Nelson Mandela has died, aged 95

[Iroscato]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25249520
And so another extraordinary life has ended. RIP.

[Welf]

A great man left this world.

Nelson Mandela, South African Icon of Peaceful Resistance, Is Dead


JOHANNESBURG — Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president and an enduring icon of the struggle against racial oppression, died on Thursday, the government announced, leaving the nation without its moral center at a time of growing dissatisfaction with the country’s leaders.

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“Our nation has lost its greatest son,” President Jacob Zuma said in a televised address on Thursday night, adding that Mr. Mandela had died at 8:50 p.m. local time. “His humility, his compassion and his humanity earned him our love.”

Mr Zuma said that South Africa’s thoughts were with Mr. Mandela’s family. “They have sacrificed much and endured much so that our people could be free,” he said.

Mr. Mandela spent 27 years in prison after being convicted of treason by the white minority government, only to forge a peaceful end to white rule by negotiating with his captors after his release in 1990. He led the African National Congress, long a banned liberation movement, to a resounding electoral victory in 1994, the first fully democratic election in the country’s history.

Mr. Mandela served just one term as South Africa’s president and had not been seen in public since 2010, when the nation hosted the soccer World Cup. But his decades in prison and his insistence on forgiveness over vengeance made him a potent symbol of the struggle to end this country’s brutally codified system of racial domination, and of the power of peaceful resolution in even the most intractable conflicts.

Years after he retreated from public life, his name still resonated as an emblem of his effort to transcend decades of racial division and create what South Africans called a Rainbow Nation.

Yet Mr. Mandela’s death comes during a period of deep unease and painful self-examination for South Africa.

In the past year and a half, the country has faced perhaps its most serious unrest since the end of apartheid, provoked by a wave of wildcat strikes by angry miners, a deadly response on the part of the police, a messy leadership struggle within the A.N.C. and the deepening fissures between South Africa’s rulers and its impoverished masses.

Scandals over corruption involving senior members of the party have fed a broader perception that Mr. Mandela’s near saintly legacy from the years of struggle has been eroded by a more recent scramble for self-enrichment among a newer elite.

After spending decades in penurious exile, many political figures returned to find themselves at the center of a grab for power and money. President Jacob Zuma was charged with corruption before rising to the presidency in 2009, though the charges were dropped on largely technical grounds. He has faced renewed scrutiny in the past year over $27 million spent in renovations to his house in rural Zululand.

Graphic cellphone videos of police officers abusing people they have detained have further fueled anger at a government seen increasingly out of touch with the lives of ordinary South Africans.

Mr. Mandela served as president from 1994 to 1999, stepping aside at the age of 75 to allow his deputy, Thabo Mbeki, to run and take the reins. Mr. Mandela spent his early retirement years focused on charitable causes for children and later speaking out about AIDS, which has killed millions of Africans, including his son Makgatho, who died in 2005.

Mr. Mandela retreated from public life in 2004 at the age of 85, largely withdrawing to his homes in the upscale Johannesburg suburb of Houghton and his ancestral village in the Eastern Cape, Qunu.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

It's all over the news, it's no surprise given his health towards the end.

[LadyTevar]

I simply hope that his family doesn't fall apart from the troubles within.

[Ahriman238]

Duplicate thread. Still, RIP.

[Flagg]

One of the very few truly great men on the world stage. 95 is a damned fine age as well.

[Thanas]

Merged.

Despite his wife, a great man.

[Darth Yan]

Damn. I knew he was sick earlier this year but thought he was getting better. He will be missed.

[Col. Crackpot]

So seldom in the couse of human history does such wisdom, dignity and humility converge in the mind of one individual. While we have a long way to go, humanity has been made better by your example, Mr. Mandela. Rest in peace.

[Broomstick]

One of the things that made Mandela great was that he utilized his position to promote reconciliation between the various, deeply divided, factions of South Africa. Despite great injustice, and great (quite justified) anger at his oppressors, he ruled with rationality rather than emotion. Apartheid could have ended with a blood bath or two, instead, it ended with democratic elections and a president that peacefully stepped down after one term instead of trying to cling to power for life.

He once said that he wasn't a saint, unless you consider a saint to be a sinner that keeps trying to do things right. When it mattered, he chose peace instead of revenge, which to my mind means that yes, he did indeed get it right after all that trying.

He was imprisoned for 27 years, and you have to wonder how a man keeps going under such circumstances. One of his sources of inspiration was the poem Invictus, by William Ernest Henley:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

It would also be a fitting epitaph for one of the most important men of the 20th Century.

[Zaune]

A blogger I follow makes some good points about the media coverage.

