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Desmond Tutu
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This SourceDesmond Mpilo Tutu (born 7 October 1931) is a South African cleric and activist who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. Tutu was elected and ordained the first black South African Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, and primate of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (now the Anglican Church of Southern Africa). He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism, and the Magubela prize for liberty in 1986. He is committed to stopping global AIDS and has served as the honorary chairman for the Global AIDS Alliance. In February 2007 he was awarded Gandhi Peace Prize by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, president of India.
He was generally credited with coining the term Rainbow Nation as a metaphor for post-apartheid South Africa after 1994 under African National Congress rule. The expression has since entered mainstream consciousness to describe South Africa's ethnic diversity.
Background
Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born in Klerksdorp, Transvaal on 7 October, 1931, the son of Zacheriah Zililo Tutu. Tutu's family moved to Johannesburg when he was 12 years old. Although he wanted to become a physician, his family could not afford the training, and he followed his father's footsteps into teaching. Tutu studied at the Pretoria Bantu Normal College from 1951 through 1953, and went on to teach at Johannesburg Bantu High School and at Munsieville High School in Pietermaritzburg. However, he resigned following the passage of the Bantu Education Act, in protest of the poor educational prospects for African South Africans. He continued his studies, this time in theology, at St Peter's Theology College in Rosettenville and in 1960 was ordained as an Anglican minister. Tutu then travelled to King's College London, (1962–1966), where he received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Theology. During this time he worked as a part-time curate, first at St Albans Cathedral and then at St. Mary's in Bletchingley, Surrey. He later returned to South Africa and from 1967 until 1972 used his lectures to highlight the circumstances of the African population. He wrote a letter to Prime Minister Vorster, in which he described the situation in South Africa as a "powder barrel that can explode at any time." The letter was never answered. He became chaplain at the University of Fort Hare in 1967, a hotbed of dissent and one of the few quality universities for African students in the southern part of Africa. From 1970 to 1972, Tutu lectured at the National University of Lesotho .In 1972 Tutu returned to the UK, where he was appointed vice-director of the Theological Education Fund of the World Council of Churches, at Bromley in Kent. He returned to South Africa in 1975 and was appointed Anglican Dean of Johannesburg—the first African person to hold that position.
In 1984 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace, as a gesture of support for him and The South African Council of Churches which he led at that time.
In 1987 Tutu was awarded the Pacem in Terris Award. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. Pacem in Terris is Latin for 'Peace on Earth.'
Personal life
He has been married to Leah Nomalizo Tutu since 2 July 1955. They have four children: Trevor Thamsanqa Tutu, Theresa Thandeka Tutu, Naomi Nontombi Tutu and Mpho Andrea Tutu, all of whom attended the Waterford Kamhlaba School in Swaziland.
In 1996, Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer. 
In 1998, he was appointed as the Robert R Woodruff Visiting Professor at Emory University, Atlanta. He returned to Emory University the following year as the William R Cannon Visiting Distinguished Professor. Since 2004, he has been a Visiting Professor at King's College London.
In Spring 2007, he joined 600 college students and sailed around the world with Semester at Sea.
Political work
In 1976 protests in Soweto, also known as the Soweto Riots, against the government's use of Afrikaans as a compulsory medium of instruction in black schools became a massive uprising against apartheid. From then on Tutu supported an economic boycott of his country. He vigorously opposed the "constructive engagement" policy of the Reagan administration in the United States, which advocated "friendly persuasion."Desmond Tutu was Bishop of Lesotho from 1976 until 1978, when he became Secretary-General of the South African Council of Churches. From this position, he was able to continue his work against apartheid with agreement from nearly all churches. Tutu consistently advocated reconciliation between all parties involved in apartheid through his writings and lectures at home and abroad. Though he was most firm in denouncing South Africa's white-ruled government, Tutu was also harsh in his criticism of the violent tactics of some anti-apartheid groups such as the African National Congress and denounced terrorism and Communism.
Tutu's opposition was vigorous and unequivocal, and he was outspoken both in South Africa and abroad, often comparing apartheid to Nazism and Communism. As a result the government twice revoked his passport, and he was jailed briefly in 1980 after a protest march. It was thought by many that Tutu's increasing international reputation and his rigorous advocacy of non-violence protected him from harsher penalties.
On 16 October 1984, Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee cited his "role as a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa.
