PaRCha - JNU - All Organisations - 2013 ID-56348
.
Nelson Mandela: AHerotor the oppressors, ABETRAYER FOR THE OPPRESSEDI .
The mournings &praises from the imperialists and their agents, are Mandela's "legacV'' ofbrokering one of the biggest sell outs of the 20111 centurvl .
h of December, the most flowery tributes have been showered on himEver since the death of Nelson Mandela on the 61.
.
by a wide spectrum of the ruting classes all over the world. While the face of US imperialism Barak Obama "led the world" in paying tribute to "his personal heron. his lieutenants in Britian, much of Europe, and across the world reverberated the same. The mass murderer president of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapakshe who oversaw the genocide of .
the people of Tamil Ealam also had tears to shed for Mandela. The Indian state gargled the same and declared a four .
day long state mourning. The same waves also reached our campus. From ABVP to the parliamentary pseudo-left AISA .
or SFI and their likes, several organizations vied w1th each other in presenting their laurels to their "hero". This spectrum is certainly striking. and may even confuse a few as to the real ulegacV: of Mandela. However in reality, it is precisely this unanimity of imperialists and their agents that is most revealing. Mandela's so called legacy is built upon on an illusion. the seeds of which were laid by Mandela h1mself. It is extremely important that we break this collective iconization and .
the illusion of Mandela's leaacy. .
What exactly is Mandela's legacy? The checkered political career of young Mandala began with a revolutionary vision .
to fight injustice and exploitation by white racial tyranny that was weighing heavily upon the black majority of South Africa. It is with this purpose that he joined the African National Congress in 1942 and founded the radical Youth League to wrest economic and political power from the oppressive apartheid regime that racially segregated the people of colour .
{black, coloured & Indian) from the white ruling minority. This was a regime that came with the mission to fight the ''Swart Gevaar" {the "black peril") and the program of "Die Kaffer op sy plek" {''The negro in his place"). In the face of increasing fascist repression, massacres {of the likes of the Sharpeville massacre, 1960) and the banning of several organizations to crush this black assertion, Mandala shunned the path of passive resistance. In 1961 he launched an armed struggle .
under the military organization Umkhonto we Sizwe {the spear of the nation) to overthrow the white regime. He was arrested soon after in 1963 at the age of 42 and sentenced to life in prison where he would remain for the next 28 years. The armed resistance with its revolutionary agenda however galloped through the 1970s & 80s thereby swelling the ranks of Umkhonto we Sizwe. This was despite the brutal massacres like the infamous Soweto massacre {which was the epicenter of the struggle) where close to 600 blacks were butchered by the racist regime. But alongside, this was also .
the time when the agenda of the black militants proved too radical for most of the exiled ANC moderates who not only .
were prepared for a negotiated "peace" but were also instrumental in sabotaging the struggle. During the 1980s, the to the rise of a new black.
apartheid regime offered generous loans to a handful of black businessmen leading bourgeoisie that was essentially comprador. ANC chieftains quickly moved into mansions in "golf and country estates" and were eager for ~~peace". All this whtle, the brutal apartheid regime enjoyed the support of the west (particularly US & Israel). By this time. the imperialist forces very well realized that with the rising groundswell amongst the black masses. the choice was between revolution or "reconciliation. In other words, a complete economic transformation OR a "peaceful transitiono that would leave the white property-owning minority and Western corporate's interests intact albeit with cosmetic changes. Through the long clandestine negotiations that finally led to his release, Mandela (and the moderate ANC) chose the latter. It is this betrayal of the cause for which thousands of people across Africa gave their lives which made Mandela into an "icon" that he is for the oppressors now. .
"From revolutionary to economic manager: Mandela's lesson in change". Ironically, this is not the opinion of a trenchant critic of Mandela. Rather, this is the.title of an article written in praise by a corporate media-giant. It succinctly captur~s the historic compromise of Mandela and ANC in the service of global capital. As early as 1985, years before the world would behold his release, this compromise was being scripted when a group of South African industrialists Jed by Gavin Reilly, chairman of the Anglo-American mining company, met prominent ANC officials in Zambia. Both sides agreed upon a "1ransition'' from apartheid to a "black-governed liberal democracy" with the requisite "order'' &"stability". In other words, justice was sacrificed at the altar of "free markee. Leading figures in the ANC, such as Cyril Ramaphosa, head of the National Union of Mineworkers (now a corporate giant), was already negotiating a power-sharing "deal" with the apartheid regime. Secret meetings also took place in England, at which a future president of "liberated" South Africa, .
with the heads of corporations that formed the bulwark of years of racial apartheid..
Tabo Mbeki, brokered "peace" .
Mandala meanwhile had secret negotiations with the authorities from the Pollsmoor Prison. To facilitate these .
.
negotiations, Mandela was shifted from Robben Island Prison (where he was not allowed visitors) prison and .these .
.
negotiations culminated in his final release in 1990. Soon after that in 1993, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with his .
own jailer, the last president of the racist apartheid regime de Klerk "for their work for the peaceful termination of the .
.
m.
apartheid regime]". .
.
