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Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Healing: Lessons from South Africa

Thursday, March 21, 2013

12:30pm- 5:30pm

The chair of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Archbishop Tutu, has said that "there can be no future without forgiveness." Tutu and others have sought to apply the lessons of the South African experience to promote understanding, forgiveness and reconciliation in Rwanda, the Solomon Islands, and nations and communities around the globe. Excerpts from Reconciliation: Mandela's Miracle, A Conversation with Desmond Tutu, and Karen Hayes' The Foolishness of God: My Forgiveness Journey with Desmond Tutu will highlight a conversation about the opportunities and challenges for those seeking to promote forgiveness and reconciliation for individuals and communities.

Welcome

Dean Tacha and Thomas J. Stipanowich

Screening: Reconciliation: Mandela's Miracle- an award-winning documentary by filmmakers Michael Henry Wilson and Carole Wilson

This much-heralded documentary presents events leading up to what South Africans have dubbed "Mandela's miracle," and explores the strategy that helped bring about a peaceful transition from apartheid to a democracy. The central theme is that tyranny can be overcome through reconciliation, as both oppressed and oppressors seek liberation from the prison of prejudice and injustice.

Screening: A Conversation with Desmond Tutu and Biographer John Allen

Taped at the time that Archbishop Emeritus Desmond M. Tutu received the Straus Institute's Inaugural Peacemaker Award in Cape Town, South Africa, Professor Tom Stipanowich's interviews with the Archbishop and his long-time colleague and biographer John Allen are captured in this short feature.

Overcoming Apartheid and Lessons from South Africa

The system of apartheid fragmented a nation and produced a culture of repression and violence that made victims of generations of South Africans. Moving beyond apartheid was—and is—a painful process facilitated by the moral leadership of Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and others, the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the ongoing efforts of individuals and organizations.

Speakers:

  • Father Michael Lapsley, SSM, Founder, Institute for Healing of Memories
  • Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, South African Ambassador to the United States
  • John Allen, Desmond Tutu biographer and former Press Officer for the South African Truth & Reconciliation Commission
  • Karen Hayes, documentary filmmaker, The Foolishness of God: My Forgiveness Journey with Desmond Tutu
  • Michael Henry Wilson and Carole Wilson, documentary filmmakers, Reconciliation: Mandela's Miracle

For more information, call Tess Marme at (310) 506-6330 or e-mail tess.marme@pepperdine.edu