The ZA government announced his passing this afternoon. Quite unexpected in some ways but his daughter said it had been coming for some time. RIP
Old man dies of old age... hardly a shock... Tasteless Joke warning: Spoiler The Mandela biopic was clearly so bad he died in disgust... *dons flame-proof attire*
Just heard about this and I'm profoundly saddened. His legend may far exceed the truth of his accomplishments but that legend has done the world nothing but good for many a year, and for that we should all be forever thankful.
Can anyone explain all this outpouring of grief over a convicted child killer? or does the world now forget why he was in prison? murdering over 150 men , women and children is a remarkable achievement!
RIP. i thought he was in prison because of fighting apartheid... you know, whole racism stuff... in South Africa?
no he was convicted of being a leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe and directly involved in a massive amount of murders - his wife winnie , was also wanted for torture and murder. you do know the USA only removed him from the terrorist lists in 2008? the man is EVIL. edit: if you didn't follow the ANC then you were the enemy - white OR black.
sorry it was a quote of the ANC , not meant for you , but have a look at `Soweto necklaces` for example.
The ignorant will never see that. But the whites were just as bad. I remember getting booted from our home in Zimbabwe then moving to South Africa and seeing non white and whites only sections in a bottle store and other crazy. But PW Botha and Nelson did a lot of good for the country when things changed over. Sport was the greatest help during that time. I remember things I saw during the riots there whilst in the police, things that will live with a man forever. I worry for South Africa now.
Less said about Winnie Mandela the better. Can understand her hating the whites but necklacing her own people I will never understand. I still remember her during a parade shouting "the only way to deal with whites was to necklace them!"
not just whites - that woman is pure evil. the entire of Africa is a simmering pot waiting to boil over
I think though on the whole it's pretty profoundly respectable to be imprisoned and still come out preaching peace as a method. I mean he was in prison for quite a while. I will say yes, he had some very dubious history behind him, but you can't deny he at least did something to end apartheid?
Imagine that. Marginalise and brutalise a people, and they start behaving in marginal and brutal ways. And gosh, group dynamics ensue! Who would have thought. Such things inevitably get messy. Think Mau Mau vs. Brits in Kenya, the troubles in Zimbabwe, Palestinians vs. Israeli, the troubles in Northern Ireland. Us vs. the Fundamentalist Middle East. Both sides will end up locked in a battle where both sides commit atrocities. Someone has to be the wise one, and the first one to try and break out of the pattern. For all his flaws, Mandela always tried to offer a peaceful way out to the Apartheid regime --but he could only do that by maintaining the credible threat of unwavering, and if necessary, deadly resistance. de Klerk was the first who had the common sense to grab the peace pipe offered. That is why they both got the Nobel Peace price. And the Truth and Reconciliation process was partly his work. Trust me --it could have been much, much more ugly. I know it is never a popular view with the Daily Mail/Sun readership, but perhaps things are a bit, well, complicated. I have no time to go into it now, but I suggest you watch Batman: The Dark Knight (you know, the one with the Joker) again. Over and over, until you get its message. As Nelson Mandela once said: " I'm no saint --unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying". Well, that's the only saint there is. And the USA is the last country I would look to for a moral compass. I mean, really.
I seem to remember Jimmy Saville was fairly well regarded when he died. Just sayin. As in, don't go flaming/gushing over a person when they die without something to base it on that's more reliable than media representations and general public perceptions.
