Posted on 12/06/2013 2:57:08 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Nelson Mandela stood head and shoulders above every leader of his generation, and practically every leader there has ever been, writes his biographer, John Carlin
Ever since Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa after winning his country's first democratic elections in April 1994, the national anthem has consisted of two songs spliced - not particularly mellifluously - together. One is Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika, or God Bless Africa, sung at black protest rallies during the 46 years between the rise and fall of apartheid. The other is the old white anthem Die Stem (The Call), a celebration of the European settlers' conquest of Africa's southern tip.
It was Mandela's idea to juxtapose the two, his purpose being to forge from the rival tunes' discordant notes a powerfully symbolic message of national harmony.
Not everyone in Mandela's party, the African National Congress, was convinced when he first proposed the plan. In fact, the entirety of the ANC's national executive committee initially pushed to scrap Die Stem and replace it with Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika. Mandela won the argument by doing what defined his leadership: reconciling generosity with pragmatism, finding common ground between humanity's higher values and the politician's aspiration to power...
(Excerpt) Read more at abc.net.au ...
He was a religious extremist in the eyes of liberals.
http://www.denisonforum.org/global/752-the-faith-of-nelson-mandela
Just another over-rated racist, black, communist Pied Piper who turned his country into an economic cripple.
Just one Commie celebrating another Commie
Remember when the Berlin Wall came down? It was because the communists had won and didn't need it anymore. I wish I were joking.
Mandela is the wart on Lincoln’s cheek, there exists no further similarity.
With the lionization of Mandela as being a Saint right now, I’m thinking. If Martin Luther King Jr. lived a natural life, I think people would not see MLK Jr. as a Saint. People would go tired of him as he descented into vocal radicialism. MLK Jr. would proably be shilling for the Occupy Wallstreet movement or demanding Wal-Mart / Fast Food chains to pay its employees $15 an hour.
In fact, if MLK Jr lived, I think the GA would have elected a GOP Governor in the 20th Century. Heck I think the South would have elected GOP politicans on the local level in 1984 instead of 1994.
I don’t know if it would’ve necessarily had an impact on GA politics, because the GOP was a very weak party (and you still had center-right Democrats serving, not to mention probably one of, if not the most, Conservative member of Congress, Dr. Larry McDonald).
BTW, technically GA did elect a GOP Governor in the 20th Century, as Bo Callaway did get more votes than Lester Maddox in 1966 (and Callaway got the Black vote, too).
I also think had MLK, Jr. lived, a lot of his sexual escapades would’ve brought him down before long and he’d have become a laughing stock (presuming he didn’t finally have an epiphany and get his act together). But he surely would not have been canonized.
Nelson Mandela 1918-2013
By David Horowitz On December 6, 2013 In Daily Mailer,FrontPage
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/david-horowitz/nelson-mandela-1918-2013/print/
Mandela began as a terrorist and never turned his back on monsters like Arafat and Castro, whom he considered brothers in arms. When he was released from prison by deKlerk, he showed unexpected statesmanship, counseling reconciliation rather than revenge, no small achievement in a country in which the “liberation” movement (led by Mandela’s wife and party) placed oil filled inner tubes around the necks of former comrades and set them on fire.
But if a leader should be judged by his works, the country Mandela left behind is an indictment of his political career, not an achievement worthy of praise – let alone the unhinged adoration he is currently receiving across the political spectrum.
South Africa today is the murder capital of the world, a nation where a woman is raped every 30 seconds, often by AIDs carriers who go unpunished, and where whites are anything but the citizens of a democratic country which honors the principles of equality and freedom.
Liberated South Africa is one of those epic messes the Left created and promptly forgot about.
Well stated. . . .
Mandela would be Frederick Douglass -- if Douglass had gone on to become President.
Historical analogies don't always work.
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