The icon of South African anti-apartheid movement, Desmond Mpilo Tutu, who was born on October 7, 1931, in Klerksdorp, South Africa died on December 26, 2021, in Cape Town, at 90. He was fighting prostate cancer since 1997. He used his stage and spirited oratory skills to help bring down apartheid in South Africa. He was revered as South Africa’s conscience by both Black and White community. He followed a modest lifestyle and had always been passionate about protecting the environment. Many of his articles and speeches called for urgent steps to be taken to tackle the climate crisis. He always wanted a simple funeral ceremony, and had even expressed his wish for a cheap coffin and an eco-friendly cremation. Accordingly, the dead body of Tutu underwent aquamation, an environment-friendly alternative to traditional cremation methods.
His Career He was educated in South African Mission schools, where his father taught. Though he wanted to pursue a career in medicine, he became a school teacher in 1955 as he was unable to afford the cost. He resigned from his job in 1957 and joined St. Peter’s Theological College in Johannesburg and was appointed as an Anglican priest in1961. In the year 1962, Tutu moved to London and obtained his Master’s degree of Theology from the King’s College, London, in 1966.
From 1972 to 1975, he served as an associate director for the World Council of Churches. In 1975, he was appointed as the dean of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg, the first Black South African to hold that position. He served as bishop of Lesotho from 1976 to 1978. He was appointed as the general secretary of the South African Council of Churches in 1978 and became a leading spokesperson for the rights of Black South Africans. In 1986, he was appointed archbishop of Cape Town, the effective head of the Anglican church in his homeland.
His Contributions As a bishop, he played an unmatched role in drawing national and international attention to the gross injustice meted out to the Blacks. He emphasised on non-violent means of protest and encouraged the application of economic pressure by countries dealing with South Africa. His objective was a democratic and just society without racial divisions, and for that set forward the following points:
- Equal civil rights for all
- Abolition of South Africa’s passport laws
- A common system of education
- Cessation of forced deportation from South Africa to the so-called ‘homelands’.
He preached that the policy of apartheid was as dehumanising to oppressors as it was to the oppressed. He stood against the looming violence and sought to bridge the rift between the Black and White.
Like Nelson Mandela, he envisaged a multiracial society without any discrimination. In the post-apartheid era, he was very critical of the African National Congress (ANC) government as he felt the ANC was misrepresenting South Africa. He had even warned in 2011 that he would pray for its downfall over a cancelled visit by the Dalai Lama.
President Nelson Mandela of South Africa appointed Tutu to head the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established to investigate the allegations of human rights abuses during the apartheid era. He advised the country towards a new relationship between its black and white citizens. The TRC was described as the ‘climax of Desmond Tutu’s career during which he made tremendous efforts to heal deep historical wounds but he retired in 1996 as the head of TRC after finding the experience deeply traumatic.
He coined the term ‘Rainbow Nation’ for South Africa to describe the ethnic mix of post-apartheid South Africa. However, the nation could not integrate in the way he had dreamt. In 2011, Desmond Tutu remarked that the ANC government was worse than the apartheid government due to corruption, and relentlessly challenged the status quo on issues like race, homosexuality, and religious doctrine.
In 2015, he launched a petition urging global leaders to create a world run on renewable energies within 35 years, which was backed by more than 3,00,000 people globally.
Award and Honours
His Works He authored and co-authored numerous books, including The Divine Intention (1982), a collection of his lectures; Hope and Suffering (1983), a collection of his sermons; No Future without Forgiveness (1999), a memoir from his time as head of TRC; God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time (2004), a collection of his personal reflections; and Made for Goodness: And Why This Makes All the Difference (2010), reflections on his beliefs about human nature.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for combating white minority rule in South Africa.
Apart from Nobel Prize, he was honoured by the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. He also received an award from the MO Ibrahim Foundation in-recognition of his lifelong commitment to ‘speaking truth to power’, in 2012. He was honoured with the Templeton Prize in 2013 and in 2015, Prince Harry of Britain presented Tutu with an honour on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II.
Aquamation, also known as alkaline hydrolysis, water cremation, green cremation or chemical cremation, is a process in which the body of the deceased is immersed for a few hours in a mixture of water and a strong alkali in a pressurised metal cylinder and heated to around 150 °C.
The combination of gentle water flow, temperature and alkalinity accentuate the breakdown of the organic materials.
In this process, bone fragments and a neutral liquid called effluent are left behind. The decomposition is the same as that which occurs during burial, just sped up dramatically by the chemicals. No tissue and DNA are left after the process completes.
The first commercial system was installed at Albany Medical College in 1993. Thereafter, the process continued to be in use by hospitals and universities with donated body programmes. And in 2011, the process was used in the funeral industry, at two funeral homes in Ohio and Florida.
As per UK-based firm Resomation, this process uses energy which is five times less than fire and reduces by about 35 per cent the amount of greenhouse gases that are emitted during cremation.
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