The Chancellor, Baroness Cox, the Vice Chancellor Prof Gerald Pillay, Your Grace, Canon Anthony O'Brien, Members of the Academic Community, Fellow Graduands, Friends
I had thought of beginning my address by playing the vuvuzela but was persuaded otherwise.
May I take this opportunity to congratulate all my fellow graduands on their achievements which we celebrate today together with their families and all whose sacrifices and support made this day possible.
I am delighted that my own sister, Irene, husband Mike and friend Joan are here today together with my religious brother from the Society of the Sacred Mission, Fr Jonathan Ewer. I am especially pleased that my Zimbabwean godson Tigere, is here and my English godson Alan, with other members of their families.
I am happy that Fr Teddy Lennon OFM is here from Namibia.
I am deeply honoured that this great university has chosen to confer an honorary doctorate of humane letters on me today.
There are a number of reasons I rejoice in receiving a doctorate from Liverpool Hope university.
In another lifetime, I was chaplain to your Vice Chancellor Professor Gerald Pillay when he was a student in South Africa during the dark years of apartheid.
Interestingly Professor Pillay later moved to my original homeland of Aotearoa New Zealand from whence I had come to South Africa. There is much in common between the mission of Hope University which Professor Pillay so ably leads with its commitment to preparing students not just for the world of work but also for the work of the world; .and my own work within the Institute for Healing of Memories based in Cape Town. We seek to contribute to the healing journey of individuals, communities and nations
Personally I am excited to be now permanently linked with Europe's only ecumenical university and the vision shared by past and present Roman Catholic and Anglican Bishops of this city. Some would say that at least in the past, it was easier for the Catholic and Anglican Bishops to work together than for Evaton and Liverpool supporters to have a pint together.
(By the way – I am sorry about that goal which England was wrongly denied)
How wonderful for all of us to be graduating in this world famous Cathedral church.
However, as committed as I am to trying to follow Jesus I have long been convinced that the future of humanity is an interfaith future. If we want the human family to live in peace, we need to learn not just to tolerate but to reverence and respect all the great faith traditions. I like the way Hope speaks proudly of its Anglican and Catholic heritage whilst welcoming and seeking to be inclusive to people of other faiths as well as those with no religious beliefs.
Tragically a greater number of conflicts than ever before have a religious component – where religious belief is exploited for violent ends.
As we survey the globe we have good reasons to be worried about Christian, Jewish, Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist and secular fundamentalisms.
On a lighter note, as a teenager in the 60s the Beatles were part of my regular diet. What pleasure the boys of Merseyside brought to my generation.
Only a few years ago, when I first visited Liverpool did I learn that Liverpool's history was profoundly enmeshed with slavery and the slave trade. It is sobering to have to face that there maybe wealthy companies, families and institutions, which endure till today which were built on slavery.
Visitors to Liverpool as well as local citizens and especially young people have the opportunity to be exposed to the reality of slavery when experiencing the relatively new International slavery museum
How do we see this legacy? How do we engage with it?
This reality is something which Liverpool and Liverpudlians share with Cape town and Capetonians. There is a suggestion that some of our communities in Cape Town have known enduring social violence without a break since the days when the majority of people who lived in Cape Town were slaves, till today.
In South Africa we had apartheid which was called modern day slavery. I am sure that there are those among you here today especially the older members of the academic community who at some time in your life were involved in supporting the anti apartheid, liberation struggle. In a university with its Catholic and Anglican parentage we are right to be thankful that we had our share of heroes with such giants as Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, Archbishop Dennis Hurley and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Thank you to each of you who acted to help bring our freedom.
After centuries of war and oppression, democracy finally came to South Africa in 1994 when Nelson Mandela became the President.. We had a momentous task to meet the basic needs of our people for water, electricity, jobs, education, shelter and healthcare
We also faced another giant question – how would we deal with the past? Nuremburg or amnesia? Forgiving and forgetting.? In the end we took the route of seeking to remember and to heal.. Our leaders showed us that revenge could not build a just and peaceful society however justified it may be.