[Broomstick]

Well, yes, I have to laugh to when they portray him as a force for capitalism and non-violence. That's not real history. As I said, when he came to power as a head of state he made the choice of reconciliation over revenge - the fact that it was NOT a foregone conclusion in his case makes the decision all the more remarkable.

I do believe the man had a definite goal that he never lost sight of, and would deal with anyone who could advance that goal, and use whatever means could advance that goal. He walked on the socialist and communist sides as well as the capitalists, he had used or supported violence in the past and never renounced that as an option. The same, very rationally directed drive he used to reach that goal, however, also enabled him to change course/tactics/allies as needed. He wasn't a saint, he was a politician and an extremely successful one.

[DaveJB]

It's been kind of funny seeing how quickly most of the newspapers in this country have done an about-face on Mandela, after earlier this year when most of them went on about what an awful man he was for daring to have different opinions on certain things than Mrs. Thatcher during the 80s.

Also more than a little disheartening to see how many people are posting things along the line of "who gives a fuck about some old black dude dying when BRITISH PEOPLE are suffering through floods tonight?!" on the various UK news websites - I'd hope these comments are motivated by ignorance of history rather than outright xenophobia, but still...

[Wicked Pilot]

Well if it makes you feel any better over here we have Rick Santorum comparing apartheid to the ACA, and he and the GOP are like Mandela leading the fight against injustice.

[Borgholio]

That's funny...claiming the GOP would rally behind a black man.

[Pelranius]

Well, RIP sir.

[Elfdart]

Well if it makes you feel any better over here we have Rick Santorum comparing apartheid to the ACA, and he and the GOP are like Mandela leading the fight against injustice.

Does this mean Santorum will be locked up for 27 years? Please?

[mr friendly guy]

I first heard of him from the Tracy Chapman song calling for his release. In year 5 or 6 I had to do a news report which concerned his release, and was inspired by how he said he wanted both blacks and whites to have equality. In high school I would have listed him among people I considered heroes, along with Marvel superheroes. Only Mandela was real. RIP good sir, you deserve it.

[Zor]

Apartheid was an abomination, my hats off for those who helped brought about its end. Rest in peace.

Zor

[Elfdart]

It's been kind of funny seeing how quickly most of the newspapers in this country have done an about-face on Mandela, after earlier this year when most of them went on about what an awful man he was for daring to have different opinions on certain things than Mrs. Thatcher during the 80s.

Also more than a little disheartening to see how many people are posting things along the line of "who gives a fuck about some old black dude dying when BRITISH PEOPLE are suffering through floods tonight?!" on the various UK news websites - I'd hope these comments are motivated by ignorance of history rather than outright xenophobia, but still...

Over here most right-wingers have been pretty shameless in praising Mandela when they smeared him every time his name came up while he was alive. Some have tried their hand at retroactive concern-trolling:

"We only supported Apartheid because Mandela and the ANC had communist allies" </crocodile tears>

This has led to more contortions than a half-dozen drunks on a Twister mat. For example: Ted Cruz, an avowed fanboy for white supremacist Jesse Helms (who hated Mandela and loved Apartheid), posted a surprisingly well-mannered RIP message* on his site his fans were enraged.


*“Nelson Mandela will live in history as an inspiration for defenders of liberty around the globe. He stood firm for decades on the principle that until all South Africans enjoyed equal liberties he would not leave prison himself, declaring in his autobiography, ‘Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.’ Because of his epic fight against injustice, an entire nation is now free. We mourn his loss and offer our condolences to his family and the people of South Africa.”

For more on the pro-Apartheid Right's efforts to cover their trails of slime, check out Apartheid's Useful Idiots:

Not all prominent conservatives were so dishonorable. When Congress overrode President Ronald Reagan's veto of sanctions of South Africa, Mitch McConnell, for instance, was forthright—"I think he is wrong ... We have waited long enough for him to come on board." When Falwell embarrassed himself by condemning Tutu, some Republican senators denounced him.

But the overall failure of American conservatives to forthrightly deal with South Africa's white-supremacist regime, coming so soon after their failure to deal with the white-supremacist regime in their own country, is part of their heritage, and thus part of our heritage. When you see a Tea Party protestor waving the flag of slavery in front of the home of the first black president, understand that this instinct has been cultivated.

[Darth Yan]

One of the reasons Mandela came under fire was that he was strongly critical of the treatment of the palestinians (i'm not starting a debate). Many called him an anti semite, or implied that he and tutu were going senile.

[Wicked Pilot]

Does this mean Santorum will be locked up for 27 years? Please?

He's too pretty for prison.

