of you at U of Guelph - Stephen Lewis' lecture last month paled in comparison. :))
Archbishop Tutu is in Oslo to open a new exhibit called Hands that Shape Humanity (http://www.
To start with, Gro and I were keeners and sat right down in the second row, right behind the one that was reserved for dignitaries. So when Desmond Tutu entered the room, he ended up sitting in the chair right in front of me. We were so close that I could see every wrinkle on the bald part of his head! He has a presence unlike I've ever experienced. He's much smaller than I thought, probably only up to my shoulder, if that. But when he entered the room there came this glowing energy which made me want to hug not just him, but also the stranger sitting beside me. Just looking at him I couldn't help but smile. The only way I can think to describe it was as an invigorating peaceful presence -it seems like an oxymoron, I know.
Before getting into his lecture he spoke about the difference getting a Nobel Peace Prize made to his life. He chuckled that it was strange because after getting the prize he continued to say things that he'd said before becoming a Nobel Laureate, but that suddenly after being awarded the prize, people suddenly started to listen to those same opinions as though they came from an oracle. He told about what a powerful experience it was, coming directly from Apartheid South
Africa to Norway and going out for dinner in Oslo with his wife, and walking into a restaurant only to have people notice him and give him a standing ovation.
He also talked about his friendship with the Dalai Lama. Of the Dalai Lama Tutu expressed amazement that the man still has such a child-like presence and energy despite having been exiled from Tibet for 40 years. It was noted that they both were in Norway on the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize, and that the two of them attended the conference but sat in a back corner together causing a ruckus. He jokingly told that quite often he's had to turn to the Dalai Lama when they are together and shush him, saying "Shhh, try to behave! The cameras are on us. Try to behave like a holy man!" What an image! :)
His lecture started with a depressing overview of the overwhelming violence, TB, malaria, corruption, and HIV/AIDS in Africa, and touched individually on the current troubling situations in nearly every African country. He talked about African leaders and how worrisome it is that so many in positions of power leave a lot to be desired. He mirrored the current corruption to his experiences fighting Apartheid. He said that during the Apartheid struggle people were idealistic, positive and altruistic - and not in the fight for personal gain...but then he qualified his statement by admitting that maybe they were naive since "we are human and succumb to temptations". He talked about the amazing fact that people have been so patient for so long since the end of apartheid, and that they're waiting for the gap between rich and poor to decrease but it hasn't, and instead people have seen others become millionaires, and still they wait with hope. He said that during Apartheid "we though we were struggling to produce a compassionate, caring society where people even in their poverty knew they counted. We haven't gotten quite there." Such open honesty about his own country and the current situation - how difficult it must be to see after a lifetime of fighting.
When Archbishop Tutu began his lecture he started by reminding us of the historical context of things. He pointed-out things that have happened in the west in recent memory: 2 huge wars with Europe as the theatre, political philosophies that caused the deaths of 6 million people, and civil wars across Europe. As recently as the Industrial Revolution people in Europe lived in poverty and child slavery was rampant. A democratic western country was the first to use weapons of mass destruction in Hiroshima, Europe had the first example of ethnic cleansing, and religious hatred continues within Christianity in Ireland. With this in mind, he asked us to think of Africa and it's problems and to see that the west isn't so far from their reality and to remember that it took hundreds of years to achieve the development we currently enjoy. He said "it is human to be noble, but also to be vicious. It's not just African to be corrupt."
He concluded by passionately stating that there is hope for Africa, and that a continent that currently "provides" 50% of the world's refugees once offered refuge to people in danger. He finished by saying that he wants everybody to gather together to yell "Wake up glorious Africa! Look at your glorious past and rise from the ashes like a phoenix!"
The lecture finished with two questions. One was about China's increasing presence on the African continent. Tutu said that he himself is concerned because China could have either a benevolent or a malevolent presence. He worries that China could be a new coloniser
and develop into a new imperialist in Africa. He went on to talk about the role China could take in the world to use it's power for good, for instance in Tibet and Burma. But he worries about China's role in Africa because China has yet to show it's benevolence in those situations.
I was so impressed by Archbishop Tutu, he really made me feel hopeful that despite our human flaws we can bring positive change to the world.
"An enemy is a friend waiting to be made...People are fundamentally good. We are made for love, for generosity, sharing, and compassion, for transcendence. We are made to reach for the stars." - Archbishop Desmond Tutu
I thought you might enjoy hearing about it.
The picture attached is a Desmond Tutu doll. It hangs in the common-area of my friend's apartment...notice the mirror ball reflecting on him. :)
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