[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Desmond Tutu and Ian Urbina | South Africa

[Al Kagan]

A friend sent this to me.

>>  > From the Mail & Guardian/South Africa.
>>>
>>>  A dark moment
>>>  Desmond Tutu and Ian Urbina | South Africa
>>>  21 March 2003 09:52
>>>
>>>  It is difficult not to feel despair and powerlessness at this awful
>>>  juncture. Millions in the world fought with all their hearts and 
>>>minds to avoid the
>>>  violence ensuing in Iraq. Inevitably, there is a deep and emotional void
>>>  that has opened as the bombs fall.
>>>
>>>  Many will pray. Others will simply reflect. Countless numbers will continue
>>>  to take to the streets. But all will worry over the scope and 
>>>repercussions of
>>>  the destruction to come.
>>>
>>>  We have seen dark moments before. Slavery, the Holocaust, the Vietnam
>>>  War - man's inhumanity to man is not to be underestimated.
>>>
>>>  In the fight against apartheid, we saw times that seemed like the world
>>>  had come to an end. South Africa wept in 1993 in the wake of the
>>>  assassination of Chris Hani. Violence clenched the country. The 
>>>constitutional
>>>  negotiations between the African National Congress and the National Party
>>>  were broken nearly beyond repair. This was the lowest point of 
>>>our struggle.
>>>  But faith prevailed, as did the moral fortitude of average people 
>>>to do what is
>>>  right. With it, apartheid ended.
>>>
>>>  At this moment of deep anguish, it is important to recognise the 
>>>reasons for
>>>  hope and pride, both in the United States and across the globe.
>>>
>>>  Never in history has there been such an outpouring of resistance from
>>>  average people all around the world before a war had even begun. Millions
>>>  took a stand. This doctrine of moral and popular pre-emption must be
>>>  sustained.
>>>
>>>  Countless nations, many of them quite impoverished, listened to the
>>>  majority voices of their own citizens opposing the war. These governments
>>>  opted not to take the huge sums offered to support the military effort,
>>>  but instead chose to heed the sentiments of their citizens. This was a
>>>  considerable step forward for democracy.
>>>
>>>  A first step to personal healing is to acknowledge the depth of the
>>>  devastation that many of us feel. We should not pretend it does not exist.
>>>  We must also look forward. The energies mobilised recently must not
>>>  dissipate. They should be channelled and broadened.
>>>
>>>  This is the beginning, not the end, of heightened vigilance. With war,
>>>  domestic civil liberties face their greatest threat. We must not squelch
>>>  the right to protest under the pressures of patriotism.
>>>
>>>  If we want lasting peace and security in the Middle East, if we want
>>>  international law to hold any meaning, we must begin to require that United
>>>  Nations resolutions are applied uniformly across all countries.
>>>
>>>  In Iraq, we must watch to see that the promises for a truly functioning
>>>  democracy are honoured, and that the long-term and expensive commitment
>>>  for rebuilding is honored. - Inter Press Service
>>>
>>>  Desmond Tutu is former chairperson of the TRC. Ian Urbina is associate
>>>  editor at the Middle East Research and Information Project in Washington
>>
>>>
>>>  From the Hartford (Connecticut) Courant.
>>>
>>>  Nobel Laureates Make Case For Peace
>>>  Williams, Wiesel, Arias Convene At Bushnell
>>>
>>>  March 21, 2003
>>>  By JOHN JURGENSEN, Courant Staff Writer
>>>
>>>  One night after war broke out with Iraq, a trio of Nobel
>>>  Prize winners came together in Hartford to talk about
>>>  peace.
>>>
>>>  The Connecticut Forum had invited Oscar Arias, Elie
>>>  Wiesel and Jody Williams a year ago, but their
>>>  appearance before a nearly full Bushnell Center for the
>>>  Performing Arts Thursday could hardly have been timelier.
>>>
>>>  Seated between his fellow laureates, Wiesel, who won
>>>  the peace prize in 1986, singled himself out by endorsing
>>>  the forceful removal of Saddam Hussein as a last resort.
>>>
>>>  "Whom are we dealing with? Saddam Hussein is a mass
>>>  murderer," said Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor who saw
>>>  close family members perish in Nazi death camps.
>>>
>>>  Slouched in his chair, his gray hair floating in wisps, he
>>>  framed his opinions about Hussein with his loathing of
>>  > war.
>>>
>>>  "My life is a life against war. But I decided that here and
>>>  now, we have to defeat terrorism," said Wiesel, who lives
>>>  in New York and has been a U.S. citizen since 1963. Then
>>>  laughing, he said he favored a "James Bond" approach to
>>>  striking Iraq, by sending in commandos. "Let them go in in
>>>  the evening, destroy the [weapons] factories, leave in the
>>>  morning, without killing a single person. That's my idea."
>>>
>>>  With two interpreters for the deaf translating their words,
>>>  Arias and Williams redirected the blame for the current
>>>  conflict toward the Bush administration.
>>>
>>>  "Military action is but one tool in the quiver of diplomacy,"
>>>  said Williams, who won the peace prize in 1997 for her
>>>  work on behalf of the International Campaign to Ban
>>>  Landmines. She is one of only three women from the
>>>  United States to win the prize. "Once you start dropping
>>>  the bombs, you cannot call them back."
>>>
>>>  The audience broke its silence several times to applaud
>>>  Williams, especially after she quoted from a resignation
>>>  letter from a U.S. diplomat, who could not reconcile his
>>>  service with the policies of the administration.
>>>
>>>  "This administration has chosen to call the majority of the
>>>  governments of the world and 10 million people who took
>>>  to the streets in opposition ... a focus group that it would
>>>  not listen to. I'm proud to be part of that focus group," she
>>>  said to more applause.
>>>
>>>  Guided by the moderator, the journalist Juan Williams, the
>>>  laureates deferred to each other despite their disparate
>>>  backgrounds and approaches to their common goal of
>>>  peace.
>>>
>>>  Speaking as a representative of the Third World, Arias
>>>  said, "Washington needs to know that gratitude is not
>>>  servitude." When he was the president of Costa Rica,
>>>  Arias went against the Reagan administration's policies
>>>  in brokering peace in Central America during the 1980s.
>>>  He won the Nobel Prize in 1987.
>>>
>>>  Just as great as the threat of terror is the danger posed by
>>>  the unilateral policies favored by President Bush, Arias
>>>  said. "His urgency, his arrogance, his impatience to go
>>>  alone like the Lone Ranger is isolating Washington more
>>>  and more."
>>>
>>>  Later, Arias earned his own applause for a reconfigured
>>>  view on Bush's stated enemy. "We all talk about terrorism
>>>  and the definitions of terrorism. But let me tell you, your
>>>  dropping bombs on civilians in Baghdad might be the
>>>  definition of terrorism."


-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu