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! ====Broader political views==== According to Du Boulay, "Tutu's politics spring directly and inevitably from his Christianity."{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=164}} He believed that it was the duty of Christians to oppose unjust laws,{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=75}} and that there could be no separation between the religious and the political just as—according to Anglican theology—there is no separation between the spiritual realm (the [[Holy Ghost]]) and the material one ([[Jesus Christ]]).{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=87}} However, he was adamant that he was not personally a politician.{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=164}} He felt that religious leaders like himself should stay outside of party politics, citing the example of [[Abel Muzorewa]] in Zimbabwe, [[Makarios III]] in Cyprus, and [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] in Iran as examples in which such crossovers proved problematic.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=164|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=206}} He tried to avoid alignment with any particular political party; in the 1980s, for instance, he signed a plea urging anti-apartheid activists in the United States to support both the ANC and the [[Pan Africanist Congress of Azania|Pan Africanist Congress]] (PAC).{{sfn|Allen|2006|pp=206–207}} Du Boulay, however, noted that Tutu was "most at home" with the UDF umbrella organisation,{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=234}} and that his views on a multi-racial alliance against apartheid placed him closer to the approach of the ANC and UDF than the blacks-only approach favoured by the PAC and Black Consciousness groups like [[AZAPO]].{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=236}} When, in the late 1980s, there were suggestions that he should take political office, he rejected the idea.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=125}} [[File:Desmond tutu wef.jpg|thumb|left|Tutu at the [[World Economic Forum]] in 2009]] When pressed to describe his ideological position, Tutu described himself as a [[socialist]].{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=236}} In 1986, he related that "[a]ll my experiences with [[capitalism]], I'm afraid, have indicated that it encourages some of the worst features in people. Eat or be eaten. It is underlined by the survival of the fittest. I can't buy that. I mean, maybe it's the awful face of capitalism, but I haven't seen the other face."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Earley, Pete |date=16 February 1986 |title=Desmond Tutu |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/1986/02/16/desmond-tutu/3fc3da7f-4926-44cf-896a-5d1bf7f00206/ |access-date=13 October 2017}}</ref> Also in the 1980s, he was reported as saying that "apartheid has given free enterprise a bad name".{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=248}} While identifying with socialism, he opposed forms of socialism like [[Marxism–Leninism]] which promoted communism, being critical of Marxism–Leninism's promotion of [[atheism]].{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=236}} Tutu often used the aphorism that "African communism" is an oxymoron because—in his view—Africans are intrinsically spiritual and this conflicts with the atheistic nature of Marxism.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=66}} He was critical of the Marxist–Leninist governments in the [[Soviet Union]] and [[Eastern Bloc]], comparing the way that they treated their populations with the way that the National Party treated South Africans.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=212}} In 1985, he stated that he hated Marxism–Leninism "with every fiber of my being" although sought to explain why black South Africans turned to it as an ally: "when you are in a dungeon and a hand is stretched out to free you, you do not ask for the pedigree of the hand owner."{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=237|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=107}} Nelson Mandela had foregrounded the idea of ''[[Ubuntu theology|Ubuntu]]'' as being of importance to South Africa's political framework.{{sfn|Sampson|2011|p=10}} In 1986, Tutu had defined Ubuntu: "It refers to gentleness, to compassion, to hospitality, to openness to others, to vulnerability, to be available to others and to know that you are bound up with them in the bundle of life."{{sfn|Sampson|2011|p=10}} Reflecting this view of ubuntu, Tutu was fond of the Xhosa saying that "a person is a person through other persons".{{sfn|Du Boulay|1988|p=114}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page