'Rest in power Desmond Tutu'

'Rest in power Desmond Tutu'

TUESDAY 11 JANUARY, 2022

Migrant Voice member Collette Anthonette Francis reflects on the death of Desmond Tutu, a South African cleric and human rights activist, who passed away at the end of last year. 

It is with great sadness that we lost Desmond Tutu at the end of last year.

Desmond Tutu was pivotal in the fight against apartheid in South Africa.

He was uncompromising and inspired people from all backgrounds to resist inequalities everywhere at all times. 

"Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world," he once said. 

Previously, a number of Migrant Voice staff members were inspired by Desmond Tutu to march in London against apartheid, which ended in 1990 thanks to a global movement. Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation in South Africa and many people at the time said it would never end.

But people like Desmond Tutu had other ideas.

If it wasn't for people like Desmond Tutu and the anti-apartheid movement, a whole generation of people working with refugees and migrants may have not taken up the mantel of continuing his legacy and work.

As long as we continue to see inequality and a hostile environment in our work, we will continue to stand up for those who are marginalised in our communities 

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor," as said Desmond Tutu. "If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."

Image caption: Collette Anthonette Francis and her daughter (photo courtesy of Collette Anthonette Francis)