Global elders
Elder statesmen: (from left) Peter Gabriel, Muhammad Yunus, Mary Robinson, Kofi Annan, Graca Machel, Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Li Zhaoxing, Desmond Tutu and Richard Branson
In tribal villages it is the elders to whom the people turn in times of crisis. Could a group of universally respected figures bring those same qualities of leadership and wisdom to bear on the global village? Just such an initiative has been launched by Nelson Mandela. In an exclusive report, Mick Brown charts the development of the Global Elders
On a cool South African autumn day in May, an extraordinary group of people assembled around a table in the great room at Ulusaba, the private game reserve owned by Sir Richard Branson. Among them were Nelson Mandela and his wife Graca Machel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the former American president Jimmy Carter, and the former president of Ireland and chair of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, Mary Robinson.
This was the first gathering of the Global Elders – the initiative created by Mandela, and formally announced by him in Johannesburg this week.
Ulusaba is one of the most luxurious private game reserves in Africa. Set in 13,500 hectares on the edge of the Kruger National Park, it was opened by Branson in 1989. Guests normally pay up to £1,000 a night to stay there, but for five days the lodge was closed to business as the gathering deliberated on what the Elders might achieve, and how they should present themselves to the world. Around the table, the core group and a circle of advisers including the Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, the English parliamentarian Tony Benn and CS Kiang, founder of the College of Environmental Studies at Beijing University, listened to briefings from analysts and experts on a range of topics from Darfur to nuclear proliferation.
On one evening, as the gathering dined outside on the terrace, bandaged against the autumnal chill in borrowed fleeces and ponchos, they were addressed on the situation in Gaza by Yasser Abd Rabbo, a member of the PLO’s executive committee, widely recognised as a Palestinian 'dove’, and the Israeli peace activist and former justice minister Yossi Beilin, both instrumental in the Geneva Peace Accord. On another, they were entertained by a spontaneous performance by the musician Peter Gabriel, singing his composition, Biko, about the ANC activist Steve Biko, whose murder in police custody in 1977 made him a martyr of the anti-apartheid movement.
As well as those gathered around the table in May, the group that Nelson Mandela announced this week will also comprise the former Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan; Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi economist and so-called 'banker to the poor’, who devised the idea of microcredit – the extension of small loans to people too poor to qualify for bank loans; Li Zhaoxing, the former Foreign Minister of China; Ela Bhatt, the Indian women’s activist and founder of SEWA, the Self Employed Women’s Association; and Gro Harlen Bruntland, the former prime minister of Norway and director of the World Health Organisation. Five of the group are Nobel Peace laureates.
Two more names will be added in the coming months to bring the total to 12. And an invitation has also been extended to Aung San Suu Kyi, the democratically elected leader of Burma, who has spent much of the past 18 years detained under house arrest by the military junta that governs the country; a chair will be kept empty at all Elders meetings until such time as she is able to occupy it.
So what exactly are the Global Elders? A self-elected 'dream team’ for putative world government? An alternative to an increasingly divisive and moribund United Nations? The mission statement that accompanied this week’s announcement couches their objectives in deliberately moderate language. 'The Elders,’ it states, 'are coming together to contribute wisdom, independent leadership and moral courage to tackle some of the world’s most serious problems.’ It is said that they will seek to use their influence and experience to 'persuade and facilitate’ action on a broad range of issues, making themselves available to act as 'honest brokers’ in conflict resolution, serving as a 'megaphone’ to amplify the volume on crisis situations such as diminishing natural resources, Aids and malaria, and act as an independent voice of reason and wisdom on the shoulder of governments and other organisations.
What they will not do is execute on-the-ground programmes, or duplicate work being performed by the UN and other organisations. They will have no legislative or political power, no armies at their disposal, and no billion-dollar budgets. In short, they will be a test of how effective the weapons of wisdom, independence and moral authority can be to leverage global change.
