In South Africa, I feel I am a stranger, at best an animal.
Oliver TamboRead
For decades, we resisted violence - until Sharpeville.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the struggle against oppression and the turning point towards resistance when peaceful means fail.
Oliver Tambo's quote highlights a significant moment in the history of liberation movements, particularly the reaction to the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa. It emphasizes that for many years, non-violent resistance was the chosen path of the oppressed; however, the brutality faced in Sharpeville marked a pivotal shift where the struggle against injustice escalated. This statement encapsulates the painful decision to embrace violence as a means of fighting back when peaceful efforts are met with extreme violence.
Themes
ViolenceResistanceOppressionChangeSharpeville
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the history of civil rights movements.
More from Oliver Tambo
All quotes βThe more pressure you bring from without, the less internal pressure is necessary.
Oliver TamboRead
The sanctions will not kill us. It's apartheid that's killing us.
Oliver TamboRead
How do you deal with a criminal that will not listen to what you have to say and who continues his policy of violence? Some say you continue to talk and let him tire himself out. But nearly 40 years after the institution of apartheid, is there anyone who still believes that verbal persuasion will work?
Oliver TamboRead
The U.S. is the last country that should see itself as an ally of the apartheid system.
Oliver TamboRead
It was of limited usefulness to head great rallies. The government did not listen, and, soon enough, the tear gas and the muzzles of the guns were turned against the people. The justice of our cries went unrecognized.
Oliver TamboRead
Similar quotes
Change is a threat when done to me, but an opportunity when done by me.
Rosabeth Moss KanterRead
I support anything that broadens the message of gender equality and tempers the stigma of the feminist label. We run into trouble, though, when we celebrate celebrity feminism while avoiding the actual work of feminism.
Roxane GayRead
What is it you want to change? Your hair, your face, your body? Why? For God is in love with all those things and he might weep when they are gone.
St. Catherine Of SienaRead
One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore.
Andre GideRead
Too many African countries have already hit rock-bottom - ungoverned, poverty-stricken, and lagging further and further behind the rest of the world each day; there is nowhere further to go down.
Dambisa MoyoRead
They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
Andy WarholRead