Saur Revolution
Overview
 
The Saur Revolution (also written Sawr Revolution) is the name given to the Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan was a communist party established on the 1 January 1965. While a minority, the party helped former president of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daoud Khan, to overthrow his cousin, Mohammed Zahir Shah, and established Daoud's Republic of Afghanistan...

 (PDPA) takeover of political power from the government of Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 on 28 April 1978. The word 'Saur', i.e. Taurus, refers to the Dari
Dari (Eastern Persian)
Dari or Fārsī-ye Darī in historical terms refers to the Persian court language of the Sassanids. In contemporary usage, the term refers to the dialects of modern Persian language spoken in Afghanistan, and hence known as Afghan Persian in some Western sources. It is the term officially recognized...

 name of the second month of the Persian calendar, the month in which the uprising took place.
Under the secular government of Mohammed Daoud Khan
Mohammed Daoud Khan
Sardar Mohammed Daoud Khan or Daud Khan was Prime Minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963 and later becoming the President of Afghanistan...

, factionalism and rivalry developed in the ruling PDPA, with two main factions developing, Parcham
Parcham
Parcham was the name of one of the factions of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan. The Parcham faction seized power in the country after toppling Hafizullah Amin....

 and Khalqi.
Quotations

I am fifty-two years of age. I am a bishop in the Anglican Church, and a few people might be constrained to say that I was reasonably responsible. In the land of my birth I cannot vote, whereas a young person of eighteen can vote. And why? Because he or she possesses that wonderful biological attribute — a white skin.

Guardian Weekly [London] (8 April 1984)

Be nice to the whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.

As quoted in New York Times|New York Times (19 October 1984)

I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.

As quoted in The Christian Science Monitor|The Christian Science Monitor (20 December 1984)

For goodness sake, will they hear, will white people hear what we are trying to say? Please, all we are asking you to do is to recognize that we are humans, too.

As quoted in The New York Times (3 January 1985)

When a pile of cups is tottering on the edge of the table and you warn that they will crash to the ground, in South Africa you are blamed when that happens.

As quoted in The New York Times (3 January 1985)

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.

Today (NBC program)|Today, NBC TV (9 January 1985)

Those who invest in South Africa should not think they are doing us a favor; they are here for what they get out of our cheap and abundant labor, and they should know that they are buttressing one of the most vicious systems.

Quoted by L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley (politician)|Tom Bradley in letter to the editor Los Angeles Times (13 May 1985)

A person is a person because he recognizes others as persons.

Address at his enthronement as Anglican archbishop of Cape Town (7 September 1986)

You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.

Address at his enthronement as Anglican archbishop of Cape Town (7 September 1986)

God has such a deep reverence for our freedom that he'd rather let us freely go to Hell than be compelled to go to Heaven.

Beyers Naudé memorial lecture (15 August 2003)

 
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