Slashdot Mirror
Nelson Mandela Dead At 95
New submitter Emilio Hodge writes "Nelson Mandela, the revered statesman who emerged from prison after 27 years to lead South Africa out of decades of apartheid, has died, President Jacob Zuma announces. He was 95." Mandela's death is covered by lots of news sources, of course, including The New York Times and The Washington Post.
South Africa's Mail & Guardian is worth a read - local perspective.
"Ubuntu"
Learn a bit.
Not that you're interested, but for the benefit of people who come across your posts, I offer this clarification:
Read the Wikipedia article on Mandela. All of it.
ANC/Mandela supported economic nationalism. He was honored by the Soviet Union for his pro-communist affiliations. In 61-62 he participated in a _bombing campaign_ to put pressure on the apartheid government.
Mandela was anti-capitalist. Not as in, "bmajik says so", but as in, Mandela says so.
Reagan and Thatcher were hesitant to cut off South Africa not because they gave a shit about Mandela or because they loved sticking it to black people; they saw SA as a pawn in the cold war. They didn't want a bunch of African Nationalist Parties starting communist and Russia-aligned states all over the untapped African continent.
To Manela's credit, while he advocated for nationalizing of banks, gold production, other mining, and the abolition of private property, he didn't enact these policies when he eventually took control of the government. He was smart enough to understand that SA badly needed foreign investment, and nationalizing industry and destroying property doesn't get you investors.
Mandela is a mixed bag. As terrorists go, he was a pretty pleasant one -- MK (the militant wing he was part of) only attacked infrastructure at night, hoping to minimize civilian losses.
But, he was willing to resort to violence to bring about a communist revolution in Africa.
You think Reagan and Thatcher were against that? You're right.
Again -- read the WP article. I just summarized it here.
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.