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South Africa
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South Africa
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Records of the First Lady's Office (Clinton Administration)
Noa Meyer's Files
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Quotes from Nelson Mandela
The Struggle Is My Life
"Today the people speak the language of action: there is a mighty awakening among the men and
women of our country and the year 1952 stands out as the year of this upsurge of national
consciousness." - p. 34
"You must defend the right of African parents to decide the kind of education that shall be given
to their children." - p. 40
"Establish your own community schools where the right kind of education will be given to our
children." - p. 41
"Here in South Africa, as in many parts of the world, a revolution is maturing; it is the profound
desire, the determination and the urge of the overwhelming majority of the country to destroy for
ever the shackles of oppression that condemn them to servitude and slavery." - p. 41
"You can see that 'there is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass
through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountain tops of
our desires." - p. 42
"The peoples of resurgent Africa are perfectly capable of deciding upon their own future form of
government an ddiscovering and themselves dealing with any dangers which may arise." - p. 77
"It is in the hands of the common people of Africa functioning in their mass movements." - p. 77
"I shall fight the government side by side with you, inch by inch, and mile by mile, until victory is
won." - p. 121
"I will not leave South Africa, nor will I surrender. Only through hardship, sacrifice and militant
action can freedom be won. The struggle is my life. I will continue fighting for freedom until the
end of my days." - p. 121
"Finally, dear friends, I should assure you that the African people of South Africa,
notwithstanding fierce persecution and untold suffering, in their ever-increasing courage will not
for one single moment be diverted from the historic mission of liberating their country and
winning freedom, lasting peace, and happiness." - p. 132
"For our own part, we wish to make it perfectly clear that we shall never cease to fight against
repression and injustice, and we are resuming active opposition against your regime." - p. 144
"The African National Congress further believed that all people, irrespective of the national
groups to which they may belong, and irrespective of the colour of their skins, all people whose
home is South Africa and who believe in the principles of democracy and of equality of men,
should be treated as Africans; that all South Africans are entitled to live a free life on the basis of
fullest equality of the rights and opportunities in every field, of full democratic rights, with a direct
say in the affairs of the government." - p. 150
"But there comes a time, as it came in my life, when a man is denied the right to live a normal life,
when he can only live the life of an outlaw because the government has so decreed to use the law
to impose a state of outlawry upon him." - p. 157
"Our fight is against real, and not imaginary, hardships or, to use the language of the State
Prosecutor, 'so-called hardships'." - p. 177
"The other main obstacle to the economic advancement of the African is the industrial colour-bar
under which all the better jobs of industry are reserved for whites only." - p. 179
"Africans want a just share in the whole of South Africa; they want security and a stake in
society." - p. 180
"For it has taught me to look at both sides of the question, to attempt to give an objective and
honest answer to it." - p. 224
Quotes from Alison Des Forges, Human Rights Watch
"The Ongoing Crisis in the Great Lakes"
"The Congress is considering a new Bill to stimulate trade and economic development, another
expression of hope for the continent which has seemed for some time better known for
catastrophe than for promise." - p. 1
"The crisis in the Great Lakes festered over some three decades, the years when thousands of
Tutsi and Hutu were massacred on the basis of their ethnic affiliation, when hundreds of persons
were assassinated fort heir political beliefs, when dozens of officials built personal fortunes from
funds meant to improve the welfare of the people they governed." - p. 1
"Although these various conflicts supposedly pit insurgents against government armies, it is
civilians, not soldiers or rebels, who have died and are dying in the largest numbers." - p. 3
"The administration must demonstrate firmness and vision to promote the stability that is so much
desired, both in order to bring peace to thsi troubled region and to ensure the best possible
opportunity to economic development." - p. 4
"Unless there are limits to the killing of civilians, there will be massive population movements,
with the attendant expense of jumanitarian relief." - p. 4
"Policy-makers, like other observers of this region, must always bear in mind the complex and
tragic context in which current governments operate." - p. 6
"Holding true to the fundamental human rights that have shaped our own past is important to
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retaining respect-our own respect, as well as that of other." - p. 6
"As our research research on the Rwandan genocide has shown, moderates have limits to what
they will dare; without hope of an external echo, their protests will be stilled." - p. 6
QUOTES FROM ROBERT F. KENNEDY SPEECH AT STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY
MEN'S RESIDENCE, SIMONSBURG
JUNE 7, 1966 12:00 PM
"It was in the name of freedom that our forefathers yours and mine - struck off the chains of
Europe and sailed uncharted oceans three centuries ago. It was in this name that three times we
together poured forth our blood and treasure twice in the world our fathers left, and once on
the frontiers to the East. And so we will stand again, as our children wil stand in their turn; for, as
Goethe tells us, 'He only earns his freedom and existence who daily conquers them anew.' If we -
- all of us are to conquer anew the freedom for which our forebears gave so much, we must
begin with a dialogue both full and free." - p.1
