An Open Letter to ‘The Elders’

Excellencies,

Your low profile in Dublin this week â€" during your biannual strategy session â€" stood in stark contrast to your vaulting ambition. You are probably the world’s most eminent pensioners, 10 retired statesmen and women who aspire to be “a fiercely independent and robust force for good,” as Nelson Mandela, an “honorary” absentee Elder put it. But as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, your chairman of six years, said of you as he stepped down this week, “We are still learning how to Elder.”

Exactly what The Elders should do has proved hard to determine, a consequence no doubt of your luminous but varied interests and reputations. Four of you are Nobel peace laureates: Martti Ahtisaari, former president of Finland; Kofi Annan, former United Nations secretary general; Jimmy Carter, the ex-president; and Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town. Another, Lakhdar Brahimi, former Algerian revolutionary-turned-foreign minister, is currently deployed as chief mediator for the United Nations and Arab League in Syria.

In contrast to the shuttle diplomacy and grand mediation of old-fashioned statecraft, however, you harbor a fondness for grassroots activism and popular protest. After all, you include, Ela Bhatt, India’s “gentle revolutionary” and founder of its million-strong Self-Employed Women’s Association (as well as Graca Machel, former first lady in both Mozambique and South Africa; Gro Harlem Brundtland and Mary Robinson, respectively the first women presidents of Norway and Ireland; a former Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso, an authority in development economics.)

Between you, you have survived civil wars, dictatorships and democracy. You have brokered peace treaties, embraced enemies, navigated boom and bust. Now that the day jobs of your previous careers are done, you have toured the world - from Egypt to the Korean peninsula to Sri Lanka - in search of causes to support. A campaign to end girl marriage, a fresh stop in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, help for refugees in Sudan and a better deal for youth everywhere top your long list of priorities.

This is a mistake. By rallying to causes that almost everyone in the liberal world can readily support, your last political capital is being squandered. By spreading your efforts wide, and thinly, your public statements often slip into the clichés of development-speak. “Giving up just isn’t in their vocabulary,” wrote Lesley Ann-Knight, the new CEO of The Elders, in a recent message to supporters. In a steady stream of articles, blogs and press conferences, you urge “global leadership,” sustainable development, and - just this week - “a stronger role for Europe in Syria”.

“The most important question is where can The Elders make a real difference?” observed Ms. Knight, “As I asked each Elder when I met with them recently, why does the world need The Elders?” One difficulty is that a self-appointed panel of good Samaritans has no mandate. Another is that celebrity endorsement of worthy causes has become a crowded field. When you adopt mainstream causes, you add nothing to existing consensus. Without anything new to say, that fate is better left to real celebrities.

The ongoing catastrophe in Syria is a test of your seriousness. U.N. sources report that Mr. Brahimi is “itching to resign” from his role as mediator, like Mr. Annan before him, in frustration at his lack of progress.The 79 year-old Algerian has failed to convince Russia, Iran or China to join his mediation effort. Without their commitment, foreign mediators cannot exert the judicious mix of coercion and reassurance - of stick and carrot - that might compel Syria’s Alawite minority regime to share power.

The deadlock in Syria could be the trigger for a Damascene conversion among The Elders. Now is the moment to refuse the usual diplomatic charade: another show of regret, praise for the best efforts of a colleague, followed by fresh calls for another United Nations mission. Far better to seize the moment. Speak plainly: admit the loss of Western influence, tell the United Nations that an alternative forum is needed to halt the unfolding slaughter - in Moscow, if necessary.

A place among The Elders can be a last chance to dissent. From the moment any political leader takes office, the scope for originality, creative thinking and free protest begins to erode. This is the moment to set yourselves free. Draw on the hard-headed cunning of your often radical pasts. Get personal. Pester your juniors in political office, before it is too late. Harass the global institutions which their governments, like you, have failed to reform. Senior citizens are allowed to be grumpy.