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

Sat Jul 21 16:16:55 EDT 2007

Yes Lucille and all the Elders of our Universe, such wonderful images  
and Good News!
Love, Grace & Peace, Ellen   (I've just turned 70...when do I become  
an Elder?)

On Jul 21, 2007, at 1:25 PM, Lifeline248 at aol.com wrote:

> 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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