PaRCha - JNU - All Organisations - 2013 ID-56348
.
Nelson Mandela: AHerotor the oppressors, ABETRAYER FOR THE OPPRESSEDI .
The mournings &praises from the imperialists and their agents, are Mandela's "legacV'' ofbrokering one of the biggest sell outs of the 20111 centurvl .
h of December, the most flowery tributes have been showered on himEver since the death of Nelson Mandela on the 61.
.
by a wide spectrum of the ruting classes all over the world. While the face of US imperialism Barak Obama "led the world" in paying tribute to "his personal heron. his lieutenants in Britian, much of Europe, and across the world reverberated the same. The mass murderer president of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapakshe who oversaw the genocide of .
the people of Tamil Ealam also had tears to shed for Mandela. The Indian state gargled the same and declared a four .
day long state mourning. The same waves also reached our campus. From ABVP to the parliamentary pseudo-left AISA .
or SFI and their likes, several organizations vied w1th each other in presenting their laurels to their "hero". This spectrum is certainly striking. and may even confuse a few as to the real ulegacV: of Mandela. However in reality, it is precisely this unanimity of imperialists and their agents that is most revealing. Mandela's so called legacy is built upon on an illusion. the seeds of which were laid by Mandela h1mself. It is extremely important that we break this collective iconization and .
the illusion of Mandela's leaacy. .
What exactly is Mandela's legacy? The checkered political career of young Mandala began with a revolutionary vision .
to fight injustice and exploitation by white racial tyranny that was weighing heavily upon the black majority of South Africa. It is with this purpose that he joined the African National Congress in 1942 and founded the radical Youth League to wrest economic and political power from the oppressive apartheid regime that racially segregated the people of colour .
{black, coloured & Indian) from the white ruling minority. This was a regime that came with the mission to fight the ''Swart Gevaar" {the "black peril") and the program of "Die Kaffer op sy plek" {''The negro in his place"). In the face of increasing fascist repression, massacres {of the likes of the Sharpeville massacre, 1960) and the banning of several organizations to crush this black assertion, Mandala shunned the path of passive resistance. In 1961 he launched an armed struggle .
under the military organization Umkhonto we Sizwe {the spear of the nation) to overthrow the white regime. He was arrested soon after in 1963 at the age of 42 and sentenced to life in prison where he would remain for the next 28 years. The armed resistance with its revolutionary agenda however galloped through the 1970s & 80s thereby swelling the ranks of Umkhonto we Sizwe. This was despite the brutal massacres like the infamous Soweto massacre {which was the epicenter of the struggle) where close to 600 blacks were butchered by the racist regime. But alongside, this was also .
the time when the agenda of the black militants proved too radical for most of the exiled ANC moderates who not only .
were prepared for a negotiated "peace" but were also instrumental in sabotaging the struggle. During the 1980s, the to the rise of a new black.
apartheid regime offered generous loans to a handful of black businessmen leading bourgeoisie that was essentially comprador. ANC chieftains quickly moved into mansions in "golf and country estates" and were eager for ~~peace". All this whtle, the brutal apartheid regime enjoyed the support of the west (particularly US & Israel). By this time. the imperialist forces very well realized that with the rising groundswell amongst the black masses. the choice was between revolution or "reconciliation. In other words, a complete economic transformation OR a "peaceful transitiono that would leave the white property-owning minority and Western corporate's interests intact albeit with cosmetic changes. Through the long clandestine negotiations that finally led to his release, Mandela (and the moderate ANC) chose the latter. It is this betrayal of the cause for which thousands of people across Africa gave their lives which made Mandela into an "icon" that he is for the oppressors now. .
"From revolutionary to economic manager: Mandela's lesson in change". Ironically, this is not the opinion of a trenchant critic of Mandela. Rather, this is the.title of an article written in praise by a corporate media-giant. It succinctly captur~s the historic compromise of Mandela and ANC in the service of global capital. As early as 1985, years before the world would behold his release, this compromise was being scripted when a group of South African industrialists Jed by Gavin Reilly, chairman of the Anglo-American mining company, met prominent ANC officials in Zambia. Both sides agreed upon a "1ransition'' from apartheid to a "black-governed liberal democracy" with the requisite "order'' &"stability". In other words, justice was sacrificed at the altar of "free markee. Leading figures in the ANC, such as Cyril Ramaphosa, head of the National Union of Mineworkers (now a corporate giant), was already negotiating a power-sharing "deal" with the apartheid regime. Secret meetings also took place in England, at which a future president of "liberated" South Africa, .
with the heads of corporations that formed the bulwark of years of racial apartheid..
Tabo Mbeki, brokered "peace" .
Mandala meanwhile had secret negotiations with the authorities from the Pollsmoor Prison. To facilitate these .
.
negotiations, Mandela was shifted from Robben Island Prison (where he was not allowed visitors) prison and .these .
.
negotiations culminated in his final release in 1990. Soon after that in 1993, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with his .
own jailer, the last president of the racist apartheid regime de Klerk "for their work for the peaceful termination of the .
.
m.
apartheid regime]". .
.