In 1985, Tutu was appointed the Bishop of Johannesburg before he became the first black person to lead the Anglican Church in South Africa on 7 September 1986. From 1987 to 1997 he was president of the All Africa Conference of Churches. In 1989 he was invited to Birmingham, England, United Kingdom as part of Citywide Christian Celebrations. Tutu and his wife visited a number of establishments including the Nelson Mandela School in Sparkbrook.
In 1990, Tutu and the ex-Vice Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape Professor Jakes Gerwel founded the Desmond Tutu Educational Trust. The Trust was established to fund developmental programmes in tertiary education and provides capacity building at 17 historically disadvantaged institutions. In 2001, the Trust, with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, launched the Desmond Tutu Footprints of the Legends Awards which recognises leadership in combating prejudice, human rights, research and poverty eradication.
In 1993, he was a patron of the Cape Town Olympic Bid Committee. In 1994 he was a appointed a patron of the World Campaign Against Military and Nuclear Collaboration with South Africa, Beacon Millennium and Action from Ireland. In 1995 he became a patron of the American Harmony Child Foundation and the Hospice Association of Southern Africa. After the fall of apartheid, he headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, for which he was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize in 1999. In 2000, he founded the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation to raise funds for the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre in Cape Town. In 2002, he launched the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation USA, which is designed to work with universities nationwide to create leadership academies emphasising peace, social justice and reconciliation.
In 2003, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Criminal Court's Trust Fund for Victims.
He was named a member of the UN advisory panel on genocide prevention in 2006.
Politics and political views
United Nations
The Nobel laureate has expressed support for the West Papuan independence movement, criticizing the United Nations' role in the takeover of West Papua by Indonesia. Tutu said: "For many years the people of South Africa suffered under the yoke of oppression and apartheid. Many people continue to suffer brutal oppression, where their fundamental dignity as human beings is denied. One such people is the people of West Papua."G8
Before the 31st G8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland in 2005, Tutu called on world leaders to promote free trade with poorer countries. Tutu also called on an end to expensive taxes on anti-AIDS drugs. Tutu said:"I would hope they would begin to say, 'lets to do something about subsidies'. You ask the so-called-developing world, 'Why can't you people produce more?' - and they produce - and then they find that the markets have barriers that are put down or are clobbered twice over. I would hope that people would realise that ultimately it is in their own interest to begin to have a more equitable international economic system. So I hope you people here in Scotland will come out and say G8, do something useful.
On Mugabe
Tutu has criticised human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, calling Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe a "caricature of an African dictator", and criticising the South African government's policy of quiet diplomacy towards Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe, on the other hand, has called Tutu a "angry, evil and embittered little bishop".He warned of corruption shortly after the election of the African National Congress government of South Africa, saying that they "stopped the gravy train just long enough to get on themselves.
"We Africans should hang our heads in shame. How can what is happening in Zimbabwe elicit hardly a word of concern let alone condemnation from us leaders of Africa? After the horrible things done to hapless people in Harare, has come the recent crackdown on members of the opposition ... what more has to happen before we who are leaders, religious and political, of our mother Africa are moved to cry out 'Enough is enough?"
On slavery
In June 1999, Tutu was invited to give the annual Wilberforce Lecture in Kingston upon Hull, commemorating the life and achievements of the anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce. Tutu used the occasion to praise the people of the city for their traditional support of freedom and for standing with the people of South Africa in their fight against apartheid. He was also presented with the freedom of the city.On children
In 2005, Tutu launched a global campaign, organised by Plan, to ensure that all children were registered at birth, as an unregistered child did not officially exist and was vulnerable to traffickers and during disasters. Tutu said a birth document was important because it "proves who you are". Without it children are often barred from education, health care and citizenship. Tutu said:"It is, in a very real sense, a matter of life and death. The unregistered child is a nonentity. The unregistered child does not exist. How can we live with the knowledge that we could have made a difference?