For Branson and Gabriel, the gathering at Ulusuba held a particular sweetness – the culmination of a dream they have been nurturing for the past eight years. The pair have been good friends for many years, but it was in 1999 when they first began to talk in theoretical terms about how the tradition in indigenous cultures of tribal elders serving as the repository of wisdom, judgement and long-term thinking might be applied in the global village. The premise that Branson and Gabriel thrashed out was deceptively simple – there are any number of organisations and institutions, from the UN down, dedicated to solving the world’s myriad problems, but there is no single group that is totally independent, deriving its authority not from political, economic, military or religious power but from wisdom and experience. What might such a group achieve?
Each saw the possibilities in a different way. Branson envisaged a group of globally respected individuals who could use their influence to mobilise resources to combat the pandemics of Aids or malaria, and to prevent and resolve global conflicts. 'A group of Elders might be able to look at situations slightly differently than the United Nations does, or individual governments with their own vested interests do,’ he says. 'I know as a businessman that sometimes if you think you’re slightly ahead of the game, you become wedded to your position, and you may need someone to come in and help you save face in a climb-down position. There are occasions where both sides have got themselves into an impossible situation and it requires a completely disinterested party to see how they can extricate themselves from that.’
Gabriel saw it rather differently. A long-time supporter of human rights causes, he founded Witness, a grassroots organisation that puts cameras and video equipment into the hands of ordinary people to record human rights abuses around the world – a 'YouTube for human rights’, as he puts it. He envisaged a globally elected council of the wise, using the internet and mobile-phone technology to respond to grassroots problems in a way governments are unable to do. Both agreed only one man could ever bring such a project to fruition: Nelson Mandela.
'To me, and I think most others, there is nobody who epitomises a universally acclaimed moral authority more than Nelson Mandela,’ Branson says. 'Here was somebody who by rights ought to have been consumed by bitterness after years in prison, but he forgave his captors and welcomed them into government; he prevented a whole nation going down the precipice into conflagration. He’s a wonderful example to everyone.’ Through his philanthropic interests in South Africa, Branson had come to know Mandela well.
In autumn 2001, he was entertaining Mandela at his Holland Park home. Gabriel joined them, and over lunch he and Branson gently floated their idea of the Elders. Mandela’s response was guarded: the UN, he said, might look askance at a self-elected group presuming to step on their territory. But he could see the value of the idea. He remembered how in his mediations between the Tutsis and the Hutus both sides had said it was as if they were talking to a father advising them, rather than to someone with an agenda of his own. 'I think the success of that made Mandela see how 12 figures such as himself could be 12 times as powerful in certain situations,’ Branson says. Mandela told them he would give the idea serious thought.
Branson says he has never been interested in running for political or public office, but nor has he been shy of using his influence and resources in the service of causes he believes in. In 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait leading to the first Gulf War, at the request of his friend the late King Hussein of Jordan, Branson used Virgin aircraft to airlift supplies to refugees fleeing into Jordan and later mounted a mercy flight to bring home British citizens held hostage by Saddam Hussein.
In recent years, his growing friendships with Mandela, Bill Clinton and Al Gore have encouraged him to deepen his interest in the possibilities of what he describes as socially responsible entrepreneurialism. Last year he pledged to commit all the profits from his transportation businesses over the next 10 years – estimated at $3 billion – to Clinton’s global initiative to develop clean fuels. He has also offered a prize of $25 million of his own money to anyone who can devise a way of taking damaging carbon emissions from the atmosphere.
Branson has never been afraid to think big, or been deflected by obstacles others might regard as insurmountable. But nothing rivals in audacity his attempt unilaterally to avert the Gulf War in 2003. As America was preparing to invade Iraq, Branson, through intermediaries, explored the possibility of Saddam Hussein being assured of safe haven in Libya. He then approached Mandela asking if he would be prepared to fly to Iraq to persuade Saddam to step down. Mandela said he would if Kofi Annan, then Secretary General of the United Nations, and South Africa’s President Tabo Mbeki agreed to the plan. Branson sought, and was given, both their blessings. But before Mandela could board a private plane to fly from Johannesburg to Baghdad, America invaded. 'It may have come to nothing anyway,’ Branson says, 'but it was an example of a universally respected, individual elder, working outside the conventional political process, who might have made a difference.’
