Remembering Archbishop Desmond Tutu

There are two external factors about Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the end of Apartheid in South Africa that I have never seen before that I would like to add.

The first is Communism. The west disapproved of Apartheid and South Africa was, in many ways, an international pariah. It had long been banished from events like the Olympics.

But what the Apartheid government managed to do was to portray itself as a vital ally against Communism, at the height of the Cold War, and the black African organizations in the country that were opposed to it as having Communist sympathies. Western leaders like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were willing to deal with it because it was a necessary ally against Communism.

But as that ceased to be a factor, toward the end of the 1980s, the Apartheid government realized that it couldn't go on like this. Is it only a coincidence that 1989 was when Communism came apart in eastern Europe, and it was also the year that the recently-deceased F.W. Deklerk began major reforms to Apartheid in South Africa? Mikhail Gorbachev should be a hero in South Africa.

The second factor is Mahatma Gandhi, who can be considered as the founder of modern India. Gandhi lived for a long time in South Africa. I cannot see it pointed out anywhere but Archbishop Desmond Tutu bore a striking resemblance to Mahatma Gandhi. Tutu was African and Gandhi was Indian but, other than that, the two could almost have been twins.

This was especially true after Archbishop Desmond Tutu shaved his head. I cannot help wondering if the reason for that, although not announced, was so that he would look more like Gandhi.

In India there were two prime ministers named Gandhi, the mother and son Indira and Rajiv Gandhi of the Congress Party that used to be powerful in India. They were not related to Mahatma Gandhi but I am sure that the name didn't hurt their political careers.

One thing that I can't help wondering about how history repeats itself is that Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in India. Both of the prime ministers named Gandhi were also assassinated, and they were the only Indian prime ministers to be assassinated. The question is whether they still would have been assassinated if their names hadn't been Gandhi.

The legacy of Gandhi continued in South Africa. There was a president of South Africa that also closely resembled Gandhi, Jacob Zuma. In one photo that I saw he was holding his hands as if in prayer, just like Gandhi. Jacob Zuma is remembered for his association with an Indian business family, the Guptas, who he was accused of allowing to effectively run the country. Their names were even combined together as "Zupta". The Guptas left South Africa before Zuma was forced to step down.

Desmond Tutu certainly benefited, in the struggle against Apartheid, from being an Anglican Archbishop. Tutu and Nelson Mandela were the two great leaders in the struggle against Apartheid. So why was Mandela imprisoned for a long time but Tutu wasn't, even though he was critical of anyone that he thought deserved criticism no matter who they were?

It was because Desmond Tutu was an Anglican Archbishop. The Anglican Communion is the largest single Protestant denomination and the Apartheid government didn't want to make any more enemies than it already had.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was a Christian leader. Unlike Nelson Mandela he had nothing to do with politics. Anyone was criticized who he thought deserved criticism. His involvement in the world went far beyond South Africa. He was especially popular across Africa, except with dictators like Robert Mugabe that he was harshly critical of.

Desmond Tutu graduated from King's College that we saw in the posting, "Along London's Royal Route" May 2018.

To read about the Anglican Church see "Why The U.S. And Canada Are Different" January 2016.