Social psychology
Tutu has contributed to the field of social psychology. His writing appeared in Greater Good Magazine, published by the Greater Good Science Center of the University of California, Berkeley. His contributions include the interpretation of scientific research into the roots of compassion, altruism, and peaceful human relationships. His most recent article with Greater Good magazine is titled: "Why to Forgive", which examines how forgiveness is not only personally rewarding, but also politically necessary in allowing South Africa to have a new beginning. However, Tutu states that forgiveness is not turning a blind eye to wrongs; true reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the pain, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring healing.On Israel and relationship with the Jewish community
Tutu has spoken of the significant role Jews played in the anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa, has voiced support for Israel's security concerns, and has spoken against tactics of suicide bombing and incitement to hatred. He is also an active and prominent proponent of the campaign for divestment from Israel, and has likened Israel's treatment of Palestinians to the treatment of Black South Africans under apartheid.In 1988, the American Jewish Committee noted that Tutu was strongly critical of Israel's military and other connections with apartheid-era South Africa, and quoted him as saying that Zionism has "very many parallels with racism", on the grounds that it "excludes people on ethnic or other grounds over which they have no control". While the AJC was critical of some of Tutu's views, it was dismissive of "insidious rumours" that he had made anti-Semitic statements.
Tutu preached a message of forgiveness during a 1989 trip to Israel's Yad Vashem museum, saying "Our Lord would say that in the end the positive thing that can come is the spirit of forgiving, not forgetting, but the spirit of saying: God, this happened to us. We pray for those who made it happen, help us to forgive them and help us so that we in our turn will not make others suffer. Some found this statement offensive, with Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center calling it “a gratuitous insult to Jews and victims of Nazism everywhere.” Tutu was subjected to racial slurs during this visit to Israel, with vandals writing "Black Nazi pig" on the walls of the St. George's Cathedral in East Jerusalem, where he was staying.
In 2002, when delivering a public lecture in support of divestment, Tutu said "My heart aches. I say why are our memories so short. Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon? Have they turned their backs on their profound and noble religious traditions? Have they forgotten that God cares deeply about the downtrodden?" He argued that Israel could never live in security by oppressing another people, and continued, "People are scared in this country [the US], to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful - very powerful. Well, so what? For goodness sake, this is God's world! We live in a moral universe. The apartheid government was very powerful, but today it no longer exists. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pinochet, Milosevic, and Idi Amin were all powerful, but in the end they bit the dust." The latter statement was criticized by some Jewish groups, including the Anti-Defamation League. When he edited and reprinted parts of his speech in 2005, Tutu replaced the phrase "Jewish lobby" with "pro-Israel lobby".
In 2003, Tutu accepted the role as patron of Sabeel International, a Christian liberation theology organization which supports the concerns of the Palestinian Christian community and has actively lobbied the International Christian community for divestment from Israel.
Also in 2003, Archbishop Tutu received an International Advocate for Peace Award from the Cardozo School of Law, an affiliate of Yeshiva University, sparking scattered student protests and condemnations from representatives of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Anti-Defamation League. A 2006 opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post newspaper described him as "a friend, albeit a misguided one, of Israel and the Jewish people". The Zionist Organization of America has led a campaign to protest Tutu's appearances at North American campuses.
In 2007, the president of the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota canceled a planned speech from Tutu, on the grounds that his presence might offend some members of the local Jewish community. Many faculty members opposed this decision, and with some describing Tutu as the victim of a smear campaign. Marv Davidov, an adjunct professor at the university's Justice and Peace Studies program, was quoted as saying "As a Jew who experienced real anti-Semitism as a child, I'm deeply disturbed that a man like Tutu could be labeled anti-Semitic and silenced like this. I deeply resent the Israeli lobby trying to silence any criticism of its policy. It does a great disservice to Israel and to all Jews. The school's president, Rev. Dennis Dease, denied that a lobbying effort had been conducted against Tutu, and was quoted as saying, "I was under no pressure from any pro-Israeli groups or individuals, nor did I receive any requests from them to refrain from inviting Archbishop Tutu to speak.
The group Jewish Voice for Peace led an email campaign calling on St. Thomas to reconsider its decision. On October, 10, 2007, Rev. Dease reversed his decision in a letter to students and faculty and invited Tutu to campus.
In October 2007, Tutu visited Boston, Massachusetts where he sparked controversy after speaking at a conference entitled The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel. Members of Boston's Jewish community criticized Tutu's comparison of Israel with Apartheid in South Africa, saying drawing such a parallel was inappropriate and unfair.