"And in every continent - from Jaipur to Johannesburg, from Point Barrow to Cape Horn men
and women are claiming their right to share in the bounty which modern knowledge can bring, in
the justice which men have sought from Biblical times onward. They look to us for help and
hope. And the real question before you as before the young people of any country -- is whether
we will help give them that future." - p.3
"The English word 'idiot' and the Afrikaans 'idioot' both come from the Greek word for one who
did not participate in public affairs. But our words 'university' and 'universtieit' both come from
the Latin for 'all together.' The need is for individual participation; for each of us to try; to 'make
a difference' as President Kennedy believed every man could do." -p.4
" Goethe told us that Faust lost the liberty of his soul when he said to the passing moment, 'Stay,
thou art so fair.' There would be no surer way for us to lose our freedom and the true meaning of
our heritage than to make that same mistake." -p.4
QUOTES FROM OPENING ADDRESS BY PRESIDNET NELSON MANDELA TO THE
FOURTH SESSION OF PARLIAMENT
CAPE TOWN FEB 7, 1997
"We can all derive pride from the fact that we took a hsitoric step in this direction last year
through the adoption of the new constitution; the basic law of our land reflecting the nation's
yearning for a rising quality of life, in circumstances of democracy, peace and respect for human
rights." -p.1
"At the same time as they infused the dabate in thsee chanbers with their unique knoledge tand
expertise, they were also pioneers at an nt moment of creation, the culmination of which is
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national parliament as we have it today. The major restructuring of parliament represented by
these changes epitomises the maturing our democracy. Of no less significance is the process that
led to the adoption of the constitution; including mass involvement on the one hand, and the
meticulous approach of the Constitutional Court on the other. With each major judgement, this
Court grows in stature and places our democracy on a higher pedestal." -p. 1
QUOTES FROM ADDRESS BY ROBERT F. KENNEDY
AT UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND
JUNE 8, 1966
"Everywhere I have been impressed with the warmth and the interest of all of the people of South
Africa, of all political persuasions and races. Everywhere I have been impressed by your
achievements, the wealth you have created in this continent which so sorely needs the blessings of
progress." -p. 1
"And those who seek change and progress in South Africa are very special. So many of those I
have seen, so many who are here in this hall, are standing with their broghers around the globe for
libert and equality and human dignity, not on the ease and confort and approbation fo society, but
int he midst of controversty and difficulty andrisk." -p. 1
"Your fellow students, and men all over the world, will take heart and example from your stand.
And that is why your work is so important; for men will flock to the banners of the courgareous
and the right; but as the Bible tells us, 'If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare
himself to the battle?'
Will you sound the trumpet? And what is the battle to which we all are summoned?
It is first a battle for the future. The day is long past when any nation could retreat behind walls
of stone or curtains of iron or bamboo. The winds of freedom and progress and justice blow
across the highest battlements, enter at every crevice, are carried by jet planes and
communications satellites and by the very air we breathe." -p.2
"Justice a demand which has echoed down through all the ages of man - this is the second
battle to which we are summoned. And let no man think he fights this battle for others; he fights
this battle for himself, and so do we all." -p.2
"Our liberty can grow only when the liberties of all our fellow-men are secure; and he who would
enslave others ends only by chaining himself, for chains have two ends, and he who holds the'
chain is as securely bound as he whom it holds." -p.2
QUOTES FROM ROBERT F. KENNEDY AT
DAY OF AFFIRMATION
UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN
JUNE 6, 1966
"And most important of all, all the panoply of government power has been committed to the goal
of equality before the law as we are now committing ourselves to the achievement of equal
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opportunity in fact.
We must recognize the full human equality of all our people -- before God, before the law, and in
the council of government. We must do this, not because it is economically advantageous
although it is; not because the laws of God and man command it -- althought they do command it;
not because people in other lands wish it so. We must do it for the single and fundamental reason
that it is the right thing to do." -p.3
"In the world we would like to build, South Africa could play an outstanding role in that effort.
This is without question a preeminent repository of wealth and knowledge and skill of the
continent." -p.4
"But the help and the leadership of South Africa or the United States cannot be accepted if we --
within our own countries or in our relations with others -- deny individual intergrity, human
dignity, and the common humanity of man. If we would lead outside our borders; if we would
help those who need our assistance; if we would meet our responsibilities to mankind; we must
first, all of us, demolish the borders which history has erected between men within our own
nations -- barriers of race and religion, social calss and ignorace." -p.4
"I want to say how impressed I am with what you stand for and the effort you are making; and I
say this not just for myself, but for men and women everywhere. And I hope you will often take
heart from the knowledge that you are joined with fellow young people in every land, they
struggling with their problems and you with yours, but all joined in a common purpose; that, like
the young people of my own country and of every country I have visited, you are all in many ways
more closely united to the brothers of your time than to the older generations of any of these
nations; and that you are determined to build a better future."
-p.6
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