Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died Sunday, December 26 at the age of 90, was a man of faith and convictions, but also of words. The anti-apartheid activist wielded both humor and anger to convey his values, his outrage and his wisdom.
Here is a collection of his most famous quotes.
– “Be nice to the Whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity”. (At New York Times in October 1984, at the worst hours of apartheid)
– “This is the story of a Zambian and a South African discussing. The Zambian praises his Minister of the Navy. The South African asks:” But, you have no navy, no access to the sea, how can you have a Ministry of the Navy? And the Zambian retorts: “And you, in South Africa, you have a Ministry of Justice, don’t you?” (Nobel Prize award speech, December 11, 1984)
– “For God’s sake, are they going to hear, are the whites going to hear what we’re trying to say? Please, the only thing we ask of you is to recognize that we are human too. When you scratch us, we bleed, when you tickle us, we laugh. ” (Speech calling for sanctions against South Africa, January 1985)
– “Your president is a disaster as far as blacks are concerned. I am very angry. The West can go to hell. Black unions are calling for sanctions. Over 70% of our people, as two polls show, want sanctions. But no, President Reagan knows better than everyone else. We are going to suffer. He is there, like the great old-fashioned white leader, to tell us that we blacks do not know what is good for us. The white man knows “. (Interview with the American press after President Ronald Reagan’s refusal to impose sanctions on the apartheid regime, July 1986)
– “One day in San Francisco, I was very quiet in my corner, a woman bursts in in front of me. Visibly moved, she greets me with: Hello, Archbishop Mandela! Two men for the price of one”. (Conference – October 2008)
– “In South Africa, I often asked in public meetings where blacks and whites attended: raise your hands! Then I said: move your hands. And I said again: look at your hands. Different colors. , representing different people. You are the rainbow people of God. ” (Extract from his book The Rainbow People of God, 1996)
– “Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument”, advice given by his father (speech at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa, 23 November 2004)
/2021/12/26/phpPtJanC.jpg)
– “I deeply thank God for having created the Dalai Lama. Do you seriously think, as some have said, that God says to himself: okay, this guy, the Dalai Lama, he is not bad. too bad he’s not a Christian? I don’t believe he is, because, you know, God is not a Christian. (June 2006 in Brussels)
– “He turned into something quite unbelievable. A kind of Frankenstein for his people.” (June 2008 regarding Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe)
– “Our government which represents me – who represents me? – has said that it will not support the Tibetans who are brutally oppressed by the Chinese. I warn you, I warn you that we will pray as we prayed for the fall of the apartheid regime, we are going to pray for the fall of a government that does not represent us “. (Press conference after the South African government’s refusal to grant a visa to the Dalai Lama to attend Desmond Tutu’s 80th birthday, October 2011).
– “I would not worship a homophobic God (…) I would refuse to go to a homophobic paradise. No, I would say sorry, I would much rather go to the other side. I am as involved in this campaign as I am. was against apartheid. For me, it’s on the same level. ” (Speech – July 2013)
– “Did he have weaknesses? Of course. And among them, this unwavering loyalty to this organization (the ANC) and certain colleagues who ended up disappointing him. He has kept in his government incompetent, frankly incompetent ministers. But I believe he was holy, because he powerfully inspired others “. (Following the death of Nelson Mandela, December 6, 2013)
– “Dying people have control over their lives, so why should they be denied control over their death?” (Tribune – October 2016)