Tributes to Dennis Brutus on the occasion of his 80th birthday

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

We in South Africa needed the support of the international community in our efforts to end the vicious system of racial oppression called apartheid.

We had to have eloquent advocates to tell the world our story and persuade it to come to our assistance. Today we are free and democratic striving to be non-racial and non-sexist. We won a spectacular victory over the awfulness of apartheid a victory that is unthinkable without the support of the international community referred to earlier.

We had none more articulate and with all the credibility and integrity so indispensable than Dennis Brutus to plead our cause. He was quite outstanding and we South Africans owe an immense debt of gratitude.

I join many, many of our compatriots and our friends in the international community as we salute him when he celebrates his 80th birthday. Many happy returns and God's richest blessings broer! Thank you for having been such a stalwart. We owe much to you.

God bless you.

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Fatima Meer, Professor, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban

Denis, we thank you for your 80 glamorous years, a considerable part of them spent leading us in our fight against the injustices that was and still is unleashed upon us. We know your disappointments and we salute you and applaud you for bringing them to our notice. I hope you are spared some score more years to correct the ways that still remain. I am with you in the fight that still remains and I need your commitment and your energy and your integrity. Live on wonderful soldier, live on for South Africa, for all those who continue to be oppressed and deprived and impoverished throughout the world. Live on Denis in spirit, if not in body. Live on, dearest compatriot.

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Sean Jacobs, New York University, New York

Vir Dennis Brutus. Waar ek vandaan kom is jy nou al 'n wyse ou man, maar jy laat die laaities moeg lyk. Regte Suid-Afrikaners eer jou.

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Trevor Ngwane, Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee, Johannesburg

unkonka wefusi
umakad' ebona
inkunzi emidwayidwayi
okudala beyidwanguza
yehlula izinhlamvu zamaphoyisa ezomoya
yehlula amaBhunu esiqhingini
igagu umlom' omnandi
umlomo ishoba lokuziphungela
mfoka Bhaduza uthembeni na?
ngoba ozakweni bomzabalazo
sebephenduke amambuka
badla izambane likampondo
kodwa indima singakayiphethi
elikaMthaniya kaNdaba lisaphethwe zinyoni
mana njalo qabane lamaqabane
nwele zimhlophe
isina muva liyabukwa
oMandela bagiya bakushiya enkundleni
kanti baphosisile umgidi awukapheli
umzabalazo usaqhubeka
ithemba alisobe labulala
Dennis Brutus
uyiqhawe lamaqhawe
uyingonyama
mana njalo
ukhule uze ukhokhobe
ubambelele ngezindonga

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Center for Economic Justice, Washington/Alburquerque/Johannesburg

What makes Dennis Brutus so unique as an activist and as a human being, is that he has been an inspiration and a source of spiritual strength to so many of us worldwide who are struggling to make the world a just place, including all of us at the Center for Economic Justice. Struggling for justice and humanity is hard work; it is full of setbacks, heartbreak, and loss. It is precisely at the hardest points in our struggle that we think of Dennis. We are inspired by how he keeps doing the most important work in the world with a smile and with kind words for everyone. We are amazed at how strong his spirit is after everything that he has seen and suffered through, especially the betrayal of the hopes of the South African people by persons he had always regarded as comrades. We love you, Dennis!

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Dale Mckinley, Anti-Privatisation Forum, Johannesburg

Comrade Dennis - 80 years young and still going strong, still fanning the flames of resistance, still sharing your words of wisdom and creativity and still a revolutionary. You have taken the words of Che and put them into your heart and into practice - "If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine". You are a true comrade.

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Firoze Manji, Fahamu, Oxford

Dennis - is it really 80 years? How much we have gained in those years, and sadly how much have we lost. But the best was that those years produced fighters such as you who have held up the flag in Africa and for Africa. You are an example to us all. Keep fighting - onwards to the next 80 years!

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Jann Turner, Johannesburg

I would love to wish Dennis Brutus a happy birthday. Sunday the 28th of November happens to be a very important day for me too - I turn 40. I'm exactly half his age and I would be proud to accomplish half of what he has done in his life in my own time on this earth.

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Bill Fletcher, TransAfrica Forum, Washington

Dennis Brutus stands as a tribune of the dispossessed. His willingness to speak out on all cases of injustice, and side with the oppressed makes him the type of person we all wish to emulate. His perseverance, dedication and eloquence have made him not only a hero for the South African freedom struggle, but for all those who struggle for social justice.

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Njoki Njoroge Njehu & Soren Ambrose, Washington & Nairobi

We offer our heartfelt 80th Birthday greetings to Dennis Brutus. We celebrate you - friend, leader, courageous, poet, internationalist, outrageous, inspirational, unbowed, joyful, unrelenting, always responsive, committed, dignified, revolutionary, fighter for freedom and justice, stalwart for solidarity, and much more. Dennis Brutus, PRESENTE!

We celebrated Dennis' 75th Birthday in Seattle, a few days before the historic collapse of the WTO Ministerial - what a wonderful Birthday present for Dennis?! We are delighted and proud to say that the 50 Years Is Enough Network has already co-hosted, not one but two celebrations, of Dennis' 80th birthday. Both occasions doubled as fundraisers, as Dennis continues to multi-task and to do everything in his power -- including just having a birthday -- to support and build the movements for global justice, and in particular the 50 Years Is Enough Network. Dennis has a created a legacy to be proud of, that is inspiring, and a catalyst for creating that "other possible world."

As we prepare to move back to Africa, we are proud to call Dennis our great friend, a true Mzalendo (combatant/patriot in Kiswahili) for justice, and a brother in the struggle for true liberation for Africa and the world. Where there is struggle, there you will find Dennis. So Dennis, we invite you to Kenya to celebrate your 81st Birthday with those in the struggles there - we will organize appropriate fora for the celebration. Happy Birthday Dennis! And a happy celebration to all those able to be with him as he appropriately marks the occasion in South Africa. Many, many, happy returns. We love you, Dennis! Viva Dennis Viva!!

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