‘A living Gandhi’

Desmond Tutu accepts peace award for global nonviolence activism

By Mary Frances Czarsty, senior writer
Posted on September 24, 2007

Siyahamba ekukhanyen’ kwenkhos.

The words of the popular South African protest song, translated to “we are marching in the light of God,” were sung by the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir Friday night as Archbishop Desmond Tutu processed into the packed JMU Convocation Center.

Tutu, recipient of the 1984 Nobel Peace prize, accepted the inaugural Mahatma Gandhi Global nonviolence award and gave his address entitled “Goodness is Powerful,” before an audience that included the Indian Ambassador to the U.S., the secretary of the commonwealth, members of the JMU Board of Visitors and Tutu’s daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. 

Ambassador of India to the U.S., Ronen Sen, introduced Tutu as “a living legend of our time.”

“We in India regard him as a living Gandhi.”

Tutu danced to cheers from the audience as he received the award and an honorary doctorate, the 27th to be awarded in the institution’s 99-year history.

“We all search for people who, through their hard work and actions, show us the way,” JMU President Linwood Rose said in his welcoming remarks. “Tonight, we honor one those people. He has earned the respect and admiration of people all over the world.”

Tutu said he was accepting the award on behalf of the millions of South Africans who struggled for freedom from apartheid.

“I usually say what is so patently obvious,” Tutu said, “that when you are in a crowd and you stand out, it is only because you are being carried on the shoulders of others.”

Tutu told the audience that the South African activists’ belief in prevailing right and goodness was vindicated when apartheid was finally toppled. But he noted that telling people suffering in the world today “take heart…your suffering will end” disregards the reality of their daily struggles.

“Look at the morass in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in the Middle East,” he said. “You couldn’t have better evidence that God had lost the plot and my assertion about our inhabiting a moral universe being shown to be utter poppycock, baloney, unrealistic daydreaming.”

But Tutu countered those places of current suffering with success stories including Slobodan Milosevic’s fallout in Yugoslavia and former Liberian president Charles Taylor’s downfall and subsequent charges of atrocities by the International Criminal Court as proof that “there is no way in which evil, wrong and injustice can have the last word.”

The event was part of the Mahatma Gandhi Global Center for Nonviolence’s greater mission of encouraging the expression of mutual respect among human beings, Director Sushil Mittal said. The center is now in its second year at JMU.

Junior Chris Gray helped organize over 100 student volunteers, clad Friday night in t-shirts with Gandhi’s face screen printed on them. Students were essential to a smooth operation, Gray said, and some started works as early as this past summer. Volunteers aided with publicity, directing traffic and T-shirt sales.

With 85 percent of the Center’s budget made up of donations, things like T-shirt sales will help fund the center’s ultimate goal of becoming a community outreach center, Gray said.

“We are really hoping this event will help solidify our presence on campus,” he said.

Junior volunteer Sam Williams said he was motivated to participate because he saw the importance of Tutu’s visit to the university.

“I think students really wanted to be part of something this big,” Williams said.

Tutu addressed students in his speech, encouraging them to dream big.

“Don’t let us oldies with our cynicism turn you away from the dreams that you dream,”

Tutu said, eliciting an eruption of cheers from hundreds of students in the audience.

People arrived at the Convocation Center hours before the doors opened, resulting in lines that stretched around both sides of the building. Samuel Horst, a former professor at Eastern Mennonite University, was the one of the first to arrive.

“I have a niece who lived in South Africa, so I wanted to hear [Tutu] speak,” Horst said.

Grace Rice, a Madison College alum (‘61), drove from Staunton to hear Tutu speak for the second time.

“I heard him at Duke University 25 years ago,” she said. “I was most anxious to hear him again. It was one of the highlights of my life in North Carolina.”