A few months later, in November 2003, Branson and Gabriel were both in South Africa for an all-star concert to launch Mandela’s 46664 Aids charity [46664 was Mandela’s prisoner number on Robben Island] which they had organised with the musician Dave Stewart. Afterwards, at Mandela’s home, they again broached the idea of a council of global Elders, asking whether Mandela and his wife Graca Machel would lead such a project and become the founding Elders. Warming to the idea, Mandela asked Branson to research the logistical feasibilities.
Branson now set up a team, led by Jean Oelwang, the chief executive of Virgin Unite, the independent charitable arm of the Virgin Group, with the objective of defining what a council of Elders would look like, what it might do and, as Oelwang says, 'bringing together the collective wisdom of some of the world’s most remarkable leaders with no other agenda but that of humanity.’
The first question was the most difficult: who should the Elders be? The number of figures who command not only universal recognition but universal respect can be counted on the fingers of one hand. How do you arrive at a group of 12 – the number had been decided by an unspoken consensus – that would equitably represent gender, ethnicity and cultural pluralism?
Mandela had already outlined a handful of names that he would like to join him; to research further candidates, Oelwang recruited Scilla Elworthy. She is the founder of the Oxford Research Group, which she established in 1982 to study global security issues and develop dialogue between nuclear-weapons policy makers and their critics. She is also the founder of Peace Direct, a grassroots organisation devoted to developing conflict resolution skills, and has herself been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Over the next 18 months, Elworthy consulted government figures, diplomats, civic leaders and Nobel Peace Prize winners throughout the world, assembling a long-list of individuals for consideration as possible Elders. At this point it was felt expedient to reveal as little of the project as possible. In her canvassing of names, Elworthy referred to the project simply as an initiative to influence decision-making on global issues.
'We felt we shouldn’t use Nelson Mandela’s name – we didn’t want it to get into the press in the wrong way. We simply said this was going to be something at the highest level, led by absolutely impeccable names with global moral authority. And it wasn’t going to be just a talking shop; it was going to be about direct action.’ 0
Through a process of discussion and elimination, a set of criteria began to emerge for prospective Elders. The first, and most important, was that they should not be currently involved in politics; they should have no personal agenda, vested interest or bias. They should have earned international trust, demonstrated outstanding integrity and built a reputation for non-coercive leadership.
'It was important to find people who had displayed moral courage,’ Elworthy says. 'In other words, they had been in some situation that had demanded them to stand up against oppressive forces, dictatorship or whatever.’ Aung San Suu Kyi is an outstanding example, she says.
'Secondly, they should have made a real difference to very large numbers of people in some way that had dramatically changed their lives.’ Muhammad Yunus was a good example. 'Here is somebody who has devised a replicable and massively important technique for lifting people out of poverty, surmounted all the difficulties and actually made it work,’ Elworthy says.
'Another criterion is the demonstration that they can move beyond their own fear in a significant way. Nelson Mandela would be the obvious example there, having put up with 27 years of incarceration and facing fear daily in the early days. Then there’s the ability to listen, which everybody involved in this considers terribly important. And the last thing was the realisation that all the truly great people have a sense of humour. Archbishop Tutu absolutely epitomises that. It wasn’t a criterion, but it emerged as a common characteristic.’
By the end of the process, Elworthy had drawn up a biographical databank of more than 300 people – human rights activists, scientists, economists, philosophers, spiritual and tribal leaders, social visionaries, specialists in health care, education and environmental issues – drawn from almost every corner and culture of the world. In time, this would be filtered down yet further to just 30 names, including a clutch of former presidents and prime ministers, an internationally acclaimed author and four renowned religious and spiritual leaders. Six of the 30 were Nobel Peace Prize winners.
In August 2006 a remarkable assortment of individuals gathered on Necker Island, Richard Branson’s private retreat in the Virgin Isles, to brainstorm the Elders concept. They included leading figures from the world of internet technology – Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia; Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google; Steve Case, the chairman of AOL – representatives of global think tanks and philanthropic trusts. Also present were Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whom Mandela had already indicated he would like to see as chairman of the Elders, and ex-president Jimmy Carter – a key name on Mandela’s list.
