July 11, 2009
West has no right to preach to Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu says
by Alice Thomson and Rachel Sylvester
The Times
Desmond Tutu is the politician-preacherman. He is a peacemaker who is not afraid to throw verbal hand grenades, a rock'n'roll rabble-rouser, an elder statesman who is constantly reduced to giggles.
During the apartheid era he was hailed as a messiah of Africa, touring the townships in his cassock and crucifix while the ANC leaders were in jail. Now he is the world's voice of conscience, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize who dispenses advice to America and Africa alike. Before the war in Iraq, he tells us, he telephoned the White House to try to stop the invasion. As leader of the group of Elders -- a select group of senior statesmen -- he has worked behind the scenes in Zimbabwe and tried to secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.
As Barack Obama visited Africa at the end of the G8 summit yesterday, he said the election of America's first black President had given "people of colour" a new spring in their step. "It is, as some have said, a Mandela moment."
Archbishop Tutu is Nelson Mandela's spiritual alter ego, although he says of his friend: "He does wear strange shirts". Like the Dalai Lama, another close friend, the Archbishop manages to flit between charity and celebrity -- hanging out with Madonna and Sir Richard Branson as well as orphans and refugees. "I like her," he says of the pop star. "I think she's genuine -- why shouldn't she adopt babies from Africa?" Superstars are just as admiring of him -- he filmed a video message for U2's latest world tour at the invitation of Bono.
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