Desmond Tutu - Wikipedia

Desmond Tutu - Wikipedia
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South African bishop and anti-apartheid activist (1931–2021)
The Most Reverend
Desmond Tutu
OMSG
CH
GCStJ
Archbishop of Cape Town
Bishop of the
Anglican Church of Southern Africa
Chairman of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Tutu
c.
2004
Church
Anglican Church of Southern Africa
See
Cape Town
Installed
7 September 1986
Predecessor
Philip Russell
Successor
Njongonkulu Ndungane
Other posts
Bishop of Lesotho
Bishop of Johannesburg
Orders
Ordination
1960 (deacon)
1961 (priest)
Consecration
1976
Personal details
Born
Desmond Mpilo Tutu
1931-10-07
7 October 1931
Klerksdorp
Transvaal
, Union of South Africa
Died
26 December 2021
(2021-12-26)
(aged 90)
Cape Town
, Western Cape, South Africa
Spouse
Nomalizo Leah Shenxane
m.
1955
Children
4, including
Mpho
Education
Pretoria Bantu Normal College
University of South Africa
BA
St Peter's Theological College
ThL
King's College London
BDiv
ThM
Signature
Styles
Reference style
Archbishop
Spoken style
Your Grace
Religious style
The Most Reverend
Desmond Mpilo Tutu
(7 October 1931 – 26 December 2021) was a South African
Anglican bishop
and
theologian
, known for his work as an
anti-apartheid
and
human rights activist
. He was
Bishop of Johannesburg
from 1985 to 1986 and then
Archbishop of Cape Town
from 1986 to 1996, in both cases being the first Black African to hold the position. Theologically, he sought to fuse ideas from
Black theology
with
African theology
Tutu was born of mixed
Xhosa
and
Motswana
heritage to a poor family in
Klerksdorp
South Africa
. Entering adulthood, he trained as a teacher and married
Nomalizo Leah Tutu
, with whom he had several children. In 1960, he was ordained as an Anglican priest and in 1962 moved to the United Kingdom to study theology at
King's College London
. In 1966 he returned to southern Africa, teaching at the
Federal Theological Seminary
and then the
University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland
. In 1972, he became the Theological Education Fund's director for Africa, a position based in London but necessitating regular tours of the African continent. Back in southern Africa in 1975, he served first as
dean
of
St Mary's Cathedral
in
Johannesburg
and then as
Bishop of Lesotho
; from 1978 to 1985 he was general-secretary of the
South African Council of Churches
. He emerged as one of the most prominent opponents of South Africa's
apartheid
system of
racial segregation
and
white minority rule
. Although warning the
National Party
government that anger at apartheid would lead to racial violence, as an activist he stressed
non-violent protest
and foreign economic pressure to bring about
universal suffrage
In 1985, Tutu became the
Bishop of Johannesburg
and in 1986 the Archbishop of Cape Town, the most senior position in southern Africa's Anglican hierarchy. In this position, he emphasised a consensus-building model of leadership and oversaw the
introduction of female priests
. Also in 1986, he became president of the
All Africa Conference of Churches
, resulting in further tours of the continent. After President
F. W. de Klerk
released the anti-apartheid activist
Nelson Mandela
from prison in 1990 and the pair led negotiations to end apartheid and introduce multi-racial democracy, Tutu assisted as a mediator between rival black factions. After the
1994 general election
resulted in a
coalition government
headed by Mandela, the latter selected Tutu to chair the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
to investigate past human rights abuses committed by both pro and anti-apartheid groups. Following apartheid's fall, Tutu campaigned for
gay rights
and spoke out on a wide range of subjects, among them his criticism of South African presidents
Thabo Mbeki
and
Jacob Zuma
, his
opposition to the Iraq War
, and describing
Israel's treatment of Palestinians as apartheid
. In 2010, he retired from public life, but continued to speak out on numerous topics and events.
As Tutu rose to prominence in the 1970s, different socio-economic groups and political classes held a wide range of views about him, from critical to admiring. He was popular among South Africa's black majority and was internationally praised for his work involving anti-apartheid activism, for which he won the
Nobel Peace Prize
and other international awards. He also compiled several books of his speeches and sermons.
Early life
edit
Childhood: 1931–1950
edit
Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born on 7 October 1931 in
Klerksdorp
Transvaal
, South Africa.
His mother, Aletta Dorothea Mavoertsek Mathlare, was born to a
Motswana
family in
Boksburg
His father, Zachariah Zelilo Tutu, was from the
amaFengu
branch of
Xhosa
and grew up in
Gcuwa
, Eastern Cape.
At home, the couple spoke the
Xhosa language
Having married in Boksburg,
they moved to Klerksdorp in the late 1950s, living in the city's "native location", or black residential area, since renamed Makoeteng.
Zachariah worked as the principal of a
Methodist
primary school and the family lived in the mud-brick schoolmaster's house in the yard of the Methodist mission.
The Church of Christ the King in Sophiatown, where Tutu was a server under priest Trevor Huddleston
The Tutus were poor;
describing his family, Tutu later related that "although we weren't affluent, we were not destitute either".
He had an older sister, Sylvia Funeka, who called him "Mpilo" (meaning 'life').
10
He was his parents' second son; their firstborn boy, Sipho, had died in infancy.
11
Another daughter, Gloria Lindiwe, was born after him.
12
Tutu was sickly from birth;
13
polio
atrophied his right hand,
14
and on one occasion he was hospitalised with serious burns.
15
Tutu had a close relationship with his father, although angered at the latter's heavy drinking and violence toward his wife.
16
The family were initially Methodists and Tutu was
baptised
into the
Methodist Church
in June 1932.
17
They subsequently changed denominations, first to the
African Methodist Episcopal Church
and then to the
Anglican Church
18
In 1936, the family moved to
Tshing
, where Zachariah became principal of a Methodist school.
15
There, Tutu started his primary education,
learned
Afrikaans
19
and became the server at St Francis Anglican Church.
20
He developed a love of reading, particularly enjoying comic books and European
fairy tales
21
In Tshing his parents had a third son, Tamsanqa, who also died in infancy.
Around 1941, Tutu's mother moved to the
Witwatersrand
to work as a cook at
Ezenzeleni Blind Institute
in Johannesburg. Tutu joined her in the city, living in
Roodepoort West
22
In Johannesburg, he attended a Methodist primary school before transferring to the Swedish Boarding School (SBS) in the
St Agnes Mission
23
Several months later, he moved with his father to
Ermelo
eastern Transvaal
24
After six months, the duo returned to Roodepoort West, where Tutu resumed his studies at SBS.
24
Aged 12, he underwent
confirmation
at St Mary's Church, Roodepoort.
25
Tutu entered the Johannesburg Bantu High School (Madibane High School) in 1945, where he excelled academically.
26
Joining a school
rugby
team, he developed a lifelong love of the sport.
27
Outside of school, he earned money selling oranges and as a
caddie
for white
golfers
28
To avoid the expense of a daily train commute to school, he briefly lived with family nearer to Johannesburg, before moving back in with his parents when they relocated to
Munsieville
29
He then returned to Johannesburg, moving into an Anglican hostel near the Church of Christ the King in
Sophiatown
30
He became a server at the church and came under the influence of its priest,
Trevor Huddleston
31
later biographer
Shirley du Boulay
suggested that Huddleston was "the greatest single influence" in Tutu's life.
32
In 1947, Tutu contracted
tuberculosis
and was hospitalised in
Rietfontein
for 18 months, during which he was regularly visited by Huddleston.
33
In the hospital, he underwent
circumcision
to mark his transition to manhood.
34
He returned to school in 1949 and took his national exams in late 1950, gaining a second-class pass.
35
College and teaching career: 1951–1955
edit
Although Tutu secured admission to study medicine at the
University of the Witwatersrand
, his parents could not afford the tuition fees.
35
Instead, he turned toward teaching, gaining a government scholarship for a course at
Pretoria Bantu Normal College
, a teacher training institution, in 1951.
36
There, he served as treasurer of the Student Representative Council, helped to organise the Literacy and Dramatic Society, and chaired the Cultural and Debating Society.
37
During one debating event he met the lawyer—and future president of South Africa—
Nelson Mandela
; they would not encounter each other again until 1990.
38
At the college, Tutu attained his Transvaal Bantu Teachers Diploma, having gained advice about taking exams from the activist
Robert Sobukwe
39
He had also taken five correspondence courses provided by the
University of South Africa
(UNISA), graduating in the same class as future Zimbabwean leader
Robert Mugabe
40
In 1954, Tutu began teaching English at Madibane High School; the following year, he transferred to the Krugersdorp High School, where he taught English and history.
41
He began courting Nomalizo Leah Shenxane, a friend of his sister Gloria who was studying to become a primary school teacher.
42
They were legally married at Krugersdorp Native Commissioner's Court in June 1955, before undergoing a
Roman Catholic
wedding ceremony at the Church of Mary Queen of Apostles; although an Anglican, Tutu agreed to the ceremony due to Leah's Roman Catholic faith.
43
The newlyweds lived at Tutu's parental home before renting their own six months later.
44
Their first child, Trevor, was born in April 1956;
45
a daughter, Thandeka, appeared 16 months later.
46
The couple worshipped at St Paul's Church, where Tutu volunteered as a Sunday school teacher, assistant choirmaster, church councillor, lay preacher, and sub-deacon;
46
he also volunteered as a football administrator for a local team.
44
Joining the clergy: 1956–1966
edit
Tutu first ministered to a white congregation at the Church of St Alban the Martyr in Golders Green, living with his family in the curate's flat
In 1953, the white-minority
National Party
government introduced the
Bantu Education Act
to further their
apartheid
system of racial segregation and white domination. Disliking the Act, Tutu and his wife left the teaching profession.
47
With Huddleston's support, Tutu chose to become an Anglican priest.
48
In January 1956, his request to join the Ordinands Guild was turned down due to his debts; these were then paid off by the wealthy industrialist
Harry Oppenheimer
49
Tutu was admitted to
St Peter's Theological College
in
Rosettenville
, Johannesburg, which was run by the Anglican
Community of the Resurrection
50
The college was residential, and Tutu lived there while his wife trained as a nurse in
Sekhukhuneland
; their children lived with Tutu's parents in
Munsieville
51
In August 1960, his wife gave birth to another daughter, Naomi.
52
At the college, Tutu studied the Bible, Anglican doctrine, church history, and Christian ethics,
53
earning a
Licentiate of Theology
degree,
54
and winning the archbishop's annual essay prize.
55
The college's principal, Godfrey Pawson, wrote that Tutu "has exceptional knowledge and intelligence and is very industrious. At the same time, he shows no arrogance, mixes in well, and is popular ... He has obvious gifts of leadership."
56
During his years at the college, there had been an intensification in anti-apartheid activism as well as a crackdown against it, including the
Sharpeville massacre
of 1960.
57
Tutu and the other trainees did not engage in anti-apartheid campaigns;
58
he later noted that they were "in some ways a very apolitical bunch".
59
In December 1960,
Edward Paget
ordained Tutu as an Anglican priest at
St Mary's Cathedral
60
Tutu was then appointed assistant curate in St Alban's Parish,
Benoni
, where he was reunited with his wife and children,
61
and earned two-thirds of what his white counterparts were given.
62
In 1962, Tutu was transferred to St Philip's Church in
Thokoza
, where he was placed in charge of the congregation and developed a passion for pastoral ministry.
63
Many in South Africa's white-dominated Anglican establishment felt the need for more black Africans in positions of ecclesiastical authority; to assist in this, Aelfred Stubbs proposed that Tutu train as a theology teacher at
King's College London
(KCL).
64
Funding was secured from the
International Missionary Council
's Theological Education Fund (TEF),
65
and the government agreed to give the Tutus permission to move to Britain.
66
They duly did so in September 1962.
67
During his master's degree, Tutu worked as assistant curate at St Mary's Church in Bletchingley, Surrey.
At KCL, Tutu studied under theologians like
Dennis Nineham
Christopher Evans
Sydney Evans
Geoffrey Parrinder
, and
Eric Mascall
68
In London, the Tutus felt liberated experiencing a life free from South Africa's apartheid and
pass laws
69
he later noted that "there is racism in England, but we were not exposed to it".
70
He was also impressed by the
freedom of speech
in the country, especially at
Speakers' Corner
in London's
Hyde Park
71
The family moved into the curate's flat behind the Church of St Alban the Martyr in
Golders Green
, where Tutu assisted Sunday services, the first time that he had ministered to a white congregation.
72
It was in the flat that a daughter,
Mpho Andrea Tutu
, was born in 1963.
73
Tutu was academically successful and his tutors suggested that he convert to an
honours degree
, which entailed his also studying
Hebrew
74
He received his degree from
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
in a ceremony held at the
Royal Albert Hall
75
Tutu then secured a TEF grant to study for a master's degree,
76
doing so from October 1965 until September 1966, completing his dissertation on
Islam
in West Africa.
77
During this period, the family moved to
Bletchingley
in Surrey, where Tutu worked as the assistant curate of St Mary's Church.
78
In the village, he encouraged cooperation between his Anglican parishioners and the local Roman Catholic and Methodist communities.
79
Tutu's time in London helped him to jettison any bitterness to whites and feelings of racial inferiority; he overcame his habit of automatically deferring to whites.
80
Career during apartheid
edit
Teaching in South Africa and Lesotho: 1966–1972
edit
In 1966, Tutu and his family moved to
East Jerusalem
, where he studied
Arabic
and Greek for two months at
St George's College
81
They then returned to South Africa,
82
settling in
Alice
in 1967. The
Federal Theological Seminary
(Fedsem) had recently been established there as an amalgamation of training institutions from different Christian denominations.
83
At Fedsem, Tutu was employed teaching doctrine, the
Old Testament
, and Greek;
84
Leah became its library assistant.
85
Tutu was the college's first black staff-member,
86
and the campus allowed a level of racial-mixing which was rare in South Africa.
87
The Tutus sent their children to a private boarding school in Swaziland, thereby keeping them from South Africa's Bantu Education syllabus.
88
Tutu joined a pan-Protestant group, the Church Unity Commission,
85
served as a delegate at Anglican-Catholic conversations,
89
and began publishing in
academic journals
89
He also became the Anglican chaplain to the neighbouring
University of Fort Hare
90
in an unusual move for the time, Tutu invited female as well as male students to become servers during the
Eucharist
91
He joined student delegations to meetings of the Anglican Students' Federation and the University Christian Movement,
92
and was broadly supportive of the
Black Consciousness Movement
that emerged from South Africa's 1960s student milieu, although did not share its view on avoiding collaboration with whites.
93
In August 1968, he gave a sermon comparing South Africa's situation with that in the
Eastern Bloc
, likening anti-apartheid protests to the recent
Prague Spring
94
In September, Fort Hare students held a sit-in protest over the university administration's policies; after they were surrounded by police with
dogs
, Tutu waded into the crowd to pray with the protesters.
95
This was the first time that he had witnessed state power used to suppress dissent.
96
In January 1970, Tutu left the seminary for a teaching post at the
University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland
(UBLS) in
Roma, Lesotho
97
This brought him closer to his children and offered twice the salary he earned at Fedsem.
98
He and his wife moved to the UBLS campus; most of his fellow staff members were white expatriates from the US or Britain.
99
As well as his teaching position, he also became the college's Anglican chaplain and the warden of two student residences.
100
In Lesotho, he joined the executive board of the Lesotho Ecumenical Association and served as an
external examiner
for both Fedsem and
Rhodes University
89
He returned to South Africa on several occasions, including to visit his father shortly before the latter's death in February 1971.
