RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: Mandela Is Not My Hero

The value of preventing an unending and unwinnable civil war ( between whites and Blacks, and between Zulus and Xosas) should be the metric for judging Mandela. Obviously he cut deals with the enemy but not for personal gains. The South Africa that he left behind is not perfect. But there is no example of a successful post-independent African country that we can compare South Africa with. It is the job of the present day South African leaders and the youth to build upon Mandela's legacy and fix the social problems generated by an incomplete project. I do not want to imagine what South Africa will look like if there had been a civil war between the races and the tribes after Mandela's release from prison.

Regarding the relationship between Nelson and Winnie Mandela , I quote the lyrics of an Ashanti fork music, 'Obi naware sem menka bi' meaning, outsiders not to get involved in a couple's marital problems. Reason, we will never know what exactly transpired between them. And Mark Twain famously said ' It is not what you do not know that will get you in problems. It is what you think you know for sure which is simply wrong'. Between the Ashanti folk song and Mark Twain it is best to not take sides in the nelson and Winnie Mandela marital problems. Let us stick with making South Africa a more just society that serves all citizens and African escaping from their failed states.

Best

Kwaku

Chicago


-----Original Message-----
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Abolaji Adekeye
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 3:46 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: Mandela Is Not My Hero

This speaks to the banality of the unexamined life. The lives of great people should be exposed to scrutiny not shielded.
Mandela was a great man but like every mortal he was deeply flawed.
Much has been said about his legendary temper and administrative incompetence (perhap due to age). The job of uniting a divided nation was no mean feat and Madiba joked often about the calm of prison compared to the rigours of leadership. The job was largely beyond him, he knew, and that's why he served a single term.
Ultimately, he'll be remembered as a saintly figure who forgave his racist oppressors and did a lot to prevent a looming civil war. He may not have done much for economic equality but his singular gesture during the rugby world cup finals against New Zealand was a tipping point in dousing racial tensions.

