Mandela at 85

The Observer via the Guardian ^ | Sunday July 6, 2003 | Anthony Sampson

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Last Wednesday, Nelson Mandela once again showed his unique moral influence, two weeks before he celebrates his eighty-fifth birthday with a banquet in Johannesburg. In Westminster Hall, he launched the Mandela-Rhodes Foundation which will bring part of the huge fortune built on diamonds and gold back to black South Africa. He heard tributes from Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, with whom he had talked at length at Number 10 beforehand.

The Prime Minister made an impromptu speech explaining how Mandela 'symbolised the triumph of hope over injustice'. Mandela warmly thanked him but did not conceal their differences about the Middle East: 'We differ on one point - very strongly,' he said.

Afterwards, Blair and Clinton supported the frail old man as he walked slowly down the hall between the audience of a thousand Rhodes Scholars who were clapping Mandela much more than them. It was a poignant image: the two much younger leaders still needed the moral support of the old man.

[TLBSHOW]

He heard tributes from SOCIALIST Tony Blair......

[annyokie]

Tony Blair is not a socialist. He's all but rejected the EU for the UK. Don't be so narrow-minded, please. The Brits have a long history in the African Continent.

[TLBSHOW]

Tony Blair is not a socialist

LOLROF

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

MANDELA IS A RACIST!

[Hinoki Cypress]

Mandella is a bigoted, racist, lowlife POS, who should have been executed in prison 30yrs ago, as a terrorist.

[TLBSHOW]

YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ THE LITTLE SOCIALIST WEB SITE CRAWLER WHEN YOU CLICK THE LINK TO SOCIALIST BLAIRS HOME...

Let us rededicate ourselves to our historic goal of opportunity for all. Government; party; labour movement. The challenge is there for all of us."

Prime Minister Tony Blair

http://www.labour.org.uk/

[annyokie]

Isn't the goal of our democracy "opportunity for all"?

[Pan_Yans Wife]

The Brits have a long history in the African Continent.

The Brits had colonies in both Africa and here in North America, what is your point?

[tet68]

. It was a poignant image: the two much younger leaders still needed the moral support of the old man.

What is the world was this reporter smoking?

[Pan_Yans Wife]

"Anthony Sampson, who has known Nelson Mandela for 50 years, pays a birthday tribute to the statesman who wants a quiet life but is still drawn to the public stage, the world icon who, in his old age, has grown angrier and more outspoken than ever."

· Anthony Sampson's Mandela: The Authorised Biography is published by HarperCollins at £9.99

Anthony Sampson has been writing about South African affairs since 1951 when as editor of the black magazine Drum in Johannesburg he first met Nelson Mandela.

From the Observer, some background on the writer.

[annyokie]

My point is, Tony Blair is not a socialist. He is a bit too left of center for me, but he is a thoughtful man who sided with the USA when others in the EU refused.

The Brits feel a kinship with Africa that we in the USA do not. Other than the claiming of the entire continent by many blacks, our society tends to forget that Africans exist.

[TLBSHOW]

from the socialist web site about what Blair is...

About Labour

‘The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party.

It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few. Where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe. And where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect.’


PS

America is a Republic much to the shock of many AMERICANS including Bush.

[JOHANNES801]

I would call him a filthy commie,racist pig but since he is black I wont say anything so 0n pc

[annyokie]

I am well aware that we are a Republic. Are you showboating here, or do you truly believe the sacrifice of the Brits was less than the sacrifice of our own?

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Other than the claiming of the entire continent by many blacks, our society tends to forget that Africans exist.

I take issue with this. SA, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Nigeria, etc. are all crumbling, and you will not hear an outspoken cry from African-Americans about this. You will not hear much outcry from our liberal press, either. For, if the American people looked deeply enough, they would see that the dream of success after liberation as been extinguished by the liberators. If you dig deeply enough, you learn that the corruption in Zimbabwe, SA, etc. is not dependent upon race, but upon dictators who do not believe in the rule of law. All of these nations suffer, and all of their citizens do, too. Whites in Africa have been fleeing the continent, those that stay have much more strength and resolve than I can fathom. Starvation is not restricted by race.

[onyx]

Everyone here, including "show," knows that the Labour party is socialist by British standards. Your points are well stated and they're accurate. T-show is nit-picking you.

[annyokie]

Todd is a devisive, not incisive force here at Fr, IMO.

Thank you for the compliment and a happy Independence Day weekend to you and yours!

[onyx]

Oh wait, before I'm nitpicked! ... Labour party is socialist by British standards.

I should have added: just like the Democrat party here is socialist by American standards.

[annyokie]

Other than the claiming of the entire continent by many blacks, our society tends to forget that Africans exist.
(My post)

I take issue with this. SA, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Nigeria, etc. are all crumbling, and you will not hear an outspoken cry from African-Americans about this. You will not hear much outcry from our liberal press, either. For, if the American people looked deeply enough, they would see that the dream of success after liberation as been extinguished by the liberators. If you dig deeply enough, you learn that the corruption in Zimbabwe, SA, etc. is not dependent upon race, but upon dictators who do not believe in the rule of law. All of these nations suffer, and all of their citizens do, too. Whites in Africa have been fleeing the continent, those that stay have much more strength and resolve than I can fathom. Starvation is not restricted by race.
(Your post)

Tell me the difference in the two? I said the US has virtually ignored the African Continent, well except for those photo ops with the Toons.

Starvation, execution, rape, slavery are not predicated on the race of the victim. Why did we stand by and watch the senseless slaughter of the Hutus and the Tutsis, all while Hillary and Chelsea are riding camels in Moracco? WE as a nation either didn't care or didn't know.

Liberal press, Conservative press, we heard SILENCE about all.