89
TEF Africa director: 1972–1975
edit
Black theology seeks to make sense of the life experience of the black man, which is largely black suffering at the hands of rampant white racism, and to understand this in the light of what God has said about himself, about man, and about the world in his very definite Word... Black theology has to do with whether it is possible to be black and continue to be Christian; it is to ask on whose side is God; it is to be concerned about the humanisation of man, because those who ravage our humanity dehumanise themselves in the process; [it says] that the liberation of the black man is the other side of the liberation of the white man—so it is concerned with human liberation.
— Desmond Tutu, in a conference paper presented at the Union Theological Seminary, 1973
101
Tutu accepted TEF's offer of a job as their director for Africa, a position based in England. South Africa's government initially refused permission, regarding him with suspicion since the Fort Hare protests, but relented after Tutu argued that his taking the role would be good publicity for South Africa.
102
In March 1972, he returned to Britain. The TEF's headquarters were in
Bromley
, with the Tutu family settling in nearby
Grove Park
, where Tutu became honorary curate of St Augustine's Church.
103
Tutu's job entailed assessing grants to theological training institutions and students.
104
This required his touring Africa in the early 1970s, and he wrote accounts of his experiences.
105
In
Zaire
, he for instance lamented the widespread corruption and poverty and complained that
Mobutu Sese Seko
's "military regime... is extremely galling to a black from South Africa."
106
In Nigeria, he expressed concern at
Igbo
resentment following the crushing of their
Republic of Biafra
107
In 1972 he travelled around East Africa, where he was impressed by
Jomo Kenyatta
's Kenyan government and witnessed
Idi Amin
's
expulsion of Ugandan Asians
108
During the early 1970s, Tutu's theology changed due to his experiences in Africa and his discovery of
liberation theology
109
He was also attracted to
black theology
110
attending a 1973 conference on the subject at New York City's
Union Theological Seminary
111
There, he presented a paper in which he stated that "black theology is an engaged not an academic, detached theology. It is a gut level theology, relating to the real concerns, the life and death issues of the black man."
112
He stated that his paper was not an attempt to demonstrate the academic respectability of black theology but rather to make "a straightforward, perhaps shrill, statement about an existent. Black theology is. No permission is being requested for it to come into being... Frankly the time has passed when we will wait for the white man to give us permission to do our thing. Whether or not he accepts the intellectual respectability of our activity is largely irrelevant. We will proceed regardless."
113
Seeking to fuse the African-American derived black theology with
African theology
, Tutu's approach contrasted with that of those African theologians, like
John Mbiti
, who regarded black theology as a foreign import irrelevant to Africa.
111
Dean of St Mary's Cathedral, Johannesburg and Bishop of Lesotho: 1975–1978
edit
In 1975, Tutu was nominated to be the new
Bishop of Johannesburg
, although he lost out to
Timothy Bavin
114
Bavin suggested that Tutu take his newly vacated position, that of the
dean
of St Mary's Cathedral, Johannesburg. Tutu was elected to this position—the fourth highest in South Africa's Anglican hierarchy—in March 1975, becoming the first black man to do so, an appointment making headline news in South Africa.
115
Tutu was officially installed as dean in August 1975. The cathedral was packed for the event.
116
Moving to the city, Tutu lived not in the official dean's residence in the white suburb of
Houghton
but rather in
a house
on a middle-class street in the
Orlando West
township of
Soweto
, a largely impoverished black area.
117
Although majority white, the cathedral's congregation was racially mixed, something that gave Tutu hope that a racially equal, de-segregated future was possible for South Africa.
118
He encountered some resistance to his attempts to modernise the
liturgies
used by the congregation,
119
including his attempts to replace masculine pronouns with gender neutral ones.
120
As Bishop of Lesotho, Tutu travelled around the country's mountains visiting the people living there.
Tutu used his position to speak out on social issues,
121
publicly endorsing an international
economic boycott of South Africa
over apartheid.
122
He met with Black Consciousness and Soweto leaders,
123
and shared a platform with anti-apartheid campaigner
Winnie Mandela
in opposing the government's
Terrorism Act, 1967
124
He held a 24-hour vigil for racial harmony at the cathedral where he prayed for activists detained under the act.
125
In May 1976, he wrote to Prime Minister
B. J. Vorster
, warning that if the government maintained apartheid then the country would erupt in racial violence.
126
Six weeks later, the
Soweto uprising
broke out as black youth clashed with police. Over the course of ten months, at least 660 were killed, most under the age of 24.
127
Tutu was upset by what he regarded as the lack of outrage from
white South Africans
; he raised the issue in his Sunday sermon, stating that the white silence was "deafening" and asking if they would have shown the same nonchalance had white youths been killed.
128
After seven months as dean, Tutu was nominated to become the
Bishop of Lesotho
129
Although Tutu did not want the position, he was elected to it in March 1976 and reluctantly accepted.
130
This decision upset some of his congregation, who felt that he had used their parish as a stepping stone to advance his career.
131
In July,
Bill Burnett
consecrated Tutu as a bishop at St Mary's Cathedral.
132
In August, Tutu was enthroned as the Bishop of Lesotho in a ceremony at
Maseru
's Cathedral of St Mary and St James; thousands attended, including King
Moshoeshoe II
and Prime Minister
Leabua Jonathan
132
Travelling through the largely rural diocese,
133
Tutu learned
Sesotho
134
He appointed Philip Mokuku as the first dean of the diocese and placed great emphasis on
further education
for the Basotho clergy.
135
He befriended the royal family although his relationship with Jonathan's government was strained.
136
In September 1977 he returned to South Africa to speak at the
Eastern Cape
funeral of Black Consciousness activist
Steve Biko
, who had been killed by police.
137
At the funeral, Tutu stated that Black Consciousness was "a movement by which God, through Steve, sought to awaken in the black person a sense of his intrinsic value and worth as a child of God".
138
General-Secretary of the South African Council of Churches: 1978–1985
edit
SACC leadership
edit
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.
— Desmond Tutu, on the SACC
139
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.
140
His decision angered many Anglicans in Lesotho, who felt that Tutu was abandoning them.
141
Tutu took charge of the SACC in March 1978.
142
Back in Johannesburg—where the SACC's headquarters were based at Khotso House
143
—the Tutus returned to their former Orlando West home, now bought for them by an anonymous foreign donor.
144
Leah gained employment as the assistant director of the
Institute of Race Relations
145
The SACC was one of the few Christian institutions in South Africa where black people had the majority representation;
146
Tutu was its first black leader.
147
There, he introduced a schedule of daily staff prayers, regular Bible study, monthly Eucharist, and silent retreats.
148
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.
149
Many of his staff referred to him as "Baba" (father).
150
He was determined that the SACC become one of South Africa's most visible human rights advocacy organisations.
147
His efforts gained him international recognition; the closing years of the 1970s saw him elected a
fellow
of KCL and receive honorary doctorates from the
University of Kent
, General Theological Seminary, and
Harvard University
151
As head of the SACC, Tutu's time was dominated by fundraising for the organisation's projects.
152
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
C. F. Eloff
153
Tutu gave evidence to the commission, during which he condemned apartheid as "evil" and "unchristian".
154
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
155
In 1981 Tutu also became the rector of St Augustine's Church in Soweto's
Orlando West
156
The following year he published a collection of his sermons and speeches,
Crying in the Wilderness: The Struggle for Justice in South Africa
157
another volume,
Hope and Suffering
, appeared in 1984.
157
Activism and the Nobel Peace Prize
edit
Tutu testified on behalf of a captured
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.
158
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
159
Tutu also signed a petition calling for the release of ANC activist Nelson Mandela,
160
leading to a correspondence between the pair.
161
US President
Ronald Reagan
meeting with Desmond Tutu in 1984. Tutu described
Reagan's administration
as "an unmitigated disaster for us blacks",
162
and Reagan himself as "a racist pure and simple".
163
After Tutu told journalists that he supported an international economic boycott of South Africa, he was reprimanded before government ministers in October 1979.
164
In March 1980, the government confiscated his passport; this raised his international profile.
165
In 1980, the SACC committed itself to supporting
civil disobedience
against apartheid.
166
After Thorne was arrested in May, Tutu and Joe Wing led a protest march during which they were arrested, imprisoned overnight, and fined.
167
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.
168
Although some clergy saw this dialogue as pointless, Tutu disagreed, commenting: "
Moses
went to Pharaoh repeatedly to secure the release of the Israelites."
169
In January 1981, the government returned Tutu's passport.
170
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
UN Special Committee Against Apartheid
171
In England, he met
Robert Runcie
and gave a sermon in
Westminster Abbey
, while in
Rome
he met Pope
John Paul II
172
On his return to South Africa, Botha again ordered Tutu's passport confiscated, preventing him from personally collecting several further honorary degrees.
173
It was returned 17 months later.
174
In September 1982 Tutu addressed the Triennial Convention of the
Episcopal Church
in
New Orleans
before traveling to Kentucky to see his daughter Naomi, who lived there with her American husband.
175
Tutu gained a popular following in the US, where he was often compared to civil rights leader
Martin Luther King Jr.
, although white
conservatives
like
Pat Buchanan
and
Jerry Falwell
lambasted him as an alleged communist sympathiser.
176
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.
— Desmond Tutu's speech on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize
177
By the 1980s, Tutu was an icon for many black South Africans, a status rivalled only by Mandela.
178
In August 1983, he became a patron of the new anti-apartheid
United Democratic Front
(UDF).
179
Tutu angered much of South Africa's press and white minority,
180
especially apartheid supporters.
180
Pro-government media like
The Citizen
and the
South African Broadcasting Corporation
criticised him,
181
often focusing on how his middle-class lifestyle contrasted with the poverty of the blacks he claimed to represent.
182
He received
hate mail
and death threats from white far-right groups like the
Wit Wolwe
183
Although he remained close with prominent white liberals like
Helen Suzman
184
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.
185
In 1984, Tutu embarked on a three-month sabbatical at the
General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church
in New York.
186
In the city, he was invited to address the
United Nations Security Council
187
later meeting the
Congressional Black Caucus
and the subcommittees on Africa in the
House of Representatives
and the
Senate
188
He was also invited to the
White House
, where he unsuccessfully urged President
Ronald Reagan
to change his approach to South Africa.
189
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".
190
Tutu later called Reagan "a racist pure and simple".
163
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.
191
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
192
In December, he attended the award ceremony in
Oslo
—which was hampered by a bomb scare—before returning home via Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Tanzania, and Zambia.
193
He shared the US$192,000 prize money with his family, SACC staff, and a scholarship fund for South Africans in exile.
194
He was the second South African to receive the award, after
Albert Luthuli
in 1960.
162
South Africa's government and mainstream media either downplayed or criticised the award,
195
while the
Organisation of African Unity
hailed it as evidence of apartheid's impending demise.
196
Bishop of Johannesburg: 1985–1986
edit
After Timothy Bavin retired as Bishop of Johannesburg, Tutu was among five replacement candidates. An elective assembly met at
St Barnabas' College
in October 1984 and although Tutu was one of the two most popular candidates, the white laity voting bloc consistently voted against his candidature. To break deadlock, a bishops' synod met and decided to appoint Tutu.
197
Black Anglicans celebrated, although many white Anglicans were angry;
198
some withdrew their diocesan quota in protest.
199
Tutu was enthroned as the sixth Bishop of Johannesburg in St Mary's Cathedral in February 1985.
200
The first black man to hold the role,
201
he took over the country's largest diocese, comprising 102 parishes and 300,000 parishioners, approximately 80% of whom were black.
202
In his inaugural sermon, Tutu called on the international community to introduce economic sanctions against South Africa unless apartheid was not being dismantled within 18 to 24 months.
203
He sought to reassure white South Africans that he was not the "horrid ogre" some feared; as bishop he spent much time wooing the support of white Anglicans in his diocese,
204
and resigned as patron of the UDF.
205
I have no hope of real change from this government unless they are forced. We face a catastrophe in this land and only the action of the international community by applying pressure can save us. Our children are dying. Our land is bleeding and burning and so I call the international community to apply punitive sanctions against this government to help us establish a new South Africa – non-racial, democratic, participatory and just. This is a non-violent strategy to help us do so. There is a great deal of goodwill still in our country between the races. Let us not be so wanton in destroying it. We can live together as one people, one family, black and white together.
— Desmond Tutu, 1985
206
The mid-1980s saw growing clashes between black youths and the security services; Tutu was invited to speak at many of the funerals of those youths killed.
207
At a
Duduza
funeral, he intervened to stop the crowd from killing a black man accused of being a government informant.
208
Tutu angered some black South Africans by speaking against the torture and killing of suspected collaborators.
209
For these militants, Tutu's calls for non-violence were perceived as an obstacle to revolution.
210
When Tutu accompanied the US politician
Ted Kennedy
on the latter's visit to South Africa in January 1985, he was angered that protesters from the
Azanian People's Organisation
(AZAPO)—who regarded Kennedy as an agent of capitalism and
American imperialism
—disrupted proceedings.
211
Amid the violence, the ANC called on supporters to make South Africa "
ungovernable
";
212
foreign companies increasingly disinvested in the country and the
South African rand
reached a record low.
213
In July 1985, Botha declared a state of emergency in 36 magisterial districts, suspending civil liberties and giving the security services additional powers;
214
he rebuffed Tutu's offer to serve as a go-between for the government and leading black organisations.
215
Tutu continued protesting; in April 1985, he led a small march of clergy through Johannesburg to protest the arrest of Geoff Moselane.
216
In October 1985, he backed the National Initiative for Reconciliation's proposal for people to refrain from work for a day of prayer, fasting, and mourning.
217
He also proposed a
national strike
against apartheid, angering trade unions whom he had not consulted beforehand.
218
Tutu continued promoting his cause abroad. In May 1985 he embarked on a speaking tour of the United States,
219
and in October 1985 addressed the political committee of the
United Nations General Assembly
, urging the international community to impose sanctions on South Africa if apartheid was not dismantled within six months.
220
Proceeding to the United Kingdom, he met with Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher
221
He also formed a Bishop Tutu Scholarship Fund to financially assist South African students living in exile.
222
He returned to the US in May 1986,
89
and in August 1986 visited Japan, China, and Jamaica to promote sanctions.
223
Given that most senior anti-apartheid activists were imprisoned, Mandela referred to Tutu as "public enemy number one for the powers that be".
224
Archbishop of Cape Town: 1986–1994
edit
Tutu on a visit to San Francisco in 1986
After
Philip Russell
announced his retirement as the
Archbishop of Cape Town
225
in February 1986 the Black Solidarity Group formed a plan to get Tutu appointed as his replacement.
226
At the time of the meeting, Tutu was in
Atlanta
, Georgia, receiving the
Martin Luther King, Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize
227
Tutu secured a two-thirds majority from both the clergy and laity and was then ratified in a unanimous vote by the synod of bishops.
228
He was the first black man to hold the post.
225
Some white Anglicans left the church in protest.
229
More than 1,300 people attended his enthronement ceremony at the
Cathedral of St George the Martyr
on 7 September 1986.
230
After the ceremony, Tutu held an open-air Eucharist for 10,000 people at the Cape Showgrounds in
Goodwood
, where he invited
Albertina Sisulu
and
Allan Boesak
to give political speeches.
231
Tutu moved into the archbishop's
Bishopscourt
residence; this was illegal as he did not have official permission to reside in what the state allocated as a "white area".
232
He obtained money from the church to oversee renovations of the house,
233
and had a children's playground installed in its grounds, opening this and the Bishopscourt swimming pool to members of his diocese.