On 8/31/15, Samuel Zalanga <szalanga@bethel.edu> wrote:
> I saw the documentary. I encouraged my daughter to do a project for
> her history class on Mandela which she did and got recognition for
> that. I ordered many documentary films on Mandela just because I
> wanted to appreciate the complexity of life as Nietzsche would say.
> You make meaning of it as it comes or unfold. Mandela never started
> with the desire of becoming an African icon. History catches up with
> him. This is a very complex story but Mandela himself said publicly
> that he is not an angel and he did not want people to elevate him to
> that pedestal. He does not in normal situation see himself as larger than life.
>
> I am a Christian but I am not looking for a human Messiah that is
> perfect and so in that respect, I do not read the work of a scholar or
> study his or her life for the sake of learning his or her perfection.
> Rather i want to be inspired but what great things he or she said or
> did, and learn lessons from his or her short comings or mistakes.
>
> When I think of the South African struggle I always remember Denis
> Goulet's book titled *"The Cruel Choice."* Think of Martin Luther King
> Jr. As Cornel West once said in Atlanta, appreciate the man and honor
> him but do not sanitize him. Whatever mistake or shortcoming one can
> identify with Martin Luther king Jr. or Mandela, we all know that they
> could have lived a very good life by easily becoming stooges of the
> system. I ordered Martin Luther King's Junior's Letter From Birmingham
> Jail on CD and listened to it for six weeks daily in my car. Whatever
> you think about his shortcomings, I will like to teach a course on is
> life and struggles as part of a major social movement in an African
> University. There are lessons their for all of us and not just African Americans.
>
> When one reads about Mandela's trial and the original words he wrote
> in defiance to the judge before he was sentenced, you just feel like
> he was willing to give everything at that moment. When Martin Luther
> King Jr. gave the speech where he said he had seen the promised land
> but he might not be there with the people, you just feel this guy was
> consumed by the struggle and he knew ultimately he was not going to
> live long. Whether it is Plato or Aristotle, Nyerere or Nkrumah, if
> our goal of reading them is to elevate them to perfect human beings,
> we will not learn much but will be disappointed. Human decisions and
> choices are not made in social or historical vacuum. indeed because I
> know all the icons are humans, I can decide to read them with specific
> focus on mistakes they made and learned lessons from how the mistakes
> came about because I am a human being too and not better in that respect.
>
> To appreciate the complexity of the South African situation both
> locally and globally, I will encourage anyone interested to watch the
> six part series "HAVE YOU HEARD FROM JOHANNESBURG?" it is hard to
> study Mandela carefully and not be inspired by him whatever mistakes
> he made and in the documentaries he admitted making mistakes.
>
> Samuel
>
> On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 6:58 AM, 'Patrick Effiboley' via USA Africa
> Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
>> I have the feeling that this documentary aims at harming the
>> reputation of our christic Icon from Africa. it is clear that at a
>> certain point a leader needs to decide on criticial choices like
>> taking a new direction. We couldn't then blame him for making the
>> choice he made.
>> What is important at this moment when the leader has died is to
>> improve the life of South African through policies that really impact
>> the life of the people, promoting equal opportunities to the all.
>> Patrick Effiboley
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *De :* 'Chambi Chachage' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <
>> usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
>> *À :* "usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com" <
>> usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
>> *Envoyé le :* Lundi 31 août 2015 13h19 *Objet :* Re: USA Africa
>> Dialogue Series - FW: Mandela Is Not My Hero
>>
>> He "explained his decision" in his 'Long Walk to Freedom':
>>
>> "I chose to tell no one what I was about to do. Not my colleagues
>> upstairs nor those in Lusaka. The ANC is a collective, but the
>> government had made collectivity in this case impossible. I did not
>> have the security or the time to discuss these issues with my
>> organization. I knew that my colleagues upstairs would condemn my
>> proposal, and that would kill my initiative even before it was born.
>> There are times when a leader must move out ahead of the flock, go
>> off in a new direction, confident that he is leading his people the
>> right way. Finally, my isolation furnished my organization with an
>> excuse in case matters went awry; the old man was alone and
>> completely cut off, and his actions were taken by him as an
>> individual, not a representative of the ANC" - *Nelson Mandela
>> (1994), Long Walk to Freedom, page 627,*
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* "Anunoby, Ogugua" <AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu>
>> *To:* "usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com (
>> USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com)"
>> <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
>> *Sent:* Monday, August 31, 2015 1:10 AM
>> *Subject:* USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: Mandela Is Not My Hero
>>
>>
>> The following was forwarded to me. Please read if you may.
>>
>>
>>
>> "According to this documentary, the story goes back a few months
>> before the release of Nelson Mandela. He is abruptly transferred from
>> his prison, separated from his companions 26 years in prison, to a
>> luxurious private residence with garden and pool. Now, this is where
>> you should live, this is the standard that corresponds to your rank,
>> he was told. No sooner said than done, Mandela was comfortably
>> installed at home. His wife Winnie is conducted to this villa by the
>> South African secret services. This was the big day for Mandela to
>> consume his first intimate night with his wife after waiting 26
>> years. But Winnie refused. On that day, their marriage was over.
>> Winnie visited all the rooms of the residence quietly, going to the
>> pool, looking at the manicured trees. And returned to tell Nelson,
>> she did not feel comfortable and she wanted to go. Winnie understood
>> that her husband had been bought.
>>
>> "What surprised members of the ANC who were still imprisoned is that
>> Mandela decided to negotiate with his murderers for the future 80% of
>> the South African population without consulting anyone in the party
>> who for
>> 27
>> years had carried his torch lest he be forgotten, so that he would
>> not be killed in prison. Nobody knows what really happened. He never
>> explained his decision."
>>
>>
>> http://pougala.org/no-mandela-is-not-my-hero/
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Samuel Zalanga
> Department of Anthropology, Sociology & Reconciliation Studies Bethel
> University, 3900 Bethel Drive #24 Saint Paul, MN 55112.
> Office Phone: 651-638-6023
>
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