_edited.png)
Desmond Tutu, a South African bishop known for his anti-apartheid and human rights activism, died on December 26, 2021, at the age of 90. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed Tutu’s death in a statement, saying “The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa,” he said. He called Tutu “a patriot without equal” and hoped “that Archbishop Tutu’s soul will rest in peace but that his spirit will stand sentry over the future of our nation”.
Tutu was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996. He was the first Black person to hold both positions. He non-violently campaigned to end apartheid: a period of racial segregation in South Africa that existed from 1948 to the 1990s, and was awarded the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his work. In 1995, Nelson Mandela, the first president of South Africa, appointed Tutu to head the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which investigated human rights violations perpetrated during apartheid.
Tutu was born on Oct. 7, 1931, in Klerksdorp. Originally a teacher, he resigned from his job in protest of the Bantu Education Act, which enforced racially-segregated educational facilities. After his resignation, he entered St. Peter’s Theological College in 1951, and was ordained in 1961. He spent the 1960s and 1970s between South Africa and Great Britain, and was appointed dean of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg in 1975. Tutu used this to endorse the global economic boycott of South Africa over apartheid, meet with Black Consciousness and Soweto leaders, hold vigils for racial harmony, and raise social issues during sermons.
Although he believed in nonviolence and condemned the violence of all sides, Tutu understood why Black Africans might turn to violence when their nonviolent efforts failed to achieve liberation from apartheid. In a 1979 visit to Denmark, he advocated for a global economic boycott of apartheid on television, and was consequently reprimanded by South African government ministers. In 1980, the South African government arrested him, imprisoned him overnight, fined him, and confiscated his passport, leading to international outrage. His passport was returned in 1981 and he went on a five-week tour of Europe and North America. He met with the UN Secretary-General, addressed the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid, gave a sermon in Westminster Abbey, and met Pope John Paul II. When he returned to South Africa, his passport was confiscated again, and only returned 17 months later.
As Archbishop of Cape Town, he appointed female and gay priests. He was involved in anti-apartheid activism, organizing marches, and meeting with political leaders. When apartheid finally ended, he said being allowed to vote was like “falling in love”, and even told CNN, “I actually said to God: ‘God, I don’t mind if I die now.’”
The Monday after his death, bells rang for ten minutes at noon from St. George’s Anglican Cathedral in Cape Town, starting a week of mourning for Tutu. People laid flowers in front of St. George’s, and Cape Town’s City Hall was lit up purple: a nod to the purple clerical shirt Tutu often wore. On Wednesday, a memorial service was held in Pretoria and an interfaith ceremony in Cape Town. Tutu’s body lay in state at St. George’s on Friday and a requiem mass was held on Saturday morning.
As South Africa mourns the loss of a national hero, many others around the world mourn too. Desmond Tutu was not just an anti-apartheid activist; he was also a vocal supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, Palestinians, and climate activists.
Tutu’s support of the LGBTQ+ community began as early as 1994, when he wrote that “If the church, after the victory over apartheid, is looking for a worthy moral crusade, then this is it: the fight against homophobia and heterosexism”, and that it is the “ultimate blasphemy” to make people doubt that they are the children of God because of the sexual orientation. He also successfully lobbied for the South African Constitution, adopted in 1996, to have a non-discrimination clause that included sexual orientation.
At a 2013 Free & Equal campaign in Cape Town, he said, “I would not worship a God that is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this.” He added, “I am as passionate about this campaign as I ever was about apartheid. For me, it is at the same level”.
In a 2014 Haaretz article, Tutu condemned Israel’s “disproportionately brutal response” to Palestine firing missiles at it. “We are opposed to the illegal occupation of Palestine. We are opposed to the indiscriminate killing in Gaza. We are opposed to the indignity meted out to Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks. We are opposed to violence perpetrated by all parties. But we are not opposed to Jews,” he wrote.
Tutu called for a boycott of Israel, saying that “Those who continue to do business with Israel, who contribute to a sense of ‘normalcy’ in Israeli society, are doing the people of Israel and Palestine a disservice. They are contributing to the perpetuation of a profoundly unjust status quo. Those who contribute to Israel’s temporary isolation are saying that Israelis and Palestinians are equally entitled to dignity and peace.”
At the end of the article, he referenced Nelson Mandela, who famously said that “We [South Africans] know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians” and added that “the liberation of Palestine will liberate Israel, too”.
In a 2014 piece for The Guardian, Tutu pleaded with the international community to implement “an apartheid-style boycott to save the planet”, referencing the global economic punishment of South Africa that helped end apartheid, and called the climate crisis “the apartheid of our times” in The Financial Times in 2019.
Last year, in a lecture to his foundation, he said, “Over the 25 years that climate change has been on the world's agenda, global emissions have risen unchecked while real-world impacts have taken hold in earnest. Time is running out. We're already experiencing loss of life and livelihood because of intensified storms, shortages of fresh water, spread of disease, rising food prices and the creation of climate refugees.”
Although lauded by many, Tutu’s activism, especially his role in the fight against apartheid, views on forgiveness, and support of Palestine, was also criticized.
Former South African President Jacob Zuma’s faction of the African National Congress has called Tutu a “sellout” for heading South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Zuma's faction believe he failed to provide justice for the victims of apartheid by focusing on the redistribution of land instead of jailing operatives of apartheid. The TRC's investigation of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Nelson Mandela's ex-wife, alongside Tutu's public request that she should apologize for partaking in an armed struggle to end apartheid was cause for much criticism. The TRC was also criticised for letting many apartheid-era leaders walk away with amnesty.
Tutu gave a sermon at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Israel in 1989 in which he spoke of the importance of forgiveness. This upset many Jewish activists, such as Tutu’s fellow Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, who said at the time: “For anyone in Jerusalem, at Yad Vashem, to speak about forgiveness would be, in my view, a disturbing lack of sensitivity toward the Jewish victims and their survivors. I hope that was not the intention of Bishop Tutu”.
Arthur Lenk, the former Israeli Ambassador to South Africa, told The Jerusalem Post that “he [Tutu] wasn’t a friend of Israel”, and “didn’t see our issue the way we would have liked him to.” Lenk, however, did also call Tutu “a man of great achievement, heroism, and bravery”, and believed that “anyone who celebrates democracy knows that he’s top of the list of people who should be honored”.