On the eve of their final public appearance in Hawaii, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Pakistani human rights activist Hina Jilani paused to reflect on the origins of conflict in the global community, the promise and peril of social media in advancing social justice, and the relevance of Hawaii’s example to a world in search of unity.
Tutu, Jilani and former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland are in Honolulu representing the Elders, an independent assembly of world leaders that works to promote peace, ethical leadership and sustainability. The group was invited by the Hawaii Community Foundation as part of its ongoing Pillars of Peace Hawaii program.
On Saturday, they spoke with high school and college students about ethical leadership and compassionate and responsible behavior.
The Elders conclude their Hawaii visit Sunday with a public talk, "A Just and Inclusive Global Community," 4 p.m., at the Hawaii Convention Center. The event is sold out but a free live webcast will be available via goo.gl/B6M0bc.
The group was assembled in 2007 by Nelson Mandela on the suggestion of musician Peter Gabriel and entrepreneur Richard Branson, who envisioned a group of respected world leaders serving the role of guiding elders for the 21st century global community. The participants were selected on the basis of their histories of inclusive, progressive leadership and their shared commitment to global peace and universal human rights.
The group’s current areas of emphasis involve making greater use of online and digital technologies to encourage cooperation on poverty eradication and sustainable development, persuading governments to establish and honor international agreements on climate change, and promote broader and more inclusive approaches to international development. The Elders also remain active in using their individual and collective influence to address areas of conflict.
Tutu, who won the 1984 Nobel Prize for Peace for his efforts to resist the apartheid system in his home country, said the Elders have had a positive influence on world affairs, even if the results are difficult to quantify.
"I frequently say that we are punching below our weight," said Tutu. "Of course, there are many imponderables. We don’t know how an intervention that we made changed the course of things. When you make a telephone call to a prime minister or a president, you don’t usually get a report (saying), ‘He changed his mind because the Elders intervened.’ Yet, the Elders have access to very many leaders in the world. Individually and collectively, their views are regarded as significant and leaders of countries would not easily snub, say, (President Jimmy) Carter or (former U.N. Secretary-General) Kofi Annan."
Tutu said the Elders have been actively involved in trying to address the most recent flaring of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We’ve been able to meet with the leaders of Hamas and we’ve told them to their face that firing rockets into civilian areas is totally unacceptable,” Tutu said. “And we’ve said to the Israelis that you will not get any peace until you end the occupation.
“The siege of Gaza is unconscionable,” he said. “To have that number of people in that confined space not able to go anywhere is not acceptable. It’s not conducive to peace. Israel will never have peace while that situation prevails.”
Jilani said she recognizes in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and in other global contentions the common thread of a people struggling for self-determination.
“I do believe this is an important right that needs to be better recognized,” Jilani said. “The international human rights instruments do recognize them and do specify this as a right. The U.N. Charter specifies it as a right. Unfortunately, in practice it is not given the respect and value that it should be given, which has resulted in conflict within states and between states.”
Jilani, the newest member of the Elders, brings a unique perspective to the group.
An outspoken defender of human rights, she founded Pakistan’s first all-women law firm and first legal aid center. Jilani has also served as a United National special representative on human rights defenders from 2000 to 2008 and has been an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan since 1992.
“Many of the Elders have been in positions of power and government,” Jilani said. “I have been on the other side of the spectrum as a civil society leader who has been part of movements for human rights on the local, regional, national and international levels. In many ways, the connection between these particular leaders and people like me has been shared values. I’ve worked with President Carter and Kofi Annan and Mary Robinson before. Knowing the kind of vision that these people have, I didn’t for a minute hesitate to feel that I could be part of that group and that I wouldn’t be compromising any part of my own principles.”
Jilani emphasized that leadership is not is function and expression exclusive to official power and governance.
“You cannot even pretend to exercise ethical leadership without having your feet firmly on the ground and knowing the reality of everyday struggle,” Jilani said. “The notion of an international community does not only mean states. There is not a notion of international community that is complete and accurate without an understanding that civil society is a part of it. Many times, even though it has been a struggle, civil society pressures have resulted in better decisions by the decision makers, be it by the U.N. or our own national contexts.”
Thus, Jilani said, freedoms of assembly and association must be protected if civilians are to be able to exercise their right to peacefully express opposing views.
Jilani says access to digital technology, and social media in particular, has helped to encourage free communication in areas where repressive governments have sought to curtail rights of association. Yet, Jilani says, the ability to express opposition in the safety of a virtual space can retard actual mobilization.
"One of the reservations I have is that it has allowed people to vent their passion and their feelings in a relatively safer environment and that has in some ways taken away the energy or the need for them to get together physically to collectively voice their concerns. In Pakistan, as human rights activists, we have found that to be a huge impediment in our ability to mobilize people for collective public action."
Reflecting on his experiences here, Tutu said Hawaii offers an important model for social unity.
"The fact that you have a community of so many ethnicities that are able to be one, that there is an aloha culture that has been able to weld together these different peoples — that is something the world needs to hear about and learn about and emulate. Are we going to learn to live together as a human community, a human family, or are we going to perish together as the fools we would be?"
