The Most Reverend Desmond M. Tutu Anglican Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town
The year 2004 has been one of pride and reflection for the people of South Africa. This year we have marked ten years of democracy after the fall of apartheid and we thank the world community for helping us. Our commemorations reminded us and the world how far we have travelled towards freedom and a life of dignity for all our citizens.
But the reality is that for most South Africans, little has changed over the past decade. Unemployment rates are as high as 42%. Access to education, housing and healthcare are at crisis levels. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is destroying the social fabric of our people. Clearly we have a responsibility to face these challenges her at home. But in a globalizing world ? they are challenges to us all.
Human development and human rights are enshrined in the South African constitution. But they have not yet become the core values of our economy. The same is true of the global economy. That is why the notion of a more “ethical globalization” is so powerful. It suggests that the stability and success of any country and the world's economic system will not be secure until we are able to spread the benefits in a more equitable manner. The obscene wealth of the few cannot be at the expense of the hungry and the destitute.
Today we face a new, global apartheid where the rich become richer and the poor become even poorer. Such a system cannot be sustained. South Africa is a country endowed with abundant natural resources, but the exploitation of these resources has been at huge human cost. Those who garnered this wealth during apartheid ? financial institutions, manufacturing agriculture, mining ? did so with scant attention to the human rights of the labour force or those who had no access to involvement or power. Our task is to correct the legacy of this injustice and shape a new economic system which can ensure sustainable development for all. Just like during the apartheid, we need responsible engagement from the rich nations of the world to make that possible.
The young people I meet in South Africa and around the world know what this new world must be like. It can't be so obsessed with competitiveness. Instead it must be based on shared responsibility and collaboration between North and South, rich and poor, religious and secular. It must be a world not so consumed with consumerism and materialism, but instead with caring and compassion. Young people want the obscene amounts we spend on so- called ?defence budgets? spent instead on defending the basic dignity of every individual on out planet.
They hope for a time when war wil me no more, when we will use our knowledge and resources not to fight against each other, but instead to fight together against discrimination, disease and despair. Their dream is what ethical globalization means to me.
The name Desmond Tutu resonates profoundly with people all around the world. While his vigorous anti- apartheid activism in his native South Africa first propelled him into the glare of international news media, today he is revered as a "moral voice" and someone who speaks with gravitas on a range of issues. While he is an Anglican Archbishop emeritus and steadfast in his religious beliefs, Tutu places great value on religious inclusiveness and interfaith dialogue.
Desmond Tutu was born in Klerksdorp, near Johannesburg , South Africa , in 1931. He was ordained to the priesthood in Johannesburg in 1961. Following further theological studies in London , he held several positions in teaching and theological work in South and Southern Africa . In 1978 he became the General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches (SACC). It was in this position, which he held until 1985, that Tutu became a national and international figure for his formidable crusade in support of justice and racial conciliation in South Africa .
His tireless work was recognized in 1984, when he was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. Tutu was elected Archbishop of Cape Town in 1986. Following his retirement from this office in 1996 he became a key mediator and mediator in the difficult transition toward democracy. In 1996, he was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the body set up to probe gross human rights violations during apartheid.
Archbishop Tutu continues to advocate and agitate for social justice and change in Southern Africa. His most recent book is God Has A Dream: A Vision for Hope in our Time