You lot think too much mandela was was loved by many and not loved by a few, that's life, you can't win em all. now he's dead....that is life. he had a bloody good innings IMO god speed Nelson!
The Covenant (novel) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Worth giving this a read before making statements like "his country". RIP Nelly.
Regarding Adams and McGuiness , to someone in lets say China who knows nothing about the troubles , aren't they just another Mandela on a smaller scale. Don't forget Brits and Irish will have a different view point , same as those involved in SA. It'll be interesting in the coming days/weeks how his country views him , will we see public affection/grief or some areas of demonstration against him.
I can't believe I didn't notice this (but it was late). You can't lay the events you mention at Mandela's door. He was on an island with almost no contact with the outside world at the time. He wasn't the organiser of necklacing in the townships either. As regards what he was convicted of - it's well worth reading the book. Like any book, it's bound to be a partial account, but would the products of the apartheid police state which have entered the public record be any more trustworthy? I think not. Just because lots of Russians were accused of crimes, found guilty and sent to the Gulag doesn't mean that they did any of them. Long Walk to Freedom is a good place to start. I read it about 10 years ago, so I really can't remember all the details (or many of them to be honest). But nothing's stopping you reading white supremacist accounts afterwards if you want the other side's point of view. A bit like keeping an open mind about Mein Kampf, though.
Do you seriously believe because he was in prison he could not organise the bombings? To my mind once he achieved power then he did good things, however, he only achieved that power by killing innocent people. To try as some seem to have on this thread to justify these murders beggars belief. He once met Adams and that Guiness fella. He was asked what he thought of the cease fire proposals then on the table from HMG. His reply was too never give up your guns until you get what you want.
Has anyone here ever been to South Africa? The ANC are as bigoted, twisted, and obnoxious as the people they took over from. And they treat everyone in an appaling fashion whether they are white or black. It is all very tribal still and they are power mad.
Ah but this reality goes against the white, self hating, liberal paradigm. Racism is not just a white problem.
As a rule, any political party which has been in power continuously for 20 years, in any country, deteriorates. No matter how much of an improvement they may have been in year one, by year 20 they are complacent, tired, and out of ideas, if not outright corrupt. In a functioning democracy, a different party comes into power for a time and the structure renews itself. Let's hope that happens in RSA next year.
To quote John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834–1902) - "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
Some of us are fortunate enough to live in a place and time where we have not been obliged to fight for our lives, liberties, and countries. I for one am grateful for that. Others are not so lucky, including the peoples of both Ireland and South Africa in the 20th century. Those who have to, or choose to, fight wars may be fortunate enough to have planes, helicopters, tanks, and rockets to do it with. Others have no such hardware available, and can only use more basic methods - this is the kind of war-fighting loosely referred to as "terrorism". We may disapprove of the cause someone is fighting for, but surely that is a different issue from the type of weaponry available to them, and their targets.
