Richard Goldstone on the Word UBUNTU
Richard J. Goldstone is a justice of the
Constitutional Court of South Africa, which has been trusted with the
task of interpreting the new South African Constitution and supervising
the country's transition into democracy. He is a member of the
international panel established in August 1997 by the government of
Argentina to monitor the inquiry into Nazi activity in the republic
since 1938. Goldstone is also chairperson of the International
Independent Inquiry on Kosovo established in 1999; national president
of the National Institute of Crime Prevention and the Rehabilitation of
Offenders (NICRO); chairperson of the Bradlow Foundation, a charitable
educational trust; and head of the board of the Human Rights Institute
of South Africa (HURISA).
Before taking a seat on the Constitutional Court of South Africa, Goldstone served as chairperson of the Standing Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation-later known as the Goldstone Commission. The Commission played a critical role in defusing the political violence that erupted when apartheid in South Africa began eroding in the late 1980s as the country moved toward its first democratic elections. From 1994 to 1996, Goldstone served as the chief prosecutor of the United Nations International War Crimes Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
In this clip from a talk he gave for Facing History, entitled "For Humanity, Reflections of a War Crimes Investigator," Justice Goldstone discusses the word, ubuntu.
Before taking a seat on the Constitutional Court of South Africa, Goldstone served as chairperson of the Standing Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation-later known as the Goldstone Commission. The Commission played a critical role in defusing the political violence that erupted when apartheid in South Africa began eroding in the late 1980s as the country moved toward its first democratic elections. From 1994 to 1996, Goldstone served as the chief prosecutor of the United Nations International War Crimes Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
In this clip from a talk he gave for Facing History, entitled "For Humanity, Reflections of a War Crimes Investigator," Justice Goldstone discusses the word, ubuntu.
Transcript:
"An African word in South Africa, ubuntu
- it's been referred to not only in the context of the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission but in many other ways. In fact you find it
referred to in the opening words of our constitution.
Ubuntu is really an African custom of peoplehood; that people don't exist save through other people; that there has to be a relationship between people to make people whole. It really is I suppose an African--it's slightly more complex a concept than reconciliation and tolerance, but it includes both of those things. And the Truth and Reconciliation idea is very compatible with that--that in order to forgive, people must know. There has to be acknowledgment, there has to be openness, and that was really the idea of ubuntu."
Ubuntu is really an African custom of peoplehood; that people don't exist save through other people; that there has to be a relationship between people to make people whole. It really is I suppose an African--it's slightly more complex a concept than reconciliation and tolerance, but it includes both of those things. And the Truth and Reconciliation idea is very compatible with that--that in order to forgive, people must know. There has to be acknowledgment, there has to be openness, and that was really the idea of ubuntu."
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Video length:
01 min 05 sec
Date filmed:
Jan 23 2001 
