Culture  Music
S. African opera rejects Tutu's call to cancel Israel tour
Associated Press
Published: 27.10.10, 15:16
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24 Talkbacks for this article
1. peace what?
ruth ,   haifa   (10.27.10)
If he was truly a man of peace he would encourage people to go to Israel and talk with the people and promote peace - you cannot be a peacemaker when you take sides and cut yourself from either camp. You need to get in and find out, talk, encourage, make friends and then you have an audience who will listen....
2. Tututututu
Noel ,   Cork, Ireland   (10.27.10)
Another Nobel prize winner looking for cheap publicity! Instead of scratching for trouble with Israel, he should be doing something about the abuse of Zimbabwean refugees rights by South African officials, fighting for sanctions against Zimbabwe etc. The only diffuculty is that it is in Africa and he is powerless on his home ground - the old man should retire gracefully and quit trying to pull other people into his fight to keep the limelight on himself..
3. who's signing Tutu's paychecks??
David P. ,   Capitola, CA   (10.27.10)
give you one guess which voting block they belong to
4. Re #1
Andrew Brehm   (10.27.10)
Tutu is not a peace activist, he is not even an anti-apartheid activist. He simply supports popular causes and doesn't care whether they are against racists or against Jews. You will never find Bishop Tutu support an unpopular noble case. He has been widely criticised for his quiet on Sudan in the early 2000s when bringing up Darfur or southern Sudan was simply not polite.
5. tutu's gone cookoo
david ,   uk\sa   (10.27.10)
6. Peace Prize doesn't mean what it once did
Raymond in DC ,   Washington, USA   (10.27.10)
Henry Kissinger and his North Vietnamese counterpart got it while still engaged in war. Arafat got it while still engaged in terror. El Baradei got it while covering for Iran's nuclear project. Obama got it - for what, we're still wondering. Enough said. And Tutu? Part of a group of anti-Israel notables that call themselves The Elders. Better they call themselves The Old Fa*ts - political has-beens that stick their noses where they don't belong. Someone suggested they call themselves The Yentas, but yentas - however annoying - at least have their hearts in the right place. These don't.
7. # 2
Birdi ,   Israel   (10.27.10)
The old boy (Tutu) retired a couple of months ago. I guess he got bored !!
8. #Ruth
Idalia ,   the netherlands   (10.27.10)
Oh, and you are absolutely right :)
9. if not boycot SA deserves the apartheid again
ivan ,   haifa   (10.27.10)
10. Tutu, this guy is a strange minister
Robert ,   Boston USA   (10.27.10)
So much to do in and for Africa and this guy continues to spew hatred towards Israel and the Jewish people. I will always be proud of the activist South African Jews, like Harriet Sussman, who bravely fought against real aparteid and helped win that fight for black Africans. Tutu is a disgusting, cowardly, mean spirited hater. In my book he is nothing but a loser and a waste of time.
11. Clueless
Dave ,   za   (10.27.10)
people should rather stay silent. You talk about hatred from Bishop Tutu yet you show the same hatred to him. And to the other foreigner commenting about a country he doesn't live in, her name was Helen Suzman. At her memorial service Tutu said - "Suzman's life should show South Africans that people could have different viewpoints and still show civil courtesy to each other. Public discourse should not sink to the level of the gutter," Perhaps some civil courtesy here would be an idea.
12. Desmond Tutu, hate monger
James Russell ,   Cambridge, MA, USA   (10.27.10)
In the event there is a South African academic boycott of Israel I shall refuse to admit any South African citizen to any class I teach or lecture I deliver, here at Harvard and anywhere in the world. The same goes for any other country that declares such a boycott. I think any Jewish academic who would hesitate to do the same is a meshummad. Just a thought.
13. Tutu's Wine Estate
Stan ,   Johannesburg RSA   (10.27.10)
Tutu is out-of-date and needs to pay for the upkeep of his estates. Guess what's the most lucrative way these days.
