Friday 14 September 2012

THE TUTU SNUB


Find your mark, look the other fellow in the eye and tell the truth.

(James Cagney, actor)

A new action has entered the lexicon of performance on the stages of world affairs. It is coined by a top-ranking religious leader. In its first presentation it is targeted at a globe-trotting uber-politician and deal-smoother, one of a class of world figures who greases the levers of politics and commerce.

This new act is christened The Tutu Snub.

A long-time critic of the Iraq war, the archbishop pulled out of a South African conference on leadership last week because Blair, who was paid 2m rand (£150,000) for his time, was attending. It is understood that Tutu had agreed to speak without a fee.
'Christened' because it is first performed by a Christian Church leader long associated with human endeavours for race emancipation in The Anti-Apartheid Movement.

'Snub' because it involves an individual refusing to meet with, sit with, join with, support, collude or engage with another individual. 

It is widely practised informally, and for millennia, in private and domestic spheres.

'Tutu' because this commonplace private act has been integrated into the world theatre of public life by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The target of the first performance of The Tutu Snub is Tony Blair, recently on the public stage as the broker of a hugely beneficial deal for the global corporation Glencore with the government of Qatar. 

It is reasonable to assume that Tony Blair did not involve himself in that production without consideration of indirect and direct recompense. 

His startling position as a peace envoy in the Middle East positions him to benefit himself and his corporate associates.

If Tony Blair's cameo proves to be a deciding factor in winning support from Qatar for a Swiss commodity trader's $36 billion (22.5 billion pounds) bid for a giant mining firm, the former British prime minister could become a sought-after fixer in global finance.

'Startling' given Tony Blair's track record as a duplicitous war-monger in Iraq, cited as the motivation for Archbishop Tutu's act.

The originator of The Tutu Snub is to be commended for bringing this much-used private act into public life. It is to be hoped that others will apply it to Tony Blair in the future. And that instances of its use may also be directed at George Bush, though he rarely travels outside his enclave, limiting opportunities for The Tutu Snub to American actors in public life.

For to you, to the actor, it is not the words which carry the meaning – it is the actions.

Give yourself a simple goal on-stage, and accomplish it bravely.

A role for a latter-day James Cagney?

Citizens of the world, the audience for these performances in the theatre of public affairs, wait avidly.

Theatre is the act of resistance against all odds.


True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor: book; David Mamet; Faber and Faber; London; 1998
A Director Prepares: book; Anne Bogart; Routledge; London; 2001




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