Reconciliation rather than Revenge

In February 1995, I visited Robben Island as a part of a delegation headed by the newly elected President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. As he was showing us around the site where he had been imprisoned for 27 years, he spoke – with that familiar gentle voice of his – of reconciliation and dialogue. A story of courage and determination to keep faith. Standing there, with his feet firmly planted on the ground of the past, he spoke of the road ahead, he spoke of the future.

Like no other human being, Nelson Mandela has demonstrated how his personal strength and his ability to understand and enact his role in a specific and dramatic historic context, is what brought about change in South Africa. The visit to Robben Island made a deep impression on me.

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Four Nobel Peace Prizes have been awarded to South Africans since 1960: to Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, Frederik Willem de Klerk and Nelson Mandela. On each occasion, this has been instrumental in drawing attention to the anti-apartheid struggle and firmly placing it on the global agenda. Within South Africa, the award of these prizes provided the legitimacy and recognition needed for the anti-apartheid movement to grow from a number of angry voices into a united roar for freedom and equality.

At the same time, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates have been among the many advocates for a peaceful transition with focus on reconciliation rather than revenge. Despite widespread violence during the 1970s and 1980s, the leadership and example of the Laureates and others paved the way for a remarkably peaceful dismantling of apartheid and the adoption of a new and democratic constitution.

Mandela could have pursued the path of violence and confrontation when he was released from prison. He would have received overwhelming support from the suppressed black population. But he asked people to turn their backs on the “grave insult to human dignity”, as he referred to apartheid in his Nobel Lecture in 1993. The people of South Africa chose the path of dialogue, the path of peace. And by making this choice, they probably saved South Africa from a devastating civil war.

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I believe in the potential of dialogue, and I believe that one of the greatest dangers in the world today is the absence of dialogue.

Dialogue and other forms of contact are also an opportunity to seize the middle ground, and to challenge the dominance of the extremes.

Some people maintain that using dialogue to resolve conflicts is an option for those who lack the will, courage or ability to settle an issue by force. I believe they are wrong. Willingness to enter into dialogue is not a sign of weakness.

On the contrary, dialogue is the strategy of the brave. Luthuli and Tutu sought peace and dialogue. Mandela would have been justified in pursuing a path of confrontation when he was released from prison. But he and de Klerk chose reconciliation, and they demonstrated the courage it takes to embrace a political solution sooner rather than later.

Today, fifteen years into the era of democracy in South Africa, the population has had the opportunity to go to the polls four times to cast their votes in democratic elections. By the time apartheid came to an end, the South African economy was crumbling under the ever increasing cost of maintaining the apartheid system and of the political, economic and cultural isolation from the international community. With a democratically elected government, the negative economic trend was reversed and South Africa enjoyed stable economic growth, up until the current global recession.

However, several challenges remain to be addressed, of which widespread poverty and severe inequality are the most prominent. Efforts to replace inherent and entrenched structures of inequality with more equal access to assets and opportunities have not yet succeeded in bridging the enormous gap between rich and poor.

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The South African Peace Prize Laureates have taught us – and teach us still – that dialogue between enemies is not only a necessary, but also a realistic route to peaceful resolution of conflicts. This challenges our perceptions of how to approach conflicts and injustice elsewhere in the world today.

Norway has taken a seat on the new UN Human Rights Council for the period 2009–2012. We will do our utmost to ensure protection of human rights and human dignity in the tradition of these great South African Peace Prize Laureates.

The history of transition in South Africa has proved to the world that it is possible for a country to rise above a divisive legacy of oppression and discrimination, to promote reconciliation and move forward in unity. The leadership provided by the four South African Peace Prize Laureates in facilitating this process is of inestimable importance. 

This is why this is such an important exhibition.