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! ===General-Secretary of the South African Council of Churches: 1978β1985=== ====SACC leadership==== {{Quote box | quote = We in the SACC believe in a non-racial South Africa where people count because they are made in the image of God. So the SACC is neither a black nor a white organization. It is a Christian organization with a definite bias in favour of the oppressed and the exploited ones of our society. | source=β Desmond Tutu, on the SACC{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=75}} | align = right | width = 25em }} After John Rees stepped down as general secretary of the [[South African Council of Churches]], Tutu was among the nominees for his successor. John Thorne was ultimately elected to the position, although stepped down after three months, with Tutu's agreeing to take over at the urging of the [[synod]] of bishops.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=120|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=69|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3pp=164β165}} His decision angered many Anglicans in Lesotho, who felt that Tutu was abandoning them.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=121|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=69}} Tutu took charge of the SACC in March 1978.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=130|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=72|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3p=167}} Back in Johannesburgβwhere the SACC's headquarters were based at Khotso House{{sfnm|1a1=Gish|1y=2004|1p=74|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=170}}βthe Tutus returned to their former Orlando West home, now bought for them by an anonymous foreign donor.{{sfn|Allen|2006|pp=169β170}} Leah gained employment as the assistant director of the [[South African Institute of Race Relations|Institute of Race Relations]].{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=170}} The SACC was one of the few Christian institutions in South Africa where black people had the majority representation;{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=168}} Tutu was its first black leader.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=72}} There, he introduced a schedule of daily staff prayers, regular Bible study, monthly Eucharist, and silent retreats.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=169}} Hegr also developed a new style of leadership, appointing senior staff who were capable of taking the initiative, delegating much of the SACC's detailed work to them, and keeping in touch with them through meetings and memorandums.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=171}} Many of his staff referred to him as "Baba" (father).{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=73}} He was determined that the SACC become one of South Africa's most visible human rights advocacy organisations.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=72}} His efforts gained him international recognition; the closing years of the 1970s saw him elected a [[Fellow#Academia|fellow]] of KCL and receive honorary doctorates from the [[University of Kent]], General Theological Seminary, and [[Harvard University]].{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=169|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2pp=89β90}} As head of the SACC, Tutu's time was dominated by fundraising for the organisation's projects.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=154|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=73}} Under Tutu's tenure, it was revealed that one of the SACC's divisional directors had been stealing funds. In 1981 a government commission launched to investigate the issue, headed by the judge [[Frikkie Eloff|C. F. Eloff]].{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1pp=172β177|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=82|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3pp=192β197}} Tutu gave evidence to the commission, during which he condemned apartheid as "evil" and "unchristian".{{sfnm|1a1=Gish|1y=2004|1pp=83β84|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2pp=197β199}} When the Eloff report was published, Tutu criticised it, focusing particularly on the absence of any theologians on its board, likening it to "a group of blind men" judging the [[Chelsea Flower Show]].{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=178|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2pp=197β199}} In 1981 Tutu also became the rector of St Augustine's Church in Soweto's [[Orlando West]].{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=135|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=75|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3p=215}} The following year he published a collection of his sermons and speeches, ''Crying in the Wilderness: The Struggle for Justice in South Africa'';{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=144}} another volume, ''Hope and Suffering'', appeared in 1984.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=144}} ====Activism and the Nobel Peace Prize==== Tutu testified on behalf of a captured [[clandestine cell system|cell]] of [[Umkhonto we Sizwe]], an armed anti-apartheid group linked to the banned [[African National Congress]] (ANC). He stated that although he was committed to non-violence and censured all who used violence, he could understand why black Africans became violent when their non-violent tactics had failed to overturn apartheid.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=172}} In an earlier address, he had opined that an armed struggle against South Africa's government had little chance of succeeding but also accused Western nations of hypocrisy for condemning armed liberation groups in southern Africa while they had praised similar organisations in Europe during the [[Second World War]].{{sfn|Allen|2006|pp=162β163}} Tutu also signed a petition calling for the release of ANC activist Nelson Mandela,{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=182}} leading to a correspondence between the pair.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=183}} [[File:Reagan with Desmond TutuC26199-10.jpg|thumb|left|US President [[Ronald Reagan]] meeting with Desmond Tutu in 1984. Tutu described [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan's administration]] as "an unmitigated disaster for us blacks",{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=95}} and Reagan himself as "a racist pure and simple".{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=255}}]] After Tutu told journalists that he supported an international economic boycott of South Africa, he was reprimanded before government ministers in October 1979.{{sfnm|1a1=Gish|1y=2004|1pp=77, 90|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2pp=178β179}} In March 1980, the government confiscated his passport; this raised his international profile.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=187|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=90|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3pp=181β182}} In 1980, the SACC committed itself to supporting [[civil disobedience]] against apartheid.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1pp=159β160|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=184}} After Thorne was arrested in May, Tutu and Joe Wing led a protest march during which they were arrested, imprisoned overnight, and fined.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=169|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=80|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3pp=184β186}} In the aftermath, a meeting was organised between 20 church leaders including Tutu, Prime Minister [[P. W. Botha]], and seven government ministers. At this August meeting the clerical leaders unsuccessfully urged the government to end apartheid.