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Musical introduction: Luzmila Carpio (Bolivia) 

Speakers: Faouzi Skali (moderator), Jack Lang, Bariza Khiari, Patrick Viveret; Katherine Marshall (challenger)

The journey of mythological birds, the heart of Friday’s opening spectacle, translated Saturday morning into a spirited dialogue between Bolivian singer Luzmila Carpio and a different flock of birds, real and diverse, at the Baatha Museum, beneath the ancient Barbary oak. Thus the 2014 Fes Forum opened, part of a series launched in 2001 to translate the inspiration of music and art into dialogue, in a search for solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges. Our aim, Faouzi Skali stressed, is to broaden thinking that is constructive, generous, and real. 

The central themes of the first day were leadership and inspiration, centered on the remarkable story of Nelson Mandela. Jack Lang, former minister, cultural leader, and author of a book on Mandela, traced Mandela’s remarkable journey and his struggle against apartheid and for human rights. Lang focused on how France became engaged in the struggle on South Africa, in part because Archbishop Desmond Tutu made the case forcefully; he then evoked the heady year 1989 with its worldwide uprising and change, and the winds of liberation. 

So what is Mandela’s legacy? Lang returned often to his courage and his decision not to seek revenge but instead to work for a nation where people of all kinds could live together. He translated the principles of non-violence into action. He was a man who defined his principles early in life. As he famously said at his Rivonia trial, he pledged to live by those principles, but also was prepared to die for them. He kept his word. He was thus able to bring together very different factions in his country. Lang also stressed that Mandela was a man of law, a lawyer who believed in justice. And he was inspired by his faith. It was not something Mandela stressed often but he stated clearly that without faith he could not have done what he did. 

Lang lingered on the theme of non-violence and what it meant, as seen through Mandela’s example. It meant setting limits: violence against objects, yes; against people, no. It meant above all managing the savagery that exists within oneself. Thus Mandela through his life underlined key lessons for politics and politicians, a quest for a nobility that goes far beyond the petty squabbles and corruption that seem to dominate today. He was willing to address the difficult issues his country faced with honesty and principle, whether it was HIV and AIDS or the painful legacies of apartheid. Mandela’s example shows that nobility and principle in politics are possible. 

Faouzi Skali epitomized these qualities of Mandela as those of a spiritual knight—chevalier de la spiritualite, an example of what a person can achieve through force of personality. 

Bariza Khiari, also a politician as well as a lawyer and supporter of culture, took Mandela’s lessons still further, navigating between an image of a mythical figure and the real politician and man that he was. She drew parallels between the inspirational life of Abd el Kader, and his role in the nineteenth century, and that of Mandela in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Both inspired through their personal example and courage. Both lived by a spirituality that was more lived than spoken. They inspired because they were men of their word, who kept promises and whose actions matched their words and their principles. The principles of non-violence, truth, and respect were at the heart of what they meant for human rights. 

Bariza Khiari noted the vital role of suffering in the life of both Mandela and Abd el Kader. The experience of prison shaped them. But it did not radicalize, as it might have. They took from it a respect for humanity but above all a life long emphasis on forgiveness. Forgiveness allows renewal; it allows a person to be free, liberated. This was the foundation for truth and reconciliation in South Africa, a process inspired with the values of justice and forgiveness. A core of the inspiration of both men is that they did not harbor revenge or resentment but learned from their experience to build and respect. They liberated both the oppressor and the oppressed, free of hate. They were truly chevaliers of faith. 

Patrick Viveret took the theme of Mandela into the real politics of our time, tracing lessons from his life into the politics we need today. He returned repeatedly to the themes of ethics and the coherence of different parts of Mandela’s life. 

Apartheid, Viveret stressed, goes far beyond racial segregation. We see it in the outrageous economic inequality of our times, where the earnings of 80 people equal those of 3.5 billion. The resistance that Mandela exemplified is needed against the machine of capitalism. 

Viveret explored the question of violence, stressing that it is different from conflict. Violence means seeking the elimination of opponents, while conflict is about transforming systems, in part by making enemies into friends. 

He also stressed the interior nature of struggle: evil is not outside, but is part of us. The interior barbarism is what threatens humanity. Wise leaders from Plato on have understood this. That is part of the logic of dialogue. Viveret called for action, for the fundamental energy needed to move to a world where we can live together. We need to be like Mandela, full of energy but in love with life. 

In an exchange with Bariza, the word resistance, instead of violence, emerged as a central ideal and theme for the discussion. 

Katherine Marshall, as challenger, found little to challenge in the inspiring example and legacy of Mandela, observing that Mandela’s impact underlines the historic debates over the roles that personalities play in history, versus social forces and the chance accidents that shape events. He stands as an example of what an individual can indeed achieve. 

She then set the discussion in the context of the Forum’s history and goals. The discussion that launched the 2014 Forum echoed the 2013 discussions about how our global goals are shaped, a tension between raw prosperity and the more important quest for for happiness and meaning. The themes of violence are evoked in a 2014 context where violent conflict around the world, much with a religious character, shakes our foundations, a sharp contrast to the peace and conviviality that is the ambience of Fes. Mandela’s struggle and resistance remind us that poverty and inequality are inescapable problems and addressing them is essential to countering violence. And human rights and values are the essence of the Forum’s theme of injecting soul and spirit into the dynamic of globalization. 

There was lively exchange with the audience. The political direction of France today was a central theme, and, more generally, reflections and some agonizing as to how to move politics and politicians in more positive directions. Likewise the meaning of language was explored, in both practical and spiritual directions. We live by words and their nuance is important. We were reminded that Mandela was a man, with a complex personality, that mythologizing him does him little credit. The importance of culture and spirituality were evoked as a core element in Mandela’s legacy. The forum thus opened with a rich menu of challenges and ideas.