Helen Suzman

Helen Suzman, DBE (7 November 1917 – 1 January 2009) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician. She represented a succession of liberal and centre-left opposition parties during her 36-year tenure in the whites-only, National Party-controlled House of Assembly of South Africa at the height of the apartheid era. She hosted the meeting that founded the Progressive Party in 1959, and was its only MP in the 160-member House for a period of 13 years. She was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

• Go and see for yourself.
  • As quoted in "The profound legacy of a woman of imagination" (6 January 2009), by Ann Bernstein, The Star

• You say your people brought the Bible over the mountains and ask what mine did. They wrote it, my dear.
  • As quoted in "A lone voice has been silenced" (2 January 2009), by Peter Sullivan, The Star

• It is not my questions that embarrass South Africa; it is your answers.
  • As quoted in "About Helen Suzman" (February 2004), by David Welsh, South Africa: The Helen Suzman Foundation, p. 2

• I do not know why we equate—and with such examples before us—a white skin with civilisation.
  • As quoted in "The Hon. Member For Houghton" (20 April 1987), by E. J. Kahn, The New Yorker

• Are you going to put me under house arrest or put me on Robben Island?
  • As quoted in Helen Suzman: Fighter for Human Rights (2005), by Millie Pimstone, South Africa: The Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies

• Every Nationalist MP should go to at least one funeral for unrest victims heavily disguised as human beings, instead of sitting on their green benches in parliament, insulated like fish in an aquarium.
  • As quoted in "A lone voice has been silenced" (2 January 2009), by Peter Sullivan, The Star

• [T]he prime minister has been trying to bully me for twenty-eight years and he has not succeeded yet. I am not frightened of you. I never have been and I never will be. I think nothing of you.
  • As quoted in "The Hon. Member For Houghton" (20 April 1987), by E. J. Kahn, The New Yorker

• I had hoped for something much better... [T]he poor in this country have not benefited at all from the ANC. This government spends "like a drunken sailor". Instead of investing in projects to give people jobs, they spend millions buying weapons and private jets, and sending gifts to Haiti.
  • As quoted in "Democracy? It was better under apartheid, says Helen Suzman" (15 May 2004), by Jane Flanagan, The Telegraph

• Mugabe has destroyed that country while South Africa has stood by and done nothing. The way Mugabe was feted at the inauguration last month was an embarrassing disgrace. But it served well to illustrate very clearly Mbeki's point of view.
  • As quoted in "Democracy? It was better under apartheid, says Helen Suzman" (15 May 2004), by Jane Flanagan, The Telegraph

• Don't think for a moment that Mbeki is not anti-white - he is, most definitely. His speeches all have anti-white themes and he continues to convince everyone that there are two types of South African - the poor black and the rich white.
  • As quoted in "Democracy? It was better under apartheid, says Helen Suzman" (15 May 2004), by Jane Flanagan, The Telegraph

• For all my criticisms of the current system, it doesn't mean that I would like to return to the old one. I don't think we will ever go the way of Zimbabwe, but people are entitled to be concerned. I am hopeful about any future for whites in this country - but not entirely optimistic.
  • As quoted in "Democracy? It was better under apartheid, says Helen Suzman" (15 May 2004), by Jane Flanagan, The Telegraph

• In South Africa, Joe Slovo, Ruth First, Albie Sachs, Nadine Gordimer, Abie Nathan, and Helen Suzman are only among the most famous of the many Jews who joined the fight to bring down apartheid.
  • Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz The Colors of Jews: Racial Politics and Radical Diasporism (2007)

• Encyclopedic article on Helen Suzman on Wikipedia