Over the course of several days, in meetings conducted around the dining-table in Branson’s home, and more informally on blankets and chairs on the beach, the participants roamed far and wide over what the Elders should be doing and, more importantly, what they could realistically achieve that other organisations – notably the UN – could not. Should they be seeking to make personal interventions in crisis management and conflict resolution? Should they function as a sophisticated global intelligence resource, a repository of expertise and intelligence for tackling global pandemics?
Should they be seeking to make personal interventions in crisis management and conflict resolution? Should they function as a sophisticated global intelligence resource, a repository of expertise and intelligence for tackling global pandemics?
An advocacy group drawing attention to problems overlooked by the world’s governments and media, with an unrivalled capacity to focus global attention on a problem and project whatever message they chose? Archbishop Tutu stressed that he would see one of the fundamental roles of the group to act as a living example of the truth that 'human beings are made for goodness’. It is not the militarily powerful or even the economically prosperous that are held in univerally high regard, he said, but the peacemakers and the humanitarians, 'the ones who make people feel good about being human’.
'In South Africa we speak of Ubuntu, meaning we are not in isolation: I need you in order to be me… we exist in a delicate network of interdependence. And a part of what the Elders ought to be seeking to do is reminding people that you are fundamentally good, and that the aberrations are the bad. Why we are appalled by what is happening in Darfur, in Burma, or Zimbabwe is precisely because we are saying, “That’s not the norm.” One of the hopes for the world is precisely the fact that people are outraged by such ghastliness.’
Jimmy Carter had agreed to come to Necker purely in an exploratory capacity, reluctant to commit himself to the idea of the Elders. Addressing the group on the first day, he expressed his reservations, talking of the disparity between 'a dream of peace, love and sharing and caring’ and an organisation that could deliver the practical solutions to problems – 'the mundane thing of building a latrine, or putting a tablet in someone’s mouth, or putting up a [mosquito] screen. Bridging that wide chasm between dreams and practicalities, 'takes money and organisation,’ Carter pointed out.
But as the discussions went on, so his enthusiasm began to grow. If the Elders could evolve into a stature of global acceptance and respect, he said, it would be very difficult for others to reject their influence; their independence, lack of any agenda, and their global reputations as honest brokers would give them entree with individuals that might be denied to other organisations, and even governments, enabling them to exert influence in a way that even the UN could not do. What leader could resist an invitation to meet such a group?
'Even in the most controversial issues, the Elders could make themselves felt. Even though people on both sides may say they don’t want interference.’ The Elders, Carter suggested, might function as a first court of appeal in conflict resolution, 'a place where people can say as a first response, why don’t I go to the Elders to help prevent this war?’
Their unique position, he went on, would also mean they would be free to speak with 'pariahs' – the 'unsavoury leaders' who may be the real cause of the problem but are never included in the discussion of the solution. 'This group would have the collective stature to overcome the stigma of dealing with people whom the world may be condemning.'
But the potential for the group, he said, was limitless. 'We’re talking about alleviating suffering in the third world, women’s rights, the protection of human rights, dealing with diseases, the environment. I think the last thing this group wants to do is put any kind of limit on what they might address.’ After three days of meetings, Carter’s scepticism had given way to commitment. He left Necker indicating that if he were invited to become an Elder he would accept. The Elders, he said, could be 'the conscience to the world’.
For Peter Gabriel, one of the most exciting things about the Elders initiative is the opportunity presented by new technology for what he describes as 'user-generated politics’ to bypass the obstacles that exist in conventional political processes.
'All of the Elders individually have said that one of the main roles they would like to take is to listen,’ Gabriel says. 'And if we can provide a bridge between people at the bottom and those, if you like, in the clouds at the top that have the influence to do something, then the potential is enormous. If the right is open to everybody, whether they’re in Darfur or Iran or wherever, to have their stories told in an environment where they can be drawn to the attention of the Elders, then you have the possibility to tickle existing political systems in ways that could only help encourage change. It’s crazy to get too ambitious about what the Elders might achieve; but I think a phone call from that group would be very hard to ignore if you’re a world leader.’
