Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu, born in KIerksdorp, Transvaal, on
October 7 1931. In 1960 he was ordained as an Anglican priest. In 1976
Tutu was consecrated as bishop of Lesotho, an independent enclave within
South Africa, and in 1978, he accepted the position as general secretary
of the South African Council of Churches (SACC).
After the funeral of black activist Steven Biko, who died in police
custody Tutu came to the conclusion that the church had to play a
political role if apartheid was to be conquered without bloodshed. He
consistently advocated reconciliation between all parties involved in
apartheid through his writings and lectures both at home and abroad.
Though he was most firm in denouncing South Afrca’s white ruled
government, Tutu was also a harsh critic of the violent tactics of some
anti-apartheid groups and denounced terrorism and Communism.
On 16 October 1984, Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his
pivotal role in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in
South Africa. After the fall of apartheid he became the chair of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In 1996 Tutu retired as Archbishop
of Cape Town and was diagnosed with prostate cancer. In 1999 he was
awarded the Sydney Peace Prize.
75 years old Archbishop Desmond Tutu honored me by granting this brief
yet insightful interview.
Vahram Emiyan :- Your Eminence, how would you define “reconciliation”
and “forgiveness”?
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu :- Reconciliation can be defined in many
different ways.
· Political Reconciliation – this is a concept that involves a
willingness for former enemies and adversaries to engage one another in
public discourse and political decision making and to address those
issues which have the capacity to tear society apart. As such it
involves trust, social cohesion and common decency.
· Personal Reconciliation - would of course involve more. It requires
acknowledgement, repentance and the willingness to deal with what are
often deeply embedded forms of trauma, personal animosity and prejudice.
· Forgiveness is the restoration of relationship. If I steal your pen I
need to acknowledge the wrong I have done to you and to ask your
forgiveness. It is not enough for you to forgive me – in addition in
accepting that forgiveness, I must return your pen. It involves a
willingness to embrace one another at a deep and spiritual level and in
so doing to put the past behind one.
▪
V. Emiyan :- According to your experience as a religious leader
and as chair of South Africa’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission, is
there a link between the truth, forgiveness and reconciliation?
-
Arch. Tutu :- Very clearly it is difficult to engage either
reconciliation or forgiveness without committing oneself to truth
seeking and acknowledgement. If we do not know and do not acknowledge
the nature of conflict we are not in a position to consider either
reconciliation or forgiveness.
▪ V. Emiyan :- Recently, speaking about the Armenian Genocide of
1915, during which 1.5 million Armenians where massacred and many more
driven from their homeland by the Ottoman Turks, the Dalai Lama said
that “the resolution of conflicts, specially those who have their roots
in the past, can be resolved only on the basis of forgiveness. Forgiving
does not mean forgetting”. What is you point of view on this subject?
- Arch. Tutu :- Someone once said that perpetrators have an ability to
forget, victims are cursed with a good memory. It is never possible to
forget trauma and suffering. It is possible however to commit oneself to
putting this aside in the sense of being prepared not to seek revenge or
to show undue animosity.
▪ V. Emiyan :- Recently, the editor of Istanbul’s Armenian newspaper
“Agos” Hrant Dink was shot dead because he criticized the Turkish
government’s denial of the Armenian Genocide. The Turkish authorities
had accused him of “denigrating Turkishness” . Can the truth be silenced
by violence?
- Arch. Tutu :- Truth is both stubborn and resilient. It cannot be
silenced forever. We either deal with it in a responsible manner or it
will manifest itself in a disruptive way when we least expect it to do
so. Truth is often suppressed out of fear. History shows us that while
truth may lie dormant for a while it ultimately transcends any attempt
to suppress. Indeed, the biblical injunction is true - it is truth and
truth alone that shall set us free.