Resources for Teachers and Students on F. W. de Klerk
Prepare: F. W. de Klerk won the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1993, sharing the award with Nelson Mandela. His biography
and can and the archived text of his Nobel
lecture can be viewed online.
Read:
F. W. de Klerk's Architects
of Peace essay is excerpted from his autobiography,
The Last Trek-A New Beginning. In it, he describes the joy
he experienced when he passed the presidency of South Africa
on to Nelson Mandela.
Explore: The FW
de Klerk Foundation exists to support the continued
peaceful transformation of South African society in a non-partisan
way. Affirmative action to enable South Africa's black community
is one of the foundation's major concerns, as is research
on conflict resolution and on the peaceful coexistence of
multi-community societies.
Write: F. W. de Klerk's Nobel lecture is an eloquent
treatise on the nature of peace. In it, he describes peace
as a frame of mind, and postulates: "Peace does not
fare well where poverty and deprivation reign. It does not
flourish where there is ignorance and a lack of education
and information." Compose a three-to-five page rhetorical
analysis of this speech, focusing primarily on how de Klerk
defines peace. As part of this analysis, explore whether
De Klerk's rhetoric, which focused on domestic peace within
a single country, could also be applied to international
relations. Are there any shortcomings in de Klerk's definition
of peace?
Extend: The United
Nations Development Programme, UNDP, is deeply involved
with assisting South Africa recover from the poverty caused
during the apartheid years. To track the current progress
of this program, consult the UNDP website.
Additional Resource: While the peaceful transition
of the South African government after the end of apartheid
is generally considered to have been miraculous, it was
not without its conflicts and controversies. For example,
de Klerk at one point found himself involved in a disagreement
with Desmond Tutu, who at the time was in charge of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Tutu's record of their
meeting can be found in the South
African Government Archives.
Biography of F.
W. de Klerk
