Cape Town City Hall was bathed in purple light on the evening of Friday, 7 October, in honour of the 12th Annual Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture. The event takes place each year on the late Archbishop Tutu’s birthday. 

It was the first time the event has been held since the death of the Arch in December 2021. Religious and thought leaders, businesspeople and politicians gathered to celebrate his life under the theme, A Vision for Hope and Healing.

“So much of what we’ve learned from the Arch is that for us to be a flourishing, whole and just society, we must heal ourselves from conflict and oppression and discrimination and violence,” said Janet Jobson, CEO of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation.

The celebration of the Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture on Friday, 7 October 2022, marks the first time the annual event has been held since the death of the Arch in December 2021, according to Niclas Kjellström-Matseke, chair of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation. (Photo: Fayros Jaffer)

The keynote lectures at the event were delivered by Amina J Mohammed, the deputy secretary-general of the United Nations, and best-selling author Douglas Abrams.

Mohammed drew attention to the fact that global challenges are undermining trust in multilateralism at a time when it is needed the most.

“This calls for a reformed and strengthened multilateral system with the transformation of … the United Nations at the core,” she said. “A multilateral system that serves those who are furthest behind, not just those who were first in line 75 years ago.”

Performances by Vicky Sampson and the South African Youth Choir bookended proceedings at the 12th Annual Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture on Friday, 7 October. (Photo: Fayros Jaffer)

In understanding what a strengthened multilateral system would mean for Africa, Mohammed said it was important to change the narrative that the continent is “hopeless” and “helpless”.

“I believe that we have to start with recognising first that we are not beginning from nothing; we are not beginning from scratch,” she emphasised. “Our potentials are enormous. We are 54 sovereign nations on varying paths to democracy. We have 1.4 billion people, a $2.5-trillion market opportunity and the fastest growing fintech [sector].”

To realise its potential, African countries needed political leadership with the will and courage to act for the people they represent, while “bearing in mind that our home, the planet, is one of the first responsibilities they will have”, she continued.

A moving performance was given by South African poet Siphokazi Jonas at the 12th Annual Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture on Friday, 7 October. (Photo: Fayros Jaffer)

Mohammed said that there was a need to:

• Invest in institutions and systems that deliver on basic rights and services;
• Begin at the local level in supporting communities from the ground up, especially women and youth;
• Ensure that there are disaggregated data and statistics that allow transparent and accountable targeted investments; and 
• Build partnerships, both globally and within Africa.

“Arch called relentlessly for hope, rooted in the audacity of our convictions,” she said. “The commodity of hope has never been more precious, as have our faiths and beliefs in humankind.”

Hope as an act of resistance

Abrams, who collaborated with the Arch and the Dalai Lama to produce The Book of Joy, described hope as an act of resistance, as well as something that is contagious. In each person, it is deeply influenced by the hopefulness and despair they see in the people around them.

“Arch knew all of this when he spoke so passionately about ubuntu, the profound African philosophy that we are who we are through one another. The world desperately needs this understanding now, as we try to go beyond our toxic individualism and recognise our deep interdependence on one another and the earth on which we live,” he said.

One of the lectures at the Annual Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture on Friday, 7 October, was delivered by Doug Abrams, best-selling author. Abrams collaborated with Archbishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama to produce ‘The Book of Joy’, published in 2016. (Photo: Fayros Jaffer)

Abrams identified three lies to be confronted in the face of growing despair: that these are the worst of times; that humanity is evil; and that the human race is doomed.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has set back many global development goals, he argued that humanity remained on a trajectory of progress. Poverty and hunger have declined over the decades, with extreme poverty having gone from affecting about 35% of the global population in 1987, to about 9% today. Global life expectancy has more than doubled in the past 100 years.

“In the short term, the world has slipped in the UN sustainability goals, but in the long march of history, we have made great progress. We must not be complacent with our progress, but it can embolden us for the journey ahead,” Abrams said.

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis of the City of Cape Town delivered the closing address at the 12th Annual Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture on Friday, 7 October. (Photo: Fayros Jaffer)

On the matter of humanity’s “doom” and the dire need for an energy transition from fossil fuels, Abrams highlighted that although certain complex aspects of human civilisation – laws, cultures, economies – were not easy to change, people have done so many times before.

“Over the next 10, 50, 100 years, we are going to be going through the biggest technological and social revolutions since the Industrial Age, and this presents enormous opportunities to reimagine our global civilisation,” he said.

“Our best days are ahead of us, if we answer the great call of our times. Our greatest threat is not the pandemic or fascism or climate change, but the loss of hope that we can solve the challenges we face.” DM/MC