234
He invited the English priest Francis Cull to set up the Institute of Christian Spirituality at Bishopscourt, with the latter moving into a building in the house's grounds.
235
Such projects led to Tutu's ministry taking up an increasingly large portion of the Anglican church's budget, which Tutu sought to expand through requesting donations from overseas.
235
Some Anglicans were critical of his spending.
236
Tutu's vast workload was managed with the assistance of his executive officer
Njongonkulu Ndungane
and
Michael Nuttall
, who in 1989 was elected dean of the province.
237
In church meetings, Tutu drew upon traditional African custom by adopting a consensus-building model of leadership, seeking to ensure that competing groups in the church reached a compromise and thus all votes would be unanimous rather than divided.
238
He secured approval for the ordination of female priests in the Anglican church, having likened the exclusion of women from the position to apartheid.
239
He appointed gay priests to senior positions and privately criticised the church's insistence that gay priests remain celibate.
240
Along with Boesak and
Stephen Naidoo
, Tutu mediated conflicts between black protesters and the security forces; they for instance worked to avoid clashes at the 1987 funeral of ANC guerrilla
Ashley Kriel
241
In February 1988, the government banned 17 black or multi-racial organisations, including the UDF, and restricted the activities of trade unions. Church leaders organised a protest march, and after that too was banned they established the Committee for the Defense of Democracy. When the group's rally was banned, Tutu, Boesak, and Naidoo organised a service at St George's Cathedral to replace it.
242
You have already lost! Let us say to you nicely: you have already lost! We are inviting you to come and join the winning side! Your cause is unjust. You are defending what is fundamentally indefensible, because it is evil. It is evil without question. It is immoral. It is immoral without question. It is unchristian. Therefore, you will bite the dust! And you will bite the dust comprehensively.
— Desmond Tutu addressing the government, 1988
243
Opposed on principle to
capital punishment
, in March 1988 Tutu took up the cause of the
Sharpeville Six
who had been sentenced to death.
244
He telephoned representatives of the American, British, and German governments urging them to pressure Botha on the issue,
245
and personally met with Botha at the latter's
Tuynhuys
home to discuss the issue. The two did not get on well, and argued.
246
Botha accused Tutu of supporting the ANC's armed campaign; Tutu said that while he did not support their use of violence, he supported the ANC's objective of a non-racial, democratic South Africa.
247
The death sentences were ultimately commuted.
248
In May 1988, the government launched a covert campaign against Tutu, organised in part by the
Stratkom
wing of the
State Security Council
249
The security police printed leaflets and stickers with anti-Tutu slogans while unemployed blacks were paid to protest when he arrived at the airport.
249
Traffic police briefly imprisoned Leah when she was late to renew her motor vehicle license.
250
Although the security police organised assassination attempts on various anti-apartheid Christian leaders, they later claimed to have never done so for Tutu, deeming him too high-profile.
251
Tutu remained actively involved in acts of
civil disobedience
against the government; he was encouraged by the fact that many whites also took part in these protests.
252
In August 1989 he helped to organise an "Ecumenical Defiance Service" at St George's Cathedral,
253
and shortly after joined protests at segregated beaches outside Cape Town.
254
To mark the sixth anniversary of the UDF's foundation he held a "service of witness" at the cathedral,
255
and in September organised a church memorial for those protesters who had been killed in clashes with the security forces.
256
He organised a
protest march through Cape Town
for later that month, which the new President
F. W. de Klerk
agreed to permit; a multi-racial crowd containing an estimated 30,000 people took part.
257
That the march had been permitted inspired similar demonstrations to take place across the country.
258
In October, de Klerk met with Tutu, Boesak, and
Frank Chikane
; Tutu was impressed that "we were listened to".
259
In 1994, a further collection of Tutu's writings,
The Rainbow People of God
, was published, and followed the next year with his
An African Prayer Book
, a collection of prayers from across the continent accompanied by the Archbishop's commentary.
157
Dismantling of apartheid
edit
Tutu welcomed Mandela (pictured) to Bishopscourt when the latter was released from prison and later organised the religious component of his presidential inauguration ceremony.
In February 1990, de Klerk lifted the ban on political parties such as the ANC; Tutu telephoned him to praise the move.
260
De Klerk then announced Nelson Mandela's release from prison; at the ANC's request, Mandela and his wife Winnie stayed at Bishopscourt on the former's first night of freedom.
261
Tutu and Mandela met for the first time in 35 years at
Cape Town City Hall
, where Mandela spoke to the assembled crowds.
262
Tutu invited Mandela to attend an Anglican synod of bishops in February 1990, at which the latter described Tutu as the "people's archbishop".
263
There, Tutu and the bishops called for an end to foreign sanctions once the transition to
universal suffrage
was "irreversible", urged anti-apartheid groups to end armed struggle, and banned Anglican clergy from belonging to political parties.
264
Many clergy were angry that the latter was being imposed without consultation, although Tutu defended it, stating that priests affiliating with political parties would prove divisive, particularly amid growing inter-party violence.
265
In March, violence broke out between supporters of the ANC and of
Inkatha
in
kwaZulu
; Tutu joined the SACC delegation in talks with Mandela, de Klerk, and Inkatha leader
Mangosuthu Buthelezi
in
Ulundi
266
Church leaders urged Mandela and Buthelezi to hold a joint rally to quell the violence.
267
Although Tutu's relationship with Buthelezi had always been strained, particularly due to Tutu's opposition to Buthelezi's collaboration in the government's
Bantustan
system, Tutu repeatedly visited Buthelezi to encourage his involvement in the democratic process.
268
As the ANC-Inkatha violence spread from
kwaZulu
into the
Transvaal
, Tutu toured affected townships in
Witwatersrand
269
later meeting with victims of the
Sebokeng
and
Boipatong massacres
270
Like many activists, Tutu believed a "
third force
" was stoking tensions between the ANC and Inkatha; it later emerged that intelligence agencies were supplying Inkatha with weapons to weaken the ANC's negotiating position.
271
Unlike some ANC figures, Tutu never accused de Klerk of personal complicity in this.
272
In November 1990, Tutu organised a "summit" at Bishopscourt attended by both church and black political leaders in which he encouraged the latter to call on their supporters to avoid violence and allow free political campaigning.
273
After the
South African Communist Party
leader
Chris Hani
was assassinated, Tutu spoke at Hani's funeral outside Soweto.
274
Experiencing physical exhaustion and ill-health,
275
Tutu then undertook a four-month sabbatical at
Emory University
's Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia.
276
Tutu was exhilarated by the prospect of South Africa transforming towards universal suffrage via a negotiated transition rather than civil war.
277
He allowed his face to be used on posters encouraging people to vote.
278
When the
April 1994 multi-racial general election
took place, Tutu was visibly exuberant, telling reporters that "we are on cloud nine".
279
He voted in Cape Town's
Gugulethu
township.
279
The ANC won the election and Mandela was declared president, heading a government of national unity.
280
Tutu attended Mandela's inauguration ceremony; he had planned its religious component, insisting that Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu leaders all take part.
281
International affairs
edit
Tutu also turned his attention to foreign events. In 1987, he gave the keynote speech at the
All Africa Conference of Churches
(AACC) in
Lomé
, Togo, calling on churches to champion the oppressed throughout Africa; he stated that "it pains us to have to admit that there is less freedom and personal liberty in most of Africa now then there was during the much-maligned colonial days."
282
Elected president of the AACC, he worked closely with general-secretary José Belo over the next decade.
283
In 1989 they visited Zaire to encourage the country's churches to distance themselves from Seko's government.
283
In 1994, he and Belo visited war-torn Liberia; they met
Charles Taylor
, but Tutu did not trust his promise of a ceasefire.
284
In 1995, Mandela sent Tutu to Nigeria to meet with military leader
Sani Abacha
to request the release of imprisoned politicians
Moshood Abiola
and
Olusegun Obasanjo
285
In July 1995, he visited Rwanda a year after the
genocide
, preaching to 10,000 people in
Kigali
, calling for justice to be tempered with mercy towards the
Hutus
who had orchestrated the genocide.
286
Tutu also travelled to other parts of world, for instance spending March 1989 in Panama and Nicaragua.
287
Tutu spoke about the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
, arguing that Israel's treatment of
Palestinians
was
reminiscent of South African apartheid
288
289
He also criticised Israel's arms sales to South Africa, wondering how the Jewish state could co-operate with a government containing Nazi sympathisers.
290
At the same time, Tutu recognised Israel's right to exist. In 1989, he visited
Palestine Liberation Organization
leader
Yasser Arafat
in Cairo, urging him to accept Israel's existence.
291
In the same year, during a speech in New York City, Tutu observed Israel had a "right to territorial integrity and fundamental security", but criticised Israel's complicity in the
Sabra and Shatila massacre
and condemned
Israel's support for the apartheid regime in South Africa
292
Tutu called for a
Palestinian state
293
and emphasised that his criticisms were of the Israeli government rather than of Jews.
294
At the invitation of Palestinian bishop
Samir Kafity
, he undertook a Christmas pilgrimage to
Jerusalem
, where he gave a sermon near
Bethlehem
, in which he called for a
two-state solution
295
On his 1989 trip, he laid a wreath at the
Yad Vashem
Holocaust memorial and gave a sermon on the importance of forgiving the perpetrators of
the Holocaust
296
297
the sermon drew criticism from Jewish groups around the world.
298
Jewish anger was exacerbated by Tutu's attempts to evade accusations of
antisemitism
through comments such as "my dentist is a Dr. Cohen".
291
Alan Dershowitz
and
David Bernstein
called Tutu antisemitic for his comments about "the
Jewish lobby
", calling Jews a “peculiar people,” and accusing "'the Jews' of causing many of the world’s problems".
299
300
301
302
303
Tutu also spoke out regarding
the Troubles
in Northern Ireland. At the
Lambeth Conference
of 1988, he backed a resolution condemning the use of violence by all sides; Tutu believed that
Irish republicans
had not exhausted peaceful means of bringing about change and should not resort to armed struggle.
304
Three years later, he gave a televised service from
Dublin
's
Christ Church Cathedral
, calling for negotiations between all factions.
304
He visited
Belfast
in 1998 and again in 2001.
293
Later life
edit
In October 1994, Tutu announced his intention of retiring as archbishop in 1996.
157
Although retired archbishops normally return to the position of bishop, the other bishops gave him a new title: "archbishop emeritus".
305
A farewell ceremony was held at St George's Cathedral in June 1996, attended by senior politicians like Mandela and de Klerk.
305
There, Mandela awarded Tutu the
Order for Meritorious Service
, South Africa's highest honour.
305
Tutu was succeeded as archbishop by
Njongonkulu Ndungane
306
In January 1997, Tutu was diagnosed with
prostate cancer
and travelled abroad for treatment.
307
He publicly revealed his diagnosis, hoping to encourage other men to go for prostate exams.
308
He faced recurrences of the disease in 1999 and 2006.
309
Back in South Africa, he divided his time between homes in Soweto's Orlando West and Cape Town's
Milnerton
area.
306
In 2000, he opened an office in Cape Town.
306
In June 2000, the Cape Town-based Desmond Tutu Peace Centre was launched, which in 2003 launched an Emerging Leadership Program.
310
Conscious that his presence in South Africa might overshadow Ndungane, Tutu agreed to a two-year
visiting professorship
at
Emory University
in Atlanta, Georgia.
306
This took place between 1998 and 2000, and during the period he wrote a book about the TRC,
No Future Without Forgiveness
311
In early 2002 he taught at the Episcopal Divinity School in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
310
From January to May 2003 he taught at the
University of North Carolina
310
In January 2004, he was visiting professor of postconflict societies at King's College London, his
alma mater
310
While in the United States, he signed up with a speakers' agency and travelled widely on speaking engagements; this gave him financial independence in a way that his clerical pension would not.
306
In his speeches, he focused on South Africa's transition from apartheid to universal suffrage, presenting it as a model for other troubled nations to adopt.
312
In the United States, he thanked anti-apartheid activists for campaigning for sanctions, also calling for United States companies to now invest in South Africa.
313
Truth and Reconciliation Commission: 1996–1998
edit
Tutu at the
Embassy of South Africa, Washington, D.C.
, in September 1997
Tutu popularised the term "
Rainbow Nation
" as a metaphor for
post-apartheid South Africa
after 1994 under ANC rule.
314
He had first used the metaphor in 1989 when he described a multi-racial protest crowd as the "rainbow people of God".
315
Tutu advocated what liberation theologians call "critical solidarity", offering support for pro-democracy forces while reserving the right to criticise his allies.
277
He criticised Mandela on several points, such as his tendency to wear brightly coloured
Madiba shirts
, which he regarded as inappropriate;
clarification needed
Mandela offered the tongue-in-cheek response that it was ironic coming from a man who wore dresses.
316
More serious was Tutu's criticism of Mandela's retention of South Africa's apartheid-era armaments industry and the significant pay packet that newly elected members of parliament adopted.
317
Mandela hit back, calling Tutu a "populist" and stating that he should have raised these issues privately rather than publicly.
318
A key question facing the post-apartheid government was how they would respond to the various human rights abuses that had been committed over the previous decades by both the state and by anti-apartheid activists. The National Party had wanted a comprehensive amnesty package whereas the ANC wanted trials of former state figures.
319
Alex Boraine
helped Mandela's government to draw up legislation for the establishment of a
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
(TRC), which was passed by parliament in July 1995.
320
Nuttall suggested that Tutu become one of the TRC's seventeen commissioners, while in September a synod of bishops formally nominated him.
321
Tutu proposed that the TRC adopt a threefold approach: the first being confession, with those responsible for human rights abuses fully disclosing their activities, the second being forgiveness in the form of a legal amnesty from prosecution, and the third being restitution, with the perpetrators making amends to their victims.
322
Mandela named Tutu as the chair of the TRC, with Boraine as his deputy.
323
The commission was a significant undertaking, employing over 300 staff, divided into three committees, and holding as many as four hearings simultaneously.
324
In the TRC, Tutu advocated "restorative justice", something which he considered characteristic of traditional African jurisprudence "in the spirit of
ubuntu
".
325
As head of the commission, Tutu had to deal with its various inter-personal problems, with much suspicion between those on its board who had been anti-apartheid activists and those who had supported the apartheid system.
326
He acknowledged that "we really were like a bunch of prima donnas, frequently hypersensitive, often taking umbrage easily at real or imagined slights."
327
Tutu opened meetings with prayers and often referred to Christian teachings when discussing the TRC's work, frustrating some who saw him as incorporating too many religious elements into an expressly secular body.
327
The first hearing took place in April 1996.
327
The hearings were publicly televised and had a considerable impact on South African society.
328
He had very little control over the committee responsible for granting amnesty, instead chairing the committee which heard accounts of human rights abuses perpetrated by both anti-apartheid and apartheid figures.
329
While listening to the testimony of victims, Tutu was sometimes overwhelmed by emotion and cried during the hearings.
330
He singled out those victims who expressed forgiveness towards those who had harmed them and used these individuals as his leitmotif.
331
The ANC's image was tarnished by the revelations that some of its activists had engaged in torture, attacks on civilians, and other human rights abuses. It sought to suppress part of the final TRC report, infuriating Tutu.
332
He warned of the ANC's "abuse of power", stating that "yesterday's oppressed can quite easily become today's oppressors... We've seen it happen all over the world and we shouldn't be surprised if it happens here."
333
Tutu presented the five-volume TRC report to Mandela in a public ceremony in
Pretoria
in October 1998.
