RIP Nelson Mandela, Madiba

Nelson Mandela fought for equality under a racist government in South Africa.

Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa credited with ending apartheid there, died Thursday in South Africa. He was 95 years old. Mandela was revered worldwide for leading the anti-apartheid movement and not letting his nearly three decades in prison shake his determination.  link

FAIR on Nelson Mandela
http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/12/06/nelson-mandela-and-nonviolent-resistance/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nelson-mandela-and-nonviolent-resistance


""3 Things you don't want to know about Nelson Mandela""
http://thebackbencher.co.uk/3-things-you-didnt-want-to-know-about-nelson-mandela/

Mandela's terrorist activities with ANC

Operating through a cell structure, the MK agreed to acts of sabotage to exert maximum pressure on the government with minimum casualties, bombing military installations, power plants, telephone lines and transport links at night, when civilians were not present. Mandela noted that should these tactics fail, MK would resort to "guerilla warfare and terrorism." Wikipedia

From ""What Terrorists Want"" by Louise Richardson
pg. 8 discussion of comparisons to IRA in Ireland and ANC in South Africa

In 1961, however, with all forms of political organization closed to it, Nelson Mandela was authorized to create a separate military organization, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). In his autobiography Mandela describes the strategy session as the movement examined the options available to them:

We considered four types of violent activities: sabotage, guerrilla warfare, terrorism and open revolution---Guerrilla warfare was a possibility, but since the ANC [since its creation in 1912] had been reluctant to embrace violence at all, it made sense to start with the form of violence that inflicted the least harm against individuals: sabotage.

 These fine distinctions were lost on the court in Rivonia that convicted Mandela and most of the ANC leadership in 1964 and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Professor Peter Schwab, a noted authority on human rights, (and a professor of mine link) writes in ""Africa: A Continent Self-Destructs"" about the legacy of Mandela in championing peace, equality and justice not only in South Africa, but also in neighboring countries over the last 20 years.  But here is the quote (page 168) I want to reflect on, about the totality of US foreign policy in Africa and applicable elsewhere.

Rhetoric, lip service, and periodic trips to Africa where a president speaks of democracy and "feels your pain" do not make a viable and coherent foreign policy.......words by themselves are meaningless.

President Obama's trip to Africa earlier this year, portrayed by right wing media as a vacation, was a policy trip, but the policy was business link

Obama and other world leaders have made moving statements about Mandela's passing, remembering his momentous achievements during his life.  Obama has even said that it was Mandela's struggle and the movement to divest from South Africa in the 1980's that started his career in politics.

But as those who follow my posts know, I criticize Obama for his words compared to his actions.  And his words on Mandela came on the same day that there was a trial in California of the PayPal 14, internet activists who launched a denial of service attack on PayPal after the website stopped processing payments for Wikileaks.  article by Alexa O'Brien



Obama praised Mandela, saying link

"A man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice."

""took history in his hands"" means to me his terrorist acts of sabotage.  Mandela and the MK and the ANC resorted to bombs against a repressive government.  What about Chelsea Manning, who leaked documents in order to try and change the debate about US foreign policy and end wars???  Jeremy Hammond, who was upset about the privatization of intelligence and espionage that was used against anti war activists?? and Barrett Brown, a journalist who simply posted a link while writing about Jeremy Hammond's case???  Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, and others who are upset about the policy of the US since 9/11, the abuse of the Bill of Rights, labeling everyone a terrorist or possible suspect???

I want America to live up to its ideals and its documents promising us equal protection under the law, that all men and women are created equal, that people are secure in their homes, entitled to privacy, not accused of terrorism because they use Verizon, the internet, or know how to use computers.  I hope one day we can honor Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and others, like we honor Mandela today.  It is often those that governments prosecute who are the true heroes, and we need to remember that.