In South Africa, I feel I am a stranger, at best an animal.
Oliver TamboRead
The U.S. is the last country that should see itself as an ally of the apartheid system.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that the U.S. should not support oppressive regimes like apartheid given its values of freedom and equality.
Oliver Tambo expresses the belief that the United States, a nation that prides itself on democracy and civil rights, has a moral obligation to oppose systems of oppression such as apartheid. By labeling the U.S. as the last country to view itself as an ally of such a system, Tambo underscores the hypocrisy of supporting any form of institutionalized inequality that contradicts fundamental human rights.
In practice
During a lecture on human rights, this quote can be used to illustrate the importance of standing against oppression.
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?
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.
It was becoming clear that, from being at the top at Holy Cross, we were at the bottom at St. Peter's. Objectively, this was very good, for it offered us a challenge and an opportunity to grow if we were ready to take it; and we surely were.
Government is the assumption of authority over a given area and all within it, exercised generally for the double purpose of more complete oppression of its subjects and extension of its boundaries.
Jealousy, and local policy mix too much in all our public councils for the good government of the Union. In a words, the confederation appears to me to be little more than a shadow without the substance . . . .
It is an axiom of political science in the United States that the sole means of neutralizing the effects of newspapers is to multiply their number.
Behold a republic standing erect while empires all around are bowed beneath the weight of their own armaments - a republic whose flag is loved while other flags are only feared.
There is no week, nor day, nor hour, when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their supreme confidence in themselves, and lose their roughness and spirit of defiance. Tyranny may always enter—there is no charm or bar against it.
Political reform need not go hand in hand with economic liberalization.. I hold unconventional views about this.. I do not believe if you are a libertarian, full of diverse opinions, full of competing ideas in the market place, full of sound and fury, therefore you will succeed.
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