334
Ultimately, Tutu was pleased with the TRC's achievement, believing that it would aid long-term reconciliation, although he recognised its short-comings.
335
Social and international issues: 1999–2009
edit
I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place. I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this. I am as passionate about this campaign as I ever was about apartheid. For me, it is at the same level.
— Tutu in 2013
336
Post-apartheid, Tutu's status as a
gay rights
activist kept him in the public eye more than any other
issue facing the Anglican Church
337
his views on the issue became well known through his speeches and sermons.
338
Tutu equated discrimination against homosexuals with discrimination against black people and women.
337
After the 1998 Lambeth Conference of bishops reaffirmed the church's opposition to same-sex sexual acts, Tutu stated that he was "ashamed to be an Anglican."
339
He thought Archbishop of Canterbury
Rowan Williams
was too accommodating towards Anglican conservatives who wanted to eject North American Anglican churches from the
Anglican Communion
after they expressed a pro-gay rights stance.
340
In 2007, Tutu accused the church of being obsessed with homosexuality, declaring: "If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God."
341
Tutu gets an HIV test on the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation's Tutu Tester, a mobile test unit.
Tutu also spoke out on the need to combat the
HIV/AIDS
pandemic, in June 2003 stating that "Apartheid tried to destroy our people and apartheid failed. If we don't act against HIV-AIDS, it may succeed, for it is already decimating our population."
342
On the April 2005 election of
Pope Benedict XVI
—who was known for his conservative views on issues of gender and sexuality—Tutu described it as unfortunate that the
Roman Catholic Church
was now unlikely to change either its opposition to the use of
condoms
"amidst the fight against HIV/AIDS" or its opposition to the ordination of women priests.
343
To help combat child trafficking, in 2006 Tutu launched a global campaign, organised by the aid organisation
Plan
, to ensure that all children are registered at birth.
344
Tutu retained his interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and after the signing of the
Oslo Accords
was invited to
Tel Aviv
to attend the
Peres Center for Peace
294
He became increasingly frustrated following the collapse of the
2000 Camp David Summit
294
and in 2002 gave a widely publicised speech denouncing Israeli policy regarding the Palestinians and calling for sanctions against Israel.
294
Comparing the Israeli-Palestinian situation with that in South Africa, he said that "one reason we succeeded in South Africa that is missing in the Middle East is quality of leadership – leaders willing to make unpopular compromises, to go against their own constituencies, because they have the wisdom to see that would ultimately make peace possible."
294
Tutu was named to head a United Nations fact-finding mission to
Beit Hanoun
in the Gaza Strip to investigate the
November 2006 incident
in which soldiers from the
Israel Defense Forces
killed 19 civilians.
345
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.
346
Tutu with former Irish president
Mary Robinson
, British foreign secretary
William Hague
, and former US president Jimmy Carter in 2012
In 2003, Tutu was the scholar in residence at the
University of North Florida
294
It was there, in February, that he broke his normal rule on not joining protests outside South Africa by taking part in a New York City demonstration against plans for the United States to launch the
Iraq War
347
He telephoned
Condoleezza Rice
urging the United States government not to go to war without a resolution from the
United Nations Security Council
348
Tutu questioned why Iraq was being singled out for allegedly possessing
weapons of mass destruction
when Europe, India, and Pakistan also had many such devices.
349
In 2004, he appeared in
Honor Bound to Defend Freedom
, an
Off Broadway
play in New York City critical of the American detention of prisoners at
Guantánamo Bay
350
In January 2005, he added his voice to the growing dissent over terrorist suspects held at Guantánamo's
Camp X-Ray
, stating that these detentions without trial were "utterly unacceptable" and comparable to the apartheid-era detentions.
351
He also criticised the UK's introduction of measures to detain terrorist subjects for 28 days without trial.
352
In 2012, he called for US President
George W. Bush
and British Prime Minister
Tony Blair
to be tried by the
International Criminal Court
for initiating the Iraq War.
353
In 2004, he gave the inaugural lecture at the Church of Christ the King, where he commended the achievements made in South Africa over the previous decade although warned of widening wealth disparity among its population.
354
He questioned the government's spending on armaments, its policy regarding
Robert Mugabe
's government in Zimbabwe, and the manner in which
Nguni-speakers
dominated senior positions, stating that this latter issue would stoke ethnic tensions.
354
He made the same points three months later when giving the annual Nelson Mandela Lecture in Johannesburg.
354
There, he charged the ANC under
Thabo Mbeki
's leadership of demanding "sycophantic, obsequious conformity" among its members.
355
Tutu and Mbeki had long had a strained relationship; Mbeki had accused Tutu of criminalising the ANC's military struggle against apartheid through the TRC, while Tutu disliked Mbeki's active neglect of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
355
Like Mandela before him, Mbeki accused Tutu of being a populist, further claiming that the cleric had no understanding of the ANC's inner workings.
355
Tutu later criticised ANC leader and South African President
Jacob Zuma
. In 2006, he criticised Zuma's "moral failings" as a result of accusations of rape and corruption that he was facing.
356
In 2007, he again criticised South Africa's policy of "quiet diplomacy" toward Mugabe's government, calling for the
Southern Africa Development Community
to chair talks between Mugabe's
ZANU-PF
and the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change
, to set firm deadlines for action, with consequences if they were not met.
357
In 2008, he called for a
UN Peacekeeping
force to be sent to Zimbabwe.
358
Tutu with the Dalai Lama, both Nobel Peace Prize laureates, in
Vancouver
, British Columbia, in 2004
Before the
31st G8 summit
at
Gleneagles, Scotland
, in 2005, Tutu called on world leaders to promote free trade with poorer countries and to end expensive taxes on anti-AIDS drugs.
359
In July 2007, Tutu was declared Chair of
The Elders
, a group of world leaders put together to contribute their wisdom, kindness, leadership, and integrity to tackle some of the world's toughest problems.
360
Tutu served in this capacity until May 2013. Upon stepping down and becoming an Honorary Elder, he said: "As Elders we should always oppose presidents for Life. After six wonderful years as Chair, I am sad to say that it was time for me to step down."
361
Tutu led The Elders' visit to Sudan in October 2007 – their first mission after the group was founded – 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.
362
He has also travelled with Elders delegations to Ivory Coast, Cyprus, Ethiopia, India, South Sudan, and the Middle East.
363
Tutu's
Nobel Prize medal
was stolen in June 2007 from his home in Johannesburg, but was recovered a week later.
364
During the
2008 Tibetan unrest
, Tutu marched in a pro-Tibet demonstration in San Francisco; there, he called on heads of states to boycott the
2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
in Beijing "for the sake of the beautiful people of
Tibet
".
365
Tutu invited the
Tibetan Buddhist
leader, the
14th Dalai Lama
, to attend his 80th birthday in October 2011, although the South African government did not grant him entry; observers suggested that they had not given permission so as not to offend the People's Republic of China, a major trading partner.
366
In 2009, Tutu assisted in the establishing of the Solomon Islands'
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
, modelled after the South African body of the same name.
367
He also attended the
2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference
in Copenhagen,
368
and later publicly called for
fossil fuel divestment
, comparing it to disinvestment from apartheid-era South Africa.
369
Tutu appeared as a guest on the American talk show
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
on March 4, 2009, an episode that earned the program a
Peabody Award
370
Retirement from public life: 2010–2021
edit
Tutu at the
COP17
"We Have Faith: Act Now for
Climate Justice
Rally" in Durban, November 2011
In October 2010, Tutu announced his retirement from public life so that he could spend more time "at home with my family – reading and writing and praying and thinking".
371
In 2013, he declared that he would no longer vote for the ANC, stating that it had done a poor job in countering inequality, violence, and corruption;
372
he welcomed the launch of a new party,
Agang South Africa
373
After Mandela's death in December, Tutu initially stated that he had not been invited to the funeral; after the government denied this, Tutu announced his attendance.
374
He criticised the memorials held for Mandela, stating that they gave too much prominence to the ANC and marginalised
Afrikaners
375
Tutu maintained an interest in social issues. In 2011, he called on the Anglican Church of Southern Africa to conduct
same-sex marriages
376
in 2015 he gave a blessing at his daughter Mpho's marriage to a woman in the Netherlands.
377
In 2014, he came out in support of legalised
assisted dying
378
379
revealing that he wanted that option open to him.
380
Tutu continued commenting on international affairs. In November 2012, he published a letter of support for the imprisoned US military whistleblower
Chelsea Manning
381
In May 2014, Tutu visited
Fort McMurray
, in the heart of Canada's
oil sands
, condemning the "negligence and greed" of oil extraction.
382
A month earlier he had called for "an
apartheid-style boycott
[of corporations financing the
injustice of climate change
] to save the planet".
383
In August 2017, Tutu was among ten Nobel Peace Prize laureates who urged Saudi Arabia to stop the execution of 14 participants of the
2011–12 Saudi Arabian protests
384
In September, Tutu asked Myanmar's leader
Aung San Suu Kyi
to halt the
army's persecution of the country's Muslim Rohingya minority
385
In December 2017, he was among those to condemn US President
Donald Trump
's decision to
officially recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital
386
Tutu's last prominent public statement on world affairs was an op-ed published in the UK
Guardian
on 30 December 2020, in which he called for incoming U.S. President Joe Biden to declare Israel had nuclear weapons and to eliminate all financial aid to the country (he believed that doing so would lead to the fall of Israel's "apartheid" system because it would remove alleged Israeli deterrence over the Arabs and force a "peace agreement").
387
Death
edit
Tutu died from cancer at the Oasis Frail Care Centre in
Cape Town
on 26 December 2021, aged 90.
388
389
South African president
Cyril Ramaphosa
described Tutu's death as "another chapter of bereavement in our nation's farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa."
390
Tutu's body
lay in state
for two days before the funeral.
391
For several days before the funeral the cathedral rang its bells for 10 minutes each day at noon and national landmarks, including
Table Mountain
, were illuminated in purple in Tutu's honour.
392
Funeral Mass
was held for Tutu at St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town on 1 January 2022.
393
394
President Ramaphosa gave a eulogy, and
Michael Nuttall
, the former
bishop of Natal
, delivered the sermon. Attendance at the funeral was limited to 100 due to
COVID-19 pandemic
restrictions. During the funeral, Tutu's body lay in a "plain pine coffin, the cheapest available at his request to avoid any ostentatious displays".
395
Following the funeral, Tutu's remains were to be
aquamated
; his remains are interred in St. George's Cathedral.
396
Personal life and personality
edit
[Tutu's] extrovert nature conceals a private, introvert side that needs space and regular periods of quiet; his jocularity runs alongside a deep seriousness; his occasional bursts of apparent arrogance mask a genuine humility before God and his fellow men. He is a true son of Africa who can move easily in European and American circles, a man of the people who enjoys ritual and episcopal splendour, a member of an established Church, in some ways a traditionalist, who takes a radical, provocative and fearless stand against authority if he sees it to be unjust. It is usually the most spiritual who can rejoice in all created things and Tutu has no problem in reconciling the sacred and the secular, but critics note a conflict between his socialist ideology and his desire to live comfortably, dress well and lead a life that, while unexceptional in Europe or America, is considered affluent, tainted with capitalism, in the eyes of the deprived black community of South Africa.
Shirley du Boulay
on Tutu's personality
397
Shirley Du Boulay noted that Tutu was "a man of many layers" and "contradictory tensions".
398
His personality has been described as warm,
79
exuberant,
79
and outgoing.
399
Du Boulay noted that his "typical African warmth and a spontaneous lack of inhibition" proved
shocking
to many of the "reticent English" whom he encountered when in England,
400
but that it also meant that he had the "ability to endear himself to virtually everyone who actually meets him".
401
Du Boulay noted that as a child, Tutu had been hard-working and "unusually intelligent".
402
She added that he had a "gentle, caring temperament and would have nothing to do with anything that hurt others",
403
commenting on how he had "a quicksilver mind, a disarming honesty".
404
Tutu was rarely angry in his personal contacts with others, although could become so if he felt that his integrity was being challenged.
149
He had a tendency to be highly trusting, something which some of those close to him sometimes believed was unwise in various situations.
150
He was also reportedly bad at managing finances and prone to overspending, resulting in accusations of irresponsibility and extravagance.
405
Tutu had a passion for preserving African traditions of courtesy.
100
He could be offended by discourteous behaviour and careless language,
399
as well as by
swearing
and ethnic slurs.
406
He could get very upset if a member of his staff forgot to thank him or did not apologise for being late to a prayer session.
407
He also disliked gossip and discouraged it among his staff.
408
He was very punctual,
409
and insisted on punctuality among those in his employ.
410
Du Boulay noted that "his attention to the detail of people's lives is remarkable", for he would be meticulous in recording and noting people's birthdays and anniversaries.
411
He was attentive to his parishioners, making an effort to visit and spend time with them regularly; this included making an effort to visit parishioners who disliked him.
412
According to Du Boulay, Tutu had "a deep need to be loved",
398
a facet that he recognised about himself and referred to as a "horrible weakness".
407
Tutu has also been described as being sensitive,
413
and very easily hurt, an aspect of his personality which he concealed from the public eye;
407
Du Boulay noted that he "reacts to emotional pain" in an "almost childlike way".
414
He never denied being ambitious,
415
and acknowledged that he enjoyed the limelight which his position gave him, something that his wife often teased him about.
416
He was, according to Du Boulay, "a man of passionate emotions" who was quick to both laugh and cry.
407
As well as English, Tutu could speak Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, and Xhosa.
409
He was often praised for his public speaking abilities; Du Boulay noted that his "star quality enables him to hold an audience spellbound".
417
Gish noted that "Tutu's voice and manner could light up an audience; he never sounded puritanical or humourless".
418
Quick witted, he used humour to try and win over audiences.
419
He had a talent for
mimicry
, according to Du Boulay, "his humour has none of the cool acerbity that makes for real wit".
420
His application of humour included jokes that made a point about apartheid;
421
"the whites think the black people want to drive them into the sea. What they forget is, with apartheid on the beaches – we can't even
go
to the sea".
422
In a speech made at the Sixth Assembly of the
World Council of Churches
in Vancouver he drew laughs from the audience for referring to South Africa as having a "few local problems".
423
Tutu with his daughter
Mpho Tutu van Furth
in the Netherlands, 2012
Tutu had a lifelong love of literature and reading,
424
and was a fan of
cricket
425
To relax, he enjoyed listening to classical music and reading books on politics or religion.
426
His favourite foods included
samosas
marshmallows
fat cakes
, and Yogi Sip.
425
When hosts asked what his culinary tastes were, his wife responded: "think of a five-year old".
416
Tutu woke at 4
am every morning, before engaging in an early morning walk, prayers, and the Eucharist.
427
On Fridays, he fasted until supper.
428
Tutu was a committed Christian from boyhood.
429
Prayer was a big part of his life; he often spent an hour in prayer at the start of each day, and would ensure that every meeting or interview that he was part of was preceded by a short prayer.
430
He was even known to often pray while driving.
430
He read the Bible every day
431
and recommended that people read it as a collection of books, not a single constitutional document:
"You have to understand that the Bible is really a library of books and it has different categories of material", he said. "There are certain parts which you have to say no to. The Bible accepted slavery.
St. Paul
said women should not speak in church at all and there are people who have used that to say women should not be ordained. There are many things that you shouldn't accept."
431
On 2 July 1955, Tutu married
Nomalizo Leah Shenxane
, a teacher whom he had met while at college. They had four children: Trevor Thamsanqa, Theresa Thandeka, Naomi Nontombi and
Mpho Andrea
, all of whom attended the
Waterford Kamhlaba
School in Swaziland.