Beit Hanoun
Desmond Tutu was named to head a United Nations fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, where, in a November 2006 incident the Israel Defense Forces killed 19 civilians after troops wound up a week-long incursion aimed at curbing Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel from the town.. Tutu planned to travel to the Palestinian territory to "assess the situation of victims, address the needs of survivors and make recommendations on ways and means to protect Palestinian civilians against further Israeli assaults," according to the president of the UN Human Rights Council, Luis Alfonso De Alba. Israeli officials expressed concern that the report would be biased against Israel.Tutu cancelled the trip in mid-December, saying that Israel had refused to grant him the necessary travel clearance after more than a week of discussions. A spokesman from the Israeli foreign ministry indicated that no final decision had been made, to which Tutu responded, "At times not making a decision is making a decision. We couldn't obviously wait in limbo indefinitely. The Anti-Defamation League stated that the appointment of Tutu as head of the mission is not appropriate on the grounds that he would be a prepossessed observer, and criticized the mission for having not "address[ed] the continuing barrage of Kassam rockets fired into Israel by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, killing and maiming Israeli citizens...Tutu has already publicly expressed his anti-Israel views and his opinions regarding what happened in Beit Hanoun, and combined with the one-sided anti-Israel mandate provided by the resolution, the results of the mission are all-but preordained"
War on Terror
In January 2003, Tutu attacked British Prime Minister Tony Blair's stance in supporting American President George W. Bush over Iraq. The alliance of Britain and the United States of America led to the outbreak of the Iraq War later that year. Tutu asked why Iraq was being singled out when Europe, India and Pakistan also had weapons of mass destruction. Tutu demanded:
"When does compassion, when does morality, when does caring come in? I just hope that one day that people will realise that peace is a far better path to follow. Many, many of us are deeply saddened to see a great country such as the United States aided and abetted extraordinarily by Britain. I have a great deal of time for your prime minister but I'm shocked to see a powerful country use its power frequently, unilaterally. The United States says you do this to the world, if you don't do it we will do it - that's sad.
In October 2004, Tutu appeared in a play at Off Broadway, New York called Guantanamo - Honour-bound to Defend Freedom. This play was highly critical of the US handling of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Tutu played Lord Justice Steyn, a judge who questions the legal justification of the detention regime.
In January 2005, Tutu added his voice to the growing dissent over terrorist suspects held at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, referring to detentions without trial as "utterly unacceptable." Tutu said:
"The rule of law is in order to ensure that those who have power don't use their power arbitrarily and every person retains their human rights until you have proven conclusively that so-and-so is in fact guilty. Whilst we are saying thank you that these have been released, what is happening to those left behind? We in South Africa used to have a dispensation that detained people without trial and the world quite rightly condemned that as unacceptable. Now if it was unacceptable then how come it can be acceptable to Britain and the United States. It is so, so deeply distressing. I am opposed to any arbitrary detention that is happening, even in Britain.
In February 2006, Tutu repeated these statements after a UN report was published which called for the closure of the camp. Tutu stated that the Guantanamo Bay camp was a stain on the character of the United States, while the legislation in Britain which gave a 28 day detention period for terror suspects was "excessive" and "untenable". Tutu pointed out that similar arguments were being made in Britain and the United States which the South African apartheid regime had used. "It is disgraceful and one cannot find strong enough words to condemn what Britain and the United States and some of their allies have accepted," said Tutu. Tutu also attacked Tony Blair's failed attempt to hold terrorist suspects in Britain for up to 90 days without charge. "Ninety days for a South African is an awful deja-vu because we had in South Africa in the bad old days a 90-day detention law," he said. Under apartheid, as at Guantanamo Bay, people were held for "unconscionably long periods" and then released, he said. Tutu stated:
"Are you able to restore to those people the time when their freedom was denied them? If you have evidence for goodness sake produce it in a court of law. People with power have an incredible capacity for wanting to be able to retain that power and don't like scrutiny.
HIV/AIDS
On 20 April 2005, after Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected as Pope Benedict XVI, Tutu said he was sad that the Roman Catholic Church was unlikely to change its opposition to condoms amidst the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa: "We would have hoped for someone more open to the more recent developments in the world, the whole question of the ministry of women and a more reasonable position with regards to condoms and HIV/AIDS.What Tutu fails to understand is that people are not going to use condoms. Until a condom is invented that does not hinder any sexual pleasures or people start caring about their partners in third world countries, all efforts will be useless.
