Nelson Mandela has died

[VictorCharlie]

This is interesting. I admittedly was not familiar w/Mandeal prior to his incarceration nor the details of his presidency. I have a hard time beating up on him for acts of terror considering the world he lived in. War is ugly. Regarding his presidency and after doing some reading of my own, SA was swimming in debt. They would have had to take on even more debt to adopt social democratic principles so adopting policies that promoted international investment was the best option. That being said

Under Mandela's presidency, welfare spending increased by 13% in 1996/97, 13% in 1997/98, and 7% in 1998/99. The government introduced parity in grants for communities, including disability grants, child maintenance grants, and old-age pensions, which had previously been set at different levels for South Africa's different racial groups. In 1994, free healthcare was introduced for children under six and pregnant women, a provision extended to all those using primary level public sector health care services in 1996. By the 1999 election, the ANC could boast that due to their policies, 3 million people were connected to telephone lines, 1.5 million children were brought into the education system, 500 clinics were upgraded or constructed, 2 million people were connected to the electricity grid, water access was extended to 3 million people, and 750,000 houses were constructed, housing nearly 3 million people.

The Land Restitution Act of 1994 enabled people who had lost their property as a result of the Natives Land Act, 1913 to claim back their land, leading to the settlement of tens of thousands of land claims.The Land Reform Act 3 of 1996 safeguarded the rights of labour tenants who live and grow crops or graze livestock on farms. This legislation ensured that such tenants could not be evicted without a court order or if they were over the age of sixty-five. The Skills Development Act of 1998 provided for the establishment of mechanisms to finance and promote skills development at the workplace. The Labour Relations Act of 1995 promoted workplace democracy, orderly collective bargaining, and the effective resolution of labour disputes. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act of 1997 improved enforcement mechanisms while extending a "floor" of rights to all workers, while the Employment Equity Act of 1998 was passed to put an end to unfair discrimination and ensure the implementation of affirmative action in the workplace.

You can't say the guy didn't attempt to use government intervention to help his people. I think his real emphasis was working towards reconciliation and his diplomacy in the African continent. The man isn't w/o warts but I think his life is something to celebrated.

[Andre]

His jail guard a white guy was asked yesterday if he could sum up Mandela in a word or two He said only one comes to mind and thats forgiveness.
He held no grudge to anyone.
I think he deserves the same. Be judged as you judge and all that.

[Beanflicker]

His jail guard a white guy was asked yesterday if he could sum up Mandela in a word or two He said only one comes to mind and thats forgiveness.
He held no grudge to anyone.
I think he deserves the same. Be judged as you judge and all that.

Fuck that. We're not talking about infidelity, a drug addiction, or some other relatively minor flaw.

We're talking about killing innocent civilians. We're talking about torturing people and using horrific means of executing people (a favorite of the Mandela's was "necklacing", which involved filling a tire with gasoline, putting it around someone's head and then lighting it on fire).

[Beanz]

There is a lot of willful ignorance and bigoted prejudice dressed up as social conscience in this thread. There is a big difference between targeting government infrastructure and burning civilians to death with tire necklaces. Mandela recognised this and distanced himself from those who did not, be that MK or even his own then wife, Winnie.



Being a Socialist is neither here nor there, plenty of non socialist leaders have commited atrocities and many socialists have done nothing but work for the greater good.