On the streets of Iran, thousands of people are protesting the implementation of laws that strip women of their humanity, protests that may well harken towards a new revolution.

Across Russia, thousands of people are refusing to participate in Putin’s horrific invasion of Ukraine and his ratcheting up of aggression.

This year alone the devastating impact of floods in Durban and Pakistan, wildfires across Europe, and the more recent destruction left in the wake of Hurricanes Fiona and Ian, are all testament to this moment of unprecedented levels of displacement perpetuated by the global climate crisis.

The 12th Annual Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture will be taking place at the City Hall in Cape Town on Friday, 7 October.
(Photo: Esa Alexander / Gallo Images)

While so much of our current times are defined by crises, there are radical expressions of hope all around us. Just this week, Cape Town’s Pinelands North Primary School achieved third place in the Overcoming Adversity category, for the World’s Best School Prize.

On Heritage Day the African Climate Alliance — a youth-led climate justice advocacy organisation — marched to Parliament demanding urgent action.

In communities all over South Africa, local community groups and NGOs tackle challenges of hunger, violence, education, and economic opportunity every day.

The assertion of hope in the face of injustice, violence, repression, and disaster is a truly radical act. Hope is not saccharine or gentle; hope is energetic, fuelled by action and courage in the face of cynicism and despair.

In 1989, Archbishop Desmond Tutu led a march of over 30,000 people through the streets of Cape Town. It was a march inspired by the frustration and anger of continued brutal killings by the apartheid regime. It brought together an extraordinarily diverse group of leaders and people.

At the Grand Parade, he addressed the crowd: “We are the Rainbow People! We are the new people of a new South Africa! … Our march to freedom is unstoppable! Our march to freedom for all of us, South Africans black and white!”

To declare us the “rainbow people”, the members of a free new South Africa waiting to be born, was truly radical at that point in time, particularly in the face of a brutal and violent regime.

Throughout his life the Arch stood in front of us, time and time again, declaring apartheid would end; that white people should “join the winning side”; that no matter what grief or pain we may feel in any specific moment, we must retain the conviction that we would ultimately birth a new rainbow nation.

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While the term is now met with cynicism, we should never forget what a truly radical position it was to assert the possibility of a multi-racial democracy in the face of one of the great crimes against humanity of the 20th century.

In The Book of Joy, co-authored by the Arch, The Dalai Lama and Doug Abrams, the Arch notes that, “Despair can come from deep grief, but it can also be a defence against the risks of bitter disappointment and shattering heartbreak. Resignation and cynicism are easier, more self-soothing postures that do not require raw vulnerability and tragic risk of hope.”

In the face of enduring inequality and racial injustice; climate change and political paralysis; a sluggish economy; and the lights flickering, we cannot allow ourselves to be demobilised by cynicism and despair. We need bold solutions to our multiple, interconnected, challenges as a society.

Many of these solutions are necessarily deeply technical, but all of them rely on human beings to create, propose, implement and champion them. We have seen in the past three decades since the Arch’s dream of the rainbow people of South Africa all being free came to pass that our greatest hindrance is not the talent or creativity of our people, but the extent to which our development is driven by people of courage, vision, and compassion. 

If we fall into despair, then the human capacity to be bold and imaginative; to create technical solutions and to grow the capacity to implement them will fail.

Radical hope — radical as in “at the root” — is a hope that is grounded, and that grows. The women cutting their hair in Iran; the young Russian men refusing to be conscripted; the young climate activists speaking boldly to the powerful in the halls of the UN; the children and young people who wake up every day in South Africa and against all the odds work to give themselves a chance to break the cycle of poverty.

These powerful human beings are not the exception — we can all be so brave; we can all be so collectively powerful. But only if we truly believe our action will make a difference.

On 7 October, we commemorate the Arch’s 91st birthday by hosting the 12th Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture. This year we are bringing two powerful speakers to Cape Town to share their vision for hope and healing in a time of crisis.

The UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina J Mohammed, is an extraordinary example of someone placing hope at the heart of global multilateral cooperation through her role as one of the key architects of the Sustainable Development Goals which places human flourishing at the centre of the agenda for global development. Alongside Ms Mohammed, we will be joined by Doug Abrams, who was a close collaborator with the Arch and co-author of The Book of Joy.

At a time when despair feels easily convincing, we hope that this event — a tribute to the extraordinary life of the Arch, and an opportunity to dream a new wave of courageous action together — can root all of us a little more firmly in the soil of hope.

Hope is not easy, but as the Arch said, “to choose hope is to step firmly forward into the howling wind, baring one’s chest to the elements, knowing that, in time, the storm will pass.” DM