On the Church
In 2002, Tutu called for a reform of the Anglican Church in regard to how its leader, the Archbishop of Canterbury is chosen. The ultimate appointment is made by the British Prime Minister and thus Tutu said that the selection process will only be properly democratic and representative when the link between church and state is broken. In 1990, Tutu was considered as Archbishop of Canterbury, however George Carey was chosen in his stead. Tutu has commented that he is "glad" that he was not chosen as once installed in Lambeth Palace, he would have been homesick for South Africa, unhappy to be away from home during a critical time in the country's history.In 2003 he became the patron of Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center located in Jerusalem.
In February 2006 Tutu took part in the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, held in Porto Alegre, Brazil. There he manifested his commitment to ecumenism and praised the efforts of Christian churches to promote dialogue to diminish their differences. For Desmond, "a united church is no optional extra."
On homosexuality
In the debate about Anglican views of homosexuality he has opposed Christian discrimination against homosexuals. Commenting days after the 5 August 2003 election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay man to be a bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Desmond Tutu said, "In our Church here in South Africa, that doesn't make a difference. We just say that at the moment, we believe that they should remain celibate and we don't see what the fuss is about.Declared Tutu: "I am deeply saddened at a time when we've got such huge problems ... that we should invest so much time and energy in this issue...I think God is weeping."
...
"Jesus did not say, 'If I be lifted up I will draw some." Jesus said, 'If I be lifted up I will draw all, all, all, all, all. Black, white, yellow, rich, poor, clever, not so clever, beautiful, not so beautiful. It's one of the most radical things. All, all, all, all, all, all, all, all. All belong. Gay, lesbian, so-called straight. All, all are meant to be held in this incredible embrace that will not let us go. All'."
"Isn't it sad, that in a time when we face so many devastating problems – poverty, HIV/AIDS, war and conflict – that in our Communion we should be investing so much time and energy on disagreement about sexual orientation?" [The Communion, which] "used to be known for embodying the attribute of comprehensiveness, of inclusiveness, where we were meant to accommodate all and diverse views, saying we may differ in our theology but we belong together as sisters and brothers" now seems "hell-bent on excommunicating one another. God must look on and God must weep.
Since then Dr. Tutu has increased his criticism of conservative attitudes to homosexuality within his own church, equating homophobia with racism. Stating at a conference in Nairobi that he is "deeply disturbed that in the face of some of the most horrendous problems facing Africa, we concentrate on 'what do I do in bed with whom'".
In an interview with BBC Radio 4 on the 18th of November 2007, Archbishop Desmond Tutu accused the church of being obsessed with homosexuality and declared:
"If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God.
Haiti
In 2004, Tutu spoke against South Africa's acceptance of ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrande Aristide for political asylum.Archbishop Tutu said: "I would have hoped that he had gone anywhere but South Africa. But if it is a case of us preventing him from being killed I suppose that it is okay, but if there are charges that he should face, I think he should face those charges, if there is a guarantee that he would have safe passage and a proper trial. It's unlikely. However each of us has the capacity to become a saint, even the worst dictator.
Chairman of The Elders
On July 18, 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel, and Desmond Tutu convened "The The Elders, a group of world leaders to contribute their wisdom, leadership and integrity to tackle some of the world's toughest problems. Mandela announced its formation in a speech on his 89th birthday. Archbishop Tutu is to serve as its Chair. Other founding members include Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Jimmy Carter, Li Zhaoxing, Mary Robinson, Muhammad Yunus and Aung San Suu Kyi, whose chair was left symbolically empty due to her confinement as a political prisoner in Burma.“This group can speak freely and boldly, working both publicly and behind the scenes on whatever actions need to be taken,” Mandela commented. “Together we will work to support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict, and inspire hope where there is despair.”
The Elders will be independently funded by a group of Founders, including Richard Branson, Peter Gabriel, Ray Chambers, Michael Chambers, Bridgeway Foundation, Pam Omidyar, Humanity United, Amy Robbins, Shashi Ruia, Dick Tarlow and the United Nations Foundation.
The Elders' first mission was to travel to Sudan in September-October 2007 to foster peace in the Darfur crisis. "Our hope is that we can keep Darfur in the spotlight and spur on governments to help keep peace in the region," said Tutu.
