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Archbishop calls for country to pray, march and protest against Mugabe
Sunday 09 December 2007
Speaking in a dramatic interview on BBC1's Sunday AM programme, Dr. John Sentamu removed his clerical collar and cut it up into pieces live on air saying that President Mugabe had "taken people's identity .and cut it to pieces" prompting the Archbishop to do the same.
The Rt. Hon & Most. Revd. Dr. John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, today called upon the people of Britain to unite in their opposition to the Government of Robert Mugabe and to come together to act on Darfur.
Speaking in a dramatic interview on BBC1's Sunday AM programme, Dr. John Sentamu removed his clerical collar and cut it up into pieces live on air saying that President Mugabe had "taken people's identity .and cut it to pieces" prompting the Archbishop to do the same.
During the interview with Andrew Marr, Dr. Sentamu said that his clerical collar, also known as a dog collar, "is what I wear to identify myself, that I'm a clergyman".
"You know what Mr Mugabe has done? He's taken people's identity, and literally, if you don't mind, cut it to pieces, and in the end there's nothing." As he cut his own dog collar into pieces the Archbishop declared "As far as I'm concerned, I'm not going to wear a dog collar, until Mr Mugabe's gone".
The Archbishop also chastised African leaders at the Africa-EU summit for their support of Mr. Mugabe whist the people of the country continued to suffer:
"Because what is going on for me, there is this pernicious, self destructing racism. A white man does it the whole world cries. A black person does it, there is a certain sense oh this is colonialism. I'm sorry I don't buy this. Africa and all the world have got to liberate Africa from this mental slavery and this colonial mentality - whenever there's anything you blame somebody else instead of yourself".
The Archbishop called on people to "pray, march and protest" about the situation in Zimbabwe and in Darfur:
"I think what I want to say is what happened to, during the time of Ian Smith in this country and apartheid South Africa. We prayed. We marched, protested. We collected money. As Christmas comes around spare a pound, spare a pound for child starving in Darfur and in Zimbabwe. Let this money be collected so that when a time comes people can actually have their houses and their homes rebuilt. And to me that's the greatest thing we can actually do as a nation."
Dr. Sentamu criticised South African President Thabo Mbeke for his failure to put pressure on Mr, Mugabe who had turned his country from a "bread basket into a basket case".
"[Mugabe] has actually taken a country really into a sheer chaos and he's been so brutal that in the long run the world has got to say, if the South African people (and leaders) won't do it, something's got to happen," said the Archbishop.
• The transcript of then Archbishops interview can be found here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/andrew_marr_show/7135111.stm
• The interview with Andrew Marr can be watched again here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/andrew_marr_show/default.stm