432
Du Boulay referred to him as "a loving and concerned father",
433
while Allen described him as a "loving but strict father" to his children.
145
Ideology
edit
Political views
edit
Anti-apartheid views
edit
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."
434
Racial equality was a core principle,
435
and his opposition to apartheid was unequivocal.
417
Tutu believed that the apartheid system had to be wholly dismantled rather than being reformed in a piecemeal fashion.
436
He compared the apartheid ethos of South Africa's
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.
437
In his words, "Apartheid is as evil and as vicious as Nazism and Communism."
438
Tutu never became anti-white, in part due to his many positive experiences with white people.
439
In his speeches, he stressed that it was apartheid—rather than white people—that was the enemy.
440
He promoted racial reconciliation between South Africa's communities, believing that most blacks fundamentally wanted to live in harmony with whites,
441
although he stressed that reconciliation would only be possible among equals, after blacks had been given full civil rights.
422
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.
441
He also spoke to many white audiences, urging them to support his cause, referring to it as the "winning side",
442
and reminding them that when apartheid had been overthrown, black South Africans would remember who their friends had been.
443
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.
444
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?"
445
Tutu was always committed to non-violent activism,
446
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.
447
He nevertheless described himself as a "man of peace" rather than a
pacifist
448
He, for instance, accepted that violence had been necessary to stop Nazism.
449
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.
449
To end apartheid, he advocated foreign economic pressure be put on South Africa.
449
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".
450
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";
451
Buthelezi, the leader of the Zulu Bantustan, privately claimed that there was "something radically wrong" with Tutu's personality.
452
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".
453
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".
163
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
had "behaved abominably over issues which touched our hearts most nearly".
454
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".
285
Broader political views
edit
According to Du Boulay, "Tutu's politics spring directly and inevitably from his Christianity."
455
He believed that it was the duty of Christians to oppose unjust laws,
139
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
).
456
However, he was adamant that he was not personally a politician.
455
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.
457
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
(PAC).
458
Du Boulay, however, noted that Tutu was "most at home" with the UDF umbrella organisation,
459
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
460
When, in the late 1980s, there were suggestions that he should take political office, he rejected the idea.
461
Tutu at the
World Economic Forum
in 2009
When pressed to describe his ideological position, Tutu described himself as a
socialist
460
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."
462
Also in the 1980s, he was reported as saying that "apartheid has given free enterprise a bad name".
463
While identifying with socialism, he opposed forms of socialism like
Marxism–Leninism
which promoted communism, being critical of Marxism–Leninism's promotion of
atheism
460
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.
464
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.
437
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."
465
Nelson Mandela had foregrounded the idea of
Ubuntu
as being of importance to South Africa's political framework.
466
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."
466
Reflecting this view of ubuntu, Tutu was fond of the Xhosa saying that "a person is a person through other persons".
409
Theology
edit
Tutu in Cologne in 2007
Tutu was attracted to
Anglicanism
because of what he saw as its tolerance and inclusiveness, its appeal to reason alongside
scripture
and tradition, and the freedom that its constituent churches had from any centralized authority.
338
Tutu's approach to Anglicanism has been characterised as having been
Anglo-Catholic
in nature.
467
He regarded the Anglican Communion as a family, replete with its internal squabbles.
468
Tutu rejected the idea that any particular variant of theology was universally applicable, instead maintaining that all understandings of God had to be "contextual" in relating to the socio-cultural conditions in which they existed.
469
In the 1970s, Tutu became an advocate of both
black theology
and
African theology
, seeking ways to fuse the two schools of Christian theological thought.
470
Unlike other theologians, like
John Mbiti
, who saw the traditions as largely incompatible, Tutu emphasised the similarities between the two.
471
He believed that both theological approaches had arisen in contexts where black humanity had been defined in terms of white norms and values, in societies where "to be really human", the black man "had to see himself and to be seen as a chocolate coloured white man".
472
He also argued that both black and African theology shared a repudiation of the supremacy of Western values.
472
In doing so he spoke of an underlying unity of Africans and the
African diaspora
, stating that "All of us are bound to Mother Africa by invisible but tenacious bonds. She has nurtured the deepest things in us blacks."
471
He became, according to Du Boulay, "one of the most eloquent and persuasive communicators" of black theology.
456
He expressed his views on theology largely through sermons and addresses rather than in extended academic treatises.
456
Tutu expressed the view that Western theology sought answers to questions that Africans were not asking.
473
For Tutu, two major questions were being posed by
African Christianity
; how to replace imported Christian expressions of faith with something authentically African, and how to liberate people from bondage.
474
He believed that there were many comparisons to be made between contemporary African understandings of God and those featured in the
Old Testament
111
He nevertheless criticised African theology for failing to sufficiently address contemporary societal problems, and suggested that to correct this it should learn from the black theology tradition.
472
When chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Tutu advocated an explicitly Christian model of reconciliation, as part of which he believed that South Africans had to face up to the damages that they had caused and accept the consequences of their actions.
475
As part of this, he believed that the perpetrators and beneficiaries of apartheid must admit to their actions but that the system's victims should respond generously, stating that it was a "gospel imperative" to forgive.
475
At the same time, he argued that those responsible had to display true repentance in the form of restitution.
475
Reception and legacy
edit
Tutu at the
German Evangelical Church Assembly
, 2007
Gish noted that by the time of apartheid's fall, Tutu had attained "worldwide respect" for his "uncompromising stand for justice and reconciliation and his unmatched integrity".
476
According to Allen, Tutu "made a powerful and unique contribution to publicizing the antiapartheid struggle abroad", particularly in the United States.
477
In the latter country, he was able to rise to prominence as a South African anti-apartheid activist because—unlike Mandela and other members of the ANC—he had no links to the South African Communist Party and thus was more acceptable to Americans amid the
Cold War
anti-communist sentiment of the period.
478
In the United States, he was often compared to
Martin Luther King Jr.
, with the African-American civil rights activist
Jesse Jackson
referring to him as "the Martin Luther King of South Africa".
479
After the end of apartheid, Tutu became "perhaps the world's most prominent religious leader advocating gay and lesbian rights", according to Allen.
337
Ultimately, Allen thought that perhaps Tutu's "greatest legacy" was the fact that he gave "to the world as it entered the twenty-first century an African model for expressing the nature of human community".
480
During Tutu's rise to notability during the 1970s and 1980s, responses to him were "sharply polarized".
481
Noting that he was "simultaneously loved and hated, honoured and vilified",
482
Du Boulay attributed his divisive reception to the fact that "strong people evoke strong emotions".
483
Tutu gained much adulation from black journalists, inspired imprisoned anti-apartheid activists, and led to many black parents' naming their children after him.
481
For many black South Africans, he was a respected religious leader and a symbol of black achievement.
484
By 1984 he was—according to Gish—"the personification of the South African freedom struggle".
419
In 1988, Du Boulay described him as "a spokesman for his people, a voice for the voiceless".
398
The response he received from South Africa's white minority was more mixed. Most of those who criticised him were conservative whites who did not want a shift away from apartheid and white-minority rule.
485
Many of these whites were angered that he was calling for economic sanctions against South Africa and that he was warning that racial violence was impending.
486
Said whites often accused him of being a tool of the communists.
460
This hostility was exacerbated by the government's campaign to discredit Tutu and distort his image,
487
which included repeatedly misquoting him to present his statements out of context.
488
According to Du Boulay, the
SABC
and much of the white press went to "extraordinary attempts to discredit him", something that "made it hard to know the man himself".
398
Allen noted that in 1984, Tutu was "the black leader white South Africans most loved to hate" and that this antipathy extended beyond supporters of the far-right government to liberals too.
181
The fact that he was "an object of hate" for many was something that deeply pained him.
483
Hated by many white South Africans for being too radical, he was also scorned by many black militants for being too moderate.
— On Tutu in the mid-1980s, by Steven D. Gish, 2004
210
Tutu also drew criticism from within the anti-apartheid movement and the black South African community. He was criticised repeatedly for making statements on behalf of black South Africans without consulting other community leaders first.
401
Some black anti-apartheid activists regarded him as too moderate,
489
and in particular too focused on cultivating white goodwill.
490
The African-American civil rights campaigner Bernice Powell, for instance, complained that he was "too nice to white people".
491
According to Gish, Tutu "faced the perpetual dilemma of all moderates – he was often viewed suspiciously by the two hostile sides he sought to bring together".
490
Tutu's critical view of Marxist-oriented communism and the governments of the
Eastern Bloc
, and the comparisons he drew between these administrations and far-right ideologies like
Nazism
and apartheid brought criticism from the
South African Communist Party
in 1984.
492
After the transition to universal suffrage, Tutu's criticism of presidents
Mbeki
and
Zuma
brought objections from their supporters; in 2006, Zuma's personal advisor Elias Khumalo claimed that it was a double standard that Tutu could "accept the apology from the apartheid government that committed unspeakable atrocities against millions of South Africans", yet "cannot find it in his heart to accept the apology" from Zuma.
493
Honours
edit
See also:
List of honours of Desmond Tutu
Tutu at the
University of Pennsylvania
Tutu gained many international awards and honorary degrees, particularly in South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
310
By 2003, he had approximately 100 honorary degrees;
494
he was, for example, the first person to be awarded an honorary doctorate by
Ruhr University
in West Germany, and the third person to whom
Columbia University
in the U.S. agreed to award an honorary doctorate off-campus.
495
Many schools and scholarships were named after him.
310
Mount Allison University
in
Sackville, New Brunswick
was the first Canadian institution to award Tutu an honorary doctorate in 1988.
496
In 2000, the Munsieville Library in
Klerksdorp
was renamed the Desmond Tutu Library.
310
The Desmond Tutu School of Theology at
Fort Hare University
was launched in 2002.
310
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".
497
This was seen 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
498
named after a 1963
encyclical
letter by
Pope John XXIII
that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations.
499
In 1985 the City of
Reggio Emilia
named Tutu an honorary citizen together with
Albertina Sisulu
500
In 2000, Tutu received the Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service.
501
In 2003, Tutu received the
Golden Plate Award
of the
Academy of Achievement
presented by Awards Council member
Coretta Scott King
502
503
In 2008, Governor
Rod Blagojevich
of Illinois proclaimed 13 May 'Desmond Tutu Day'.
504
In 2015, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Tutu an Honorary
Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour
(CH).
505
The Queen appointed Tutu as a Bailiff Grand Cross of the
Venerable Order of St. John
in September 2017.
506
In 2010, Tutu delivered the Bynum Tudor Lecture at the
University of Oxford
and became a visiting fellow at
Kellogg College, Oxford
507
In 2013, he received the £1.1m (US$1.6m)
Templeton Prize
for "his life-long work in advancing spiritual principles such as love and forgiveness".
508
In 2018 the fossil of a
Devonian
tetrapod
was found in
Grahamstown
by Rob Gess of the
Albany Museum
; this tetrapod was named
Tutusius
umlambo
in Tutu's honour.
509
Writings
edit
Tutu is the author of seven collections of
sermons
in addition to other writings:
Crying in the Wilderness
Eerdmans
, 1982.
ISBN
978-0-8028-0270-5
Hope and Suffering: Sermons and Speeches
, Skotaville, 1983.
ISBN
978-0-620-06776-8
The War Against Children: South Africa's Youngest Victims
Human Rights First
, 1986.
ISBN
9780934143004
The Words of Desmond Tutu
, Newmarket, 1989.
ISBN
978-1-55704-719-9
The Rainbow People of God: The Making of a Peaceful Revolution
Doubleday
, 1994.
ISBN
978-0-385-47546-4
Worshipping Church in Africa
Duke University Press
, 1995. ASIN B000K5WB02
The Essential Desmond Tutu
, David Phillips Publishers, 1997.
ISBN
978-0-86486-346-1
No Future Without Forgiveness
Doubleday
, 1999.
ISBN
978-0-385-49689-6
An African Prayerbook
Doubleday
, 2000.
ISBN
978-0-385-47730-7
God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time
Doubleday
, 2004.
ISBN
978-0-385-47784-0
Desmond and the Very Mean Word
Candlewick
, 2012.
ISBN
978-0-763-65229-6
The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World
HarperOne
, 2015.
ISBN
978-0062203571
The Book of Joy
: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
, coauthored by His Holiness the
14th Dalai Lama
, 2016,
ISBN
978-0-67007-016-9
See also
edit
List of black Nobel laureates
List of civil rights leaders
List of peace activists
Political theology in Sub-Saharan Africa
Reconciliation theology
References
edit
Footnotes
edit
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 22;
Gish 2004
, p. 2;
Allen 2006
, pp. 9–10.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 22;
Allen 2006
, p. 10.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 22;
Allen 2006
, pp. 10–11.
Allen 2006
, p. 11.
Allen 2006
, p. 14.
Allen 2006
, pp. 14–15.
Gish 2004
, p. 3;
Allen 2006
, p. 16.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 28;
Gish 2004
, p. 3.
Allen 2006
, p. 21.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 22, 29;
Gish 2004
, p. 3;
Allen 2006
, p. 19.
Allen 2006
, p. 19.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 22.
Gish 2004
, p. 2;
Allen 2006
, p. 19.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 32;
Allen 2006
, p. 19.
Allen 2006
, p. 20.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 22;
Gish 2004
, p. 3;
Allen 2006
, p. 22.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 30;
Gish 2004
, p. 4;
Allen 2006
, p. 33.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 30–31;
Gish 2004
, p. 4;
Allen 2006
, p. 33.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 23;
Gish 2004
, p. 4;
Allen 2006
, p. 21.
Allen 2006
, p. 33.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 30;
Gish 2004
, p. 4;
Allen 2006
, p. 21.
Gish 2004
, p. 5;
Allen 2006
, p. 24.
Allen 2006
, p. 24.
Allen 2006
, p. 25.
Allen 2006
, p. 34.
Allen 2006
, pp. 25, 34–35.
Allen 2006
, p. 36.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 27;
Gish 2004
, p. 7;
Allen 2006
, p. 37.
Allen 2006
, pp. 36, 37–38.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 29;
Gish 2004
, p. 8;
Allen 2006
, p. 42.
Gish 2004
, p. 10;
Allen 2006
, pp. 43–45.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 31.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 29–30;
Gish 2004
, p. 9;
Allen 2006
, pp. 45–46.
Allen 2006
, p. 47.
Allen 2006
, pp. 47–48.
Gish 2004
, p. 12;
Allen 2006
, p. 48.
Allen 2006
, p. 48.
Gish 2004
, p. 17;
Allen 2006
, pp. 48–49.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 37;
Gish 2004
, p. 18;
Allen 2006
, p. 50.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 37;
Gish 2004
, p. 18;
Allen 2006
, pp. 49–50.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 37;
Gish 2004
, pp. 17, 18;
Allen 2006
, pp. 50–51.
Gish 2004
, p. 18;
Allen 2006
, p. 51.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 38;
Allen 2006
, pp. 51–52.
Allen 2006
, p. 52.
Gish 2004
, p. 22;
Allen 2006
, p. 53.
Allen 2006
, p. 53.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 41–45;
Gish 2004
, pp. 20–21;
Allen 2006
, pp. 60–61.
Gish 2004
, p. 23;
Allen 2006
, p. 61.
Allen 2006
, pp. 61–62.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 46;
Gish 2004
, p. 25;
Allen 2006
, pp. 63–64.
Gish 2004
, p. 26;
Allen 2006
, p. 64.