Criticism of Tutu
Nelson Mandela Foundation Lecture
After a decade of freedom for South Africa, Archbishop Tutu was honored with the invitation to deliver the annual Nelson Mandela Foundation Lecture. On November 23, 2004 Tutu was given the address entitled, "Look to the Rock from Which You Were Hewn'. This lecture, critical of the ANC-controlled government, stirred a pot of controversy between Tutu and Thabo Mbeki, calling into question "the right to criticise." He made a stinging attack against South Africa's political elite, saying the country was "sitting on a powder keg" because of its failure to alleviate poverty a decade after apartheid's end. Tutu also said that attempts to boost black economic ownership were only benefiting an elite minority, while political "kowtowing" within the ruling ANC was hampering democracy."What is black empowerment when it seems to benefit not the vast majority but an elite that tends to be recycled?"The archbishop criticised politicians for debating whether to give the poor an income grant of $16 (£12) a month and said the idea should be seriously considered. Tutu has often spoken in support of the Basic Income Grant (BIG) which has so far been defeated in parliament. After the first round of volleys were fired, South African Press Association journalist, Ben Maclennan reported Tutu's response as:
"Thank you Mr President for telling me what you think of me, that I am--a liar with scant regard for the truth, and a charlatan posing with his concern for the poor, the hungry, the oppressed and the voiceless." --Tutu.
Tutu's relationship with Jacob Zuma
In August 2006 Archbishop Tutu publicly urged Jacob Zuma, the South African politician who had been accused of sexual crimes and corruption, to drop out of the ANC's presidential succession race. He said in a public lecture that he would not be able to hold his "head high" if Zuma became leader after being accused both of rape and corruption. In September 2006, Tutu repeated his opposition to Zuma's candidacy as ANC leader due to Zuma's "moral failingsThe head of the Congress of South African Students condemned Tutu as a "loose cannon" and a "scandalous man" - a reaction which prompted an angry Mbeki to side with Tutu. Zuma's personal advisor responded by accusing Tutu of having double standards and "selective amnesia" (as well as being old). Elias Khumalo claims the archbishop "had found it so easy to accept the apology from the apartheid government that committed unspeakable atrocities against millions of South Africans", yet now "cannot find it in his heart to accept the apology from this humble man who has erred". Tutu and Zuma’s public criticism of each other are reflections of a turbulent time in South African politics.
Honours
Media/film appearances
- For the Bible Tells Me So (2007)
- Virgin Radio (2007) - Tutu contacted Virgin Radio on October 15 2007 in the "Who's Calling Christian" phone in where famous people ring in to raise a substantial amount of money for charity.
- The Foolishness of God: Desmond Tutu and Forgiveness (2007) (post-production) .... Himself
- Our Story Our Voice (2007) (completed) .... Himself
- 2006 Trumpet Awards (2006) (TV) .... Himself
- De skrev historie .... Himself (1 episode, 2005)
- The Shot That Shook the World (2005) (TV) .... Himself
- The Peace! DVD (2005) (V) .... Himself
- The Charlie Rose Show .... Himself (1 episode, 2005)
- Out of Africa: Heroes and Icons (2005) (TV) .... Himself
- Big Ideas That Changed the World (2005) (mini) TV Series .... Himself
- Breakfast with Frost .... Himself (3 episodes, 2004-2005)
- Tavis Smiley .... Himself (1 episode, 2005)
- The South Bank Show .... Himself (1 episode, 2005)
- Wall Street: A Wondering Trip (2004) (TV) .... Himself
- The Daily Show .... Himself (1 episode, 2004)
- Bonhoeffer (2003) .... Himself
- Long Night's Journey Into Day (2000) (as Archbishop Desmond Tutu) .... Himself
- Epidemic Africa (1999) .... Host
- Cape Divided (1999) .... Himself
- A Force More Powerful (1999) .... Himself
Popular culture
- The British lower second-class honours undergraduate degree, a "2:2" (pronounced "two-two"), is colloquially known as a "Desmond" in his honour – see British undergraduate degree classification.
- Austrian-American director Billy Wilder once said: "My English is a mixture between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Archbishop Tutu".
- In the Friends episode The One With the Two Parties Rachel is quoted as saying "My parents happened. All they had to do was sit in the same stadium, smile proudly, and not talk about the divorce. But nooo, they got into a huge fight in the middle of the commencement address. Bishop Tutu actually had to stop and shush them."
