Archbishop Desmond Tutu & Forgiveness Project Part 5

This is the last of a 5-part video series on Forgiveness with Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
You can :
watch part 1 here
watch part 2 here
watch part 3 here
watch part 4 here

On 12th May 2010 more than 800 people piled into St John’s Smith Square, London, to hear Archbishop Desmond Tutu, founding patron of The Forgiveness Project, deliver our inaugural annual lecture – ‘Is Violence Ever Justified?’ Touching briefly on the Church’s view of a just war and challenging the audience to consider ‘what would you do if you discovered your daughter being raped?’, he then asked permission to talk more generally about things that he feels passionate about – for instance the process of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the transformative nature of forgiveness, and the uniquely African concept of Ubuntu – ‘I am me, because you are you’. Archbishop Tutu was joined on stage by Mary Blewitt who lost 50 members of her family in the Rwandan genocide; Jo Berry whose father was killed in the 1984 Brighton bombing; and Patrick Magee, the former IRA activist who planted the bomb. The event was chaired by BBC broadcaster Edward Stourton, and sponsored by Anglo American, with The Independent newspaper as our media sponsor. Read more

Archbishop Desmond Tutu & Forgiveness Project Part 4

This is part 4 of a 5-part video series on Forgiveness with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. You can watch part 1 here
watch part 2 here
watch part 3 here

On 12th May 2010 more than 800 people piled into St John’s Smith Square, London, to hear Archbishop Desmond Tutu, founding patron of The Forgiveness Project, deliver our inaugural annual lecture – ‘Is Violence Ever Justified?’ Touching briefly on the Church’s view of a just war and challenging the audience to consider ‘what would you do if you discovered your daughter being raped?’, he then asked permission to talk more generally about things that he feels passionate about – for instance the process of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the transformative nature of forgiveness, and the uniquely African concept of Ubuntu – ‘I am me, because you are you’. Archbishop Tutu was joined on stage by Mary Blewitt who lost 50 members of her family in the Rwandan genocide; Jo Berry whose father was killed in the 1984 Brighton bombing; and Patrick Magee, the former IRA activist who planted the bomb. The event was chaired by BBC broadcaster Edward Stourton, and sponsored by Anglo American, with The Independent newspaper as our media sponsor. Read more

Archbishop Desmond Tutu & Forgiveness Project Part 3

This is part 3 of a 5-part video series on Forgiveness with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. You can watch part 1 here
watch part 2 here

On 12th May 2010 more than 800 people piled into St John’s Smith Square, London, to hear Archbishop Desmond Tutu, founding patron of The Forgiveness Project, deliver our inaugural annual lecture – ‘Is Violence Ever Justified?’ Touching briefly on the Church’s view of a just war and challenging the audience to consider ‘what would you do if you discovered your daughter being raped?’, he then asked permission to talk more generally about things that he feels passionate about – for instance the process of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the transformative nature of forgiveness, and the uniquely African concept of Ubuntu – ‘I am me, because you are you’. Archbishop Tutu was joined on stage by Mary Blewitt who lost 50 members of her family in the Rwandan genocide; Jo Berry whose father was killed in the 1984 Brighton bombing; and Patrick Magee, the former IRA activist who planted the bomb. The event was chaired by BBC broadcaster Edward Stourton, and sponsored by Anglo American, with The Independent newspaper as our media sponsor. Read more

Archbishop Desmond Tutu & Forgiveness Project Part 2

This is part 2 of a 5-part video series on Forgiveness with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. You can watch part 1 here.

On 12th May 2010 more than 800 people piled into St John’s Smith Square, London, to hear Archbishop Desmond Tutu, founding patron of The Forgiveness Project, deliver our inaugural annual lecture – ‘Is Violence Ever Justified?’ Touching briefly on the Church’s view of a just war and challenging the audience to consider ‘what would you do if you discovered your daughter being raped?’, he then asked permission to talk more generally about things that he feels passionate about – for instance the process of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the transformative nature of forgiveness, and the uniquely African concept of Ubuntu – ‘I am me, because you are you’. Archbishop Tutu was joined on stage by Mary Blewitt who lost 50 members of her family in the Rwandan genocide; Jo Berry whose father was killed in the 1984 Brighton bombing; and Patrick Magee, the former IRA activist who planted the bomb. The event was chaired by BBC broadcaster Edward Stourton, and sponsored by Anglo American, with The Independent newspaper as our media sponsor.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu & Forgiveness Project Part 1

This being Thanksgiving week in the United States and the beginning of the Christmas season in many parts of the world, we’re featuring a 5-part video series on Forgiveness with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Enjoy!

On 12th May 2010 more than 800 people piled into St John’s Smith Square, London, to hear Archbishop Desmond Tutu, founding patron of The Forgiveness Project, deliver our inaugural annual lecture – ‘Is Violence Ever Justified?’ Touching briefly on the Church’s view of a just war and challenging the audience to consider ‘what would you do if you discovered your daughter being raped?’, he then asked permission to talk more generally about things that he feels passionate about – for instance the process of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the transformative nature of forgiveness, and the uniquely African concept of Ubuntu – ‘I am me, because you are you’. Archbishop Tutu was joined on stage by Mary Blewitt who lost 50 members of her family in the Rwandan genocide; Jo Berry whose father was killed in the 1984 Brighton bombing; and Patrick Magee, the former IRA activist who planted the bomb. The event was chaired by BBC broadcaster Edward Stourton, and sponsored by Anglo American, with The Independent newspaper as our media sponsor.

Jo Berry: Making Friends with the Enemy

I made a personal decision just two days after an IRA bomb killed my lovely father, Sir Anthony Berry, to bring something positive out of the horror and to try and understand those who had killed him. My father was attending the Conservative Party ConferencPatrick Mage in Brighton in 1984 and was staying at the Grand Hotel. I did not just lose my Dad that day. I was catapulted into a conflict which I then became a part of, feeling the pain and violence of each and every killing.

The journey of healing began with one small step and I trusted that life would then bring me the opportunities to heal and grow. Within two months of my father’s death, I randomly shared a taxi with someone whose brother had been in the IRA and had been killed by a British soldier. We should have been enemies but instead we talked about a world where peace was possible and there were no enemies. As I left the taxi, I suddenly understood that this was one way I could contribute; I could build a bridge across the divide. Read more