A Force More Powerful - by Desmond Tutu

A Force More Powerful - by Desmond Tutudes


We have seen quite breathtaking examples of ”people power” within the past years. Citizens, often downtrodden for decades, have said ”Enough is enough”, as they have paraded and demonstrated in the streets, massing up against tanks and guns with empty hands, or with hands filled with flowers or food for those who could crush them with firepower. We have seen the Berlin Wall come down. We have seen nonviolence at work in the Philippines, Eastern Europe, South Africa, Haiti, and other places (other examples?) with the results that many, perhaps we ourselves, would have thought impossible. We have learnt that the most dangerous things a dictator, a tyrant needs to fear, is when people decide they want to be free. It has been an exhilarating experience, and one that nourishes hope.There is much still to be accomplished. Shattered economies need to be rehabilitated, reconciliation between former enemies must be effected, shanties in the squalor of slums must be demolished, houses are needed in their thousands, communities cry out for help to help themselves, people who have grown up in one party totalitarian regimes need to be educated in the processes of democracy, in parliamentary procedure, government that is accountable to the people.

We need those who will defuse tense situations and to resolve conflict, and those who will tell us how to cultivate cultures of tolerance.


Martin Luther King
Credit: Trikosko/Library of Congress [VIA PINGNEWS]
This is what active nonviolence and peacebuiling is about. It deserves the support of all who love our planet home and know that we have been created for interdependence. ”Unless we learn to live together as brothers (and sisters)”, said Martin Luther King, Jr, ”we will perish like fools”.

Let us strive together to make our world ”peace friendly”. Let us make it a world where humanity can survive and flourish and where justice flows like a river and tears are wiped away from eyes. For mourning and sorrow will be done away and peace and love, compassion and caring and sharing, laughter and joy will prevail. Because we are learning to see with the eyes of the heart, realizing that we are all members of one family – God´s family.

Bishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu left his position as Bishop of Lesotho in 1978 to be the first black General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches (SACC). He started a crusade for justice and racial conciliation, which led him to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. He also was the first black person to lead the Anglican Church in South Africa. After the fall of apartheid he headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He is visiting professor at many universities around the world and is the author of several books.