WHY OVER 100 HEADS-OF-STATE WILL BE ATTENDING THE FUNERAL OF NELSON MANDELA



 

…Seal of the US president

 

President Obama, and former president’s: George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter will all be attending the funeral of Nelson Mandela.

 

I heard an interesting statement this week during all the wonderful comments eulogizing the life of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela.  

That statement was, “If you're ever unsure about where the wrong side of history is, just look for where Dick Cheney stands and you will be sure.”

As disgusting as it was, Dick Cheney was against the 1980’s Anti-Apartheid Act regarding South Africa that had been passed by both house of congress.  Apparently President Ronald Reagan also agreed with the then Wyoming representative, Dick Cheney, and as president, he vetoed the bill. 

Fortunately, both sides of the congressional aisle were in bipartisan support of the Act.  This agreement was to the point that they were able to override the president’s veto and the Act was finally passed.

To understand the situation, we must now look back at what eventually occurred in South Africa when Nelson Mandela was elected as its first black president.  One must also consider that Nelson Mandela was considered by conservatives, an enemy of the United States on one level or another, up until as late as 2008. Ronald Reagan had actually put Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC) on the US list of terrorist groups.

Today's reality is, Tea Party members have a problem with a black man being in the White House.  Back then, the conservatives around the globe were also concerned about any strong black leader running any nation, especially an African nation.

On todays conservative’s favorite cable TV network, Fox’s Bill O'Reilly had a number of words to say this week about Nelson Mandela.  But Bill’s main word was “communist”.  O’Reilly called Mandela a "communist" about six times in the space of just a few seconds. It was a very strange way to eulogize a man that over his life had received more than 250 major honors from around the world.  One of those honors included the Nobel Prize for Peace!

Usually, O'Reilly just shows how totally ignorant he can be.  But even he finally knew he had to rein it in when he was speaking about Nelson Mandela's recent passing. Still, he just couldn't stop himself from repeating "Mandela was a communist" like he had some strange, repetitive Tourette Syndrome.

What’s even stranger is that Mandela was never a communist and his ANC was never a communist organization. 

In fact, the ANC was initially committed only to non-violent protest. 

However, in 1961, in association with the South African Communist Party, together the two organizations led what eventually became a violent campaign against the apartheid South African government.

 

People today in America have had no idea what apartheid was like in South Africa.  It was not just separate white and black rest rooms, lunch counters and schools.  In South Africa there were "black-only": trains, buses, taxis, theaters, restaurants, schools, barber shops, stores, prisons and black only streets in large townships and even totally black only small towns.  And the blacks outnumbered the South African white ruling class, twenty to one.

In 1962, Mandela was arrested and convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the government.  He was then sentenced to life imprisonment and spent 27 years behind bars in a black-only prison.  The idea was, that he was to be put away on a prison island where people would eventually forget about him.  But this instead, made a living martyr out of Nelson Mandela.

The conservatives around the world have a real problem with someone like a Nelson Mandela. 

 

After being president for 5 years, he refused to run for a second term which he would have handily won.  He instead chose to return to his humble home and enjoy the fact that his beloved South Africa was now rid of apartheid.

This giving up a presidency of course, is totally against the approach of any conservatives.  They would never agree to giving up that kind of governmental power.  And true to form, as a conservative, the former VP, Dick Cheney today, still says he doesn't regret his repeated votes in 1986 against the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act.  This Act called for freeing Mandela and ending apartheid. And I'm sure Cheney’s only regret is that his opposition to the Act didn't work.

The following will give everyone a preview as to why this man’s passing has been taking up so much time on today’s national broadcast air waves.

Mandela served his 27 years in prison, initially on Robben Island, and later in both Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison.

An international campaign lobbied for his release, which was finally granted in 1990 amid escalating civil strife of the blacks against the government. (The government had also become aware that Mandela had become a living martyr that was growing in his support.)

 

The white ruling minority finally realized that with all the international pressure and economic sanctions, they were going to lose in the end.  Mandela and his ANC eventually opened negotiations with South Africa’s President, F.W. de Klerk, to organize the abolishment of apartheid.  And to establish multiracial elections in 1994. 

 

Mandela had finally led the ANC to the anti-apartheid victory he had envisioned.

As South Africa's first black president, Mandela formed a Government of National Unity in an attempt to defuse the years of racial tension. He also proposed a new constitution and created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate and deal with past human-rights abuses. Continuing the former government's liberal economic policy, his administration introduced measures to encourage land reform.  They also started programs to combat poverty, and to expand national healthcare services.

Internationally, Mandela acted as the mediator between Libya and the United Kingdom in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial.

Even though Mandela declined to run for a second term, he was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki. Mandela subsequently became an elder statesman, focusing on charitable work in combating poverty and HIV-AIDS through the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Nelson Mandela had previously stated that all he had ever wanted was a nation where all its people were equal.  He came as close as is possible to that endeavor.

South Africa’s flag today is called the “Rainbow Flag” as it is of many colors signifying the many tribes of South Africa.  The national anthem also has samples of its eleven official tribal languages.

This is why Nelson Mandela was and is so revered. 

There may never be another Nelson Mandela.

Copyright G.Ater  2013