The establishment of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission
was a pioneering international event. Never had any country sought to
move forward from despotism to democracy both by exposing the atrocities
committed in the past and achieving reconciliation with its former
oppressors. At the center of this unprecedented attempt at healing a
nation has been Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whom President Nelson Mandela
named as Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. With the
final report of the Commission just published, Archbishop Tutu offers
his reflections on the profound wisdom he has gained by helping usher
South Africa through this painful experience.
In No Future Without Forgiveness, Tutu argues that true
reconciliation cannot be achieved by denying the past. But nor is it
easy to reconcile when a nation "looks the beast in the eye." Rather
than repeat platitudes about forgiveness, he presents a bold
spirituality that recognizes the horrors people can inflict upon one
another, and yet retains a sense of idealism about reconciliation. With
a clarity of pitch born out of decades of experience, Tutu shows readers
how to move forward with honesty and compassion to build a newer and
more humane world.
