"I am not as young as I look" Tutu tells the spectators, and it is indeed difficult to see that this evenings main attraction is 78 years old. It is an energetic and enthusiastic Tutu who was here to speak about the African philosophy Ubuntu, one of the founding principles of the new republic of South Africa. "I am so inspired by young people I meet around the world" he explains, and this night he had the chance to give some of this inspiration back to the participants, volunteers and spectators of ISFiT.
Created for complementarity
"A solitary human being is a contradiction", he says to introduce the Grand Hall to Ubuntu. "Humans are created for complementarily, and when you learn this lesson you are family, you are connected". Ubuntu was a driving force behind the Truth and Reconciliation Committee in South Africa, a committee ensuring a peaceful end to the brutalities and racial segregation of the Apartheid regime. "Ubuntu says when you treat someone badly, it will get back to you one way or the other", Tutu states, and he is adamant that revenge never can bring lasting peace; "There will be no future without forgiveness". Today the world is far from peaceful and according to Tutu God cries when he sees the atrocities committed by humans: "God looks at the awful things we do, and God cries. But then he wakes up and he sees ISFiT, and it is like sunshine and rain."
Peacebuilding is the main theme of ISFiT 2009, and Desmond Tutu is definitely someone who has a wide range of experience within the field. However he makes it evident that Ubuntu is a philosophy encapsulating more than this. "Climate change is real", Tutu tells The Grand Hall and by doing so introducing a new subject. "In Greenland the ice is melting, making hunting difficult, and in Nigeria draught is causing people to fight for pasture. Our actions have consequences for others whether we like it or not" he says, placing Ubuntu into a wider context.
Standing ovation
After speaking to the Grand Hall Tutu finds time to answer questions from students. "Can truth and reconciliation work in the conflict between Israel and Palestine?", an Israeli student asks him, and Tutu is convinced that it can. "If it could happen in South Africa, it could happen everywhere", he answers before he concludes: "an enemy is really a friend waiting to be made, and in a couple of years you will ask yourselves: Why where we so stupid for so long?"
Tutu exits The Grand Hall to standing ovation, having made a strong impression on his audience. This may well have been one of the defining moments of ISFiT 2009, a moment bound to be remembered by all present. The plenary session ends as it started, with music from Bjørn Alterhaug Quintet. Having played the tune Free Nelson Mandela for Tutu during his last visit in Trondheim in 1984, they offered the perfect conclusion to the meeting.
