Forest Whitaker Interview On His Extraordinary Utopian Peace Centers

Forbes

2 days ago

Forest Whitaker—first recognized with a Cannes Best Actor award for his role as the melancholy jazz giant Charlie Parker in the film 'Bird,' and again with a recent Cannes Palme d'Or—has, in his time, played many parts with a Shakespearean intensity, from the murderous Macbeth-like ruler Idi Amin in the Oscar-awarded 'The Last King of Scotland' to the saint-like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and restorer of peace in post-apartheid South Africa.
Yet beyond the limelight of the cinematic stage, Whitaker is pushing forward the archbishop's goal of cultivating peace and progress across the continents. Founding an archipelago of peace centers that stretch from southern Africa to France to Mexico, Whitaker aims to generate waves of young peacemakers that change societies and ultimately world civilization.
Now, ten years after the utopian actor started creating these peace-building citadels, he's teamed up with Intelsat/SES, which is supercharging the mission by beaming its high-speed internet connections across these outposts.
Intelsat CEO Dave Wajsgras, himself a techno-philanthropist, tells me in an interview that Whitaker's peace outposts, enhanced with leading-edge satellite and internet technology, aim to help reshape the times ahead.
Instructors at these tech-powered oases—including some set up as havens for wartime refugees—outline the basic building blocks of peace mediation, along with primers on universal human rights enshrined in the UN Charter.
Across a sweeping interview, Forest Whitaker, who's also a UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace, sketched out the goals of these peace centers, and his dream of a worldwide web of young peace-builders who co-design the future.
Kevin Holden Platt: First I was wondering how you got hooked up with Intelsat to provide high-speed internet connections, from super-satellites orbiting 35,000 kilometers above the Earth, to your utopian peace centers across Africa?
Has introducing broadband across these Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative centers helped transform the future peacemakers studying there, and are these havens changing the society around them?
Forest Whitaker: While it's still early to measure the long-term impact of our partnership with Intelsat fully, the difference is already tangible.
Some of our Community Learning Centers—especially in remote areas—were previously offline for much of the time, making communication and coordination a real challenge.
Today, we're seeing a marked improvement in connectivity across our network, which is already enhancing our ability to manage programs and support our teams on the ground.
What gives us great confidence is the foundation we've already built.
Even before we had access to high-speed internet, our youth were achieving remarkable results, mediating conflicts, launching businesses, and leading community dialogues. They were doing this with limited digital tools, often relying on intermittent access or offline resources.
Now, with reliable broadband, we're unlocking a new dimension of possibility.
Connectivity means more than just sending emails faster.
It means access to global knowledge, virtual mentorships, online certifications, and real-time collaboration between our centers in South Sudan, Uganda, South Africa, and beyond.
It means our young leaders can now participate in global conversations, access digital markets, and build bridges with peers across continents.
For communities that have long been isolated, this represents a significant step toward inclusion, innovation, and empowerment.
Kevin Holden Platt: While fostering their peace-building skills, how does exploring the World Wide Web also transform the lives of the youths who flock to your centers, and in some ways help them become global citizens?
Forest Whitaker: For me, access to the internet is not just about connectivity, it's about opportunity.
For the young people we work with at WPDI, especially in remote or conflict-affected areas, the World Wide Web fulfills its purpose as a gateway to the world.
It allows them to transcend the limitations of their geography and circumstances.
They can learn new skills, access global knowledge, and connect with others who are also striving for peace and progress.
When a young person in a refugee settlement in Uganda or the Cape Flats of South Africa logs on at one of our Community Learning Centers, they're not just learning how to use a computer—they're discovering that their voice matters in a global conversation.
They begin to see themselves not just as survivors of conflict, but as contributors to a shared future.
A few years ago, we created an online conversation between students in California and youth from South Sudan.
It was extraordinary to witness.
On paper, nothing could be more different than their countries and contexts - one group living in a region marked by decades of civil war, the other in one of the world's most developed economies.
And yet, nothing compared to the energy that radiated from them as they discovered how close their preoccupations were as the youth of this world.
They spoke about their dreams, fears, communities, and hopes for the future.The exchange was not only enlightening but also empowering. It reminded us that the desire to be heard, to connect, and to make a difference is a universal human experience.
This is how digital access becomes a tool of emancipation, empowering individuals to become global citizens who understand that their local actions can have global resonance, and vice versa.
Our new partnership with Intelsat is a powerful example of how technological innovation can serve social innovation. By bringing high-speed internet to our centers, we're not just upgrading infrastructure: we're expanding horizons.
Kevin Holden Platt: In an interview titled 'Forest Whitaker's Journey From Blue-Collar Kid to Peace Seeker,' you mentioned that your interest in cultivating a new generation of peace-builders began while visiting an orphanage in Uganda during the filming of The Last King of Scotland.