The Elders will not be in the business of executing on-the-ground programmes; but in time, Gabriel says, the Elders’ website will create a global community, providing a platform for humanitarian projects, highlighting technological innovation and fostering on-line skills mentoring. 'We have this amazing resource of the retired community – our own elders – which is so untapped; we push them into homes or off to the seaside, and they have a lifetime of experience to use. In sub-Saharan Africa alone there are 12 million children without parents because of Aids who could connect with mentors one-on-one through the internet. This kind of revolution could all be harvested under the Elders’ auspices, and that is so exciting.’
It is anticipated that the Elders will meet at least twice a year at various locations throughout the world, while remaining in regular contact through video conferencing. 'We want this to be perceived very much as a global body, not linked to one continent’, Jean Oelwang says. They will receive no remuneration, but an extensive support structure is being put in place to facilitate their work, including an 'intelligence network’ of advisers who will be available to provide expert counsel and feedback on whatever issues the Elders choose to tackle, as and when required. A chief executive will be appointed in the next few months.
The initiative is being funded by a group of founders. As well as Branson and Gabriel, who are committing their own money to the project, these include the UN Foundation, which was created in 1998 by Ted Turner with a $1 billion bequest to support UN causes and activities; Humanity United, a philanthropic organisation started by the eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam; and the American businessman and philanthropist Raymond Chambers, the founder of Malaria No More and Millennium Promise. Oelwang estimates that funding over the next three years will be in the region of $20 million.
For Kathy Calvin, the executive vice-president and chief operating officer of the UN Foundation, the attraction of the Elders project as a funder lies in its potential to tackle intractable problems, especially where major global institutions can’t do so alone. 'It’s become increasingly clear over the last few years that multilateral institutions are essential but often limited by their multiple constituencies,’ she says.
'I think people really feel that politics is blocking our ability to solve big problems. So it’s a time when a different approach and methodology could come into play. In a way it’s kind of old-fashioned. It’s relying on relationships and moral standing and one-to-one quiet negotiation – it’s everything that is increasingly difficult to achieve on the world stage. Here are people who have no other agenda than to point out what is the right thing to do. Now it’s a big question whether that can be effective, but why wouldn’t you at least want to try? I also think that in this world of YouTube and the internet, the idea of a group of wise people and leaders who are listeners as well as talkers, and who would give voice to people who are never otherwise heard, is also very powerful.’
What is most compelling of all, Calvin says, is that the initiative is led by Nelson Mandela 'The notion that he has one last gift to the world, and that he would pull together the people he has in this way, is very inspiring. He has demonstrated a kind of leadership that is based on listening and consensus which can engage the next generation as well.’
Mandela is now 89 and in fragile health, yet he carries with him an air of palpable magnetism and authority – that rare and deeply affecting combination of greatness and humility. At the Ulusaba gathering he was last to take his place at the table. Word had spread of his coming. A crowd of local villagers, and every member of staff of the lodge, had gathered at the gate to greet him, his arrival heralded by the sound of ululations and praise-songs. As he made his way slowly into the room, leaning on Branson’s arm for support, the gathering rose as one in a round of spontaneous and prolonged applause – his newly found entourage of cooks, maids and drivers, joyfully ignoring privacy or protocol, crowding in behind him to hear him speak: the father of the nation with his children.
Talking of the major problems the world faces – violent conflict, climate change, disease – Mandela spoke of how the institutions of government are often tied down by political, economic or geographical constraints, and how the efforts of a small, dedicated group of leaders 'working objectively and without any vested personal interest in the outcome’ could help to solve what often seem like intractable problems.
The Elders, he went on, had the opportunity to be 'a real role model’ for the world, leading, guiding, creating their own initiatives and supporting others, speaking 'freely and boldly’, and working both publicly and behind the scenes on whatever actions needed to be taken.
