Desmond Tutu was a giant for justice and his legacy lives on
Joe Murray, the Coordinator of Afri, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu who was one of the greatest to devote their lives to promoting justice, peace, human rights and care for the planet.
In my work with Afri over more than 40 years, I have been privileged to meet some extraordinary people – people who decided to devote their lives to promoting justice, peace, human rights and care for the planet, often at great personal risk. Archbishop Desmond Tutu was one of the greatest.
In 1982, as an outspoken critic of apartheid, Afri invited him to speak at an international conference in Dublin’s north inner city. But fearful of the power of his words, the apartheid regime in South Africa refused to allow him to travel.
However, when the ban on his travel was lifted, he took up the invitation and spoke to a packed audience in Dublin’s Sean Mac Dermott St Church in 1984. His words were powerful and persuasive and his ability to dismantle the flimsy justification for institutional racism so strong, that it was easy to understand why the regime would try to silence him.
Later that year, the Dunne’s Stores anti-apartheid strike began when Mary Manning and her colleagues refused to handle ‘the fruits of apartheid’. Desmond Tutu was unstinting in his admiration for the strikers and, at Afri’s invitation, agreed to meet them in London on his way to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
This, and his invitation to the strikers to visit South Africa and the subsequent refusal of the authorities to allow them to enter the country, brought the strike to an international audience. It ensured that the strike became recognised as one of the greatest acts of international solidarity ever emanating from Ireland.
In 1991, Desmond and his wife Leah again accepted an invitation to Ireland to lead Afri’s annual Famine Walk in Doolough, County Mayo. He instinctively understood what the Famine Walk represented – a linking of An Gorta Mór (the ‘Great Hunger’ of the 1840s) with similar injustices in the world today.
The walk took place in April that year, and the weather was rough, with rain and relentless strong winds. But he stepped out undeterred and brought his wisdom, insight and great sense of humour to the occasion. In 1994, my colleague Don Mullan and I would leave directly from that year’s Famine Walk to attend the inauguration of Nelson Mandela in a free South Africa.
Desmond Tutu saw human rights as indivisible – as necessary in apartheid South Africa as in Palestine (he firmly opposed the Israeli occupation), in the Niger Delta as in Ireland. And so when local farmer Willie Corduff was brutally assaulted in Mayo in 2009 while protesting against Shell’s gas pipeline, he issued an urgent appeal for a thorough and independent investigation – an appeal which was unfortunately ignored by the Irish Government.
Desmond Tutu was also a wonderfully warm, loving, energetic and happy human being. His book of joy, written with the Dalai Lama, is a classic and was a source of immense comfort to me when I spent a month in hospital in 2018. I have fond memories of, during his first visit to Ireland, accompanying him to a pub where he wanted to have a pint of stout.
I remember, especially, the disbelief of one young man, who was about to go overseas as an aid worker. We noticed him staring over at our table and eventually he walked over to us saying, "I cannot believe this, I go out for a drink on a Saturday night and I meet my all-time hero from the other end of the world in the very same pub".
During his last visit, my wife Mary Lou organised tickets for him at Croke Park to see the Leinster football final between Dublin and Meath. He got totally involved in the game – even to the point of wearing a Dubs jersey. At one stage, he suggested that Dublin might lose, to which my colleague Maria replied ‘oh you of little faith’ before realising that this might not be the most appropriate response! In truth, faith was the last thing he lacked.
A shining light has gone out with Desmond Tutu’s passing. But his legacy will live on, and we in Afri will endeavour to continue his work of promoting peace and human rights, opposing war and caring for our planet.
Many images and memories are triggered by news of his death – the courage and tenacity of the people of South Africa in overcoming apartheid; the courage of so many people fighting injustice and oppression in Ireland and around the world; and his impassioned speech at our 30th-anniversary event in which he called on Ireland to become a leader in promoting peace in the world.
It is for this reason that we are particularly disturbed about the recent decision by the Irish government that Ireland is to become a weapons producer, something that flies in the face of Desmond Tutu’s message of peace.
Desmond Tutu was a beacon of hope and the personification of compassion and joy. I was privileged to have known him and was inspired every time I met him. I am honoured to have walked even a small part of the road with him. Ar dhéis Dé go raibh ar a anam dilis.
- Joe Murray is the Coordinator of Afri – an independent peace and justice organisation. Afri is hosting an online memorial event this Thursday, January 30th at 8pm. Register at A celebration of the life of Desmond Tutu
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