Breyten Breytenbach Quotes

South Africa, Writer
September 16, 1939

Breyten Breytenbach is a South African writer and painter known for his opposition to apartheid, and consequent imprisonment by the South African government. He is informally considered as the national poet laureate by Afrikaans-speaking South Africans of the region. He also holds French citizenship.

Also known as Painter

It would be a tragic mistake for us out here to imagine that Bush represents the hearts and the minds of the majority of your countrymen. Many of your black and other compatriots must be just as anguished as we are.

Breyten Breytenbach
- Black
- Mistake
It may be an extreme example brought about by abnormal circumstances - but the criteria of human rights kick in, surely, precisely when the conditions are extreme and the situation is abnormal.

Breyten Breytenbach
- May

Better still - your history has shown how powerful a moral catharsis expressed through popular resistance to injustice can sometimes be; I have in mind the grassroots opposition to the Vietnam War.

Breyten Breytenbach
- Mind
- War
- History
In reality the workings of your governing system are opaque and covert, while hiding in the chattering spotlight of an ostensible transparency, even though the ultimate objective is clear.

Breyten Breytenbach
- Reality
The goal, I submit, is obvious: subjugating the world (which is barbarian, dangerous, envious and ungrateful) to US power for the sake of America's interests.

Breyten Breytenbach
- World
- Power
- America
Dangerous because your present Administration and its specialized agencies by all accounts know no restraint in hitting out at any perceived enemy of America, and nobody or nothing can protect one from their vindictiveness.

Breyten Breytenbach
- America
- Present
- Enemy
I think it's an area that one writes from that is curious because it is not a clearly defined partisan one.

Breyten Breytenbach
The predominant yardstick of your government is not human rights but national interests.

Breyten Breytenbach

In dancing with the enemy one follows his steps even if counting under one's breath.

Breyten Breytenbach
- Enemy