Tribute to Nelson Mandela

Although I am terribly saddened by his death, I take solace in knowing he lived a fully life, that he was the key to toppling Apartheid, and that the natives of South Africa are enjoying their freedom thanks to him. To this day, we're reaping the rewards from the downfall of Apartheid.

The white supremacists will continue to accuse Mandela of being a terrorist. But he wasn't - he was a hero and the blacks in South Africa now have the power.
The government was illegitimate, thus any resistance to it, no matter if it was fatal was justified. It did not respect the citizens.

Mandela's children will without a doubt continue to carry on their father's legacy and be fighters against racism and imperialism.

Hopefully is there is an afterlife, Stalin will be there to greet you. I can't conceal the tremendous sadness I feel at the loss of Mandela who, like his precursors Stalin, Mao and Guevara, fought Imperialism and for the freedom of those in the Third World.

You will always be remembered fondly. RIP

 

I'm just bemused by the hypocrisy of right wingers; for all they're whining about how Ameria is a police state bent on curtailing their freedom to buy guns and whatnot.

The massive egos of right-wingers prevent them from making that connection.

They're the kind who has a conniptions over getting a traffic ticker, and use that to claim America's a police state. Yet, despite all this, when blacks resist white supremacy it's always terrorism. The right-wingers don't see how fortunate they are not to live in a state that doesn't recognize you as a human. That's what enables them to mindlessly scream "police state!"whenever they get arrested for breaking the law.

 

It's okay to cry, Velvet.

The South African Communist Party wrote a poigant eulogy about him.

“…The True Revolutionary Is Guided By Great Feelings Of Love”:

Umsebenzi Online - Volume 12, No. 43, 6 December 2013

Last night the millions of the people of South Africa, majority of whom the working class and poor, and the billions of the rest of the people the world over, lost a true revolutionary, President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Tata Madiba.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) joins the people of South Africa and the world in expressing its most sincere condolences to Ms Graca Machel and the entire Mandela family on the loss of what President Zuma correctly described as South Africa's greatest son, Comrade Mandela. We also wish to use this opportunity to express our solidarity with the African National Congress, an organisation that produced him and that he also served with distinction, as well as all his colleagues and comrades in our broader liberation movement. As Tata Madiba said: “It is not the kings and generals that make history but the masses of the people, the workers, the peasants…”

The passing away of Cde Mandela marks an end to the life of one of the greatest revolutionaries of the 20th century, who fought for freedom and against all forms of oppression in both their countries and globally. As part of the masses that make history, Cde Mandela’s contribution in the struggle for freedom was located and steeled in the collective membership and leadership of our revolutionary national liberation movement as led by the ANC – for he was not an island. In Cde Mandela we had a brave and courageous soldier, patriot and internationalist who, to borrow from Che Guevara, was a true revolutionary guided by great feelings of love for his people, an outstanding feature of all genuine people’s revolutionaries.

At his arrest in August 1962, Nelson Mandela was not only a member of the then underground South African Communist Party, but was also a member of our Party’s Central Committee. To us as South African communists, Cde Mandela shall forever symbolise the monumental contribution of the SACP in our liberation struggle. The contribution of communists in the struggle to achieve the South African freedom has very few parallels in the history of our country. After his release from prison in 1990, Cde Madiba became a great and close friend of the communists till his last days.

The one major lesson we need to learn from Mandela and his generation of leaders was their commitment to principled unity within each of our Alliance formations as well as the unity of our Alliance as a whole and that of the entire mass democratic movement. Their generation struggled to build and cement the unity of our Alliance, and we therefore owe it to the memory of Cde Madiba to preserve the unity of our Alliance. Let those who do not understand the extent to which blood was spilt in pursuance of Alliance unity be reminded not to throw mud at the legacy and memory of the likes of Madiba by being reckless and gambling with the unity of our Alliance.

The SACP supported Madiba's championing of national reconciliation. But national reconciliation for him never meant avoiding tackling the class and other social inequalities in our society, as some would like to make us believe today. For Madiba, national reconciliation was a platform to pursue the objective of building a more egalitarian South African society free of the scourge of racism, patriarchy and gross inequalities. And true national reconciliation shall never be achieved in a society still characterized by the yawning gap of inequalities and capitalist exploitation.

In honour of this gallant fighter the SACP will intensify the struggle against all forms of inequality, including intensifying the struggle for socialism, as the only political and economic solution to the problems facing humanity.

For the SACP the passing away of Madiba must give all those South Africans who had not fully embraced a democratic South Africa, and who still in one way or the other hanker to the era of white domination, a second chance to come to terms with a democratic South Africa founded on the principle of majority rule.

We call upon all South Africans to emulate his example of selflessness, sacrifice, commitment and service to his people.

The SACP says Hamba kahle Mkhonto!