Nelson Mandela

[jts1882]

I think this quote is worth considering: "Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people." Our modern batch of leaders tend to take the opposite view.

You can respect him as leader of the anti-apartheid movement. You can respect him for refusing special treatment in jail and refusing early release with conditions attached (going back to 1974). But his greatest achievement was managing the transition to a democracy. How he managed to take the reconciliation route after what he went through is a testament to his personal strength and integrity and the success of his policy a lesson for all leaders. Who thought the post-apartheid transition would have been so relatively smooth instead of a blood bath? An old man in ill health may have died but his legacy will live on. I like the way many in South Africa seem to be treating his death as a reason to celebrate his life rather than mourn.

I read his 'An ideal for which I am prepared to die' this morning. Many of the quotes are familiar but the whole thing is worth a read: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/apr/23/nelsonmandela

 

[Kingdawson]

A true leader and a great man.

 

[Kenyan Spur]

We in Africa celebrate your truly great life.
One of a kind leader - wish we had more
RIP Madiba.

 

[Seedy Ron]

How he managed to take the reconciliation route after what he went through is a testament to his personal strength and integrity and the success of his policy a lesson for all leaders.

Yes, that really is most remarkable, an extraordinary human being. An experience like his would, I suspect, render most of us bitter and vengeful.

I hope there are others to pick up the baton, especially in terms of the work he did later in life in the field of HIV/Aids.

 

[Hootnow]

I'd like to echo other sentiments about what a loss his passing is to mankind and what a great man he is, but those words would ring hollow from me as the reality is I don't think I've ever learnt anything about the man.

A sad time, if anything it should give me the opportunity to actually learn about his life and how great a man I'm sure he was.

The kind of inspirational figure who should be taught about in schools

I'd start off with long walk to freedom and State of Africa mate (though the latter is about the whole Africa surprisingly rather than just Mandela).

A truly great man.

If our other post independence leaders had had even a shred of his decency and morals, we wouldn't be anywhere near the mess we're in now.

One of the continent's greatest men.

 

[Stouty]

I'd like to echo other sentiments about what a loss his passing is to mankind and what a great man he is, but those words would ring hollow from me as the reality is I don't think I've ever learnt anything about the man.

A sad time, if anything it should give me the opportunity to actually learn about his life and how great a man I'm sure he was.

The kind of inspirational figure who should be taught about in schools

Be sure to read up on the campaign of bombings he orchestrated that killed innocent people and also how his wife (Winnie) used 'necklacing' against young children within the youth section of the ANC.

One man's freedom fighter is another's terrorist, will we be heralding Gerry Adams in the same way when his time comes?

 

[LutonSpurs]

Without a doubt an inspiration to the oppressed around the world. A man who has left his mark on the world. Remembered by all.

I still contend that the blood of the civilians shed under his command can never be forgotten. He fought an evil ideology using evil means. It was terrorism and should not be romanticised. I can never agree with it but I can understand why they did it.

He also often said he wasn't a saint and shouldn't be seen as one. More a revolutionary who gained freedom for his people by whatever means necessary.

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

In a century when the names of Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot came to represent the depths to which man's inhumanity to man could sink, Mandela stands as the polar opposite and the ultimate example of the difference an individual can make for good.

A life we're all privileged to have witnessed.

So true. An inspiration to all

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

Be sure to read up on the campaign of bombings he orchestrated that killed innocent people and also how his wife (Winnie) used 'necklacing' against young children within the youth section of the ANC.

One man's freedom fighter is another's terrorist, will we be heralding Gerry Adams in the same way when his time comes?

The bombing campaign followed the Sharpsville massacre, prior to that Mandela was an advocate for non violence. The rest of the world were prepared to let the Neo-nazis in South Africa do what they liked to the sub-human blacks, a truly shameful period for the enlighten western nations.

 

[Kenyan Spur]

I'd start off with long walk to freedom and State of Africa mate (though the latter is about the whole Africa surprisingly rather than just Mandela).

A truly great man.

If our other post independence leaders had had even a shred of his decency and morals, we wouldn't be anywhere near the mess we're in now.

One of the continent's greatest men.

So so true Sir.
We needed / need leaders like Madiba

 

[Kenyan Spur]

The bombing campaign followed the Sharpsville massacre, prior to that Mandela was an advocate for non violence. The rest of the world were prepared to let the Neo-nazis in South Africa do what they liked to the sub-human blacks, a truly shameful period for the enlighten western nations.

Thank you sir.

 

[braineclipse]

Be sure to read up on the campaign of bombings he orchestrated that killed innocent people and also how his wife (Winnie) used 'necklacing' against young children within the youth section of the ANC.

