Gurpreet Singh: An era has ended with the passing of an anti-apartheid hero 

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      Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu left us at the age of 90.

      He was in the forefront of the struggle against brutal white minority rule in South Africa. A Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Tutu was famously known for his quotation; “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."

      This became a motto of our small publication, Radical Desi. You can find it right underneath the masthead of our website. Also, it has been etched on our medals that we have presented to numerous individuals who have stood up for human rights.

      In 2004, when he came to Vancouver, I had a chance to go and attend his lecture at the PNE Coliseum that was fully packed. According to a City of Vancouver report, 27,000 people saw Tutu and Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama speak that day.

      The massive attendance said a lot about Tutu's popularity in this part of the world. He had a huge following among antiracism activists.

      His book, No Future Without Forgiveness, also influenced me. In it, he had set the tone for reconciliation to end conflicts and injustices.

      Though Tutu’s death is a great loss, his legacy will remain alive and has become even more relevant today considering growing state violence and repression across the globe.

      Being a journalist, his quotation has special meaning for me. It has become my prime responsibility to break the myth of neutrality, something he emphasized by speaking bluntly and honestly in response to the abuse of power.

      That is one reason why I won’t try to hide behind the notion of objectivity when we all can see blatant injustice taking place anywhere. Whether it’s the First Nations here in Canada, or minorities in India, the country I was born in, those on the margins continue to suffer disproportionately. It's an undeniable fact so why take refuge behind the narratives of those in power?

      So much so that Tutu, who became larger than life, is being appropriated by tyrants, such as the right-wing Hindu nationalist prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, who paid his respects to the departed soul on Twitter.

      This is despite the fact that attacks on religious minorities and political dissidents have grown under him. In fact, the demise of Tutu coincides with the series of anti-Christian violent incidents close to the auspicious occasion of Christmas by Hindu fanatics in different parts of India.

      Modi has no moral right to even talk about someone who would probably have been in prison if he had lived in India. Notably, Modi government let an 84-year-old Roman Catholic priest, Stan Swamy, die in custody after being arrested on trumped up charges for merely standing up for the poor and oppressed.

      Swamy wasn’t the only social-justice advocate thrown in jail. There are others like him, who are being incarcerated under barbaric conditions.

      If Modi really cared for Tutu, he should first set his own human rights record straight. Moreover, Modi belongs to a Hindu supremacist organization whose founders once glorified Hitler and justified the Jewish Holocaust and have always believed in a caste system that is similar to racism and discriminates against so-called untouchables.

      His crocodile tears on the death of Tutu reminds us that we are living in a complex world. Only carrying forward Tutu's legacy of confronting the brutes will be the real tribute to him.

      Rest in Power Desmond Tutu. 

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