Tutu praises Marrickville mayor

June 7, 2011 Agencies
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Marrickville Council, which joined the Israel boycott last year but abandoned it in April amid intense pressure, is back in the spotlight after a letter emerged today from Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu praising Mayor Fiona Byrne.

Archbishop Tutu

The Anglican Archbishop and anti-Apartheid activist lauded Byrne and her fellow councillors ”for taking a stand to isolate the Israeli state”.

”We in South Africa, who both suffered apartheid and defeated it, have the moral right and responsibility to name and shame institutionalised separation, exclusion, and domination by one ethnic group over others,” Archbishop Tutu said in the letter, which is being formally presented to Byrne tonight.

”Sometimes taking a public stand for what is ethical and right brings costs, but social justice on a local or global scale requires faith and courage.”

Byrne, lost her bid to unseat Carmel Tebbutt at the NSW state election in March, told the Sydney Morning Herald: ”I am proud that Marrickville Council was able to support and highlight the human rights violations suffered by many Palestinian people.”

 

Comments

6 Responses to “Tutu praises Marrickville mayor”
  1. Otto Waldmann says:

    With a plethora of accolades, prizes, positions on int’l important places, champion of many recognised worthy causes,Tutu is now an unassailable voice/authority on all and sundry. Give him the issue of Israel, for instance, and Tutu, with a flick, monosyllabic sound, deep seeded convictions based on personal perceptions and his imprimatta has the currency of ABSOLUTE truth ! Say,he dislikes the way Jews have been prospering in South Africa during THEIR own apartheid, that in addition of what he knows too well about the SAME Jews having killed we know who and,to top it all,the lingering emmotions over his and Mandella’s old buddy, Yasser, and here we have his composite authority over what and how Israel should rearrange its existence by the Tutu Rules. And all in the same spirit of protecting the decency of no vindictiveness, reconcilliation and, G-d forbid, running a society -maybe South Africa itself ! – with NO traces of counter-apartheid racial favouritisms also called positive (!) discrimination.
    Ahhh, and I forgot to add in the mix the suitable setting in of a respectable age dementia – or it could be not related to age,but what do I know….

  2. Lou Finn says:

    Desmond, get yourself a barrow in the market place, you beetle you.

  3. Rita says:

    Tutu belongs to the “The Jews have killed “our” Jesus” school of anti-Semitism. Next in line to help Rhiannon, Byrne, Peters and their ilk will no doubt be the Sheik of Lakemba, Hilali.

    *rolls eyes*

  4. Lynne Newington says:

    I agree he could have been a more balanced.
    A pity he had to buy into something he hadn’t fully read into the history of like so many..
    Misguided that’s all.

  5. Mona Peli says:

    Actually, Marion, the Archbishop doesn’t have a day job, he is over 80 years old and retired. However he is something of an expert on the subject of apartheid.

  6. Marion Berelowitz says:

    I suggest Desmond Tutu – that you stick to your day job – instead of poking your nose into things you actually know nothing about. Keep your prejudices to yourself.

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