Muhammad Yunus had been unable to join the group in South Africa, but that afternoon he pledged his commitment via satellite link in Bangladesh. Kofi Annan had also been unable to attend personally, but on the second day he addressed the gathering via satellite from Sweden. He had not yet formally committed himself to the project, but over the next 30 minutes as he Graca Machel, Archbishop Tutu and Carter engaged in a conversation about African politics that made one vividly aware of just how potent the Elders’ armoury of experience and personal connections could be, Annan’s enthusiasm was palpably evident.
At the end of the conversation, Archbishop Tutu addressed him. 'So, Kofi, can I take it you are with us?’ Annan answered him with a broad smile: 'I am with you,’ and the room rose in a round of thunderous applause.
Elders will serve a three-year term, with the potential to extend. They will also be overseeing the setting up of supporting groups of 'grassroots' Elders around the world – to be drawn from the existing databank of 300 names and from recommendations from the public through the internet. 'Mandela and Graca have said they want to have an open global debate about who else should join the Elders,' Branson says. 'The final choice will be theirs, and will have credibility for that reason. And Mandela will also be getting Nobel Peace laureates to vet his list. The important thing is not to rush and choose the wrong people.' A small number of prominent figures will also be invited to become 'Ambassadors' to the Elders, championing their work. Oprah Winfrey has agreed to become the first of these.
In mapping out a strategy at Ulusaba, it was agreed that the Elders would begin by concentrating on just one or two initiatives – at least one in the area of conflict resolution. But they are likely to be undertaken without fanfare or announcement. Indeed, Branson says, he expects much of the Elders’ work to be done behind the scenes. 'Sometimes they will have to go public, but generally the feeling is that it would be much better, and more effective, to do things quietly. There will always be that threat that if people don’t sort things out then the Elders can go public. But once you lose that threat then you’ve lost your ammunition.’
Another item high on the agenda was the criticism that the initiative will almost inevitably receive. 'People will ask, who are these self-appointed "saviours",' Mandela cautioned the group. But the Elders, he said, should 'reach out to those detractors, convert them to this way of thinking'.
Branson is aware that one of the more likely targets for media scepticism will be his own involvemen. As much as he is admired by the public (in a BBC poll in 2005 to find the person most people would like to lead a global government, Branson came ninth – Mandela topped the list) there have always been sections of the media quick to accuse him of publicity-seeking.
'But there’s a simple answer to that sort of criticism’, Scilla Elworthy says. 'Does anybody honestly think people like Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Tutu and Jimmy Carter would get involved in this if they thought it was a businessman’s ego trip? There have been various global leadership initiatives in the past, but the big difference with this is that you have the combination of wisdom and resources to make it more than just a talking-shop. It has a real dynamism because it has Richard’s entrepreneurial muscle behind it. It won’t stop at wise declarations; it will actually put them into action.’
'There is cynicism about anything that happens in life,’ Branson says, 'but I’ve never thought that should stop you doing things. I see myself as a catalyst, and it’s very important that it’s no more than that. The job of Peter and myself is simply to help Nelson Mandela put this in place, make sure there is a fantastic team to back up the Elders, and then to step back.
'Mandela and Graca are both the most special people, and for them to be engaged in something like this is equally special. Even if the Elders do only one positive thing, that would justify their existence, but I’m sure that in the years and decades to come they’ll be able to do many good things. The world is crying out for more Nelson Mandelas and it would be wonderful if the Elders could become part of his legacy and live on through future generations.’
'We must give people the sense that solutions to the world’s problems are possible; that things might look intractable but it is our duty to believe that goodness and right will prevail,’ Archbishop Tutu says. 'But at the same time everyone is aware of the dangers of raising expectations too high.’
Buried in the briefing documents outlining the putative objectives of the Elders and their possible strategies, lies a cautionary note about what the Elders will not do, '… solve all the world’s problems…’ It is intended in a light-hearted way. Who after all would realistically expect them to? But it does raise the question – if they can’t, who can?
Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk
HARARE, Zimbabwe, January 31, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Elders have called on Zimbabweans to unite to end the terrible suffering in their country and urge international donors to support the latest step towards the formation of a new government.
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