The question that we must ask is whether we are making progress toward the goal of universal peace. Or are we caught up on a treadmill of history, turning forever on the axle of mindless aggression and self-destruction?
F. W. De KlerkRead
I played an integral part in helpings formulating that new vision... that we must abandon apartheid and accept one united South Africa with equal rights for all, with all forms of discrimination to be scrapped from the statute book.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of embracing equality and unity in overcoming systemic discrimination.
F. W. De Klerk's quote reflects his role in advocating for the end of apartheid in South Africa, highlighting the necessity of formulating a vision for a united nation where all individuals enjoy equal rights. It stresses the need to remove discriminatory practices from the legal framework, promoting a message of reconciliation and progress towards a more equitable society.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about social justice during a human rights conference.
The question that we must ask is whether we are making progress toward the goal of universal peace. Or are we caught up on a treadmill of history, turning forever on the axle of mindless aggression and self-destruction?
A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.
The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women's emancipation.
There is no power in the world like that of women ... this most potent constituency we seek to represent, and for their suffrages we sue.
If there's a world here in a hundred years, it's going to be saved by tens of millions of little things. The powers-that-be can break up any big thing they want. They can corrupt it or co-opt it from the inside, or they can attack it from the outside. But what are they going to do about 10 million little things? They break up two of them, and three more like them spring up!
[A] new generation, innocent of the divisions of the Cold War, this coming-of-age. ... If its members do not feel the urgency to escape the nuclear danger that some of its parents felt, neither has it developed the deep attachment to nuclear arms also often found among their parents, including most of the governing class. ... The call for abolition should therefore be, among other things, a call from an older generation to younger one.
The international community spends much more time and resources managing crises than preventing them. But TV cameras are seldom there when a conflict is avoided, so it is difficult for governments and international organizations to make prevention a priority.
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