It may seem like the artifice of acting and the deep work of peacemaking are at odds with one another, but for Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker there is a “clean bridge between the two”.
Whitaker was recently in SA to check up on the work of his organisation, the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative, through which he works with young people on the Cape Flats to turn their lives around.
Peace training, economic empowerment, and working with local schools are the main focus, and much of his trip was spent in the gang-ridden area, but his agenda also included meeting 100 business leaders at a Llandudno mansion, as he says he believes those with the financial means to bring about change should be actively involved.
Whitaker meets the Sunday Times upstairs at the mansion where he will later address the business leaders over cocktails and canapés. Softly spoken and thinking deeply before each answer, he speaks about the uniqueness of SA, which is beset with problems yet filled with people who are passionate and informed.
He says the “polarity” in SA is “incredibly striking”. In the context of such immense physical beauty one finds “communities which are highly well-off and esteemed, and then others still struggling for basic infrastructure and housing”.
He has seen inequality across the globe, he says, but in SA it is so glaring that it’s difficult to forget.
But the other side of that coin is the scope for active citizenry: passive acceptance of socioeconomic circumstances is unlikely when everyday life brings so many struggles.
When you’re denied basic services like sanitation, housing, electricity, well-resourced schools, waste collection and decent job opportunities, activism is crucial.
That’s why, he says, “there’s a powerful awareness among individuals in South Africa. People are politically aware in their communities about what makes things run or not, and you don’t find that everywhere.”
In 2007, Whitaker’s illustrious acting career was crowned with an Academy Award for his role as Idi Amin in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland.
“I went into acting to try to understand my connections to others. Being each character was a way of studying and learning about them, so in some ways that work was about empathy.
And empathy is what also lies under the type of work we do now. There is a clean bridge between them,” he says.
Another common strand is the power of people’s stories.
“By exposing those kinds of stories and allowing people to recognise their connection to others, the narrative can change in individual lives and a country as a whole,” he says.
Despite the deep-seated inequality, “I do see South Africa and each country as a whole, and the narrative of that country can change. That is what I also try to do as an artist — to see the character and the story as a whole that has both positive and negative aspects.”
He says he sees young people as the key to change.
“The youth are very committed in their thinking about what should change. They know it is a commanding task but they feel up to it. There’s a sense of positivity of wanting to change things, based on how difficult things are.”
“Difficult” is relative: on the Flats, fatal shootings are nothing out of the ordinary, gangsterism is rife, unemployment is sky high, and for many, life is simply a daily struggle of trying to stay safe.
The area was a hot topic recently when the army was deployed in an act of desperation to try to curb the violence. Many were critical of a military presence in a residential area when there is no war on the go, but the strategy proved effective and the murder rate dropped.
The numbers remain shocking, however: the drop in murders means that “only” 25 murders are taking place over a weekend, as opposed to 55 — prompting many to agree that radical preventative measures are still needed to genuinely change the culture of violence.
That’s why Whitaker is in it for the long haul.
The youth are very committed in their thinking about what should change
Facing violence every day makes it difficult to bring about change, without something to kick it off.
Like war and unrest in other parts of the world, says Whitaker, gangsterism and gang violence on the Cape Flats are brought about by complex political, social and economic factors.
When people are free to choose, they will always choose peace.
The five-year Youth Peace Network (a training initiative for peacemakers) works to support 45 Capetonians to educate 350 young people from communities across Cape Town to become social development ambassadors who can mediate conflicts and foster peace.
The trainees were chosen in August, based on their personal experience and ability to act as agents of change.
His commitment to helping communities in distress is borne out by his work in countries like Mexico, South Sudan, Uganda and even his own country, the US.
The societal stresses may differ vastly in each context, but Whitaker recognises in each one the people who have somehow got a foothold — where it seems impossible — to bring about change.
An example he gave is working with conflicting groups in South Sudan.
Though it is a vastly different political landscape to SA, he has seen the enduring impact of even just one peacemaker who is able to bring two factions together.
“I am inspired by the people I have met along the way who have overcome challenges to become change-makers,” he says.
“And on the Cape Flats, I was so impressed by how those who are being trained as peacemakers have really dug deep into their cores to find the answers. They are taking a real stance to address conflict.”
Working with young people means that identity threads through everything — but even though identity politics have shifted, the question of who you are is as old as time: “I think the question of identity — and being able to feel who you are and what you want to say — is at the core of things.”
Whitaker says that “as a kid” he was always trying to discover his true sense of self, which included trying to understand the conflict and violence in his community, and the strangeness of family members going off to fight in the Vietnam War.
On the Cape Flats, I was so impressed by how those who are being trained as peacemakers have really dug deep into their cores to find the answers
“That is something I was trying to understand and it took a long time to find my sense of self. I think to know your true identity is a struggle that has been going on for people since the beginning of time.”
In that context, unemployment runs even deeper than not being able to put bread on the table. “We associate ourselves with our families, our loves, our losses — but we also define our identity by what we do. When someone says ‘I am a banker, I am a soldier’, it is part of who they are. The youth today can’t choose those occupations or directions in life, and that affects their identity.”
This is of particular relevance to SA, where unemployment is extremely high. At 29% it is among the worst rates in the world, and shows no signs of abating. This week, the Institute of Race Relations said that, based on statistical modelling, the figure could rise to a staggering 37.7% over the next decade.
But the question of struggles with youth identity in the face of unemployment is not unique to the country.
Whitaker says that in his experience across the globe, “there is a sense of young people not being able to define themselves”.
He cites the particularly painful example of South Sudan. “There, you meet a child who defines himself as a child soldier. That is where he gets his identity and sense of protection. When you try to rehabilitate him, that loss of identity as a child soldier also means losing respect and having certain comforts,” says Whitaker.
But he says he is a firm believer that “even in the most difficult circumstances you can make positive change occur and it doesn’t have to be complicated”.
He says his message to young people is this: “There can be a change, and your own actions can be part of the change.”
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