wfn.org | Documentary on Tutu to air on Vision TV 3 Feb 2000

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

Vision TV to air documentary on Tutu;
Nobel peace laureate will also accept honourary degree from Trinity College

TORONTO

It is a joke Desmond Tutu often tells: years ago, when whites arrived in
South Africa, they had the Bible and blacks had the land. The whites told
the blacks to close their eyes and pray, and they did. When the black
people opened their eyes, they saw that they now had the Bible and the
whites had the land. Once, during a drought in the country, Tutu added
cheekily "I think we got the better deal."

It is that sense of humour and unwavering faith that has sustained the
cleric in his long career as a peace and civil rights activist, suggests an
hour-long BBC documentary which will be aired on Vision TV next month.
The airing of the documentary will nearly coincide with a visit by Tutu,
Archbishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Cape Town, South Africa, and winner
of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, to Toronto to accept an honorary Doctorate
of Divinity from Trinity College. During the special convocation ceremony,
Archbishop Tutu will also deliver the Romney Moseley Memorial Lecture on
Wednesday, Feb. 16. (For more information, see the announcement on the
college's website: http://www.trinity.utoronto.ca/Provost/Lectures.htm)
Meanwhile, Canadians have an opportunity next month to view the BBC
documentary, entitled simply Tutu, on Vision TV, the national faith network
on Thursday, Feb. 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

The filmmakers used archival footage and interviews with Archbishop Tutu's
friends and colleagues, including Archbishop Robin Eames, primate of All
Ireland and Brigalia Bam, Tutu's successor as general secretary of the
South African Council of Churches (SACC).

The documentary traces the archbishop's path from self-described "township
urchin", through his formative schooling in South Africa and England, and
his rise to head of the SACC, and the Anglican Church in South Africa. It
was as a youth in boarding school that Tutu met Rev. Trevor Huddleston
(later Archbishop of the Indian Ocean), a white English-born teacher who
became a close friend and ally in the anti-apartheid movement.
The meeting was significant for the young Tutu, since perhaps for the first
time, he realized white people could be decent, notes a colleague.
"Desmond could not say 'the white man is not a human being', which is what
most black South Africans would say because of the way they were treated,"
says one priest.

The documentary also includes some criticism of Tutu, quoting colleagues
who describe him as occasionally authoritarian and politically naïve,
particularly for his calling for a boycott of South African coal in the
'70s without consultation with those affected by such actions.
But among Tutu's greatest accomplishments, agree some of those interviewed,
is his ability to keep the country from exploding into violence during the
years of injustice.

"He's managed to keep this country sane on many occasions when it was about
to go mad," says Donald Woods, the former editor of the Daily Despatch
whose story about his own friendship with anti-apartheid activist Steven
Biko was depicted in the film Cry Freedom.

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