Archbishop Desmond Tutu
April 4, 2009
Queen shows Silvio Berlusconi how to be a head of state at London summit
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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (3rd R) poses with the Queen and G20 leaders here with the id "dynamic-image-navigation" is used so that the innerHTML can be written to by the JS call below. -->
Commentary: Alan Hamilton
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Some people have no manners. As the heads of government rose from their group photo in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace, flushed with their host's hospitality and good humour, the Italian Prime Minister bellowed from the rear: “Mr Obamaaaa! This is Mr Berlusconi!”
The Queen, who is rarely given to public irritation, turned round with a momentary look of Hanoverian frost. “What is it? Why does he have to shout?” she said to no one in particular. Probably, Ma'am, because he is an Italian.
Our own First Lady is far too well brought up to raise her voice in public. After 57 years in the job she has learnt how to offset the grandeur of her inherited office with an easy informality.
Recognised throughout the world, even by people on far-flung streets who have little idea where she is Queen of, she is our diplomatic Weapon of Mass Instruction in how to be a head of state. Her status and the oh-so-smooth machinery which supports her are unrivalled in the world of international hospitality. By holding a world summit in London you can paint it with a gloss that is not available in other capitals, and which racks up the media coverage that can only be good for the British image. Being seen enjoying drinks and tiny canapés with the Queen in Buckingham Palace is publicity beyond price.
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Simply by inviting the world leaders round to a reception, and simply by being her natural self, the Queen ensured this week that she was the shining star of the G20, even if she stood many diplomatic yards apart from its deliberations. The Italians know that the Queen is the epitome of dignified diplomacy.
Mr Berlusconi has been roundly rebuked by his own opposition politicians and his domestic press for his brief outburst. One Rome cartoon this week showed the Queen, handbag on arm, with her fingers in her ears. Even his own people know that their Prime Minister just doesn't have the breeding.
Unlike Mr Berlusconi, the Obamas understand these things well. The President, who appears to be a man of no small civility himself, said while in London this week that one of the things that he liked best about Britain was the civility and decency of the Queen.
Honeyed and envious words, perhaps, from one still breathless from the race for office. But the sight of two First Ladies, one getting on for twice the height of the other, clasping each other's waists in a physical demolition of all protocol, radiated a wave of genuine warmth.
It didn't happen with George W. Bush. After his first visit to the Palace, during which he kept his hands firmly to himself, he merely described the Queen as “kinda cute”.
Then, in welcoming her to Washington on the White House lawn much more recently, he misread his script and said: “When you were here in 1776 ...”
Sorry, George, but you were lucky that she has an excellent sense of humour, batting the gaffe back to him in a speech the next day.
In touching the Royal Person, Mrs Obama got away with what others have not. During a 1992 visit to her realm of Australia, the Prime Minister of the day, Paul Keating, extended an arm in the direction of the royal posterior to guide it through a crowd. The most frightful opprobrium was heaped upon the hapless Keating.
Walter Bagehot, the Victorian commentator on monarchy, advised that you should not let too much daylight fall on magic. Bright light inside Buckingham Palace would reveal that its furnishings and fabric are getting a little frayed, and that it is nowhere near as grand as Versailles or the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. But they are the desiccated homes of dead monarchies; ours, after the best part of a millennium, is still up and running, which is largely why it still draws curiosity and respect, especially from nations that have toppled their thrones.
And, of course, it still has the Duke of Edinburgh. When President Obama told him at the reception that he had already met Gordon Brown, the Chinese, the Russians and David Cameron, and had managed to stay awake throughout, the Duke asked him quizzically: “Can you tell the difference between them?”
With a wave of his hand and a copious smile, Mr Obama replied: “It's all a blur.” The Duke can certainly tell the difference. As the world leaders lined up to shake his hand, an aide whispered in his ear: “Japan, Canada, Brazil ...” until it came the turn of Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India. “Russia,” the aide muttered, having lost his place in his notes. The Duke turned to him sharply: “Even I can see he's not Russian.”
Good on you, Phil; you're a national treasure. If we'd had that sort of banter at the courts of the Sun King or the Tsar of All The Russias, they might still be living at this hour.'
I have recently been re-aquainted with the progressive book: Sex, Love & Homophobia www.amazon.co.uk/Sex-Love-Homophobia-Bisexual-Transgender/dp/1873328575
From www.afrol.com/articles/13584 'Desmond Tutu: "Homophobia equals apartheid"
Archbishop Desmond Tutu: «We treat them as pariahs.»
© Graeme Williams / Tutu Trust / afrol Newsafrol News, 7 July - Desmond Tutu, the former Archbishop of Cape Town and a Nobel Peace Price winner, has lent his name to the fight against homophobia in Africa and around the world. The prominent South African says homophobia is a "crime against humanity" and "every bit unjust" as apartheid.
The former head of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa made these statements at the launching of the book "Sex, Love & Homophobia", published last week by Amnesty International UK. Mr Tutu has written the foreword to the human rights group's book.- We struggled against apartheid in South Africa, supported by people the world over, because black people were being blamed and made to suffer for something we could do nothing about; our very skins, wrote the prominent Church leader. "It is the same with sexual orientation. It is a given," he added. Mr Tutu says he could not have fought against the discrimination of apartheid and not also fight against the discrimination which homosexuals endure. "And I am proud that in South Africa, when we won the chance to build our own new constitution, the human rights of all have been explicitly enshrined in our laws," he said, adding that he hoped this soon would also be the case in other countries. South Africa is so far the only country in the world where the constitution guarantees equal rights non-regarding sexual orientation. This is in stark contrast to most of South Africa's neighbour countries, where homosexulality often is punished by the penal code. Only recenty, a Botswana High Court ruling reaffirmed this legal practice.- Yet, all over the world, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are persecuted, writes Archbishop Tutu. "We treat them as pariahs and push them outside our communities. We make them doubt that they too are children of God - and this must be nearly the ultimate blasphemy. We blame them for what they are," he adds.He also regrets the dominant view among his church colleagues. "Churches say that the expression of love in a heterosexual monogamous relationship includes the physical, the touching, embracing, kissing, the genital act - the totality of our love makes each of us grow to become increasingly godlike and compassionate. If this is so for the heterosexual, what earthly reason have we to say that it is not the case with the homosexual?" Mr Tutu asks. Also within the Anglican Church, homosexuality is highly controversial and an ongoing conflict has threatened to split the global Anglican Communion. The current head of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa, Njongonkulu Ndungane, has been an outspoken supporter of including homosexuals in the Church community, putting himself in a strong-worded conflict with other African Church leaders. In its new book, Amnesty reports on the life stories of gay and lesbian people around the world. These include Poliyana Mangwiro who was a leading member of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe despite President Robert Mugabe's protestations that homosexuality is "against African traditions". The book also includes the story of Simon Nkoli, a South African ANC activist who after spending four years in prison under apartheid went on to be the face of the struggle for gay rights in the new South Africa. Further, stories of hate, fear and persecution are reported from Nigeria, Egypt and other countries, in addition to reports from the states where homosexuality punishable by death; including Sudan, Mauritania and some Northern Nigerian states. For Archishop Tutu, these "destructive forces" of "hatred and prejudice" are an evil. "A parent who brings up a child to be a racist damages that child, damages the community in which they live, damages our hopes for a better world. A parent who teaches a child that there is only one sexual orientation and that anything else is evil denies our humanity and their own too," Mr Tutu concludes. '
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