everyone kisses nelson mandellas backside and say how insirational he is?

Question

but wasnt he locked up in the first place because he was part of a terrorist group, before you start getting on your high horse i dont know alot about the man thats why im asking to find out.

thank you four maybe two decent answers and a bunch o fukin idiots who feel there really inteligent but couldnt answer the question and didnt read it properly and of coarse the your a racist one theres allways a your a racist answer isnt there what a fukin idiot.

Answer 1

Well yes, Nelson Mandela made a conscious decision that non-violent resistance was not working. He ended up being imprisoned on Robbins Island because of his involvement with Umkhonto we Sizwe (the military wing of the ANC), but they really were half-hearted guerrillas who did little other than to destroy a few electricity supply lines. Mandela could have been released earlier if he had renounced the armed struggle, but he refused to do so. On the day he was freed he gave thanks to (amongst others) his comrades - many ANC leaders were also members of the Communist Party of South Africa. Even his release was a farce - the weak old man that emerged from captivity was nothing like the dynamic-looking man of the anti-apartheid posters. Later, as President, he played down his left-wing leanings in order to secure continued investment in the South African economy. Whilst the apartheid system was dismantled politically, the majority of black South Africans remained in poverty, and Mandela's presidency did nothing to tackle the underlying economic disadvantages. Ever since Mbeki became President, Mandela has been campaigning about HIV/AIDS in South Africa, but did nothing about it when he had political power. As President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela failed his people - his real contribution to any progress in his country was as a figurehead prisoner around whom protesters across the world rallied, and sadly, that's all.

Additional comment - I actually admire the man for standing firm with his beliefs (whilst imprisoned), and I am an independent left-winger (a "free radical"). However I think it wrong that he changed his original political beliefs in order to have political power (and for that same reason I despise Tony Blair and his cronies in my country). If you can't have the honesty to maintain your political allegiance, no matter what, then you are not to be trusted as someone in a position of power. I thought we'd see a dynamic and radical programme of social, economic and political change in South Africa, as ambitious and exciting as that achieved by the post-WW2 Labour government in Britain. However, I don't see that his presidency left any great legacy to the country (as I had hoped it would do), but I'd happily be corrected on this by any black South Africans who can give independently-verifiable evidence to the contrary.

Answer 2

To call him a terrorist is a bit of a stretch. Yes, he was involved in violent actions against the former apartheid government.

Why was that? A "terrorist" is not created in a vacuum. Had the former government of South Africa not practised apartheid and oppressed a large portion of it's population the ANC would not have been formed. It did form as a direct opposite of the then government. Many people blatantly ignore this fact (see www.africacrisis.org for some of this ingnorant hubris driven "facts") as do they ignore the fact that many non-white citizens of the country were not only oppressed but also intimidated, assaulted and killed if their opinions and ideas differed from the apartheid government.

The ANC and various other parties did engage in violent actions aimed at destabilising the country and forcing the government's hand as a direct result of the violence being practised against them and other non-whites by the government.

For every action there is a direct and opposite reaction - it's not so much science but common sense.

If a person or group of people are routinely oppressed, deprived, threated, assaulted, prevented from engaging in a humane society what should you expect? There are only two logical answers to this, the group of people, demoralised, will bow to the oppressor or the group will react violently against the oppressor. The oppressor is responsible for the reaction, and is indeed the cause of it.

However, the example set by Mandela after he was released put paid to the idea that he was a violent man. He or is party engaged in actions meant to overthrow an unjust government. It is not right that innocent people were killed much in the same way that it was not right for the previous government to engage in assassination, assault, poisonings, beatings and other acts of violence against non-whites.

Jan Lamprecht, Alf Garnett, Neil Watson, Brad M, The Real Realist and others will present you with the "evidence" that Mandela is a terrorist or a violent man because he sings a song about "Kill The Boer".

Let's look at that song. It was a song sung by members of the ANC and others at the time when the apartheid government was actually killing and maiming black, indians, cloloureds and those that opposed them. Singing a song about killing someone doesn't make one a killer in much the same way playing an arcade game about wizards and dragons doesn't make one a satanist.