[Elfdart]

I'm pleasantly surprised. First Ted Cruz and now Newt Gingrich, saying something decent and intelligent about Mandela:

Some of the people who are most opposed to oppression from Washington attack Mandela when he was opposed to oppression in his own country.
After years of preaching non-violence, using the political system, making his case as a defendant in court, Mandela resorted to violence against a government that was ruthless and violent in its suppression of free speech.

As Americans we celebrate the farmers at Lexington and Concord who used force to oppose British tyranny. We praise George Washington for spending eight years in the field fighting the British Army’s dictatorial assault on our freedom.

Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death.”

Thomas Jefferson wrote and the Continental Congress adopted that “all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Doesn’t this apply to Nelson Mandela and his people?

Some conservatives say, ah, but he was a communist.

Actually Mandela was raised in a Methodist school, was a devout Christian, turned to communism in desperation only after South Africa was taken over by an extraordinarily racist government determined to eliminate all rights for blacks.

I would ask of his critics: where were some of these conservatives as allies against tyranny? Where were the masses of conservatives opposing Apartheid? In a desperate struggle against an overpowering government, you accept the allies you have just as Washington was grateful for a French monarchy helping him defeat the British.

I'm sure Gingrich knows full well that for his supporters, the right to armed resistance is only for white people. Nothing makes a Teabagger shit his pants faster than an "uppity negro".

[fgalkin]

In other news, the Great Hero of Freedom Yulia Latynina is slamming Mandela and defending apartheid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yulia_Latynina

(russian only)

http://echo.msk.ru/programs/code/1212725-echo/

Machine translation as I'm too lazy to translate drivel:

Now you tell me , how can I do? In South Africa, apartheid was - it's such a terrible thing. This is indeed a very unpleasant thing . For example , I recall that just sex between whites and blacks were banned. But on the other hand, it led to the fact that, say , white could not make a harem of 100 black women .

So here I am , after all, want you, gentlemen, to remind you that is apartheid in the form in which it was in the 70s . It is a system of self-government for black . Generally in dedicated systems governments in the history of mankind there is nothing shameful . Here , the Persians conquered Ionia Greek cities and left government. The Romans conquered Greece and the Greek cities left government.

Here , there was , relatively speaking , phantom Holy Roman Empire , there were self-governing city Floretsii sorts , was a self-governing Venice, which formally belonged there kind of Byzantium, was a self-governing Marseille in France.

Once again, the apartheid system in which 30% of the territory in which the black population lived before (ie they left a third of the total ) was allocated under the self-governing communities , called " Bantustans ".

You'll laugh , but they really ... There they could choose whatever you like yourself , they can organize anything . You will laugh at the number of doctors in apartheid Bantustans was greater than the number of doctors per the white population , per capita. Naturally, they were much worse , but White shrugged and said, "You know , I'm sorry , but the quality of these doctors is ."

Here for a moment . What confuses you in this system so terrible? The fact that these lands were conquered ? So all in all the world have always won . Well, there , the Americans won the America. They can not on this basis to give the Indians of Manhattan and say that Manhattan , in fact, belongs to the Indians with all its skyscrapers ?

That black workers could not enter the white area without a visa ? Well , excuse me, we all know what happens if a rich territory , for example, to the territory of the city of Moscow without a visa enter Tajiks . White , too, could not enter the black area without a visa. By the way, it did not apply to those blacks who lived in the territory of the city until 1941.

That is for you to understand that the policy of apartheid was not limited to the fact that black and white could not have sex (and it was impossible). It was 30 %. Relative to most of the country it was 13%, relative to the territory where once lived the black , it was 30 %. Under the government.

There has been a self-study, it was possible to vote , was a mass of laws , there attracting capital to build something in the black lands , rather than white .

Guys, what's the question ? Do you have a government - show that you are good hosts . Make of Bantustan ( a word that you've turned into a dirty ) Venice, Florence make of it .

Excuse me, but if I say this , that " No, Black had a right to that white built on this land ..." Well? And the Indians have the right to New York's skyscrapers ? Can I call you to another place in the world where people who were , in fact, autochthonous , were disenfranchised . It's called Hong Kong . Can you imagine what would have happened to Hong Kong if the Chinese who came to Hong Kong, is powerless , rather than to follow the English law , would fight for the return yourself here this ancestral territory and the right to live according to the laws by which they lived ?

And this is very important. We claim that all races are equal. Perfect! Prove . As said, the man of whom I speak , the great black educator Booker T. Washington, there was no case to race proved his greatness discoveries and achievements , and would not recognize the world . Do the same in the Bantustans that China did . Make it so that the word " Bantustan " sounded like the word "Venice" . And no you will have no problems , because , perhaps, remain racists who will say that the black race to nothing applies, but they'll look like idiots .

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Simon_Jester]

Your far-right loonies would seem to make our far-right loonies look civilized.