LAUNCH OF ARCHBISHOP TUTU LEGACY PROJECT FOR JUSTICE IN THE HOLY LAND
Joint statement from Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s legacy organisations…
LAUNCH OF ARCHBISHOP TUTU LEGACY PROJECT FOR JUSTICE IN THE HOLY LAND
The two legacy organisations established by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Leah Tutu in Cape Town will tomorrow morning mount a simple public installation symbolising the Archbishop’s decades-long work for justice in Palestine.
Until the bombing of Gaza stops, a life-size statue of the Archbishop, wearing a Palestinian scarf, will be displayed during office hours on the balcony of the soon-to-be-renamed Desmond and Leah Tutu House (presently, the Old Granary Building) above Buitenkant Street.
Archbishop Tutu visited Israel and Gaza on a number of occasions, including as an emissary of the United Nations.
He was an outspoken critic of the State of Israel’s policies and treatment of Palestine and Palestinians, which he likened to the policies and actions of apartheid South Africa.
He made a clear distinction between the State of Israel and Israeli citizens, to whom he appealed to pressure their government to embrace meaningful dialogue and change.
He fervently believed that the greatest beneficiaries of a just dispensation for Palestine, besides Palestinians, themselves, would be the citizens of Israel.
The genocidal vengeance being enacted by the State of Israel against Palestinian civilians in response to the violent Hamas incursion of Israel on 7 October 2023 is a recipe for sustained hatred.
The killing and maiming of tens of thousands of civilians, including disproportionate numbers of women, children and journalists, the destruction of infrastructure, the displacement of millions of people – and the withdrawal of the basic necessities for human existence, water, food, fuel and medicine – is an abomination.
That powerful nations can’t agree to stop it is an affront to the notion of equal human rights and the equality of human beings. These nations are effectively saying that some human beings have rights and others have none, while making a mockery of global instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Archbishop Tutu regarded all human beings as related, inter-dependent, members of a single human family – which he called God’s family.
When members of the family squabbled, it was up to the rest of the family to bring them back into line, he taught. Claiming neutrality was an untenable response to injustice; people and institutions were duty-bound to stand up for justice for those who are oppressed, downtrodden and marginalised.
He also taught that making peace required talking to those you considered your enemies.
Tomorrow morning at 9.30am, Chairperson of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Intellectual Property Trust Dr Mamphela Ramphele, and Chief Executive of the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, Ms Janet Jobson, will officially unveil the installation which will stand in silent protest until the bombing stops.
If the statue could talk it would say: Violence, forced removals, starvation and thirst are not instruments of justice. Please stop the hurting, and talk.
Ends…
* This statement was issued by the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Intellectual Property Trust.
** Distributed by Oryx Media (Benny Gool 082 5566556 and Roger Friedman 079 8966899).