Together we have travelled a long road to be where we are today. This has been a road of struggle against colonial and apartheid oppression.
Thabo MbekiRead
For the first time in human history, society has the capacity, the knowledge and the resources to eradicate poverty
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the unprecedented opportunity humanity has to eliminate poverty.
Thabo Mbeki's quote highlights a pivotal moment in human history where technological advancements, collective knowledge, and available resources converge to provide society with the tools necessary to address and potentially eradicate poverty. It underscores the belief that we now possess the capability to make significant social changes, urging action to leverage this ability for the benefit of all.
In practice
In a speech about social justice, one might quote Mbeki to emphasize the importance of using current knowledge to tackle poverty.
Together we have travelled a long road to be where we are today. This has been a road of struggle against colonial and apartheid oppression.
A global human society, characterised by islands of wealth, surrounded by a sea of poverty, is unsustainable
Many of our own people here in this country do not ask about computers, telephones and television sets. They ask - when will we get a road to our village.
South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white.
Our experience over the last 20 years has shown that indeed people must themselves become their own liberators. You cannot wait for somebody else to come and rescue you.
As we mourn President Mandela’s passing we must ask ourselves the fundamental question - what shall we do to respond to the tasks of building a democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa, a people-centred society free of hunger, poverty, disease and inequality, as well as Africa’s renaissance, to whose attainment President Nelson Mandela dedicated his whole life?
I want to say that probably 24 hours after I told CBS that I was stepping down at my 65th birthday, I was already regretting it. And I regretted it every day since.
Earth, is not this what you will: in us to rise up invisible? Is it, O Earth, not your dream once to be wholly invisible? Earth! Invisible! What, if not change, is your desperate mission?
The Stonewall riots were a key moment for gay people. Throughout modern history, gays had thought of themselves as something like a mental illness or maybe a sin or a crime. Gay liberation allowed us to make the leap to being a 'minority group,' which made life much easier.
We can choose to use our lives for others to bring about a better and more just world for our children. People who make that choice will know hardship and sacrifice. But if you give yourself totally to the non-violence struggle for peace and justice you also find that people give you their hearts and you will never go hungry and never be alone. And in giving of yourself you will discover a whole new life full of meaning and love.
A caterpillar who seeks to know himself would never become a butterfly
Your career is not going to go the way you planned. It is impossible at the age of 23 to pick the right industry, the right company, and you can visualize what you're going to be doing in your 40s, 50s, and 60s, but chances are that it's going to be something quite different. So remain open to opportunities and change.
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