---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Pambazuka Editor <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2013 14:48:34 +0300 Subject: Pambazuka News 658: Celebrating Nelson Mandela, the sinner-saint To: pambazuka-news <[email protected]>
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 658: CELEBRATING NELSON MANDELA, THE SINNER-SAINT The authoritative electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa Pambazuka News is delivered free to you with the support of donations from Friends of Pambazuka. KEEP PAMBAZUKA FREE AND INDEPENDENT! BECOME A FRIEND OF PAMBAZUKA NOW! http://www.pambazuka.org/en/friends.php Follow Pambazuka #PambazukaNews Pambazuka News (English edition): ISSN 1753-6839 CONTENTS: 1. Features, 2. Comment & analysis /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 1 Features MANDELA'S LONG WALK WITH AFRICAN HISTORY Paul Tiyambe Zeleza Whilst Mandela's death forces South Africans to reflect on the post-apartheid state he helped create, for the rest of the world Mandela's life and legacy resonate deeply because his progressive nationalism was fundamentally a struggle for human freedom and dignity, for social justice and equality http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89927 ****** NELSON MANDELA: THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY Nelson Mandela's inspiring achievements and tragic failures Charles Longford We owe it to Mandela to assess his qualities as a politician and leader, and his true impact on South Africa, rather than simply remembering what was done to him by others http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89928 ****** SHOULD MANDELA HAVE DONE MORE? Moses Magadza Mandela is indisputably an icon of resistance and his positive legacies should be evaluated alongside his negative legacies http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89925 ****** NELSON MANDELA: A TRIBUTE David A. Comissiong The Revolution that Nelson Mandela dedicated his life to so many years ago has not yet been completed. We still inhabit a world in which black people are routinely devalued, denigrated and disrespected http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89932 ****** TRIBUTE TO PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA Motsoko Pheko Mandela's greatest contribution is that he tried his best to secure a prosperous and happy future for everyone in South Africa, but the greed of the architects of apartheid backed by the West betrayed him. The victims of apartheid in the end gave far more to "reconciliation" than the perpetrators http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89931 ****** NELSON MANDELA: FAREWELL, MY AFRICAN PRINCE! The sinner-saint who never stopped trying Alemayehu G. Mariam The life and struggles of Mandela have important and urgent lessons especially for young people in Africa today. As for his many critics who rightly point out many opportunities the South African icon missed, they should be thankful that he was just a human being who dared to try http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89934 ****** MANDELA'S LEGACY FOR CLIMATE ACTIVISTS Alex Lenferna While climate change was not the issue that defined Nelson Mandela's "Long Walk to Freedom", a reflection on his philosophy and life reveals a profound overlap with the principles and commitments of the climate justice movement ****** MANDELA'S LEGACY EXTENDS FROM SOUTH AFRICA, THE CONTINENT TO THE WORLD Imperialism supported apartheid until it was no longer feasible Nelson Mandela's passing has drawn responses from throughout the US and the world. To oppressed and working people Mandela was a symbol and example of self-sacrifice and lifelong commitment to revolutionary change. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89935 ****** 'NO EASY WALK TO FREEDOM': A NEW INTRODUCTION William Gumede In this new introduction to Nelson Mandela's book, Prof Gumede compares the ANC leadership of Mandela's generation and the situation today. He concludes that in many respects, the liberation party is now a fading memory http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89930 ****** TO THE SPIRIT OF MANDELA Ama Biney To the spirit of Mandela, You are now canonised among other saints. This beautification began immediately after your release from prison and whilst you shook hands with your former political enemies. You moved with resounding applause and acclaim from 'terrorist' to sainthood as you reconciled with all apart from the one who you said your 'love remains undiminished,' as you officially announced marital separation. Was there no way to reconcile with Winnie? Or was this part of the hidden price of maintaining the ANC alongside personal and political respectability? To the spirit of Mandela, I deeply respect your 27 years in jail and like most Africans believe we must not speak ill of the dead. Whilst your place in the history books is assured, perhaps it will take another generation of South Africans to objectively re-assess your meaning and contribution to South Africa? But right now the mourning occurs and rightly so, for any loss of life is a sorrow only for those living and not for those gone. YET, we must also be truthful, sober and reflective in analysing your achievements in power and your legacy as a political leader and global 'resistance icon.' As for your achievements, there is no doubt, you - along with your comrades, steered the ANC towards political liberation with an admirable determination and strategy. This political liberation has yet to be translated into economic freedom for the vast majority. Class apartheid has now replaced racial apartheid. And in the mythmaking that now engulfs your passing, few fail to grasp it was your leadership in the first democratically elected government of a 'free' South Africa of 1994-1999, that