“The ANC has never at any period of its history advocated a revolutionary change in the economic structure of the country, nor has it, to the best of my recollection, ever condemned capitalist society.”
#peace
30 quotes
“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities . It is an ideal which I hope to live for . But, my lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
“But the violence which we chose to adopt was not terrorism. We who formed Umkhonto were all members of the African National Congress , and had behind us the ANC tradition of non”
“I must deal immediately and at some length with the question of violence. Some of the things so far told to the Court are true and some are untrue. I do not, however, deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness, nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation, and oppression of my people by the Whites.”
“I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life ; I fight it now , and will do so until the end of my days. Even although I now happen to be tried by one whose opinion I hold in high esteem, I detest most violently the set”
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
“It is fit and proper to raise the question sharply, what is this rigid color”
“In its proper meaning equality before the law means the right to participate in the making of the laws by which one is governed, a constitution which guarantees democratic rights to all sections of the population, the right to approach the court for protection or relief in the case of the violation of rights guaranteed in the constitution, and the right to take part in the administration of justice as judges, magistrates, attorneys”
“Ethiopia has always held a special place in my own imagination and the prospect of visiting attracted me more strongly than a trip to France , England and America combined. I felt I would be visiting my own genesis, unearthing the roots of what made me an African. Meeting the emperor himself would be like shaking hands with history . On a 1961 conference held in Ethiopia, as quoted in Rivonia Unmasked (1965) by Strydom Lautz, p. 108; also in Rolihlahla Dalibhunga Nelson Mandela : An Ecological Study (2002), by J. C. Buthelezi, p. 172”
“There are thousands of people who feel that it is useless and futile for us to continue talking peace and non”
“and keep men's minds centered on”
“He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword.”
“Let no man pull you so low as to hate him. Sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church”
“disturbing the peace”
“There lived a race of people a black people, ‘fleecy locks and black complexion’, a people who had the moral courage to stand up for their rights. And thereby they injected a new meaning into the veins of history and of civilization.”
“Whatever we do, we must keep God in the forefront. Let us be Christian in all of our actions. But I want to tell you this evening that it is not enough for us to talk about love , love is one of the pivotal points of the Christian face, faith . There is another side called justice . And justice is really love in calculation. Justice is love correcting that which revolts against love. Montgomery Bus Boycott speech, at Holt Street Baptist Church”
“justice runs down like water , and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
“We are here, we are here this evening because we're tired now. And I want to say that we are not here advocating violence. We have never done that. I want it to be known throughout Montgomery and throughout this nation that we are Christian people. We believe in the Christian religion. We believe in the teachings of Jesus . The only weapon that we have in our hands this evening is the weapon of protest. That's all. Montgomery Bus Boycott speech, at Holt Street Baptist Church”
“We, the disinherited of this land , we who have been oppressed so long, are tired of going through the long night of captivity. And now we are reaching out for the daybreak of freedom and justice and equality . Montgomery Bus Boycott speech, at Holt Street Baptist Church”
“You know my friends , there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled by the iron feet of oppression. There comes a time my friends, when people get tired of being plunged across the abyss of humiliation, where they experience the bleakness of nagging despair . There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life's July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November . There comes a time. Montgomery Bus Boycott speech, at Holt Street Baptist Church”
“We are our own slaves, not of the British. This should be engraved on our minds. The whites cannot remain if we do not want them. If the idea is to drive them out with firearms, let every Indian consider what precious little profit Europe has found in these. Introduction to the publication of Tolstoy's A Letter to a Hindu , Indian opinion , 25 December,”
“Leo Tolstoy 's life has been devoted to replacing the method of violence for removing tyranny or securing reform by the method of nonresistance to evil. He would meet hatred expressed in violence by love expressed in selfsuffering. He admits of no exception to whittle down this great and divine law of love. He applies it to all the problems that trouble mankind. Introduction to the publication of Tolstoy's A Letter to a Hindu , Indian opinion , 25 December,”
“My Experience in Gaol”
“A general belief seems to prevail in the colony that the Indians are little better, if at all, than the savages or natives of Africa . Even the children are taught to believe in that manner, with the result that the Indian is being dragged down to the position of a raw Kafir. During his time in South Africa from The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi , Government of India (CWMG), Vol I, p. 150”
“You say that the magistrate's decision is unsatisfactory because it would enable a person , however unclean, to travel by a tram, and that even the Kaffirs would be able to do so. But the magistrate's decision is quite different. The Court declared that the Kaffirs have no legal right to travel by tram. And according to tram regulations, those in an unclean dress or in a drunken state are prohibited from boarding a tram. Thanks to the Court's decision, only clean Indians or coloured people other than Kaffirs, can now travel in the trams. Comments on a court case in The Indian Opinion”
“In this instance of the fire”
“Why, of all places in Johannesburg , the Indian location should be chosen for dumping down all kaffirs of the town, passes my comprehension. Of course, under my suggestion, the Town Council must withdraw the Kaffirs from the Location. About this mixing of the Kaffirs with the Indians I must confess I feel most strongly. I think it is very unfair to the Indian population, and it is an undue tax on even the proverbial patience of my countrymen. Letter to Dr. Porter, Medical Officer of Health for Johannesburg (15 February 1905); later published in The Indian Opinion .”
“Ours is one continual struggle against a degradation sought to be inflicted upon us by the Europeans , who desire to degrade us to the level of the raw Kaffir whose occupation is hunting, and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with and, then, pass his life in indolence and nakedness. Address given in Bombay (26 September 1896), Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi , Vol. 1, p. 410 (Electronic Book), New Delhi, Publications Division Government of India, 1999, 98 volumes.”
“Times of Natal , October 26, 1894, in Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi , vol. 1, pp. 166”
“The Indians do not regret that capable natives can exercise the franchise. They would regret if it were otherwise. They, however, assert that they too, if capable, should have the right. You, in your wisdom , would not allow the Indian or the native the precious privilege under any circumstances, because they have a dark skin .”