Desmond Tutu death: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a veteran of South Africa’s struggle against the white minority rule and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, passed away on December 26, 2021, at the age of 90. Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 in recognition of his non-violent opposition against the rule by the white minority in the country.
The President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, in a televised address, described Desmond Tutu as one of South Africa’s finest patriots. While the President of the US Joe Biden said that Desmond Tutu followed his spiritual calling to create a freer, better, and more equal world.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in the late 1990s. In recent years, he was hospitalized on several occasions to treat infections caused due to his cancer treatments.
Anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu has passed away: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa pic.twitter.com/8Wsm1WRmzf
— ANI (@ANI) December 26, 2021
Who was Archbishop Desmond Tutu?
Desmond Tutu was a South African Anglican bishop who was known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist.
Tutu was the Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then became the archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996. He both cases, Desmond Tutu was the first black African to hold the position.
The outspoken Desmond Tutu was considered the nations’ conscience by both the black and white. It was an enduring testament to his faith and spirit of reconciliation in a divided nation.
Desmond Tutu: Face of anti-apartheid movementArchbishop Desmond Tutu helped in rousing the grassroots campaigns around the world that fought to end apartheid through cultural and economic boycotts. Traveling and tirelessly throughout the 1980s, Desmond Tutu became the face of the anti-apartheid movement abroad while many of the leaders of the rebel African National Congress (ANC), such as Nelson Mandela were behind bars. |
Archbishop Desmond Tutu: Winner of Nobel Peace Prize
In 1984, Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent approach against the whites during an anti-apartheid campaign in South Africa.
The Nobel Prize committee cites Tutu’s role as a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa.
Desmond Tutu, a decade later witnessed the end of white minority rule in the country. He also chaired a Truth Reconciliation Commission which was set up to unearth the atrocities under it.
Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa
It was an internal resistance to apartheid in South Africa that originated from several sectors of South African society and also took various forms ranging from passive resistance to guerrilla warfare.
Apartheid was adopted as a formal SA government policy by the ruling National Party after their victory in the 1948 general elections. The mass action against the ruling National Party government was instrumental in leading to negotiations to end apartheid which started in the 1990s.
Apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial segregation that existed in South West Africa and South Africa from 1948 until the early 1990s.
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