Thanks to funding received from the Allen Lane Foundation we have been working jointly with Why Me? – a new organisation which has been set up by, and for, victims of crime who have benefited from their experience of Restorative Justice. The stories show the powerful impact that a face-to-face meeting between victim and offender can have.
We now have a full length version of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s inaugural annual Lecture available on this website, as well as 5 shorter clips with the lecture’s highlights. Both in the full length film and in the clips, the Archbishop refers to The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the concept of ubuntu, and whether or not people should feel obliged to forgive. We’ve chosen some of the highlights and below is the five minute introduction to the lecture. Click here to view all available clips.
Welcome to our newly designed website launched on 3rd June 2010. This website has many more features than the old one – more information about our projects, new stories exploring forgiveness & reconciliation (including a special project with Combatants for Peace), and an opportunity to give us feedback if you’ve seen The F Word exhibition. Also, check out the director’s Huffington Post blog.
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. To read more about the event http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marina-cantacuzino/desmond-tutu-meets-victim_b_575557.html
