An unlikely duo - but what an interview. If you haven't picked up the new
Vanity Fair, you should put it on your To-Do list for today. I have re-read every single article already. And have, only grudgingly, passed it on to my teens to share.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu sat down with Brad Pitt for a Q&A that included national defense - the article is not online, but I thought is was important enough to actually type up these bits for you:
B.P. History certainly shows us that wherever there is injustice or inequality, disruption ensues. But I believe you defined it as "peace becomes a casualty." Given today's global insecurity, there has been much focus on these immense and obscene defense budgets. The repercussion is that aid usually gets sacrificed. You talk about aid not as altruism. In fact that is a misconception. But aid, investment in Africa, investment in areas where there's great disruption and inequality, is actually in our self-interest. Can you elaborate on this?
D.T. Just simply that if a community is a poor community, it's going to be a seedbed for instability. If that community is helped up and becomes profitable, then it becomes a very good market. I mean, then you are going to have more customers for your goods. We are doing a nice act of P.R. it's wonderful. But in fact we are doing ourselves a huge favor because we are now saying there is a potential prosperous market which we can exploit.
I for myself can't understand how we can spend the obscene amount that we do on defense. I mean, billions, trillions - I don't know what the quantum is. But we're spending a heck of a lot of money! I am hoping that people like yourselves, especially, but then ordinary people like ourselves too, would become increasingly vocal and say, "Let's stop this nonsense. It doesn't make sense. It makes the world more insecure." The United States has one of the most sophisticated defense systems, the most expensive. But it is made obsolete by a wire cutter. There's no way in which you can have a foolproof system. It's really far better to create friends, rather than to imagine that everybody is an enemy until they are proven otherwise...I keep trying to say. You want to fight a war against terrorism? Let me tell you on thing for sure. You are not going to win it, period. You won't win that war until you work so that conditions that make people desperate are eradicated. Then you will realize you won't have to worry about guys being upset with you.
That was a lot of work! Sorry for any typos. You will want to read the rest.
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