committed and entrenched itself to neo-liberalism capitalism It is these policies that globally and in South Africa enslave black South Africans to poverty, exploitation and wealth creation on the backs of the poor. It is these policies of trickle down growth that your government of 1994-1999 hailed. Twenty years on, the people are legitimately asking: when will the growth trickle down and translate into jobs and housing? To the spirit of Mandela, It was your government that negotiated for whites to retain control of the land and its resources and for a few black compradors to 'chop'- as we say in Ghana, a few crumbs from the capitalist cake whilst the majority go hungry. Was this negotiated settlement inevitable as some may argue? Were other options not feasible and viable? Historical conjecture proves futile but it allows us to dare to invent and re-invent the past and future. To the spirit of Mandela, Was it not your government under your leadership that tried to humanise neoliberal capitalism in South Africa with GEAR [1] and the RDP [2] as it continued to suck the blood out of black South Africans? Is it not these economic policies that have ushered in 'service delivery protests' for electricity, housing and proper sanitation as ordinary people quickly became disillusioned with the new South Africa they dreamed of during the decades of brutal apartheid? My problem is that a disconnect has emerged in which your halo blinds people to the policies you ushered in whilst in power. These policies commit the wealth of South Africa not to all those who live in it as a once historic document once proclaimed - but to an internal and global comprador bourgeoisie of black and white united at the altar of capitalism To the spirit of Mandela, like all human beings, you possessed your faults and committed errors. Did you compromise too much in those years leading up to and during the negotiated settlement? To the spirit of Mandela, did you compromise too much during the post-apartheid government that you led? When I join you Madiba, maybe we can continue to debate some of these issues. 1. Growth Employment and Redistribution strategy 2. Reconstruction and Development Programme *Ama Biney (Dr) is the Acting Editor of Pambazuka News and a scholar-activist. * THE VIEWS OF THE ABOVE ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR/S AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE PAMBAZUKA NEWS EDITORIAL TEAM * BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS * Please do not take Pambazuka for granted! Become a Friend of Pambazuka ( http://www.pambazuka.org/en/friends.php ) and make a donation NOW to help keep Pambazuka FREE and INDEPENDENT! * Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org - [email protected] comment online at Pambazuka News ( http://www.pambazuka.org/ ) . ****** GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY MOURNS THE PASSING OF NELSON MANDELA Zubair Sayed Under Mandela's presidency, the foundations for an enabling environment for civil society in South Africa were laid and Civicus, the global civil society alliance honours the passing of Madiba who in 2004, bestowed his name to the Nelson Mandela-Graca Machel Innovation Awards http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89926 ****** A GIANT WALKED AMONG US Njongo Ndungane In Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was an example of the best that Africa has to offer - indeed a giant amongst giants. He was aware that peace and democracy were dangerously threatened by poverty of the people http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89929 ****** OF TITANS AND TROLLS Ahmed M.I. Egal As the world celebrates Mandela, the quintessential public servant who chose the path of principle and integrity over expedience and personal aggrandisement, it must not be forgotten that Africa still crawls with assorted charlatans and tribal plutocrats who should be resisted http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89933 ****** /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 2 Comment & analysis POST 2020 CLIMATE AGREEMENT: LOWERING COMMITMENTS, PHASING OUT RESPONSIBILITIES, GROWING EMISSIONS Vikas Nash The political and economic realities of bringing down carbon emissions are a complex process and the Warsaw talks failed to overcome them. But there is still an opportunity to salvage the trust and ambitions lost at Warsaw http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/89937 ****** LOBBYING ELITES: THE FAST TRACK TO EXTINCTION Robert J. Burrowes As we evaluate the outcomes of the recent UN climate negotiations in Warsaw, one lesson that we are invited to learn, again, relates to our strategy for getting effective action taken on the ongoing climate catastrophe and other critical environmental problems. Is lobbying elites to change their behaviour an effective strategy for change? http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/89938 ****** RACISM ON THE ISLAND OF HAITI Mark Torres 'The whites of the land' who rule the Dominican Republic have over time increasingly become the agents of racist propaganda and actions against Haitians, Dominicans of Haitian-descent and Dominicans " accused " of being Haitian http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/89939 ****** CARIBBEAN PEOPLES OUTRAGED AT DOMINICAN RACISM Glen Ford The Dominican Republic, which defines itself in opposition to Haiti, has enraged its Caribbean neighbours by preparing to deport a quarter million residents of Haitian descent. Dominican racial views are well known http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/89940 ****** /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ Fahamu - Networks For Social Justice http://www.fahamu.org Pambazuka News is published by Fahamu Ltd. 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