Selected quotes by Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere

Selected quotes by Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere

A light was turned on sometime in April 13, 1922. Here are a few selected quotes by Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere. That light continues to shine!

"The man whose contributions merits at footnote in the history of United Africa will deserve more of the future, than he whose obstinacy, fear or pride, prevents or delays the day when that history can be written."

“We in Tanganyika believe that only a wicked man can make color the criterion for human rights. Here we intend to build a country in which the color of a person’s skin or the texture of his hair will be as irrelevant to his rights and his duties as a citizen as it is irrelevant to his value in the eyes of God.” (1960)

“It is this freedom to search which is the starting point of all progress of all mistakes which man has made and will make for ever. Historical changes such as the Renaissance, Reformation, Capitalism, Socialism or Nationalism were corrections of history, which in turn, were corrected again. (1961)

“In my opinion, what we have achieved-although it is important-is still very little. We cannot, the African, the Black people on this planet, will not play their real role, will not contribute to the march of human history until we are liberated, which we are not. I’m not liberated. I can’t be liberated simply because I am the head of state of an independent African state. This is not possible. I can only be liberated when the people of Africa, when African people, are liberated. And they are not liberated now. We have got to work for this liberation of the person. This means the ending of exploitation, the ending of all kinds of inequalities. We’ve got to work for this.” (1973)

“When a Bokassa behaves as a Bokassa I feel bad. When Amin behaves as Amin I feel bad. There is a sense in which I am also like those blessed racists who point to Bokassa or Amin and say. “Ah! Look at Black Africa.” But they don’t point to Hitler and say, “This is a white man.” Or to Salazar or Franco and say, “This is a white man.” They simply say. “This is Hitler. This is Franco. This is Salazar.” But with Africa they generalize. They say, “See what is happening in Africa?” I could just as easily point to Portugal and say, “See what is happening in Europe?” So you could say what does Bokassa represent? Bokassa is a tyrant. Amin is a tyrant. And the world has had tyrants. They never started in Africa. Bokassa’s hero was Napoleon. Amin quoted Hitler. So what is peculiar about the tyrant in Africa?... My real problem, what I’ve been complaining about, is the tendency among Africans to feel shy in front of these tyrants, to not denounce them as tyrants. An African feels ashamed when he sees a tyrant instead of being angry.” (1979