On my Facebook page: I normally do not post anything that is remotely political ( and this is not a political post..LOL), but Nelson Mandela is one of my four heroes (Franklin Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela and Dr. Martin Luther King) and his passing brings sadness to me. I am a doctoral student in history at the University of South Africa-Pretoria and I am proud to attend a school that counts President Mandela as an alumnus. My prayers are with South Africa today. "We share this great loss with many all over the world because President Mandela was one of us – an illustrious alumnus with whom we took the long walk in his thirst for knowledge and education, culminating in his acquiring all his degrees, BA Law and LLB from Unisa." Vice Chancellor Mandla S Makhanya University of South Africa
This is the best reflection about Mandela I've read since last night: Nelson Mandela, A Libertarian's View From The End of Apartheid by James Peron Despite the name, I think it would be of interest to just about anyone, not just libertarians. (If it were just a screed, I wouldn't recommend it, I promise!)
+1. Meanwhile, here's a worthy conservative defence of Mandela from Newt Gingrich, who as a congressman took part in bucking his party leadership at the time to support sanctions against the Apartheid government. Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Since Mandlela sort of faded from public view (at least on main stream news sites) how has South Africa faired? They doing pretty well now? I remember when he was freed from prison and then him winning the general election, but after that I did not follow him too much.
I feel like they've backslid a bit in recent years, but still leaps and bounds ahead of where they were during Apartheid. Racism is still rampant. Mandela's party has fallen out of favor. On another note, I realize Mandela did a lot for South Africa, but it erks me to no end that no one in the media ever mentions the fact that the man was a communist with some pretty radical ideas.
I think it's mentioned frequently and prominently. More to this point, the man changed. The Wall Street Journal's obituary was headlined and began Nelson Mandela: A would-be Lenin who became Africa's Vaclav Havel (The Wall Street Journal, unsigned, updated December 6, 2013) Newt Gingrich, linked upthread:
I'm aware of the background and again, I feel he did a lot for the country. I'm just of the opinion that a lot of his early actions - pre-imprisonment - are glossed over. That's all I'm trying to say. It wasn't my intent to disparage the man.