In my own work of healing of memories, I have come to realise just how important both “knowledge” and “acknowledgment” is. It is good that visitors to Liverpool can hear the stories of slaves to gain knowledge about what the museum seeks to acknowledge. So often the victims and their descendants carry within their very souls the memory of what was done to them while the perpetrators and their beneficiaries remain oblivious if not in denial about what has happened.
For the last month I was staying in New York city. A couple of weeks ago I tuned in to get my daily fix of BBC World News. I watched Prime Minister David Cameron responding to Lord Saville's Bloody Sunday Inquiry. His unequivocal description of the killings that happened that fateful day in Derry as “unjustified” and “unjustifiable”has reverberated across the world but particulary in the hearts of the loved ones of the victims who have waited 38 years to hear the British Prime Minister speak so plainly. By also describing how victims were shot in the back and killed while already dying, Prime Minister David Cameron gave both knowledge and acknowledgment to the British people.
The night after watching David Cameron speak in the Commons, I was dining in an Irish pub in the
Big Apple with strong Republican links. Immediately I was asked if I had seen the newscast the night before. The consensus that night over a pint or two was that the speech by David Cameron was as good as it gets. For the relatives of the victims it was validation that there loved ones were unarmed civilians killed in cold blood. In the words of the Prime Minster there was a restoration of
the moral order with bad being called bad.
Some have suggested that the events of that terrible day helped recruit a generation of young people into violence.
It is interesting to note that David Cameron was just six years old when Bloody Sunday happened. Here he was on behalf of the nation taking responsibility and making public apology. I have no doubt that a significant step was taken to begin to heal old wounds within these islands.
I have a dream that the day will not be far distant when a leader of the UK will make a wider apology to the Irish people for past injustices and oppression.
It is a myth that time alone will heal old wounds. Conflicts in many parts of the world traverse generations as grandparents tell their grandchildren stories with poison embedded in the story.
Our generation is characterised by old conflicts which have come back to bite us. All of us can play our part in healing the wounds of history. - but the journey is long – we have to be willing to hear the pain of those at the bottom – to gain the knowledge by listening to the stories – to say sorry
AND to advocate for meaningful reparation.
Within the faith communities, we continue to tear ourselves apart over the issue of sexual orientation.not least in Mother Africa. In this regard secular societies are often much better champions of human rights for all than we who see ourselves as part of the household of God
Another of my dreams is that I will live to see a public apology by the leaders of all the great faith traditions to the LGBTI community for our part in their oppression. I dont know about this campus
but often communities of young people are more accepting of sexual difference than their parents or the temple, mosque or church.
Today South Africa has eclipsed Brazil to be the country with the most skewed income distribution in the world. We are a microcosm of the world. Attending to this disparity is, together with caring for the environment, are the greatest challenges we all face if our grandchildren are to flourish and live in peace..
But let me return to my story, my journey.
This year was the twentieth anniversary of the letter bomb sent by the apartheid state to kill me.
After the attack people of faith and good will from across the globe accompanied me on my journey of healing. through their prayers, and love and support. My story was acknowledged, reverenced and recognised. I was enabled to travel a journey from becoming a victim, to becoming a survivor and more, to becoming a victor.
Now for the last twenty years, I have travelled the world listening to the pain of the human family, seeking to gain knowledge and acknowledge the wrong done to others.
Supporting people to break the chain that turns victims into victimisers - offering safe and sacred spaces where victims can let go of poison to also become victors.
My dear friends, dear fellow graduands, on this day allow me to leave you with a couple of questions
What is God's dream for the human family and for mother earth.
What is my dream for myself.
Am I willing to play my part in realising God's dream
Many years ago, I am told that the friendship between two men – the Catholic Archbishop and the Anglican Bishop was the inspiration which gave birth to this university which continues to be a sign of hope.
During our long struggle for freedom, we learnt to analyse and constantly seek to understand what we were fighting against. However it was because of the hope which we shared that we were willing to sacrifice and lay down our lives to be free.
I have often asked myself, why did I survive a bomb that was supposed to kill. In my physical brokenness, I am a reminder of the results of evil, racism, prejudice and hatred.
However, a thousand times more importantly, I pray that in a small way, I too, am a sign that stronger than evil and hatred and death are love, faith and hope.
May all of us be, and increasingly become, signs of hope.
I thank you.
