Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is a titanic figure for freedom in not only South African but also global history. It is hard to overstate his courage during the 1980s when South Africa exploded in violence as the opposition movement that revitalized itself after the Soweto Uprising met up against an increasingly intransigent and desperate South African security state. And Tutu was equally vital as the chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the country’s de facto spokesman for reconciliation (Nelson Mandela served a somewhat different and surpassingly vital role, of course, but Tutu was the consistent and articulate voice for the process of reonciliation).
In his current incarnation, Tutu stands as something of an oracle, an elder statesman for human rights. In some conservative circles he is reviled. I do not know where conservatives of a certain stripe buy their phrasebook, but I honestly cannot tell you how many times I have heard right wingers denounce Tutu in the exact same words: “Tutu is a fraud.” That is one of those insults that seems a lot more biting than it is, inasmuch as it is pretty lacking in content. I have no idea how Tutu can be considered a fraud, and I have considerable ammunition for why he is not.
Nonetheless, Tutu does occasionally run the risk of overexposure. I am only partially joking when I say that it seems as if every other book on contemporary South Africa bears Tutu’s imprimatur in the form of a foreword. And he certainly continues to be unafraid of speaking his mind. Not that he has not earned the right, of course, (Tutu is being celebrated by the United States government! Tutu is receiving a gift from the Dali Lama!)but it can be somewhat jarring to hear him weigh in on issues as disparate as vandalism on the part of striking South African workers (he opposes it); The Israel-Palestine situation (he wants an urgent solution; it seems that Tutu’s opining on Israel is one of the reasons the right hates him. I disagree with Tutu on the situation there but also recognize that judging Tutu on that issue would be like judging Johnny Cash on his falsetto: sort of irrelevant); and even on the merits of Springbok Coach Peter de Villiers (Tutu is a supporter). Tutu has certainly earned the right. And I hope he is speaking out against injustice, ruffling feathers, and receiving honors a decade from now. But occasionally, just occasionally, less might be more.