Support for 'Mandela Day'

[Smithster]

Nelson Mandela was a terrorist. No one on this thread has actually denied that. whether you can justify his acts of terror against the apartheid regime is a mute point, he was the leader of the ANC so must carry responsibility for the groups terrorist actions.

 

The real debate should be about his motives, was he fighting against an unacceptable, barbaric regime for freedom and equal rights for all, in which case the argument that his actions are justified to some extent is proved. Or was he fighting for power at any cost regardless of any other considerations? Then he is a terrorist in the accepted sense and should be treated by history accordingly.

 

The ANC won their war in South Africa and as always happens, history, at least in the short term is written by the victors. History will ultimately record that one unfair despotic regime, that at least could feed its people was replaced by an equally despotic regime that could not. The parrallels with Zimbabwe and so much of sub saharan Africa are there for all to see.

 

I think this post sums it up nicely. Rightly or wrongly, Mandela achieved his agenda using terrorism and is hailed as some kind of saint for his efforts.

 

My original point was that regardless of the moral rights and wrongs of his motives, Mandela commited acts of terrorism. Like it or not, that is the truth. It just seems hypocritical to me that our Prime Minister can bleat on about the dangers of 'evil' terrorists on one hand, and then join in calls for supporting a memorial day for a conviceted terrorist on the other.

 

Will we now be supporting calls for a memorial day for Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness as well?

[slimsid2000]

 

No one ate in Africa before the great white massa arrived.

 

Well they ate I would think but the white colonials did a lot to bring western civilisation to Africa. Take a country like Rhodesia: before about 1890 they did not have a written language or even the wheel. Within decades it was the most advanced country in Africa.

 

Now Mugabe seems determined to reverse history and take it back to the pre colonial age.

[Berlin]

But if it wasn't for the white masses you would all still be running around banging drums and living in mud huts

 

And what would be wrong with that?

[Berlin]

Will we now be supporting calls for a memorial day for Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness as well?

 

I hope not. They are insufferable enough as it is.

[shims]

Well they ate I would think but the white colonials did a lot to bring western civilisation to Africa. Take a country like Rhodesia: before about 1890 they did not have a written language or even the wheel. Within decades it was the most advanced country in Africa.

 

Nobody was asked if they wanted western 'civilisation' imposed upon them. The colonialists certainly were not acting in any altruistic way. Indeed they needed to strengthen their actions by spreading disinformation:

 

Paul Sinclair: "I was the archaeologist stationed at Great Zimbabwe. I was told by the then-director of the Museums and Monuments organization to be extremely careful about talking to the press about the origins of the [Great] Zimbabwe state. I was told that the museum service was in a difficult situation, that the government was pressurizing them to withhold the correct information. Censorship of guidebooks, museum displays, school textbooks, radio programmes, newspapers and films was a daily occurrence. Once a member of the Museum Board of Trustees threatened me with losing my job if I said publicly that blacks had built Zimbabwe. He said it was okay to say the yellow people had built it, but I wasn't allowed to mention radio carbon dates... It was the first time since Germany in the thirties that archaeology has been so directly censored."

[boyfriday]

Support for Nelson Mandela Day? Not necessarily in his name as it's not immediately apparent what his relevance to this country is, especially as there is enough criticism of the lack of central support for St Georges Day.

 

Celebration of a group of people that have greatly inspired others might be better, something akin to a modern version of Saints Day.

 

Was Nelson Mandela a terrorist? I believe this has to be put in context.

 

It's probably more helpful to pose a different question, one that we could relate to in a contemporary light.

 

If there was a minority group of people, that came to Britain, took over our political system, and placed all educational, political and health service provision to their advantage, forced us to live in the poorest areas of over populated cities and denied us and our children opportunity, choice and self determination, I think any man (or woman) that took a stand against such a regime on our behalf would be celebrated.

 

If they were imprisoned by that regime for the best part of their lives, because their methods were disliked, and the regime still failed to change themselves, you can imagine that the individual would attract a great deal of benevolent worldwide support.

 

It's worth remembering that Mandela trained as a solicitor, and had his own law practice and was doing ok for a black South African, so he must have been well motivated to risk all that and take a stand against an oppressive regime.

[Alien]

Support for Nelson Mandela Day? Not necessarily in his name as it's not immediately apparent what his relevance to this country is, especially as there is enough criticism of the lack of central support for St Georges Day.

 

Celebration of a group of people that have greatly inspired others might be better, something akin to a modern version of Saints Day.

 

Was Nelson Mandela a terrorist? I believe this has to be put in context.

 

It's probably more helpful to pose a different question, one that we could relate to in a contemporary light.

 

If there was a minority group of people, that came to Britain, took over our political system, and placed all educational, political and health service provision to their advantage, forced us to live in the poorest areas of over populated cities and denied us and our children opportunity, choice and self determination, I think any man (or woman) that took a stand against such a regime on our behalf would be celebrated.

 

If they were imprisoned by that regime for the best part of their lives, because their methods were disliked, and the regime still failed to change themselves, you can imagine that the individual would attract a great deal of benevolent worldwide support.

 

It's worth remembering that Mandela trained as a solicitor, and had his own law practice and was doing ok for a black South African, so he must have been well motivated to risk all that and take a stand against an oppressive regime.

 

The irony here Bf is that most of the idiots on here are so petrified and cowardly that they'd put their arms up and surrender....unlike Mandela.

[boyfriday]

The irony here Bf is that most of the idiots on here are so petrified and cowardly that they'd put their arms up and surrender....unlike Mandela.

 

LOL, probably quite true, I wonder what the outcome would have been for Mandela and South Africa if he'd confined his objection to the censored pages of the Rhodesia Forum!

[Tricky]

Nobody was asked if they wanted western 'civilisation' imposed upon them...

 

No. Most were dead, dazed or fleeing for their lives.

[joshtetley]

I thought we were supposed to be cracking down on terrorism and its supporters?