- The pub at King's College London is known as Tutu's in his honour.
- In 1986, Miles Davis released a jazz album called Tutu in honour of Archbishop Tutu.
- In 1988, Enja Records founded a minor jazz label called Tutu Records.
Quotes by Tutu
- "When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.
- "My heart aches. I say why are our memories so short. Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon? Have they turned their backs on their profound and chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."
- "Good is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate; light is stronger than darkness; life is stronger than death. Victory is ours, through him who loves us."
- "If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn’t worship that God."
- "A person is a person because he recognizes others as persons."
- "Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.
- "Children are a wonderful gift. They have an extraordinary capacity to see into the heart of things and to expose sham and humbug for what they are.
- "Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."
- "For goodness sake, will they hear, will white people hear what we are trying to say? Please, all we are asking you to do is to recognize that we are humans, too.
- "I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.
- "I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of human rights.
- "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."
- "I am fifty-two years of age. I am a bishop in the Anglican Church, and a few people might be constrained to say that I was reasonably responsible. In the land of my birth I cannot vote, whereas a young person of eighteen can vote. And why? Because he or she possesses that wonderful biological attribute -- a white skin."
- "My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together."
- "Niger is not an isolated island of desperation. It lies within a sea of problems across Africa - particularly the 'forgotten emergencies' in poor countries or regions with little strategic or material appeal."
- "Those who invest in South Africa should not think they are doing us a favor; they are here for what they get out of our cheap and abundant labor, and they should know that they are buttressing one of the most vicious systems."
- "We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low."
- "We would like to see you departing peacefully."
- "What is black empowerment when it seems to benefit not the vast majority but an elite that tends to be recycled?"
- "When a pile of cups is tottering on the edge of the table and you warn that they will crash to the ground, in South Africa you are blamed when that happens."
- "Without forgiveness, there's no future."
- "You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.
- "You must show the world that you abhor fighting."
- "History, like beauty, depends largely on the beholder, so when you read that, for example, David Livingstone discovered the Victoria Falls, you might be forgiven for thinking that there was nobody around the Falls until Livingstone arrived on the scene."
- "Freedom and liberty lose out by default because good people are not vigilant."
- "We who advocate peace are becoming an irrelevance when we speak peace. The government speaks rubber bullets, live bullets, tear gas, police dogs, detention, and death.
- "At home in South Africa I have sometimes said in big meetings where you have black and white together: 'Raise your hands!' Then I have said: 'Move your hands,' and I've said 'Look at your hands - different colors representing different people. You are the Rainbow People of God.'
- "It was relatively easy, we now realize, to categorize countries and nations. You knew who your enemies were and whom you could count on as collaborators and friends. And even more importantly, you had ready-made scapegoats to take the blame when things were going wrong.
- "There are different kinds of justice. Retributive justice is largely Western. The African understanding is far more restorative - not so much to punish as to redress or restore a balance that has been knocked askew.
- "Resentment and anger are bad for your blood pressure and your digestion."
- "Without forgiveness there can be no future for a relationship between individuals or within and between nations."
- "South Africa, so utterly improbably, is a beacon of hope in a dark and troubled world."
- "I don't preach a social gospel; I preach the Gospel, period. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is concerned for the whole person. When people were hungry, Jesus didn't say, "Now is that political or social?" He said, "I feed you." Because the good news to a hungry person is bread."
- "I long and work for a South Africa that is more open and more just; Where people count and where they have equal access to the good things of life; With equal opportunity to live, work and learn."
- "What has happened to us? It seems as if we have perverted our freedom, our rights into license, into being irresponsible. Perhaps we did not realise just how apartheid has damaged us so that we seem to have lost our sense of right and wrong" (on South Africa's horrific rates of violent crime and rape).
- "We refuse to be treated as the doormat for the government to wipe its jackboots on.
- "Fundamental rights belong to the human being just because you are a human being."
- "I will never tell anyone to pick up a gun. But I will pray for the man who picks up a gun, pray that he will be less cruel than he might otherwise have been...."
- "The reprisal against the suicide bomber does not bring peace. There is a suicide bomber, a reprisal and then a counter-reprisal. And it just goes on and on."
