Controversy! Heroes and Human's

As an American I know very little about the situation in South Africa and what created apartheid. For as long as I've been alive most of the world has denounced the overt racism of it, and rightly so, but I've been curious about it all today. Mainly because of the coverage Mandela is getting. They are treating him like a saint, which is what we do when someone dies, but since he was a national figure it gets really over-blown. Was he really the saint the media is making him out to be? Why was he in prison for 27 years? So I did some digging.

Mandela was a leader in the ANC a communist group or perhaps a group that supported cold war USSR (not always the same thing). The ANC was linked to around 200 bombings that killed or maimed hundreds of people from during the 1980's. Some would argue that they were justified since they were fighting for equality but I think killing random civilians is terrorism regardless of your ideology.

How closely was Mandela associated with the violence of the terrorism? Well he was on the US and UK terrorist watch list for two decades (under multiple administrations of both parties). In 1985 Mandela was offered a release from prison if he'd renounce the violent tactics of the ANC and work to bring a peaceful solution. He turned it down. You could argue that he didn't believe in it was possible to have peace without equality or whatever, but none the less he turned down an opportunity to work for peace.

According to an article in AllVoice " In his book,” Long Walk to Freedom”, Nobel Peace Laureate, Nelson Mandela writes that as a leading member of the ANC’s executive committee, he had “personally signed off” the ANC’s acts of terrorism even while in prison."

So what is the situation in South Africa? It's predominately black. Most of whom are Zulu. The Zulu were united under a series of charismatic leaders in the mid 1800's and have not retained much if any of their agrarian culture from before. While most African tribes farmed (with the exception of some hunter gatherer tribes) the Zulu lived off raiding for generations. I'm not saying that someone born a Zulu is prone to violence I'm saying if someone wishes to return to a cultural authenticity they would have a hard time finding a peaceful culture to return to. South Africa has suffered a lot of black on black violence under apartheid and since Manela's release from prison it's suffered an uptake in black on white violence.

There's a huge cultural difference between farming (black or white) and the Zulu culture and these issues don't go away quickly or easily. Mandela may have made huge strides in ending a vial form of racism and reuniting the people of South Africa, but the area is a tinderbox still and Mandela never spoke out against the terrorism of the ANC. Nor did his government do much to investigate the "random" torture/murders of Boer farmers that happened about 66 times a month.

So what are you saying Andy? Are you taking some sort of racist angle on this or something? Not at all. I don't know if Mandela was a great man or an evil man. I really don't know. I'm going to take the radical track and say he was probably both. Why do I need to tarnish this triumphant moment for a hero in the battle of racism? Because I don't like it when we paint over the bad and pretend someone was perfect. I think its important to report accurately that great deeds are done by flawed people.