What exactly has this man done that deserves SO much credit and wonder bestowed on him? I can’t help thinking he’s just a fluffball blowing around on the modern breeze of uselessness. He went into prison a relative nobody. He came out a definite somebody. I’d attribute that more to the power of mainstream media (and a hero-loving public) than anything he did before, or while in prison.
Yes, he tried to fight for a worthy cause. So have many other men, who suffered far greater hardships than he did in their lives - and were in no way rewarded for it.
This weekend past, a huge birthday celebration was held for him - celebrities and dignitaries from all over arrived to pat him on the back for being an old man. Once again, millions of rand spent on festivities in his honour.
He will undoubtedly go down as one of the most significant figures of our time, but is this status deserved? What has he done?
*“I always told him (former state president and deputy president F W de Klerk) that I have a lot of sins. But when I come amongst people… I pretend that I am a saint.” *-- Mandela
I think - more than anything - that Mandela is a symbolic hero. When in prison he was the symbol that represented the anti-apartheid struggle. When he was released from jail, it was a sign that the end (and in some senses, the beginning) was near. When he was released many feared that there would be an uprising and consequent bloodbath, but he spoke of forgiveness and reconciliation and became a symbol of those concepts. As President, he symbolised the hope and pride of all South Africans in their new democracy, and was a unifying force when we really needed one.
Did he do anything to deserve all this adulation? Does he deserve to have millions of Rand spent on a birthday party? Perhaps not, I suppose it depends on your point of view - some people earn greatness, others have it thrust upon them. What is certain is that the things that Mandela symbolises - freedom, peace, forgiveness, democracy, reconciliation - these things deserve to be celebrated, and you can’t really put a price tag on them, can you?
I think you have an incorrect preconception: He went into prison a relative nobody. He came out a definite somebody. Perhaps to the outside world he was relative nobody but to the millions of blacks being oppressed by the then Apartheid government his incarceration was analogous to as if the US government had locked up Martin Luther King for 27 years.
As for a real tangible achievement, he led negotiations which lead to a peaceful transition and not a civil war. He also had a major part in getting the other major political party, the IFP, to take part in the elections. If they did not take part the road forward for South Africa would be extremely rocky.
Yep, he’s a hero. His image represents everything we want to think about ourselves and about humanity. He makes us feel good because he represents the best of our own human spirit. We all get a lot out of Mandela, mainly for ourselves.
To me, he’s a great example of how image, charisma, manner, grace, etc can create something we both aspire to but, more importantly, bask in the reflected glory of. Mandela reminds me of how we, in the pre-television’, pre-electricity era, (probably) put people on pedestals – the suffering, dignity, great rhetoric, unshakable belief, . . .stuff like that doesn’t need teevee because we all want to hear it. It’ll pass from village to village like wildfire and the stories will grow with the passing . . .say, what if he was around in Roam times, maybe somewhere near Galilee . . . ?
I’d agree with you there L.C. - Mandela definitely has some slight Jesus overtones - particularly with his philosophy of forgiveness.
Certainly, I’d freely describe him as the “Mahatma Ghandi” of our times.
But you know, the OP asks an unfair question insofar as it only provides two options. I wouldn’t describe Mandela as a hero per se - merely a totally righteous dude who can still pull women in his 80’s.
In closing, I gotta say, the OP in this thread really concerns me - especially seeing as how it was written by a South African. I was kinda hoping the latent racial divides had faded somewhat in the last 10 years but alas - they’re deeply ingrained it appears.
In my home town here in Australia, we’ve had a huge influx of emigrants from South Africa this past decade - and without doubt, they brought a lot of money with 'em. The general consensus is that we’ve had 15,000 of 'em arrive in my town alone this past decade - and all of 'em white of course. None of the Africans could have afforded it needless to say.
I meet a lot of South Africans as I go about my business these days and without fail, they’re all charming and perfectly well mannered and gracious. But every now and then, I’ll meet one who just goes out of their way to say something disgustingly racist - and I mean totally, shockingly, hatefully racist. And I never hear Australians say that kinda thing - not the hateful, verging on pack hatred kinda stuff.