Allen 2006
, p. 68.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 47;
Allen 2006
, pp. 64–65.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 47.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 62–63;
Gish 2004
, p. 35;
Allen 2006
, p. 72.
Allen 2006
, p. 67.
Gish 2004
, p. 26;
Allen 2006
, pp. 68–69.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 49;
Allen 2006
, p. 70.
Allen 2006
, p. 70.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 54;
Gish 2004
, p. 28;
Allen 2006
, p. 74.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 54–55;
Gish 2004
, p. 28;
Allen 2006
, p. 74.
Allen 2006
, p. 75.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 55;
Gish 2004
, p. 28;
Allen 2006
, p. 76.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 57;
Gish 2004
, p. 31;
Allen 2006
, p. 77.
Allen 2006
, p. 81.
Gish 2004
, p. 31;
Allen 2006
, pp. 79–81.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 57.
Allen 2006
, p. 86.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 58;
Gish 2004
, p. 32;
Allen 2006
, p. 87.
Allen 2006
, p. 87.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 59.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 57–58, 63;
Gish 2004
, pp. 31, 33;
Allen 2006
, pp. 84, 87.
Gish 2004
, p. 34;
Allen 2006
, p. 88.
Allen 2006
, pp. 89–90.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 61.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 61–62;
Allen 2006
, p. 92.
Gish 2004
, p. 35;
Allen 2006
, pp. 92, 95.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 63;
Gish 2004
, p. 35;
Allen 2006
, p. 93.
Gish 2004
, p. 35.
Gish 2004
, p. 34.
Gish 2004
, p. 39;
Allen 2006
, pp. 98–99.
Allen 2006
, p. 101.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 69;
Gish 2004
, p. 41;
Allen 2006
, pp. 101, 103.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 73;
Allen 2006
, p. 104.
Allen 2006
, p. 105.
Allen 2006
, pp. 104, 105.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 71–72;
Allen 2006
, p. 105.
Gish 2004
, p. 42;
Allen 2006
, p. 101.
Allen 2006
, p. 116.
Gish 2004
, p. 42;
Allen 2006
, p. 108.
Allen 2006
, p. 108.
Allen 2006
, p. 109.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 75–77;
Gish 2004
, pp. 43–44;
Allen 2006
, pp. 109–110.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 78;
Gish 2004
, p. 44;
Allen 2006
, p. 110.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 78–79;
Gish 2004
, p. 44;
Allen 2006
, p. 111.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 79;
Gish 2004
, p. 45;
Allen 2006
, p. 112.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 80;
Gish 2004
, p. 45;
Allen 2006
, pp. 113–115.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 81;
Gish 2004
, p. 45;
Allen 2006
, p. 113.
Allen 2006
, pp. 114–115.
Allen 2006
, p. 115.
Allen 2006
, pp. 138–39.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 88;
Gish 2004
, pp. 49, 51;
Allen 2006
, pp. 119–120.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 88, 92;
Gish 2004
, pp. 51–53;
Allen 2006
, pp. 123, 143–144.
Gish 2004
, p. 53;
Allen 2006
, p. 123.
Gish 2004
, p. 53;
Allen 2006
, p. 124.
Allen 2006
, pp. 125–127.
Allen 2006
, p. 128.
Allen 2006
, pp. 129–130.
Allen 2006
, p. 135.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 85;
Gish 2004
, p. 46.
Allen 2006
, p. 137.
Allen 2006
, p. 138.
Allen 2006
, p. 139.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 94;
Gish 2004
, p. 54.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 94–96;
Gish 2004
, pp. 55, 58;
Allen 2006
, pp. 139, 144–145.
Allen 2006
, pp. 145–146.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 96–97;
Gish 2004
, p. 58;
Allen 2006
, p. 146.
Gish 2004
, pp. 59–60;
Allen 2006
, p. 147.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 98;
Gish 2004
, p. 60;
Allen 2006
, p. 149.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 98–99;
Gish 2004
, p. 60.
Gish 2004
, p. 60.
Allen 2006
, p. 155.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 102–103;
Gish 2004
, p. 61.
Allen 2006
, p. 150.
Allen 2006
, pp. 150–151.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 104–106;
Gish 2004
, pp. 61–62;
Allen 2006
, p. 154.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 106;
Gish 2004
, pp. 62–64;
Allen 2006
, pp. 154, 156–158.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 107;
Gish 2004
, p. 64;
Allen 2006
, p. 158.
Gish 2004
, p. 65;
Allen 2006
, p. 149.
Gish 2004
, p. 65;
Allen 2006
, p. 151.
Gish 2004
, p. 65.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 109;
Gish 2004
, p. 65;
Allen 2006
, p. 159.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 111;
Allen 2006
, pp. 160–161.
Allen 2006
, p. 161.
Allen 2006
, p. 160.
Gish 2004
, pp. 66–67;
Allen 2006
, p. 162.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 117–118;
Gish 2004
, p. 67;
Allen 2006
, p. 163.
Allen 2006
, p. 164.
Gish 2004
, p. 75.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 120;
Gish 2004
, p. 69;
Allen 2006
, pp. 164–165.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 121;
Gish 2004
, p. 69.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 130;
Gish 2004
, p. 72;
Allen 2006
, p. 167.
Gish 2004
, p. 74;
Allen 2006
, p. 170.
Allen 2006
, pp. 169–170.
Allen 2006
, p. 170.
Allen 2006
, p. 168.
Gish 2004
, p. 72.
Allen 2006
, p. 169.
Allen 2006
, p. 171.
Gish 2004
, p. 73.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 169;
Gish 2004
, pp. 89–90.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 154;
Gish 2004
, p. 73.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 172–177;
Gish 2004
, p. 82;
Allen 2006
, pp. 192–197.
Gish 2004
, pp. 83–84;
Allen 2006
, pp. 197–199.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 178;
Allen 2006
, pp. 197–199.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 135;
Gish 2004
, p. 75;
Allen 2006
, p. 215.
Gish 2004
, p. 144.
Allen 2006
, p. 172.
Allen 2006
, pp. 162–163.
Allen 2006
, p. 182.
Allen 2006
, p. 183.
Gish 2004
, p. 95.
Allen 2006
, p. 255.
Gish 2004
, pp. 77, 90;
Allen 2006
, pp. 178–179.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 187;
Gish 2004
, p. 90;
Allen 2006
, pp. 181–182.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 159–160;
Allen 2006
, p. 184.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 169;
Gish 2004
, p. 80;
Allen 2006
, pp. 184–186.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 166–167;
Gish 2004
, p. 81;
Allen 2006
, pp. 186–187.
Allen 2006
, p. 188.
Gish 2004
, p. 90;
Allen 2006
, p. 189.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 189–190;
Gish 2004
, pp. 90–91;
Allen 2006
, p. 189.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 190;
Gish 2004
, p. 91;
Allen 2006
, p. 190.
Gish 2004
, p. 91;
Allen 2006
, pp. 190–191.
Gish 2004
, p. 91.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 191;
Gish 2004
, pp. 91–92.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 196, 198;
Gish 2004
, pp. 93–94.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 17;
Allen 2006
, p. 213.
Gish 2004
, pp. 79, 86.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 235;
Gish 2004
, p. 95;
Allen 2006
, p. 206.
Gish 2004
, p. 78.
Allen 2006
, p. 202.
Gish 2004
, p. 85.
Gish 2004
, p. 78;
Allen 2006
, p. 201.
Allen 2006
, p. 203.
Allen 2006
, pp. 203–205.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 200;
Gish 2004
, p. 95;
Allen 2006
, p. 211.
Gish 2004
, p. 99.
Gish 2004
, p. 100.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 207;
Gish 2004
, pp. 100–101;
Allen 2006
, pp. 249–250.
Gish 2004
, pp. 92–93, 95.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 200;
Allen 2006
, pp. 209–210.
Allen 2006
, pp. 210–211.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 208;
Gish 2004
, pp. 101–102;
Allen 2006
, pp. 219–220.
Allen 2006
, p. 215.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 203;
Gish 2004
, pp. 97–98.
Gish 2004
, p. 96.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 210–211;
Gish 2004
, p. 105;
Allen 2006
, pp. 217–218.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 212;
Gish 2004
, p. 105;
Allen 2006
, p. 218.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 215.
Gish 2004
, p. 107;
Allen 2006
, p. 220.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 210;
Gish 2004
, p. 105.
Gish 2004
, p. 108.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 212–213;
Gish 2004
, p. 107;
Allen 2006
, p. 221.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 212, 214;
Allen 2006
, p. 221.
Allen 2006
, p. 221.
Allen 2006
, pp. 321–232.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 221;
Allen 2006
, p. 228.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 221–222;
Gish 2004
, p. 110;
Allen 2006
, pp. 224–225.
Allen 2006
, p. 226.
Gish 2004
, p. 111.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 217–219.
Allen 2006
, p. 229.
Allen 2006
, pp. 229–230.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 223–224;
Gish 2004
, p. 111;
Allen 2006
, p. 227.
Allen 2006
, p. 227.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 220–221.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 237–238.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 238–239.
Gish 2004
, p. 110.
Allen 2006
, p. 231.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 224;
Gish 2004
, p. 113.
Gish 2004
, p. 113.
Gish 2004
, p. 118.
Allen 2006
, p. 79.
Gish 2004
, p. 121.
Allen 2006
, pp. 263–264.
Allen 2006
, p. 263.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 248–249;
Gish 2004
, p. 121;
Allen 2006
, p. 264.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 254–255;
Allen 2006
, p. 265.
Gish 2004
, p. 122;
Allen 2006
, p. 266.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 259;
Allen 2006
, p. 267.
Gish 2004
, pp. 122–123;
Allen 2006
, pp. 1, 268.
Allen 2006
, p. 269.
Gish 2004
, p. 123;
Allen 2006
, p. 270.
Allen 2006
, p. 276.
Allen 2006
, p. 277.
Allen 2006
, pp. 277–279.
Allen 2006
, p. 279.
Allen 2006
, p. 280.
Allen 2006
, pp. 280–281.
Allen 2006
, pp. 284–285.
Gish 2004
, p. 127;
Allen 2006
, p. 290.
Allen 2006
, p. 291.
Allen 2006
, pp. 1–4.
Allen 2006
, p. 4.
Gish 2004
, p. 127;
Allen 2006
, pp. 1–5.
Allen 2006
, pp. 5–6.
Allen 2006
, p. 6.
Allen 2006
, pp. 293, 294.
Allen 2006
, p. 294.
Allen 2006
, p. 295.
Allen 2006
, p. 307.
Allen 2006
, pp. 301–302.
Gish 2004
, p. 131;
Allen 2006
, p. 303.
Allen 2006
, p. 304.
Gish 2004
, p. 131;
Allen 2006
, p. 308.
Gish 2004
, p. 132;
Allen 2006
, pp. 308–311;
Sampson 2011
, p. 397.
Allen 2006
, p. 311.
Allen 2006
, pp. 312–313.
Gish 2004
, p. 135;
Allen 2006
, p. 313.
Gish 2004
, pp. 135–136;
Allen 2006
, p. 313;
Sampson 2011
, p. 409.
Allen 2006
, p. 314.
Allen 2006
, pp. 315–316.
Allen 2006
, p. 316.
Allen 2006
, pp. 320–321.
Allen 2006
, p. 317.
Allen 2006
, p. 319.
Allen 2006
, pp. 318–319.
Gish 2004
, p. 137;
Allen 2006
, pp. 321–322.
Gish 2004
, pp. 137–139;
Allen 2006
, pp. 323, 329.
Gish 2004
, p. 138;
Allen 2006
, p. 325.
Allen 2006
, pp. 325–326.
Gish 2004
, p. 138;
Allen 2006
, p. 328.
Gish 2004
, p. 140;
Allen 2006
, pp. 333–334.
Allen 2006
, p. 327.
Gish 2004
, p. 138;
Allen 2006
, p. 329.
Allen 2006
, p. 315.
Gish 2004
, p. 142.
Gish 2004
, p. 142;
Allen 2006
, p. 338.
Gish 2004
, p. 143;
Allen 2006
, p. 339.
Allen 2006
, pp. 338–339.
Allen 2006
, pp. 347–348.
Gish 2004
, p. 130;
Allen 2006
, p. 375.
Allen 2006
, pp. 376–377.
Allen 2006
, p. 377.
Allen 2006
, pp. 377–378.
Gish 2004
, p. 130.
"Apartheid in the Holy Land"
The Guardian
. 29 April 2002
. Retrieved
26 December
2021
Allen 2006
, p. 384.
Allen 2006
, pp. 382–383, 384.
Allen 2006
, p. 385.
Gish 2004
, p. 129;
Allen 2006
, p. 383.
Allen 2006
, p. 382.
Allen 2006
, p. 388.
Allen 2006
, pp. 384, 386.
Allen 2006
, pp. 386–387.
"Jews Stunned by Tutu's Suggestion Holocaust Perpetrators Be Forgiven"
. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 28 December 1989
. Retrieved
26 December
2021
Allen 2006
, p. 387.
Dershowitz, Alan (29 December 2021).
"Bishop Tutu was the most influential anti-Semite of our time"
JNS.org
. Retrieved
31 October
2024
Bernstein, David (2 January 2022).
"The Late Bishop Desmond Tutu, Antisemite"
Reason.com
. Retrieved
31 October
2024
Dadoo, Suraya (30 December 2021).
"Desmond Tutu's inconvenient pro-Palestine legacy"
The New Arab
. Retrieved
31 October
2024
Almost as enduring as Tutu's support of the Palestinian liberation struggle has been smear campaigns against him, accusing the Archbishop of anti-Semitism. Tutu took on the pro-Israel lobby and the weaponisation of anti-Semitism head-on. Tutu wrote plainly: "…the Israeli government is placed on a pedestal and to criticise it is to be immediately dubbed anti-Semitic. People are scared in the US to say 'wrong is wrong' because the pro-Israeli lobby is powerful - very powerful. Well, so what?..." In doing so, Tutu angered the pro-Israel lobby in the US and in South Africa. In 2009, Alan Dershowitz referred to Tutu as 'a bigot and a racist'
Rahman, Khaleda (28 December 2021).
"Alan Dershowitz Calls Tutu 'Anti-Semite' and 'Bigot' After His Death"
Newsweek
. Retrieved
31 October
2024
Hanau, Shira (26 December 2021).
"Desmond Tutu, anti-apartheid leader who identified with Jews and criticized Israel's treatment of Palestinians, dies at 90"
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
. Retrieved
31 October
2024
remarks that some Jewish leaders called antisemitic, earned Tutu criticism from some Jewish leaders. In his 1984 JTS speech, he addressed some of that criticism while further fanning its flames with references to a "Jewish lobby." "I was immediately accused of being antisemitic," Tutu said in his speech, referring to the reaction to an earlier speech. "I am sad because I think that it is a sensitivity in this instance that comes from an arrogance — the arrogance of power because Jews are a powerful lobby in this land and all kinds of people woo their support." In a 1989 visit to Israel and the West Bank, Tutu made the controversial suggestion during a visit to Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial, that the Nazis ought to be forgiven for their crimes against the Jewish people.
Allen 2006
, p. 381.
Gish 2004
, p. 145.
Allen 2006
, p. 371.
Gish 2004
, p. 153;
Allen 2006
, p. 370.
Gish 2004
, p. 153.
Allen 2006
, p. 370.
Gish 2004
, p. 163.
Gish 2004
, p. 162.
Gish 2004
, p. 161.
Gish 2004
, pp. 161–162.
Sampson 2011
, p. 520.
Allen 2006
, p. 391.
Allen 2006
, p. 345.
