NOBEL PEACE prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu has appealed for “togetherness” in responding to the twin crises of economic meltdown and climate change. Speaking at NUI Galway last night, he said that the “message from God” in response to both phenomena was that “you are family”.
The South African church leader, who received a prolonged standing ovation when he arrived at NUI Galway’s (NUIG) Literary and Debating Society, was introduced by Sir Bob Geldof as a “tiny” but “historic giant”.
Archbishop Tutu said that Irish people’s own memory of deprivation and famine, even during the “Celtic Tiger” years, and its support for the anti-apartheid movement, had helped South Africa in its transition to freedom. “You know you all come from Africa,” he said, to warm applause. “You really ought to be nice to us . . . you have your ancestors there!” Referring to climate change, Archbishop Tutu spoke of his experience on a recent visit to the Arctic where, even as he preached, ice was melting and inhabitants spoke of rising sea levels and conflicts over increasingly scarce pasture.
“God is saying, ‘please, you are family, what you do affects the members of your family elsewhere’,” he said.
“Economic meltdown affects everyone, even those who have nothing to do with it,” he continued. “God is saying ‘you are family again’.”
“In a healthy family, we don’t say ‘baby, you don’t take out of a family budget in proportion to what you put into it’,” he continued.
“You don’t say ‘granny, tough luck, there’s very little that you are putting into the pot’. In fact, the most vulnerable of the family are frequently those who get the greatest caring,” he said.
Speaking of military budgets, he referred to the “obscenity” of such spending which could provide clean water, education and affordable health care in so many parts of the world.
“There’s no way we are going to win the so-called war against terror as long as there are conditions in the world that make people desperate,” he said.
Recalling the work of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Archbishop Tutu said that he and commission members had heard some “horrendous stories” in the sessions.
“We had often wondered what happened to people’s humanity. When you dehumanise another, when you carry out policies that are dehumanising, inexorably, without doubt, you dehumanise yourself,” he said.
Responding to questions, he said that the decision by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to become Zimbabwe’s prime minister in government with president Robert Mugabe was “the only show in town at the moment . . . and we can only hope”.
Archbishop Tutu reminded the audience that the college had given honorary doctorates to his compatriots, Nelson Mandela and to Dr Kader Asmal, and he singled out the college’s Alive programme which allowed students to volunteer to work in different parts of the world.
Archbishop Tutu paid tribute to Sir Bob Geldof for his “amazing” concern for his fellow human beings.
In his introductory address, Sir Bob warned that “this is going to be a Valentine’s card to Desmond . . . how privileged we are to be in the same room as a historic giant. Even after the youngest of us are gone, they will whisper his name and associate it for ever with that other great beacon, Mandela. Tutu dignifies us all.”
Speaking of the “rocky road towards a new poverty”, he said it was “shared” and there was “no need to be afraid. We must be on constant alert to ensure that an economic crisis does not turn into a human crisis.”