Desmond Tutu Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Anti-apartheid views==== [[File:ApartheidSignEnglishAfrikaans.jpg|thumb|right|Apartheid legislation impacted all areas of life]] Allen stated that the theme running through Tutu's campaigning was that of "democracy, human rights and tolerance, to be achieved by dialogue and accommodation between enemies."{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=374}} Racial equality was a core principle,{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=xii}} and his opposition to apartheid was unequivocal.{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=157}} Tutu believed that the apartheid system had to be wholly dismantled rather than being reformed in a piecemeal fashion.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=252|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=76}} He compared the apartheid ethos of South Africa's [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] to the ideas of the [[Nazi Party]], and drew comparisons between apartheid policy and the [[Holocaust]]. He noted that whereas the latter was a quicker and more efficient way of exterminating whole populations, the National Party's policy of forcibly relocating black South Africans to areas where they lacked access to food and sanitation had much the same result.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=212}} In his words, "Apartheid is as evil and as vicious as Nazism and Communism."{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=84}} Tutu never became anti-white, in part due to his many positive experiences with white people.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=129}} In his speeches, he stressed that it was apartheid—rather than white people—that was the enemy.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=68}} He promoted racial reconciliation between South Africa's communities, believing that most blacks fundamentally wanted to live in harmony with whites,{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=80}} although he stressed that reconciliation would only be possible among equals, after blacks had been given full civil rights.{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=100}} He tried to cultivate goodwill from the country's white community, making a point of showing white individuals gratitude when they made concessions to black demands.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=80}} He also spoke to many white audiences, urging them to support his cause, referring to it as the "winning side",{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=161|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=81}} and reminding them that when apartheid had been overthrown, black South Africans would remember who their friends had been.{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=186}} When he held public prayers, he always included mention of those who upheld apartheid, such as politicians and police, alongside the system's victims, emphasising his view that all humans were the children of God.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=74}} He stated that "the people who are perpetrators of injury in our land are not sporting horns or tails. They're just ordinary people who are scared. Wouldn't you be scared if you were outnumbered five to one?"{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=191|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=91|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3p=239}} Tutu was always committed to non-violent activism,{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=243|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=xii}} and in his speeches was also cautious never to threaten or endorse violence, even when he warned that it was a likely outcome of government policy.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=162|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=77}} He nevertheless described himself as a "man of peace" rather than a [[pacifism|pacifist]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gish|1y=2004|1p=77|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=212}} He, for instance, accepted that violence had been necessary to stop Nazism.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=77}} In the South African situation, he criticised the use of violence by both the government and anti-apartheid groups, although he was also critical of white South Africans who would only condemn the use of violence by the latter, regarding such a position as a case of a double standard.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=77}} To end apartheid, he advocated foreign economic pressure be put on South Africa.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=77}} To critics who claimed that this measure would only cause further hardship for impoverished black South Africans, he responded that said communities were already experiencing significant hardship and that it would be better if they were "suffering with a purpose".{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=160|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=90}} During the apartheid period, he criticised the black leaders of the Bantustans, describing them as "largely corrupt men looking after their own interests, lining their pockets";{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=168}} Buthelezi, the leader of the Zulu Bantustan, privately claimed that there was "something radically wrong" with Tutu's personality.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=265}} In the 1980s, Tutu also condemned Western political leaders, namely Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and West Germany's [[Helmut Kohl]], for retaining links with the South African government, stipulating that "support of this racist policy is racist".{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=257}} Regarding Reagan, he stated that although he once thought him a "crypto-racist" for his soft stance on the National Party administration, he would "say now that he is a racist pure and simple".{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=255}} He and his wife boycotted a lecture given at the Federal Theological Institute by former British Prime Minister [[Alec Douglas-Home]] in the 1960s; Tutu noted that they did so because Britain's [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] had "behaved abominably over issues which touched our hearts most nearly".{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=77|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=105}} Later in life, he also spoke out against various African leaders, for instance describing Zimbabwe's [[Robert Mugabe]] as the "caricature of an African dictator", who had "gone bonkers in a big way".{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=377}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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