What was the initial spark that inspired the creation of these peace-focused learning centers across the region?
Forest Whitaker: That moment in Uganda was deeply personal.
I met young people who had survived the unimaginable.
They were former child soldiers who had been forced into violence.
And yet, they still carried a spark of hope.What struck me most was that they didn't want pity. They wanted purpose. They tried to rebuild, to protect others from experiencing what they had endured. That encounter planted the seed for WPDI.
But the idea of creating peace-focused learning centers came from a more profound realization: that peace cannot be imposed from the outside.It must be cultivated from within communities. And for that to happen, people need safe spaces, places where they can learn, heal, and grow.
Our ambition to provide such safe spaces is what led us to create Community Learning Centers. They are hubs of transformation, where young people gain the tools to become mediators, entrepreneurs, and leaders. They are also symbols—visible commitments to the idea that every community, regardless of its marginalization, deserves access to knowledge, technology, and opportunities.
Kevin Holden Platt: In an essay for Time magazine, titled 'Education Is the Key to Breaking the Cycle of Violence,' that you co-wrote with Irina Bokova, who was then UNESCO's Director-General, you said that education brings hope, fosters dreams, and equips youth to rebuild—and called it the best long-term path to peace.
Was this the core idea behind your learning centers, that education—particularly in peace-building and human rights, combined with internet access—is key to fostering peace and progress in conflict-affected areas?
Forest Whitaker: Absolutely.
Education is not just a tool—it's a lifeline.
In places where violence has become normalized, education offers an alternative narrative. It tells young people: 'You matter. Your future matters. At WPDI, we see education as the foundation of everything we do.
But we define it broadly. It's not just about classrooms or infrastructure; it's about life skills, digital literacy, conflict resolution, and entrepreneurship. It's about equipping people to navigate their world with confidence and compassion.
When a young woman in a refugee settlement learns how to code, or when a former gang member in Tijuana learns how to mediate conflict, they're not just gaining skills—they're reclaiming agency.
They're becoming architects of peace in their own communities.
And that's the long game.
Peace isn't built in a day.
But when you invest in education, you're planting seeds that will grow for generations. That's why we believe it's the most powerful—and sustainable—path to peace.
Kevin Holden Platt: In another article, you said that each role you take on teaches you something profound about humanity. What were some of the most profound lessons you learned while researching, meeting, and portraying Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the remarkably courageous spiritual leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize and helped bring peace and harmony to South Africa?
Forest Whitaker: Portraying Archbishop Desmond Tutu in The Forgiven was one of the most spiritually and emotionally demanding roles I've ever taken on.
It wasn't just about embodying a historical figure; it was about stepping into the heart of a man who believed that reconciliation was not only possible, but necessary—even in the face of unimaginable pain.
What made the experience even more profound was that I knew Archbishop Tutu personally. I had the privilege of meeting him on several occasions, and over time, we developed a friendship rooted in mutual respect. That added a layer of responsibility to the role.
When you portray someone you admire deeply—you're not just interpreting a character. You're reflecting a living legacy. You want to honor their truth, not just dramatize it. One of the most profound lessons I learned from that experience was the radical courage it takes to forgive.
Tutu didn't see forgiveness as weakness. He saw it as a form of strength, as a way to reclaim dignity and humanity in the aftermath of systemic violence. That's a lesson that resonates deeply with my work at WPDI.
In communities fractured by conflict, we often think peace begins with a ceasefire. But real peace begins when people choose to listen, to understand, and to heal.
Another lesson was about leadership. Tutu led not by force, but by moral clarity. He understood that authentic leadership is about creating space for others to grow. That's something I strive to carry into my work with young people by helping them discover their voice, their purpose, and their capacity to lead.
Kevin Holden Platt: What lessons have you learned while opening the learning centers in Africa, and have those lessons been applied to the parallel center in Seine-Saint-Denis outside Paris?
Forest Whitaker: One of the most important lessons we've learned from our Community Learning Centers in Africa is that transformation begins with trust.
When we open a center in a place like South Sudan or northern Uganda, we don't just bring in technology or training—we build relationships. We listen to the community. We hire locally. We co-create programs that reflect their needs and aspirations. That trust is what turns a building into a hub of hope.
We've carried that same philosophy into our work in Seine-Saint-Denis, France.
We are discussing environments that appear to be very different, but the underlying challenges—marginalization, inequality, and lack of opportunity—are strikingly similar.
In all these places, you will discover that young people are often told what they can't do. Our goal is to show them what they can do.
Another key lesson is adaptability. In Africa, we've had to innovate around limited infrastructure: sometimes we even have to create solar-powered centers or offline learning modules.
That spirit of innovation has shaped our approach to programs globally.
Ultimately, whether it's in a refugee settlement or an urban classroom, the core insight is the same: When you give people access to knowledge, tools, and a sense of purpose, they don't just change their own lives: they change the world around them.