It really freaks me out when I hear such things. It’s almost as though these Afrikaaners feel they need to say such things as some sort of badge of honour. It’s fucking scary I must say. It makes me wonder about the latent hatred which must still exist back there in South Africa. My brother is a mining engineer and he was sent to South Africa a number of times this past decade and he was terrified - he said it was a really violent scary place.
In answer to the OP, I’d say he might possibly have saved your life, if not just your livelihood. Would you have wanted SA to go ‘democratic’ in the manner of Zimbabwe? If I were living there, that would make him a personal hero, at least.
In closing, I gotta say, the OP in this thread really concerns me - especially seeing as how it was written by a South African. I was kinda hoping the latent racial divides had faded somewhat in the last 10 years but alas - they’re deeply ingrained it appears.
yes you would have to ask winnie mandela about that
In response to the OP, i dont think he was a hero as such, he was the acceptable face of black africa to the rest of the world. he was needed to lead the country through the transition without too much disruption to outside interests. lets not forget he was imprisioned not for just his beliefs, but for terrorist activities, the people he was involved with were responsible for many deaths amoung farmers, including women and children. i do wonder how a man who spent so long in prison managed to accumulate so much money on his release
That’s quite an accusation. Could you point to the specific part of the OP which deals with this as a race issue? And more importantly how you see the OPer as having taken a side in such an issue?
In closing you seem to see something in the OP which I cannot.
In all honesty, I would suggest the ratio would be about 1 to 25 Afrikaaner to English descendancy I’d wager… and without exception, the racist comments were made by the Afrikaaners. Every time.
The 2nd half of my first post in this thread related to my personal exposure to South African emigrants in the last decade - and some of the things I’ve heard a small minority of them say. Forgive me for the misunderstanding please. I fully accept that the OP itself didn’t make a racist comment itself. I extended the tone of the OP into a personal observation of (some) South Africans I’ve met (but by no means all), and in doing so, gave the impression that I believed the OP held those views too. For this I apologise. My intention was to demonstrate that I have personally heard some very distressing things over this past decade, and it was those comments which convinced me that the racist problems are deeply ingrained in some quarters sadly.
In closing, it may very well be true that the author of the OP is a thoroughly egalitarian and noble man, but what can’t be denied is that the comments I wrote about earlier are still being made in some quarters - and they’re very unfortunate - by any yardstick. In that context, I maintain my position that this thread is of concern to me - given that the thread is written by a South African, and given that Nelson Mandela inarguably represents the face of the “new South Africa” - and given that the OP is hardly a ringing endorsement of the man.
I just personally can’t stand listening to him speak because of that… habit of… inserting… pauses every… few words… drives… me… nuts…
Amusingly, in a 1989 episode of The Cosby Show, the oldest daughter gives birth to twins and decides to call them “Nelson” and “Winnie.” That really worked out well.
A few months ago I met a South African law professor on the bus to Heathrow. We had a really interesting conversation, as he had visited the States recently and had a number of questions about the Civil War (sometimes that B.A. in History does come in handy). I asked him for his thoughts on why South Africa didn’t go the way of Zimbabwe, and his answer was very simple; the constitution, and Nelson Mandela.
As much as Mandela represented, and still represents, to the struggle against apartheid and for racial equality he has really disappointed me in one respect, his allegiance to Castro. Mandela continues to praise Fidel Castro and the Cuban government, and has justified this by saying that Castro stood by him during his time in prison. He has continued to ignore Castro’s imprisoning of political prisoners and repression of dissent, and this from a man who, one would think, would bristle at the mere mention of the term “political prisoner”.
So, IMO, not “zero”, but not altogether “hero” either.
I’ve always been a little uncomfortable with the MLK and Ghandi comparisons. He seems to be a man of strong character heroic fortitude, but he followed a different path than they.
South Africa did not go the way of Zimbabwe, but there are some serious problems there, especially the terrible numbers of people with HIV and (at least a perception) that it is a lawless country.
How much blame if any could go to Nelson Mandela? Or are these problems that are rooted much more deeply.
