Leaders often come to power or prominence because the country has problems and the leaders are proposing solution to those problems. There have been many complications in certain countries and the leaders play a significant role in either fixing the problems or making them worse. Bishop Desmond Tutu was born in 1931 in Klerksdorp, Transvaal. He is a South African activist and Christian cleric who began famous in the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid.
He has taken part in the defense of human rights.Apartheid is a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race. The apartheid in South Africa was a system of legal racial segregation enforced by the National Party government of South Africa between 1948 and 1994, under which the rights of the majority 'non-white' inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed and minority rule by white people was maintained. “Race laws touched every aspect of social life, including a prohibition of marriage between non-whites and whites, and the sanctioning of ``white-only'' jobs.In 1950, the Population Registration Act required that all South Africans be racially classified into one of three categories: white, black (African), or colored (of mixed decent). The colored category included major subgroups of Indians and Asians.
Classification into these categories was based on appearance, social acceptance, and descent” (John Dougard). The apartheid affected Africa because the races were separated. It caused South Africa’s ecology to be ruined by the racism. The Apartheid also caused South Africa to be in the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, and means of support.
It also dehumanized colored people, or anybody who isn’t Caucasian. Bishop Desmond Tutu proposed many solutions to solve the problem of the Apartheid in South Africa. “Desmond Tutu formulated his objectives for a democratic and just society without racial division and for everyone to have equal rights. He set forward these following points: the abolition of South Africa's passport laws, a common system of education, the cessation of forced deportation from South Africa to the so-called "homelands" and equal rights.” (LaDrea 1).Bishop Desmond Tutu also proposed equal civil rights for all, the abolition of South Africa's passport laws, a common system of education, and the cessation of forced deportation from South Africa to the so-called "homelands".
Tutu used the methods of civil disobedience and non-violent protests. Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey certain laws or governmental demands for the purpose of influencing legislation or government policy, also known as passive resistance.Passive resistance is the opposition to a government or to specific governmental laws by the use of noncooperation and other nonviolent methods. A non-violent protest is a peaceful resistance to a government by fasting or refusing to cooperate. Bishop Tutu believed in getting his ideas across with peace. “The problem faced by antiapartheid clergymen was how to oppose both violent resistance and apartheid, which was it increasingly violent.
Tutu was determined in his opposition, and he spoke out both in South Africa and abroad, often comparing apartheid to Nazism and communism.As a result the government twice revoked his passport, and he was jailed briefly in 1980 after a protest march. Tutu's view on violence reflected the tension in the Christian approach to resistance: "I will never tell anyone to pick up a gun. But I will pray for the man who picks up a gun, pray that he will be less cruel than he might otherwise have been. …" (Bentley 1). Tutu’s religion influenced his protest, ideas, and speeches.
Bishop Desmond Tutu’s ideas resulted in positive outcomes. His antics helped end the apartheid, he brought global attention to South Africa’s government.He also helped promote peace in other hostile parts of the world. “In the year of 1979 with the capital leaving the country, black workers were able to form unions.
The United Democratic Front otherwise known as UDF had nearly 600 members in their organization. The UDF was formed to stop apartheid. Tutu was one of the Front's prime spokesmen. Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Prize in recognition of "the courage and heroism shown by black South Africans in their time with the peaceful method of struggle against apartheid.
" (LaDrea 1).Tutu won many awards and has been honored for a long time for helping end the apartheid. South Africa during the apartheid there were segregation of the different races, and different races were not treated equally. “The penalties imposed on political protest, even non-violent protest, were severe. During the states of emergency which continued intermittently until 1989, anyone could be detained without a hearing by a low-level police official for up to six months.Thousands of individuals died in custody, frequently after gruesome acts of torture.
Those who were tried were sentenced to death, banished, or imprisoned for life, like Nelson Mandela. ” (John Dugard). After the apartheid the segregation laws we’re no more. The government became a democracy; South Africa had their first free election after it ended. Also the ending of the apartheid helped the other countries and areas that also had corrupt government and was going through a rough time.
Bishop Tutu helped in many ways to recover the goodness of South Africa.