One man's freedom fighter is another's terrorist, will we be heralding Gerry Adams in the same way when his time comes?

I will always tend towards calling someone who is a terrorist fighting against an apartheid regime a freedom fighter I think.

Without a doubt an inspiration to the oppressed around the world. A man who has left his mark on the world. Remembered by all.

I still contend that the blood of the civilians shed under his command can never be forgotten. He fought an evil ideology using evil means. It was terrorism and should not be romanticised. I can never agree with it but I can understand why they did it.

He also often said he wasn't a saint and shouldn't be seen as one. More a revolutionary who gained freedom for his people by whatever means necessary.

I'm glad he said as much and I hope his memory will be presented as what he was instead of a glorified version trying to make him look like the saint he wasn't.

Most of us probably owe our freedom in one way or another to those that have been willing to fight evil with evil means, at least I think so.

Rest in peace Mandela, a peace that I hope will last. Hopefully a day for reflection and consideration in South Africa, let's hope the boulder doesn't have to be rolled up the hill all over again.

 

[Kingdawson]

"a peace that i hope will last".

What a bizarre thing to say.

 

[Hootnow]

Be sure to read up on the campaign of bombings he orchestrated that killed innocent people and also how his wife (Winnie) used 'necklacing' against young children within the youth section of the ANC.

One man's freedom fighter is another's terrorist, will we be heralding Gerry Adams in the same way when his time comes?

You realise that Umkhonto we Sizwe only started moving away from sabotaging government targets well after Mandela was put in prison, where I believe he was allowed 2 visits a year? Incredible effort to lead nationwide bombing campaigns in that situation

And they only turned to this after the settler minority whites had entrenched apartheid at every level of society, where peaceful actions and negotiations with a group who consider you inferior had proven to be fruitless and when the West, especially the US and the UK (especially Reagan & Thatcher), refused to even call it apartheid.

How easy to judge peoples' actions when you're not a downtrodden minority (or even worse, downtrodden majority).

 

[Hootnow]

I assume he means in SA KD. Some of the more right wing Afrikaans were going on in the early 2000s that they think there will be some kind of white genocide in SA when Mandela dies.

 

[Baleforce]

It was only a matter of time before the other side came up in this thread. As has been said he never claimed to be a saint.

There can be no doubt of the good he has done and is rightly revered for yet it's important that his earlier actions are not airbrushed from history.

As always there are a lot of people publicly politicising their grief for personal gain which massively distasteful to me.

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

It was only a matter of time before the other side came up in this thread. As has been said he never claimed to be a saint.

There can be no doubt of the good he has done and is rightly revered for yet it's important that his earlier actions are not airbrushed from history.

As always there are a lot of people publicly politicising their grief for personal gain which massively distasteful to me.

I feel the same about Jesus, respect him and his teachings it's his mates I can't stand

 

[braineclipse]

I assume he means in SA KD. Some of the more right wing Afrikaans were going on in the early 2000s that they think there will be some kind of white genocide in SA when Mandela dies.

Correct, perhaps I wasn't being explicit enough.

Although I haven't heard anyone voice the particular (and rather extreme) opinion you share here I've met some South Africans that seemed both intelligent and well informed who had serious concerns about the stability and peace of the nation in the rather immediate future (I talked to them before Mandela passed away). He helped create a peace in South Africa and he died having seen that peace last a while, I just hope it keeps lasting beyond the life span of the great man himself.

 

[markysimmo]

2 guys I work with are on business in SA and one of them text me saying how surreal it was being there the past few days, very sad and sombre, lots of their meetings were cancelled

RIP NM, a truely great man

 

[Hootnow]

Correct, perhaps I wasn't being explicit enough.

Although I haven't heard anyone voice the particular (and rather extreme) opinion you share here I've met some South Africans that seemed both intelligent and well informed who had serious concerns about the stability and peace of the nation in the rather immediate future (I talked to them before Mandela passed away). He helped create a peace in South Africa and he died having seen that peace last a while, I just hope it keeps lasting beyond the life span of the great man himself.

The genocide claims were by a small but still relatively vocal minority of Afrikaans a while ago.

Like you said, the less extreme view amongst some whites in South Africa was that the death of Mandela would bring about at the very least some tension between the whites and blacks or some kind of violence, which might precipitate a large group of whites to leave. Certainly, some white South AFricans I met before were not happy at the policies that the ANC had enacted, to ensure that blacks were correctly represented in various fields. They agreed (both Afrikaans and of British descent) that there needed to be programmes to help elevate blacks but not at the expense of them.

Will be interesting to see what the ANC does now there's no Mandela. Let's hope they don't do anything to upset the peace in the country, as you said.