Oliver Tambo Quotes

"The fight for freedom must go on until it is won; until our country is free and happy and peaceful as part of the community of man, we cannot rest."

"We all belong to South Africa, and South Africa belongs to us all."

"We had to forge an alliance of strength based not on colour but on commitment to the total abolition of apartheid and oppression; we would seek allies, of whatever colour, as long as they were totally agreed on our liberation aims."

"We seek to create a united Democratic and non-racial society."

"There is nothing in ANC policy which calls for attacks on civilians in supermarkets, schools, and cinemas unless these are regarded as military installations."

"The U.S. is the last country that should see itself as an ally of the apartheid system."

"Our target is not negotiations, it is the end of the apartheid system. There can be no compromise about that."

"There is no way a spirit of resistance that has sunk so deep in the population can be repressed."

"Apartheid is inherently a practice of violence."

"We have a vision of South Africa in which black and white shall live and work together as equals in conditions of peace and prosperity."

"The true facts are not always obvious. They often have to be looked for."

"The more pressure you bring from without, the less internal pressure is necessary."

"It was always my desire to strike new ground and help to lend weight where it was most required."

"To go back means defeat."

"We have got to move away from the concept of race and color because that is what apartheid is. We cannot end apartheid if we retain these concepts."

"This uprising of 1976-77 was, of course, the historic watershed... Within a short period of time, it propelled into the forefront of our struggle millions of young people."

"The land on which the cattle grazed was communal property. It was owned by no one. It was nobody's private farm. It was the common property of the people, shared by the people. So the practice of sharing was central to the concept of ownership of property."

"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."

"Responsibility for the proper conduct of children was not confined to their parents only. When they misbehaved, they misbehaved against the community. And a senior member of the community was expected to do something about it."

"If apartheid is removed, then the violence that is necessary to maintain it will be removed along with the pressures from apartheid which create a violent response."

"Mandela drafted the M Plan, a simple, commonsense plan for organization on a street basis so that Congress volunteers would be in daily touch with the people, alert to their needs and able to mobilize them."

"Whoever says that sanctions will only deteriorate the situations of blacks in South Africa does not know the criminal, murderous character of genocide that represents the system of apartheid."

"The sanctions will not kill us. It's apartheid that's killing us."

"I didn't really want to be a teacher, but there was nothing else I could be. Most of those who went to the university became teachers. It was just the racial restriction on Africans."

"The violence associated with the A.N.C. is minimal, infinitesimal next to the violence of the apartheid regime."

"Apartheid either is or is not. And it must not be."

"We believe that the world, too, can destroy apartheid, firstly by striking at the economy of South Africa."

"Using the power you derive from the discovery of the truth about racism in South Africa, you will help us to remake our part of the world into a corner of the globe on which all - of which all of humanity can be proud."

"It may be that apartheid brings such stupendous economic advantages to countries that they would sooner have apartheid than permit its destruction."

"Racial discrimination, South Africa's economic power, its oppression and exploitation of all the black peoples, are part and parcel of the same thing."