[Dialogue] [Oe List ...] The Elders

Sat Jul 21 13:25:36 EDT 2007

Jann and Colleagues,
     My propensity to spontaneously weep in moments of unexpected awe (but 
never in pain or deep frustration) just came to the fore as I sobbed my way 
through Stephanie Nolen's piece on The Elders.   I have made a two-page, 
single-spaced copy for my files and include it for anyone else who wishes to save it.   
And I send waves of gratitude and good energy to those survivors who teach us 
not to despair--whether they be an ocean and continent away like Madiba or 
colleagues like you, Jann, near and far.
Grace, Peace, and Love,
Lucille Tessier Chagnon

----------------------------------------------------------

The   Elders        Stephanie Nolen        Globe and   Mail, July 18, 2007

JOHANNESBURG - The official order of business Wednesday was the introduction 
of   The Elders: convened at the request of Nelson Mandela, a collection of 
former   leaders that has begun to work together to advance the causes of peace 
and   global justice. Five Nobel Laureates and a handful of other eminences   
gathered on the stage in Johannesburg as Mr.   Mandela announced that they 
would seek to fulfill the traditional role of elders   in a village, providing 
wisdom and leadership and attempting to resolve   conflicts, taking on 
everything from climate change to the fighting in   Darfur.

A symbolic empty chair was left on stage for Aung San   Suu Kyi, the activist 
who will join the group when she is free of   government-imposed house arrest 
in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma).   But as the Elders sat in a row and 
spoke about their very serious work, a   current - of irreverence, of 
resilience, of what looked very much like joy -   kept bubbling up through the 
formality. And Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who chairs   this elders' council, voiced the 
true
theme of the gathering: “Goodness will   prevail.”

Wednesday was Mr. Mandela's 89th birthday. And so what   was slated to be a 
routine press conference was almost immediately hijacked when the sprightly and 
elfin archbishop commanded that everyone join in singing   Happy Birthday as 
Mr. Mandela was   helped slowly to his seat by a bodyguard and his elegant 
wife, Graca   Machel.

And in that moment came the transformation that seems to   happen whenever 
Mr. Mandela is in a room: Everyone, from the flinty CNN crew to   the guy who 
ran the metal detector in the doorway, got a bit gooey. People broke   out in 
huge smiles, lifted their hands to their faces, turned and nudged one   another. 
“Madiba Magic,” South Africans call it, using the tribal name by which   Mr. 
Mandela is universally known here. No one, it seems, is   impervious.

Beaming at Mr. Mandela, the archbishop then told the   crowd, “Finally he 
listened to me about something - I told him they should get   married.” Mr. 
Mandela laughed, and clutched Ms. Machel's hand: Wednesday was   also their ninth 
wedding anniversary. 

At that point, Archbishop Tutu turned a gently reproving   glance to Kofi 
Annan, and the former United Nations Secretary-General leapt up   and into 
action, bustling across the stage to present a huge bouquet of flowers   to Ms. 
Machel in honour of the occasion.

The Elders, it emerged, is the brainchild of the English   tycoon Sir Richard 
Branson - who was himself in the audience with his elderly   parents. Back in 
2001, he and his friend, the British musician and   anti-apartheid campaigner 
Peter Gabriel, sought out Mr. Mandela and asked if he   would try to convene 
a group of world leaders to take on conflicts such as that   in Israel and the
Palestinian territories - to use their moral influence where   others with 
political agendas had failed.   “The structures we have to deal with these 
problems are   often tied by political, economic and geographical constraints,” Mr. 
Mandela   said Wednesday. “As institutions of government grapple with the 
challenges they   face, the efforts of a small, dedicated group of leaders 
working objectively and without any vested personal interest in the outcome can help 
to resolve what   often seem like intractable problems.”

The Elders have no formal role - nor, Mr. Mandela   stressed, will they seek 
to replace or compete with any official or elected   body. None of the group 
was willing to commit specifically to which issues they   will take on, 
although former Irish president Mary Robinson said they are   already at work. Darfur 
was mentioned   repeatedly and a source who sat in on one of their meetings 
told
The Globe that   they have also made overtures to Zimbabwean President Robert 
Mugabe, seeking to   negotiate a way to have him leave office.

But former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said it   would be fine with him if no 
one outside their council ever knew what issues   they worked on. “The Elders 
neither want, nor will we ever have, any kind of   authority except that that 
comes from common moral values,” he said. “We will be   able to risk failure 
and we will not need to claim   successes.”

The group's work is being funded with an initial   infusion of $18-million 
(U.S.) by wealthy friends of Sir   Richard. Introducing him and Mr. Gabriel, the 
archbishop remarked   that he should ask 
Mr. Gabriel to sing Biko - his iconic hymn about the murder of   
anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko 30 years ago. Sir Richard's head snapped up   at that, 
and he shouldered his way back to the microphone, saying, “If you won't   ask 
him, I will!” Moments later an abashed-looking Mr. Gabriel found himself in   
front of the crowd, clearing his throat.

It was a fitting place to sing this song: the gathering   was held on the 
grounds of South Africa's Constitutional   Court, which was once an apartheid 
prison. As the   archbishop said, “This was a place of tears, of suffering, of 
humiliation.   People were detained without trial here, people were tortured 
here.   But they   didn't buckle.”

So Mr. Gabriel squared his shoulders and sang Biko, every haunting word, and 
the   audience - journalists and dignitaries and a row of South   Africa's 
Constitutional Court justices - joined him   with a low and rhythmic hum. 
Tumultuous applause erupted as he finished, but then   just as quickly died away, as 
people noticed the archbishop: He was hunched   over, hands clutched
In fists, weeping   inconsolably.   “We stand on the shoulders of incredible 
people,” he   choked out, taking off his glasses and wiping the tears. “We 
owe our freedom to   incredible people.”

Mr. Mandela said, with what sounded like a note of   genuine regret, that “I 
am trying to take my retirement seriously” and so would   not participate in 
the hands-on work of his group of Elders. But he will, as Mr.   Branson said, 
pick up the phone when he needs to, using his unique level of   moral suasion 
to get others involved.

In the end, Mr. Mandela left the gathering to celebrate   his birthday with 
his children and grandchildren, and the other Elders went to   work.   
Archbishop Tutu, dancing a little jig, sent everyone into the world with a   final 
observation: “We have been through incredible times and God has helped us   to 
see that the evil doesn't have the last word. It's ultimately goodness and   
laughter and joy,” he said. “Those are what are going to prevail in the end.”

Nelson Mandela helped by his wife Graca Machel at the   ceremony launching 
the group known as The Elders, in Johannesburg.   (ALEXANDER JOE/AFP/Getty   
Images)

(http://images.theglobeandmail.com/archives/RTGAM/images/20070718/welders0718/

elders12500big.jpg)
_Enlarge Image_
(http://images.theglobeandmail.com/archives/RTGAM/images/20070718/welders0718/

elders12500big.jpg)   

Photogallery

     *    _The   Elders announced_

(http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070718.weldersgallery071

8/PhotoGallery01?slot=6) 

Interactives

     *    _The Elders   online_ (http://www.theelders.org/) 

Lucille T. Chagnon, M.Ed.
Literacy Acceleration Consultants
6448 Arbor Lane   -   P O Box 438
Chincoteague Island, VA 23336-0438
757-336-5047      fax -1391
cell   302-561-4575
e-mail:   lifeline248 at aol.com
www.teachtwo.net     

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