In South Africa, I feel I am a stranger, at best an animal.
Oliver TamboRead
It is often suggested that the A.N.C. is controlled by the Communist Party, by Communists. Well, I have been long enough in the A.N.C. to know that that has never been true.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the speaker's belief that the African National Congress (A.N.C.) is not under the control of the Communist Party, despite common suggestions.
Oliver Tambo reflects on the misconception that the African National Congress (A.N.C.) is dominated by Communist ideology. He asserts through his experience that this claim is untrue, emphasizing the autonomy and diverse influences within the party, which played a pivotal role in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
In practice
In a political debate to highlight the independence of party structures.
In South Africa, I feel I am a stranger, at best an animal.
The more pressure you bring from without, the less internal pressure is necessary.
The sanctions will not kill us. It's apartheid that's killing us.
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?
The U.S. is the last country that should see itself as an ally of the apartheid system.
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.
There’s nothing entertaining about watching goons hurl venomous slurs at congressmen like the civil rights hero John Lewis and the openly gay Barney Frank. How curious that a mob fond of likening President Obama to Hitler knows so little about history that it doesn’t recognize its own small-scale mimicry of Kristallnacht.
Arresting opposition leaders and restricting civil society will not stop people from protesting, but it can create leaderless movements that leave no one with whom the government can mediate a peaceful way forward.
The death-knell of the republic had rung as soon as the active power became lodged in the hands of those who sought, not to do justice to all citizens, rich and poor alike, but to stand for one special class and for its interests as opposed to the interests of others.
Democracy is not just a question of having a vote. It consists of strengthening each citizen's possibility and capacity to participate in the deliberations involved in life in society.
It is difficult to make our material condition better by the best law, but it is easy enough to ruin it by bad laws.
The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don't acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.
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