- "Reconciliation is a long process. We don't have the kind of race clashes that we thought would happen. What we have is xenophobia, and it's very distressing. But maybe you ought to be lenient with us. We've been free for just 12 years."
- "Ubuntu is very difficult to render into a Western language... It is to say, 'My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in what is yours.'"
Bibliography
Primary
Tutu is the author of seven collections of sermons and other writings:
- Crying in the Wilderness, 1982.
- Hope and Suffering: Sermons and Speeches, 1983.
- The Words of Desmond Tutu, 1989.
- Worshipping Church in Africa, 1995.
- The Essential Desmond Tutu, 1997.
- No Future without Forgiveness, Doubleday, 1999. ISBN 978-0-385-49689-6
- An African Prayerbook, Doubleday, 2000. ISBN 978-0385-47730-7
- God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time, Doubleday, 2004. ISBN 978-0385-47784-0
- The Rainbow People of God: The Making of a Peaceful Revolution, Doubleday, 1994. ISBN 978-0-385-47546-4
Tutu has also co authored numerous books:
- "Bounty in Bondage: Anglican Church in Southern Africa - Essays in Honour of Edward King, Dean of Cape Town" with Frank England, Torguil Paterson, and Torquil Paterson (1989)
- "Resistance Art in South Africa" with Sue Williamson (1990)
- The Rainbow People of God with John Allen (1994)
- "Freedom from Fear: And Other Writings" with Vaclav Havel and Aung San Suu Kyi (1995)
- "Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu" with and Michael Jesse Battle (1997)
- "Exploring Forgiveness" with Robert D. Enright and Joanna North (1998)
- "Love in Chaos: Spiritual Growth and the Search for Peace in Northern Ireland" with Mary McAleese (1999)
- "Race and Reconciliation in South Africa (Global Encounters: Studies in Comparative Political Theory)" with William Vugt and G. Daan Cloete (2000)
- "South Africa: A Modern History" with T.R.H. Davenport and Christopher Saunders (2000)
- "At the Side of Torture Survivors: Treating a Terrible Assault on Human Dignity" with Bahman Nirumand, Sepp Graessner and Norbert Gurris (2001)
- "Place of Compassion" with Kenneth E. Luckman (2001)
- "Passion for Peace: Exercising Power Creatively" with Stuart Rees (2002)
- "Out of Bounds (New Windmills)" with Beverley Naidoo (2003)
- "Fly, Eagle, Fly!" with Christopher Gregorowski and Niki Daly (2003)
- "Sex, Love and Homophobia: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Lives" with Amnesty International, Vanessa Baird and Grayson Perry (2004)
- "Toward a Jewish Theology of Liberation" with Gustavo Gutierrez and Marc H. Ellis (2004)
- "Radical Compassion: The Life and Times of Archbishop Ted Scott" with Hugh McCullum (2004)
- "Third World Health: Hostage to First World Wealth" with Theodore MacDonald (2005)
- "Where God Happens: Discovering Christ in One Another and Other Lessons from the Desert Fathers" with Rowan Williams (2005)
- "Health, Trade and Human Rights" with Mogobe Ramose and Theodore H. MacDonald (2006)
- "The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa" with Marcus Samuelsson, Heidi Sacko Walters and Gediyon Kifle (2006)
- "The Gospel According to Judas WMA: By Benjamin Iscariot" with Jeffrey Archer, Frank Moloney (2007)
Secondary
- Shirley du Boulay, Tutu: Voice of the Voiceless (Eerdmans, 1988).
- Michael J. Battle, Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu (Pilgrim Press, 1997).
- Steven D. Gish, Desmond Tutu: A Biography (Greenwood, 2004).
- David Hein, "Bishop Tutu's Christology." Cross Currents 34 (1984): 492-99.
- David Hein, "Religion and Politics in South Africa." Modern Age 31 (1987): 21-30.
- John Allen, Rabble-Rouser for Peace: The Authorised Biography of Desmond Tutu (Rider Books, 2007).
References and notes
External links
- Desmond Tutu Diversity Trust
- The Desmond Tutu Peace Centre
- Tutu Foundation UK
- Nobel e-Museum Nobel Peace Prize
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace Studies at Liverpool Hope University
- IMDB Profile
- Nobel lecture, 11 December 1984
- Desmond Tutu on The Hour
- http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/archive/2004fallwinter/Fall04_Tutu.pdf
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