Gish 2004
, pp. 143–144;
Allen 2006
, p. 345;
Sampson 2011
, p. 517.
Allen 2006
, p. 345;
Sampson 2011
, p. 517.
Allen 2006
, pp. 343–344.
Allen 2006
, pp. 344–345.
Gish 2004
, p. 147;
Allen 2006
, p. 345.
Allen 2006
, p. 344.
Gish 2004
, pp. 147, 148;
Allen 2006
, pp. 345–346;
Sampson 2011
, p. 529.
Allen 2006
, p. 346.
Allen 2006
, p. 347.
Allen 2006
, p. 349.
Gish 2004
, p. 150.
Allen 2006
, p. 350.
Allen 2006
, p. 348.
Allen 2006
, p. 352.
Allen 2006
, p. 351.
Gish 2004
, p. 157;
Allen 2006
, pp. 366–367;
Sampson 2011
, pp. 531–532.
Sampson 2011
, p. 532.
Gish 2004
, p. 157.
Gish 2004
, p. 158.
"Archbishop Tutu 'would not worship a homophobic God'
BBC News
. 26 July 2013. Archived from
the original
on 8 March 2017
. Retrieved
25 May
2018
Allen 2006
, p. 372.
Allen 2006
, p. 373.
Allen 2006
, pp. 372–373.
Allen 2006
, pp. 373–374.
"Desmond Tutu chides Church for gay stance"
BBC News
. 18 November 2007. Archived from
the original
on 2 January 2009
. Retrieved
25 May
2018
Gish 2004
, p. 166.
"Africans hail conservative Pope"
BBC News
. 20 April 2005. Archived from
the original
on 13 March 2017
. Retrieved
26 May
2006
"Tutu calls for child registration"
BBC News
. 22 February 2005. Archived from
the original
on 7 October 2013
. Retrieved
23 January
2008
Jacob Slosberg (29 November 2006).
"Tutu to head UN rights mission to Gaza"
The Jerusalem Post
. Archived from
the original
on 19 March 2018
. Retrieved
10 June
2018
"Israel 'blocks Tutu Gaza mission'
BBC News
. 11 December 2006. Archived from
the original
on 17 January 2007
. Retrieved
10 June
2018
Gish 2004
, p. 164;
Allen 2006
, pp. 388–389.
Allen 2006
, p. 389.
"Tutu condemns Blair's Iraq stance"
BBC News
. 5 January 2003. Archived from
the original
on 4 June 2006
. Retrieved
23 January
2008
Jeremy Cooke (2 October 2004).
"Tutu in anti-Guantanamo theatre"
BBC News
. Archived from
the original
on 25 May 2018
. Retrieved
23 January
2008
"Tutu calls for Guantanamo release"
BBC News
. 12 January 2005
. Retrieved
22 January
2008
"Tutu calls for Guantanamo closure"
BBC News
. 17 February 2006. Archived from
the original
on 22 February 2009
. Retrieved
22 January
2008
"Desmond Tutu calls for Blair and Bush to be tried over Iraq"
BBC News
. 2 September 2012. Archived from
the original
on 2 November 2017
. Retrieved
25 May
2018
Allen 2006
, p. 392.
Allen 2006
, p. 393.
"S Africa is losing its way – Tutu"
BBC News
. 27 September 2006. Archived from
the original
on 8 March 2008
. Retrieved
10 June
2018
Thornycroft, Peta; Berger, Sebastien (19 September 2007).
"Zimbabwe needs your help, Tutu tells Brown"
The Daily Telegraph
. Archived from
the original
on 17 November 2007
. Retrieved
4 April
2008
"Tutu urges Zimbabwe intervention"
BBC News
. 29 June 2008. Archived from
the original
on 24 December 2008
. Retrieved
10 June
2018
"Archbishop Tutu calls for G8 help"
BBC News
. 17 March 2005. Archived from
the original
on 30 December 2017
. Retrieved
23 January
2008
"Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu announce The Elders"
. TheElders.org. 18 July 2007. Archived from
the original
on 2 October 2013
. Retrieved
11 March
2013
"Kofi Annan appointed Chair of The Elders"
. TheElders.org. 10 May 2013
. Retrieved
23 May
2013
"Tutu denounces rights abuses"
. News24. 10 December 2007
. Retrieved
11 March
2013
"Desmond Tutu"
. TheElders.org
. Retrieved
7 March
2013
"Police return Tutu's stolen Nobel medal"
Sydney Morning Herald
. 17 June 2007. Archived from
the original
on 26 July 2023
. Retrieved
26 July
2023
"San Francisco set for torch relay"
BBC News
. 9 April 2008. Archived from
the original
on 13 April 2008
. Retrieved
9 April
2008
David Smith (4 October 2011).
"Dalai Lama forced to pull out of Desmond Tutu birthday in visa dispute"
The Guardian
. Archived from
the original
on 16 February 2017
. Retrieved
10 June
2018
Rowan Callick (29 April 2009).
"Solomon Islands gets Desmond Tutu truth help"
The Australian
. Retrieved
10 June
2018
"International day of demonstrations on climate change"
. CNN. 26 October 2009. Archived from
the original
on 7 November 2017
. Retrieved
10 June
2018
Desmond Tutu.
"We need an apartheid-style boycott to save the planet"
The Guardian
. Archived from
the original
on 7 March 2018
. Retrieved
24 March
2015
"The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: An Evening with Archbishop Desmond Tutu"
PeabodyAwards.com
. 2009
. Retrieved
11 February
2024
"South Africa's Tutu Announces Retirement"
. CNN. 22 July 2010. Archived from
the original
on 31 August 2017
. Retrieved
25 May
2018
"South Africa's Desmond Tutu: 'I will not vote for ANC'
BBC News
. 10 May 2013. Archived from
the original
on 3 December 2017
. Retrieved
5 June
2013
Marrian, Natasha (21 June 2013).
"Tutu endorses Ramphele's Agang SA"
Business Day
. South Africa. Archived from
the original
on 25 May 2018
. Retrieved
25 May
2018
"Desmond Tutu changes mind, going to Mandela funeral"
. CBC News. 14 December 2013. Archived from
the original
on 18 January 2016
. Retrieved
18 August
2014
Farouk, Chothia (17 December 2013).
"Archbishop Tutu: Nelson Mandela services excluded Afrikaners"
BBC News
. Archived from
the original
on 17 May 2017
. Retrieved
18 August
2014
Tutu, Desmond (11 June 2011).
"All Are God's Children: On Including Gays and Lesbians in the Church and Society"
HuffPost
Archived
from the original on 3 August 2017
. Retrieved
12 August
2016
Laing, Aislinn (23 May 2016).
"Desmond Tutu's reverend daughter marries a woman and loses church licence"
The Telegraph
. Archived from
the original
on 26 February 2018.
Tutu, Desmond (12 July 2014).
"Desmond Tutu: A dignified death is our right – I am in favour of assisted dying"
The Guardian
. Archived from
the original
on 5 January 2018
. Retrieved
14 May
2017
Prynne, Miranda (13 July 2014).
"Desmond Tutu: I support assisted dying"
The Telegraph
. Archived from
the original
on 28 March 2017
. Retrieved
22 April
2017
"Archbishop Desmond Tutu 'wants right to assisted death'
BBC News
. 7 October 2016. Archived from
the original
on 10 February 2017
. Retrieved
14 May
2017
Tutu, Desmond; Mairead Maguire; Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (3 December 2012).
"Nobel Laureates Salute Bradley [sic] Manning"
The Nation
. Archived from
the original
on 8 April 2018
. Retrieved
15 February
2013
"Desmond Tutu calls oilsands 'filth,' urges cooperation on environment"
. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 31 May 2014
. Retrieved
26 December
2021
Tutu, Desmond (10 April 2014).
"We need an apartheid-style boycott to save the planet"
The Guardian
. Retrieved
26 December
2021
"Nobel laureates urge Saudi king to halt 14 executions"
National Post
. 11 August 2017
. Retrieved
25 May
2018
Zhou, Naaman; Michael Safi (8 September 2017).
"Desmond Tutu condemns Aung San Suu Kyi: 'Silence is too high a price'
The Guardian
. Archived from
the original
on 2 March 2018
. Retrieved
25 May
2018
Slier, Paula (7 December 2017).
"God is Weeping Over Inflammatory Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel Capital"
Eyewitness News
. Archived from
the original
on 8 December 2017
. Retrieved
8 December
2017
Tutu, Desmond (31 December 2020).
"Joe Biden should end the US pretence over Israel's 'secret' nuclear weapons"
The Guardian
. Retrieved
16 September
2023
Berger, Marilyn (26 December 2021).
"Desmond Tutu, Whose Voice Helped Slay Apartheid, Dies at 90"
The New York Times
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
26 December
2021
"South African anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu dies aged 90"
The Hindu
. Reuters. 26 December 2021
. Retrieved
26 December
2021
"Statement on the passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu"
The Presidency Republic Of South Africa
Archived
from the original on 26 December 2021
. Retrieved
28 December
2021
Agence France-Presse (28 December 2021).
"Archbishop Desmond Tutu to lie in state in Cape Town for two days"
The Guardian
. Retrieved
30 December
2021
Mji, Zanele; Chutel, Lynsey (27 December 2021).
"South Africa Begins a Week of Mourning for Desmond Tutu"
The New York Times
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
30 December
2021
South Africa holds state funeral for Archbishop Desmond Tutu
. BBC News, 1 January 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
Burke, Jason.
"Desmond Tutu laid to rest at state funeral in Cape Town"
The Guardian
. Retrieved
1 January
2022
Meldrum, Andrew (1 January 2022).
'Moral compass': Requiem for South Africa's Archbishop Tutu"
Associated Press
. Retrieved
10 September
2022
"Desmond Tutu: Body of South African hero to be aquamated"
BBC News
. 31 December 2021
. Retrieved
1 January
2022
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 232.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 18.
Gish 2004
, p. 53.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 68.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 239.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 28.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 29.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 181.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 62.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 133;
Gish 2004
, p. 73.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 133.
Gish 2004
, p. 73;
Allen 2006
, p. 170.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 114.
Allen 2006
, pp. 170, 275.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 137.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 134–136.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 133;
Gish 2004
, p. 53.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 148.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 247–248.
Allen 2006
, p. 272.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 157.
Gish 2004
, p. 76.
Gish 2004
, p. 103.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 65.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 192.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 100.
Du Boulay 1988
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Gish 2004
, p. 11.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 133;
Gish 2004
, p. 75.
Gish 2004
, p. 123.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 133, 141;
Allen 2006
, p. 274.
Allen 2006
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Gish 2004
, p. 23.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 141.
"Tutu urges leaders to agree climate deal"
. CNN. 15 December 2009
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15 December
2009
"Our Patron – Archbishop Desmond Tutu"
. Cape Town Child Welfare. Archived from
the original
on 18 May 2008
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6 June
2008
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 81.
Allen 2006
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Gish 2004
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Du Boulay 1988
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Gish 2004
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Allen 2006
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Gish 2004
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Gish 2004
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Gish 2004
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Gish 2004
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Du Boulay 1988
, p. 161;
Gish 2004
, p. 81.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 186.
Gish 2004
, p. 74.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 191;
Gish 2004
, p. 91;
Allen 2006
, p. 239.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 243;
Gish 2004
, p. xii.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 162;
Gish 2004
, p. 77.
Gish 2004
, p. 77;
Allen 2006
, p. 212.
Gish 2004
, p. 77.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 160;
Gish 2004
, p. 90.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 168.
Allen 2006
, p. 265.
Allen 2006
, p. 257.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 77;
Allen 2006
, p. 105.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 164.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 87.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 164;
Allen 2006
, p. 206.
Allen 2006
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Du Boulay 1988
, p. 234.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 236.
Gish 2004
, p. 125.
Earley, Pete (16 February 1986).
"Desmond Tutu"
The Washington Post
. Retrieved
13 October
2017
Allen 2006
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Allen 2006
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Du Boulay 1988
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Gish 2004
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Sampson 2011
, p. 10.
Allen 2006
, pp. 239–240.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 259;
Allen 2006
, p. 373.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 116;
Allen 2006
, p. 135.
Allen 2006
, pp. 136, 137.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 115.
Du Boulay 1988
, p. 116.
Allen 2006
, pp. 135–136.
Allen 2006
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Allen 2006
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Gish 2004
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Allen 2006
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Allen 2006
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Du Boulay 1988
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Allen 2006
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Allen 2006
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Du Boulay 1988
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Du Boulay 1988
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Du Boulay 1988
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Du Boulay 1988
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Gish 2004
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Gish 2004
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Gish 2004
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Du Boulay 1988
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Du Boulay 1988
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Gish 2004
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Allen 2006
, p. 242.
Allen 2006
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Zukile Majova (1 September 2006).
"Zuma camp lashes out at 'old' Tutu"
Mail & Guardian
. Archived from
the original
on 23 September 2006
. Retrieved
1 September
2006
Gish 2004
, p. 164.
Du Boulay 1988
, pp. 188–189.
"Listen to Desmond Tutu's 'profound' address to Mount Allison University"
Archived
from the original on 27 December 2021.
"The Nobel Peace Prize for 1984"
(Press release).
Norwegian Nobel Committee
. Retrieved
26 May
2006
Gish, Steven (1963).
Desmond Tutu: A Biography
. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 126.
ISBN
978-0-313-32860-2
. Retrieved
6 June
2008
{{
cite book
}}
ISBN / Date incompatibility (
help
"Habitat for Humanity Lebanon Chairman to receive prestigious Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award"
(Press release). Habitat for Humanity. 1 November 2007. Archived from
the original
on 5 July 2008
. Retrieved
6 June
2008
"Cittadinanze onorarie"
[Honorary citizens].
Comune di Reggio Emilia
. 24 October 1985
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2018
Andruss, Jessica (30 March 2000).
"Doctorow '52 wins prestigious, lucrative prize"
Kenyon Collegian
. No. CXXVII, 19. Gambier, Ohio: Kenyon College. p. 2
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18 May
2022
"Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement"
achievement.org
"Summit Overview Photo"
. 2003.
South Africa's Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu receives the American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award from Council member Coretta Scott King during the 2003 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C.
"Gov. Blagojevich Proclaims Today "Desmond Tutu Day" in Illinois"
(Press release). Illinois Government News Network. 13 May 2008. Archived from
the original
on 10 November 2009
. Retrieved
6 June
2008
"Honorary awards"
(2015)
"Order of St John"
The Gazette
. 21 September 2017
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3 February
2018
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Kellogg College
. Archived from
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2018
"2013 Templeton Prize Laureate. Desmond Tutu"
templetonprize.org
John Templeton Foundation
. 4 April 2013
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8 August
2013
Steven Lang (7 June 2018).
"Grahamstown scientist's new fossil scoop"
Grocott's Mail
Archived
from the original on 10 June 2018
. Retrieved
10 June
2018
Bibliography
edit
Allen, John (2006).
Rabble-Rouser for Peace: The Authorised Biography of Desmond Tutu
. London: Rider.
ISBN
978-1-84-604064-1
Battle, Michael
(2009).
Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu
. Pilgrim Press.
ISBN
978-0-8298-1833-8
Du Boulay, Shirley (1988).
Tutu: Voice of the Voiceless
. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
ISBN
9780340416143
Gish, Steven D. (2004).
Desmond Tutu: A Biography
. Westport, Connecticut and London: Greenwood Press.
ISBN
0-313-32860-9
Sampson, Anthony
(2011) [1999].
Mandela: The Authorised Biography
. London: HarperCollins.