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1pp=166β167|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=81|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3pp=186β187}} Although some clergy saw this dialogue as pointless, Tutu disagreed, commenting: "[[Moses]] went to Pharaoh repeatedly to secure the release of the Israelites."{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=188}} In January 1981, the government returned Tutu's passport.{{sfnm|1a1=Gish|1y=2004|1p=90|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=189}} In March, he embarked on a five-week tour of Europe and North America, meeting politicians including the [[UN Secretary-General]] [[Kurt Waldheim]], and addressing the [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1761|UN Special Committee Against Apartheid]].{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1pp=189β190|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2pp=90β91|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3p=189}} In England, he met [[Robert Runcie]] and gave a sermon in [[Westminster Abbey]], while in [[Rome]] he met Pope [[John Paul II]].{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=190|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=91|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3p=190}} On his return to South Africa, Botha again ordered Tutu's passport confiscated, preventing him from personally collecting several further honorary degrees.{{sfnm|1a1=Gish|1y=2004|1p=91|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2pp=190β191}} It was returned 17 months later.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=91}} In September 1982 Tutu addressed the Triennial Convention of the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]] in [[New Orleans]] before traveling to Kentucky to see his daughter Naomi, who lived there with her American husband.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=191|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2pp=91β92}} Tutu gained a popular following in the US, where he was often compared to civil rights leader [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], although white [[Conservatism in the United States|conservatives]] like [[Pat Buchanan]] and [[Jerry Falwell]] lambasted him as an alleged communist sympathiser.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1pp=196, 198|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2pp=93β94}} {{Quote box | quote = This award is for mothers, who sit at railway stations to try to eke out an existence, selling potatoes, selling mealies, selling produce. This award is for you, fathers, sitting in a single-sex hostel, separated from your children for 11 months a year... This award is for you, mothers in the KTC squatter camp, whose shelters are destroyed callously every day, and who sit on soaking mattresses in the winter rain, holding whimpering babies... This award is for you, the 3.5 million of our people who have been uprooted and dumped as if you were rubbish. This award is for you. | source=β Desmond Tutu's speech on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=17|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=213}} | align = right | width = 25em }} By the 1980s, Tutu was an icon for many black South Africans, a status rivalled only by Mandela.{{sfn|Gish|2004|pp=79, 86}} In August 1983, he became a patron of the new anti-apartheid [[United Democratic Front (South Africa)|United Democratic Front]] (UDF).{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=235|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=95|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3p=206}} Tutu angered much of South Africa's press and white minority,{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=78}} especially apartheid supporters.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=78}} Pro-government media like ''[[The Citizen (South Africa)|The Citizen]]'' and the [[South African Broadcasting Corporation]] criticised him,{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=202}} often focusing on how his middle-class lifestyle contrasted with the poverty of the blacks he claimed to represent.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=85}} He received [[hate mail]] and death threats from white far-right groups like the [[Barend Strydom|Wit Wolwe]].{{sfnm|1a1=Gish|1y=2004|1p=78|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2p=201}} Although he remained close with prominent white liberals like [[Helen Suzman]],{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=203}} his angry anti-government rhetoric also alienated many white liberals like [[Alan Paton]] and [[Bill Burnett]], who believed that apartheid could be gradually reformed away.{{sfn|Allen|2006|pp=203β205}} In 1984, Tutu embarked on a three-month sabbatical at the [[General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church]] in New York.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=200|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2p=95|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3p=211}} In the city, he was invited to address the [[United Nations Security Council]],{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=99}} later meeting the [[Congressional Black Caucus]] and the subcommittees on Africa in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] and the [[United States Senate|Senate]].{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=100}} He was also invited to the [[White House]], where he unsuccessfully urged President [[Ronald Reagan]] to change his approach to South Africa.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=207|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2pp=100β101|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3pp=249β250}} He was troubled that Reagan had a warmer relationship with South Africa's government than his predecessor [[Jimmy Carter]], describing Reagan's government as "an unmitigated disaster for us blacks".{{sfn|Gish|2004|pp=92β93, 95}} Tutu later called Reagan "a racist pure and simple".{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=255}} In New York City, Tutu was informed that he had won the 1984 [[Nobel Peace Prize]]; he had previously been nominated in 1981, 1982, and 1983.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=200|2a1=Allen|2y=2006|2pp=209β210}} The Nobel Prize selection committee had wanted to recognise a South African and thought Tutu would be a less controversial choice than Mandela or [[Mangosuthu Buthelezi]].{{sfn|Allen|2006|pp=210β211}} In December, he attended the award ceremony in [[Oslo]]βwhich was hampered by a bomb scareβbefore returning home via Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Tanzania, and Zambia.{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=208|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2pp=101β102|3a1=Allen|3y=2006|3pp=219β220}} He shared the US$192,000 prize money with his family, SACC staff, and a scholarship fund for South Africans in exile.{{sfn|Allen|2006|p=215}} He was the second South African to receive the award, after [[Albert Luthuli]] in 1960.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=95}} South Africa's government and mainstream media either downplayed or criticised the award,{{sfnm|1a1=Du Boulay|1y=1988|1p=203|2a1=Gish|2y=2004|2pp=97β98}} while the [[Organisation of African Unity]] hailed it as evidence of apartheid's impending demise.{{sfn|Gish|2004|p=96}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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