Nelson Mandela may not have been the "best" president (however that standard is judged) but he was a hell of a lot better than any previous rulers of this South Africa and if anything, a sublime example of how the human spirit triumphs against injustice.

Oppression whether it be 350 years or 35 years is wrong and killing is never justified.

However, had he been a lesser man, as the president of the county, he could easily have ordered the execution or imprisonment of those responsible for the oppression of the majority of South Africa.

Judging from this, what kind of man would you say he is?

Answer 3

The comment that he was originally a terrorist is exactly the problem that we struggle with worldwide. When he opposed the previous government, he was seen by the previous government as a terrorist. The rest of the world and his supporters however saw him as a FREEDOM FIGHTER.

Busch has declared SO MANY people and groups terrorists, and it will be interesting to see how history thinks of these people. Will they become HEROES like Nelson Mandela?

As a WHITE SOUTH AFRICAN, I think that Nelson Mandela is a HERO, because after his party took power in South Africa, he created a new future for all. Those who supported him and even thpose who did not. He is a great man.

Answer 4

Terrorism is a word coined by a government for those who fight against its rule. You could indeed call terrorists freedom fighters depending on your viewpoint.

This is what happened with Mandela - the viewpoint changed when the government changed. Aparthied ended and he was released and became a powerful symbol for the resistance against what people believed to be an unjust law.

This is about the limit of what I know - therefore I offer no judgement about why I should kiss his backside or not - but having seen him speak I must say he is passionate and he stirs emotion in the listener - this seems the definition of inspirational to me!

Answer 5

I am a South African citizen.

Nelson Mandela was a criminal, and he did murder people. You have to understand what drove him to this though. He was fighting for freedom for his people.

He is not a saint, no one is, but he made one of the most difficult political changes in a country fluently, without too much distress.

I do not agree with some of the things he said and did, but he is still a great man, who deserves the respect he has in the world amongs political leaders and other people.

People who call him a murderer, and think that the government of their particular country is innocent of anything "bad", are very naive.

Answer 6

If you don't know alot about Nelson Mandela then I would advise you ask your question in a manner less offensive to the less ignorant.

By the way I have never kissed Nelson Mandellas backside and in truth would probably decline the offer.

Answer 7

Unfortunately the Liberals of the World often paint an incorrect picture of some people which is accepted as fact by the gullible. Nelson Mandela was a Soviet trained Communist who was jailed for plotting to blow up a railway station in Johannesburg which would have resulted in the death of 000's. By any Western standard he had a fair trial but since the Liberals decided this was not possible in the then South Africa he was morally recused. Whilst in jail he continued to influence activities outside and some of the most heinous terrorist activities took place. These included the bombing of public places resulting in the deaths of innocent men,women and children and the notorious "necklace" implemented by his then wife Winnie against Black people who would not be subjugated to the ANC views. Since his release from Prison he has continued to advocate the killing of White people in his singing and dancing with fellow Communist comrades in the song " Kill the Boer-Kill the White." He could have been released from Prison much earlier had he agreed to renounce violence but he refused and his immediate words upon release were " the struggle continues." The aura surrounding Mandela is a myth written by Western Leaders to facilitate his release and he is a Communist thug no different to his comrades who present themselves to the World as a democratic Government which is why Reagan and Thatcher declared the ANC a terrorist organisation.

Answer 8

Well here is my ten cents. I don't believe that murder for the sake of freedom is heroism - it remains murder. I don't support war, I don't support what the previous government did and I don't support the killing of innocent people. I'm talking about bombings in civilian areas by the ANC (the Church Street bomb),to make some sort of point during apartheid, thats murder - no matter what their reasons were. Mandela supported it, and therfore in my eyes he too is a murderer. I believe in my freedom and my right to safety and food and housing and a job but I haven't killed anyone to get what I want, and I sure as hell won't. Taking the life of any innocent person (or being involved in way whether by influence, giving the command to commit murder or by trying to justify it) can never be rationalised.

Answer 9

How do you know? Did you kiss Nelson Mandellas?

Answer 10

Because he went through hell and back for what he believed - Freedom !, and they threw him in jail for belonging to a group who's only ambition was to put an end to the terrible conditions their countrymen were enduring !.