14. Tutu - criminal
Mark Bernadiner ,   Pearland, USA   (10.27.10)
Tutu bid for Israel boycott violates US Anti-Boycott Laws, which makes Tutu criminal.
15. @14
Dave ,   za   (10.27.10)
So the US would seek to punish an SA citizen who they supported by their own boycott during the apartheid era? I would love to see the US attempt to go against a Nobel peace Laureate, who by the way is not a corporation or government and thus does not fall under any US anti-boycott jurisdiction.
16. 12 James-don't do it-you'll lose your job
David ,   sf-usa   (10.27.10)
Tutu is a fraud and SA is descending into violence and poverty like Zimbabwe but the good Safricans in the opera are proof not everyone agrees with him. The students you're teaching are the future of their country, depriving them of an education (in the US) will only get you sued and fired by Harvard (I guarantee it) and is just as unfair as what Tutu did. Try educating them instead. 2 wrongs don't make a right.
17. #11 Tutu hates first
Mark ,   Lodz, Poland   (10.27.10)
I had a chance encounter with him in the dining room at the Addis Ababa Hilton. I mentioned
18. #11, your approval is not needed
Robert ,   Boston USA   (10.28.10)
Dave, what an arrogant post from you. I was writing an honest opinion about Tutu after many years of feeling victimized, as a Jew and as a devoted lover of Israel, by his public Jew bashing, Israel hating diatribes. My heartfelt opinion does not need approval from you. Here's an additional thought, you can have your opinions and I will have mine.
19. To think that Tutu wouldn't know racism from a pastry
A   (10.28.10)
It's inconceivable that an advocate for racial equality would criticize Israel, of all states. Has he forgotten what we did with Ethiopia, or Sudan? Perhaps that we're the most diverse nation in the Middle East, and the only one that promotes gay rights? He's got some nerve. Despite all of his efforts in Apartheid South Africa, I have no respect for him.
20. #17 (cont.)
Mark ,   Lodz, Poland   (10.28.10)
This was back in 1997. During the small talk he asked where was I from. When I mentioned Britain and currently living in Israel, our chat came to an abrupt end. He's an ingrate....Israel has done wonders in Africa...Plassim, Plasson and irrigation systems from Kibbutz Na'an
21. To Mark in Lodz...
Al   (10.28.10)
MY mothers parents and siblings were taken to lodz in 1942 ...kept in a ghetto there till they were transported to Treblinka where they were gassed. If you are a Jew get the hell out of there..Poland is soaked with Jewish blood.
22. To Al..
Mark ,   Lodz, Poland   (10.28.10)
I was told that by a survivor when I arrived here in August 2004 at the 60th anniversary ceremony of the liquidation of the Lodz Ghetto. I'm sorry to hear of your loss. I'm a British Jew and concur with you that Poland is not for my bones, notwithstanding, it's been an interesting experience. My lot left the pogroms in Lithuania c 1880 and settled in the UK Vis-a-vis 'Poland soaked in Jewish blood' ..I too once harboured your thoughts. There have been better times in Poland for Jews eg under King Jan Sobieski The Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, puts it like this...to Jews of your opinion he says.." it's not as bad as you think " and to Poles ..he tells them "it's worse than you think". Lastly, thank you for your concern, I hope to be posting from the French Riviera before winter's out.
23. DISMAL TUTU
PHK OU ,   EU   (10.28.10)
THE SMALLER THE DOG - THE LOUDER THE BARKING!
24. Tutu means money in Zulu.Mr.Tutu take
Dyslexic......... ,   Israel.....   (11.03.10)
a good look at South Africa today and see what the goverment has done too the country,its going backwards.The blacks have kicked the white man out of there jobs and given them too blacks.Who havent a clue how too do the job.There is big discrimination against the white people in South Africa today.Soo Mr Tutu take a look in your own backyard.
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