‘I have
visited the Occupied Palestinian Territories and have witnessed the humiliation
of Palestinian at Israeli military checkpoints. The inhumanity that won’t let
ambulances reach the injured, farmers tend their land or children attend
school. This treatment is familiar to me and the many Black South Africans who
were corralled and harassed by the security forces of the Apartheid government.’
One
can only assume that the cowardly Guardian editor Kath Viner and Jonathan Freedland aren’t
keen for people to draw connections between the apartheid that Tutu
fought and the Israeli apartheid system that they support.
It’s
not often that the person who wins the Nobel Peace Prize, as Desmond Tutu did
in 1984, actually deserves it. All too often it is war criminals like Henry
Kissinger, Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin and Barack Obama who pick up the gong or
at best some nonentity or UN agency.
The
International Committee of the Red Cross has won in 3 times, most notably in
1944 when it won it ‘for the
great work it has performed during the war in behalf of humanity.’ despite refusing to raise the holocaust
with the Nazis because they considered it an ‘internal German problem.’ In 1919
they awarded it to the White Supremacist President of the United States,
Woodrow Wilson.
Desmond
Tutu however richly deserved the prize. He was the second South African winner
of the Nobel prize after the founder of the ANC, Albert Luthuli won it in 1960.
Throughout
the 1980s Tutu played a key role in drawing national and international
attention to the evils of apartheid. He supported Boycott Divestment and
Sanctions against South Africa as a means of putting pressure on Apartheid’s
rulers and drew the ire of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.
Born
on 7 October 1931 in Klerksdorp, South Africa, Tutu became the general secretary
of the South African Council of Churches [SACC] in 1978. This was widely seen
as sending a message to South African President P.W. Botha’s administration
that the days of Apartheid were numbered.
In
1985, at the height of the township rebellions Tutu was installed as
Johannesburg’s first Black Anglican bishop, and in 1986 he was elected the
first Black archbishop of Cape Town, becoming the primate of South Africa’s 1.6
million-member Anglican church.
The
Anglican, Catholic, Methodist churches condemned apartheid, while the Dutch
Reformed Church and the South Africa’s Jewish Board of Deputies supported it.
It was not until 1985 that the BOD realised the writing was on the wall and
changed its position. Although now we remember the Jewish giants of the
Apartheid struggle – Joe Slovo, Dennis Goldberg, Ruth First, Ronnie Kassrills
and Albie Sachs – what isn’t often understood is that they were ostracised by
the Jewish community, which is the most pro-Zionist in the world.
It
is worth bearing in mind that in 1982, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert
Runcie, sent a five-member delegation to South Africa to demonstrate world
support for the SACC
“to make the point [to the apartheid
government] that you are not simply dealing with a domestic matter. If you
touch Desmond Tutu, you touch a world family of Christians.”
Fast
forward to today and the Establishment toady
who is the present incumbent at Lambeth Palace, Justin Welby, offers comfort to
the oppressors and stays silent about the plight of the Palestinians. On his
visit to Palestine in 2017 he carefully avoided an ‘own goal’ by saying
absolutely nothing about the oppression of the Palestinians.
The Guardian's 'liberal' censors filter out a comment asking why there was no mention of Tutu's support for the Palestinians
Instead
Welby made the usual visit by dignatories to Israel’s holocaust propaganda
museum Yad Vashem, which was described
by holocaust researcher Daniel Blatman as a
hard-working
laundromat, striving to bleach out the sins of every anti-Semitic, fascist, racist or simply murderously thuggish
leader or politician like Hungary’s Viktor Orban, the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte and Italy’s Matteo Salvini
Welby
even rowed back an article
which he had co-authored last week in The Telegraph complaining of Israel’s attack
on the church in Jerusalem.
You wonder how this Tory toe rag has the audacity to talk about oppression
But
the person who deserves a prize for his chutzpah is Keir Starmer, who is presently busy
expelling Jews from the Labour Party (in the name of fighting ‘anti-Semitism’.
Starmer, who carefully avoided all mention of the word ‘Apartheid’ in his statement
described
Tutu as "a tower of a man and a
leader of moral activism" who "dedicated
his life to tackling injustice and standing up for the oppressed".
That is of course true, but coming from a moral
pygmy and a habitual liar, his tribute is worthless. It was, after all, Jeremy
Corbyn who got arrested opposing Apartheid. Starmer’s only contribution to the
world of injustice is to do his best to increase it. If anyone is responsible for
the incarceration and slow death of Julian Assange it is Starmer.
There are many heart-felt tributes to Desmond
Tutu from groups such as Africa4Palestine
Statement which talked about how peace-loving
peoples across the world are ‘mourning
the loss of Archbishop Desmond Tutu – a dear friend of the Palestinian people.’
The Guardian's shameful censorship is another reason why people should boycott this mouthpiece of corporate neo-liberalism
#Africa4Palestine
Board Member, Professor Farid Esack, a personal friend of the Archbishop, paid
this tribute:
“We and the
Palestinians have lost an indomitable fighter, a courageous leader and a moral
icon without equal. We are bereft of a prophet who consistently warned against
ideas of cheap peace which may come without justice. I am immensely grateful
for having travelled and worked with the Archbishop in the struggle against
Apartheid in South Africa, in solidarity with the Palestinians against Israeli
occupation and in supporting various other causes. His boundless love, his wit
and humour and his unflinching and principled commitment to a better world will
always inspire us”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZaMvQbIoWs
Archbishop Desmond Tutu addressing a 2014
rally for Palestine in Cape Town - the march, attended by over 250 000 people,
was the largest that South Africa has witnessed since the dawn of democracy.
See My Letter to the Guardian
Isn't this all just fancy virtue signalling? I mean, how dare they publish an obituary that doesn't mention the one social injustice that YOU care about?
ReplyDeleteOh, the chuzpa!
Whataboutery, whataboutery, whataboutery. The usual pathetic attempt to defend the indefensible.
DeleteNadav, at least you admit that there is a 'social injustice' as you quaintly describe the killing, torture and land theft of the Zionist State against the Palestinians. However you miss the point. The Guardian deliberately, not accidentally missed out Desmond Tutu's criticism of Israel and then highlighted its bias by censoring criticism others had made. This 'blind eye' journalism, by first establishing the humanitarian credentials of Desmond Tutu but then not mentioning his criticisms of the racist apartheid State of Israel is a conscious effort not to record the legitimacy of Tutu's criticisms. If there ever was an example of virtue signalling, the Guardian, as it often does, takes the prize.
DeleteThe Guardian is disgusting. Shame on them & Welby.
ReplyDeleteRIP Desmond Tutu; a courageous fighter against apartheid.
Presedent Barak Obama had the Nobel Peace Prize while Killing Hundreds in Afghanistan and Iraq with his Drones. Desmond Tutu fought the Apartheid of Israel and South Africa while living there.
ReplyDelete