ISBN
978-0-00-743797-9
Tlhagale, Buti, and Itumeleng Mosala, eds.
Hammering Swords into Ploughshares: Essays in Honor of Archbishop Mpilo Desmond Tutu
(Eerdmans, 1987).
"Desmond Tutu". in
Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors
(Gale, 2013)
online
"Desmond Mpilo Tutu". in
Contemporary Black Biography
(44, Gale, 2004)
online
"Bishop Tutu's Christology."
Cross Currents
34 (1984): 492–99.
Further reading
edit
Battle, Michael.
Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa's Confessor
(Westminster John Knox Press, 2021).
Kokobili, Alexander. "An insight on Archbishop Desmond Tutu's struggle against apartheid in South Africa."
Kairos: Evangelical Journal of Theology
13.1 (2019): 115-126.
online
Maluleke, Tinyiko. "Forgiveness and Reconciliation in the Life and Work of Desmond Tutu."
International Review of Mission
109.2 (2020): 210-221.
Maluleke, Tinyiko. "The Liberating Humour of Desmond Tutu."
International Review of Mission
110.2 (2021): 327-340.
online
Nadar, Sarojini. "Beyond a "Political Priest": Exploring Desmond Tutu as a 'Freedom-Fighter Mystic'."
Black Theology
(2021): 1-8.
Pali, K. J. "The leadership role of emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the social development of the South African society."
Stellenbosch Theological Journal
5.1 (2019): 263-297.
online
Pali, K. J. (2020). "The leadership role of emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the social development of the South African society".
Stellenbosch Theological Journal
263–
297.
doi
10.17570/stj.2019.v5n1.a13
(inactive 12 August 2025).
S2CID
201695299
{{
cite journal
}}
: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of August 2025 (
link
External links
edit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Desmond Tutu
Wikisource
has original works by or about:
Desmond Mpilo Tutu
Wikiquote has quotations related to
Desmond Tutu
The Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation SA
Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation USA
Tutu Foundation UK
Appearances
on
C-SPAN
Archbishop Desmond Tutu Biography and Interview
with
American Academy of Achievement
Desmond Tutu
on Nobelprize.org
Desmond Tutu
discography at
Discogs
Desmond Tutu
at
IMDb
Anglican Church of Southern Africa titles
Preceded by
John Maund
Bishop of Lesotho
1976–1978
Succeeded by
Philip Stanley Mokuku
Preceded by
Timothy Bavin
Bishop of Johannesburg
1985–1986
Succeeded by
George Buchanan
Preceded by
Philip Russell
Archbishop of Cape Town
1986–1996
Succeeded by
Njongonkulu Ndungane
Bishops of
Lesotho
John Maund
(Bishop of Basutoland until 1966)
Desmond Tutu
Philip Mokuku
Andrew Duma
Joe Tsubella
Adam Taaso
Bishops of
Johannesburg
Arthur Karney
Geoffrey Clayton
Ambrose Reeves
Leslie Stradling
Timothy Bavin
Desmond Tutu
George Buchanan
Brian Germond
Stephen Moreo
Bishops and archbishops of Cape Town
Bishops
Robert Gray
William West Jones
(became archbishop)
Archbishops
William West Jones
William Carter
Francis Phelps
Russell Darbyshire
Geoffrey Clayton
Joost de Blank
Robert Selby Taylor
Bill Burnett
Philip Russell
Desmond Tutu
Njongonkulu Ndungane
Thabo Makgoba
Suffragans
James Nash
Sidney Lavis
Roy Cowdry
Walter Wade
George Swartz
Garth Counsell
The Elders
Chair
Juan Manuel Santos
Deputy Chairs
Ban Ki-moon
Graça Machel
Members
Gro Harlem Brundtland
Helen Clark
Elbegdorj Tsakhia
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
Hina Jilani
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Denis Mukwege
Mary Robinson
Ernesto Zedillo
Former Members
Martti Ahtisaari
Kofi Annan
(former chair)
Ela Bhatt
Lakhdar Brahimi
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Jimmy Carter
Ricardo Lagos
Nelson Mandela
(founder)
Aung San Suu Kyi
Desmond Tutu
(former chair)
Muhammad Yunus
Li Zhaoxing
Initiators
Peter Gabriel
Richard Branson
Songs
Live and Let Live
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
People
Chairman:
Desmond Tutu
Deputy chairman:
Alex Boraine
National Research Director:
Charles Villa-Vicencio
testimony
Organisations
Amy Biehl Foundation Trust
Institute for Justice and Reconciliation
Army
Azanian People's Liberation Army
Civil Cooperation Bureau
State Security Council
Vlakplaas
Umkhonto we Sizwe
Third Force
Massacre
Amanzimtoti bombing
Battle of Ventersdorp
Bisho massacre
Church Street bombing
Cradock Four
Durban beach-front bombing
Heidelberg Tavern massacre
The Gugulethu Seven
Mthatha Raid
Pebco Three
Saint James Church massacre
Sharpeville massacre
Shell House massacre
Bombing of Khotso House
Trojan Horse Incident
Queenstown Massacre
Media
Non-fiction books
Country of My Skull
(1998)
A Human Being Died That Night
(2003)
Novels
Red Dust
(2000)
Films
Forgiveness
(2004)
In My Country
(2004)
Red Dust
(2004)
Zulu Love Letter
(2004)
The Forgiven
(2017)
Awards for Desmond Tutu
Laureates
of the
Nobel Peace Prize
1901–1925
1901
Henry Dunant
Frédéric Passy
1902:
Élie Ducommun
Charles Gobat
1903:
Randal Cremer
1904:
Institute of International Law
1905:
Bertha von Suttner
1906:
Theodore Roosevelt
1907:
Ernesto Moneta
Louis Renault
1908:
Klas Arnoldson
Fredrik Bajer
1909:
A. M. F. Beernaert
Paul Estournelles de Constant
1910:
International Peace Bureau
1911:
Tobias Asser
Alfred Fried
1912:
Elihu Root
1913:
Henri La Fontaine
1914
1915
1916
1917:
International Committee of the Red Cross
1918
1919:
Woodrow Wilson
1920:
Léon Bourgeois
1921:
Hjalmar Branting
Christian Lange
1922:
Fridtjof Nansen
1923
1924
1925:
Austen Chamberlain
Charles Dawes
1926–1950
1926:
Aristide Briand
Gustav Stresemann
1927:
Ferdinand Buisson
Ludwig Quidde
1928
1929:
Frank B. Kellogg
1930:
Nathan Söderblom
1931:
Jane Addams
Nicholas Butler
1932
1933:
Norman Angell
1934:
Arthur Henderson
1935:
Carl von Ossietzky
1936:
Carlos Saavedra Lamas
1937:
Robert Cecil
1938:
Nansen International Office for Refugees
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944:
International Committee of the Red Cross
1945:
Cordell Hull
1946:
Emily Balch
John Mott
1947:
Friends Service Council
American Friends Service Committee
1948
1949:
John Boyd Orr
1950:
Ralph Bunche
1951–1975
1951:
Léon Jouhaux
1952:
Albert Schweitzer
1953:
George C. Marshall
1954:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
1955
1956
1957:
Lester B. Pearson
1958:
Georges Pire
1959:
Philip Noel-Baker
1960:
Albert Luthuli
1961:
Dag Hammarskjöld
1962:
Linus Pauling
1963:
International Committee of the Red Cross
League of Red Cross Societies
1964
Martin Luther King Jr.
1965
UNICEF
1966
1967
1968
René Cassin
1969
International Labour Organization
1970
Norman Borlaug
1971
Willy Brandt
1972
1973
Lê Đức Thọ
(declined award)
Henry Kissinger
1974:
Seán MacBride
Eisaku Satō
1975:
Andrei Sakharov
1976–2000
1976:
Betty Williams
Mairead Corrigan
1977:
Amnesty International
1978:
Anwar Sadat
Menachem Begin
1979:
Mother Teresa
1980:
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
1981:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
1982:
Alva Myrdal
Alfonso García Robles
1983:
Lech Wałęsa
1984:
Desmond Tutu
1985:
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
1986:
Elie Wiesel
1987:
Óscar Arias
1988:
UN Peacekeeping Forces
1989:
Tenzin Gyatso (14th Dalai Lama)
1990:
Mikhail Gorbachev
1991:
Aung San Suu Kyi
1992:
Rigoberta Menchú
1993:
Nelson Mandela
F. W. de Klerk
1994:
Shimon Peres
Yitzhak Rabin
Yasser Arafat
1995:
Pugwash Conferences
Joseph Rotblat
1996:
Carlos Belo
José Ramos-Horta
1997:
International Campaign to Ban Landmines
Jody Williams
1998:
John Hume
David Trimble
1999:
Médecins Sans Frontières
2000:
Kim Dae-jung
2001–present
2001
United Nations
Kofi Annan
2002
Jimmy Carter
2003
Shirin Ebadi
2004
Wangarĩ Maathai
2005
International Atomic Energy Agency
Mohamed ElBaradei
2006
Grameen Bank
Muhammad Yunus
2007
Al Gore
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
2008
Martti Ahtisaari
2009
Barack Obama
2010
Liu Xiaobo
2011
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Leymah Gbowee
Tawakkol Karman
2012
European Union
2013
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
2014
Kailash Satyarthi
Malala Yousafzai
2015
Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet
2016
Juan Manuel Santos
2017
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
2018
Denis Mukwege
Nadia Murad
2019
Abiy Ahmed
2020
World Food Programme
2021
Maria Ressa
Dmitry Muratov
2022
Ales Bialiatski
Memorial
Center for Civil Liberties
2023
Narges Mohammadi
2024
Nihon Hidankyo
2025
María Corina Machado
Sydney Peace Prize laureates
Muhammad Yunus
(1998)
Desmond Tutu
(1999)
Xanana Gusmão
(2000)
William Deane
(2001)
Mary Robinson
(2002)
Hanan Ashrawi
(2003)
Arundhati Roy
(2004)
Olara Otunnu
(2005)
Irene Khan
(2006)
Hans Blix
(2007)
Pat Dodson
(2008)
John Pilger
(2009)
Vandana Shiva
(2010)
Noam Chomsky
(2011)
Sekai Holland
(2012)
Cynthia Maung
(2013)
Julian Burnside
(2014)
George Gittoes
(2015)
Naomi Klein
(2016)
Black Lives Matter
(2017)
Joseph Stiglitz
(2018)
#MeToo Movement
(2019)
Midnight Oil
(2020)
Uluru Statement from the Heart
(2021–22)
Nazanin Boniadi
(2023)
Navi Pillay
(2025)
Gandhi Peace Prize laureates
Julius Nyerere
(1995)
A. T. Ariyaratne
(1996)
Gerhard Fischer
(1997)
Ramakrishna Mission
(1998)
Baba Amte
(1999)
Grameen Bank
Nelson Mandela
(2000)
John Hume
(2001)
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
(2002)
Václav Havel
(2003)
Coretta Scott King
(2004)
Desmond Tutu
(2005)
Chandi Prasad Bhatt
(2013)
ISRO
(2014)
Vivekananda Kendra
(2015)
Akshaya Patra Foundation
and
Sulabh International
(2016)
Ekal Vidyalaya
(2017)
Yōhei Sasakawa
(2018)
Qaboos bin Said
(2019)
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
(2020)
Gita Press
(2021)
Templeton Prize laureates
1970s
Mother Teresa
(1973)
Brother Roger
(1974)
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
(1975)
Leo Josef Suenens
(1976)
Chiara Lubich
(1977)
Thomas F. Torrance
(1978)
Nikkyō Niwano
(1979)
1980s
Ralph Wendell Burhoe
(1980)
Cicely Saunders
(1981)
Billy Graham
(1982)
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
(1983)
Michael Bourdeaux
(1984)
Alister Hardy
(1985)
James I. McCord
(1986)
Stanley Jaki
(1987)
Inamullah Khan
(1988)
Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
George MacLeod
(1989)
1990s
Baba Amte
Charles Birch
(1990)
Immanuel Jakobovits
(1991)
Kyung-Chik Han
(1992)
Charles Colson
(1993)
Michael Novak
(1994)
Paul Davies
(1995)
Bill Bright
(1996)
Pandurang Shastri Athavale
(1997)
Sigmund Sternberg
(1998)
Ian Barbour
(1999)
2000s
Freeman Dyson
(2000)
Arthur Peacocke
(2001)
John Polkinghorne
(2002)
Holmes Rolston III
(2003)
George F. R. Ellis
(2004)
Charles H. Townes
(2005)
John D. Barrow
(2006)
Charles Taylor
(2007)
Michał Heller
(2008)
Bernard d'Espagnat
(2009)
2010s
Francisco J. Ayala
(2010)
Martin Rees
(2011)
14th Dalai Lama
(2012)
Desmond Tutu
(2013)
Tomáš Halík
(2014)
Jean Vanier
(2015)
Jonathan Sacks
(2016)
Alvin Plantinga
(2017)
Abdullah II of Jordan
(2018)
Marcelo Gleiser
(2019)
2020s
Francis Collins
(2020)
Jane Goodall
(2021)
Frank Wilczek
(2022)
Edna Adan Ismail
(2023)
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
(2024)
Bartholomew I of Constantinople
(2025)
1984
Nobel Prize
laureates
Chemistry
Robert Bruce Merrifield
(United States)
Literature
1984
Jaroslav Seifert
(Czechoslovakia)
Peace
Desmond Tutu
(South Africa)
Physics
Carlo Rubbia
(Italy)
Simon van der Meer
(Netherlands)
Physiology or Medicine
Niels Kaj Jerne
(Denmark)
Georges J. F. Köhler
(Germany)
César Milstein
(Great Britain/Argentina)
Economic Sciences
Richard Stone
(Great Britain)
Nobel Prize recipients
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
Pacem in Terris
Peace and Freedom Award
laureates
1960s
1964:
John Howard Griffin
John F. Kennedy
1965:
Martin Luther King Jr.
1966:
R. Sargent Shriver
1967:
A. Philip Randolph
1968:
James Groppi
1969:
Saul Alinsky
1970s
1971:
Dorothy Day
1974:
Harold Hughes
1975:
Hélder Câmara
1976:
Mother Teresa
1979:
Thomas Gumbleton
1980s
1980:
Crystal Lee Sutton
Ernest Leo Unterkoefler
1982:
George F. Kennan
1983:
Helen Caldicott
1985:
Joseph Bernardin
1986:
Maurice John Dingman
1987:
Desmond Tutu
1989:
Eileen Egan
1990s
1990:
Mairead Maguire
1991:
María Julia Hernández
1992:
César Chávez
1993:
Daniel Berrigan
1995:
Jim Wallis
1996:
Samuel Ruiz
1997:
Jim and Shelley Douglass
2000s
2000:
George G. Higgins
2001:
Lech Wałęsa
2002:
Gwen Hennessey
Dorothy Hennessey
2004:
Arthur Simon
2005:
Donald Mosley
2007:
Salim Ghazal
2008:
Marvin Mottet
2009:
Hildegard Goss-Mayr
2010s
2010:
John Dear
2011:
Álvaro Leonel Ramazzini Imeri
2012:
Kim Bobo
2013:
Jean Vanier
2014:
Simone Campbell
2015:
Thích Nhất Hạnh
2016:
Gustavo Gutiérrez
2017:
Widad Akreyi
2019:
Dalai Lama
2019:
Munib Younan
2020s
2022:
Norma Pimentel
2023: Atiya Aftab / Sheryl Olitzky
2024: Chad Pregracke
2025:
Silvio José Báez Ortega
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Desmond Tutu
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