Page 133 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

1910 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

Desmond Tutu’s Message to
Australian Reconciliation Convention (1997)

Bishop Desmond Tutu serves as an inspiration to indi- it beholds. South Africans telling stories of horrible
viduals and groups around the world. In the extracts atrocities that were perpetrated in the past.
below, Bishop Tutu sends a message of support to the And the world marvels at the victims, instead of
1997 Australian Reconciliation Convention—which being filled with hatred and bitterness and a desire for
commemorated efforts to “reconcile” Australia’s indige- revenge, incredibly the victims are willing to forgive.
nous people to the rest of the nation and accord them [. . .]
the rights denied them through the years. The eyes of South Africans are being opened.They
are learning not to see a black or white, man or
I send you very warm greetings from the new South
woman, they are learning to see a fellow South
Africa, a democratic South Africa, the free South Af-
African, a fellow human being, someone created in
rica, the non-racial non-sexist South Africa.
the image of God, and therefore someone of infinite
We won a spectacular victory over the apartheid
worth.
obsession with race and skin colour which was ready
The eyes of South Africans have been opened, and
to inflict untold, and unnecessary suffering on God’s
they are learning to see that there are differences. Far
children, because they were not white.
from separating them from one another, as in the
The world marvelled when they saw all those
past, it makes them need one another.They are learn-
South Africans voting in the first democratic elections
ing to realise that a rainbow is a rainbow precisely
in 1994. The world thrilled when they watched the
because of its different colours.They are learning that
inauguration of Nelson Mandela as the first demo-
South Africans celebrate our diversity as we grow
cratically elected President of South Africa.
in the knowledge that we are the Rainbow People
Friends, we won a great victory. But that would
of God.
have been quite impossible without your support,
May God bless you all as you strive for reconcilia-
without your prayers, without your involvement in
tion, for forgiveness and for justice and work to cele-
the sports boycott, and in the campaign to uphold the
brate your diversity as the Rainbow People of God in
economic sanctions of the apartheid regime.
Australia.
Our victory is in a very real sense your victory. [. . .]
Source: Australian Reconciliation Convention. (1997). Retrieved September 7, 2004,
Now the world watches again and marvels at what from http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/car/1997/3/speeches/opening/
tutu.htm
of South Africa’s main black political party, the African mission’s work was highly controversial,Tutu maintained
National Congress, became the first democratically throughout the hearings a deep spirit of forgiveness and
elected President of South Africa. The following year understanding rather than revenge. Tutu has often
Mandela appointed Tutu chair of the Truth and Recon- referred to the African concept of ubuntu, which includes
ciliation Commission, an unprecedented effort by South the ideals of human brotherhood, mutual responsibility,
Africans to come to terms with their recent, dark past. and compassion.
The Commission focused on political crimes and human Following his work with the Truth and Reconciliation
rights violations committed between 1960 and 1994, Commission,Tutu went to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1998 to
offering immunity to those who confessed their guilt.The teach at Emory University. In 2000 he returned to South
Commission’s report, issued in 1998, documented more Africa, where he continues, as always, to fight for politi-
information about political crimes and victims than any cal, economic, and social justice for all the world’s
similar endeavor in world history. Although the Com- peoples. Like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and the