Love Comes More Naturally to the Human Heart - Nelson Mandela
by Diane V. McLoughlin, July 24, 2011
It was only three scant years ago, on July 1, 2008, that United States President
George W. Bush signed a bill dropping America's terrorist designation against Nelson
Mandela.
That he was ever considered a terrorist at all is a glaring example of the hypocrisy of states'
craft. Too often, centers of power hang together because it is convenient, not because it is
right.
Certainly there are many historical parallels in hypocrisy. America's founding fathers, for
example, were considered criminals and traitors in their day for rejecting the oppressive
yoke of the British Empire, all the while decimating the native peoples, putting those few
native Americans who survived under the yoke of occupation.
I had a personal awakening as a university student regarding the struggle against South
African Apartheid. In particular, the story of Nelson Mandela's personal sacrifice for
human rights was very compelling to me. At that time, Mandela was still a political
prisoner, held captive on South Africa's Robben Island. One day in the university library, I
brought down a nondescript book from a random shelf. Upon reading the first few words,
I sunk to the carpeted floor between the long rows and shelves, in the sudden and
unexpected presence of the profound: I was free...Mandela ought to be as free as me, as
equal as me, free to be whatever he wants to be, as I was, but he wasn't; because of the
color of his skin.
Terror is the use of violence to try to create and maintain a political reality. For
twenty-seven years of his life, Nelson Mandela was a victim of state terrorism. He was
locked in a tiny jail cell. He did hard time doing hard labor. After many prisoner protests,
prisoners, including Mandela, were permitted to study, and Mandela took full advantage.
He earned his Bachelor of Laws from the University of London during his incarceration.
He encouraged other prisoners to study, as well. Yet, his bed was a thin woven mat upon
the hard ground. His window was concrete-embedded steel bars.
Nelson Mandela's Robben Is.
prison cell - 17 of 27 years'
incarceration were spent here.
The United States played a role in Mandela's capture and arrest. The CIA uncovered
where he was in hiding and tipped off the Apartheid regime. For what? What was his
crime? Mandela held the bedrock conviction that we are all created equal. He preferred
peaceful means of achieving freedom, but if all else failed the ANC and Mandela reserved
the right to fight. But fight what, exactly?
The system of apartheid - 'apart' - that Mandela grew up in was a racist violent system run
by a minority who were Dutch, German and British descendants. They believed
themselves superior to blacks. This conviction of superiority is always part and parcel of
any form of colonialism.
Image from website,
'Intercontinental Cry'.
Article: 'South African Apartheid
victims suing 50 corporations';
by Ahni; 2008.
The Bantu Education Act is a dark example of apartheid law. The author, Dr. Hendrik
Verwoerd (who would later be elected Prime Minister) indicated that the purpose of the
Act was to prevent blacks from aspiring to work at skilled jobs. Education of blacks was
to provide them with basic skills to prepare them for work in menial jobs for whites. [1]
It is shocking to note that most of the laws underpinning the apartheid system came into
being after the Second World War and that western countries (for example, Great Britain,
the U.S., and Israel) - did business with Apartheid South Africa.
One way that apartheid was fought was that, around the world, civil society organized
world-wide boycotts against the apartheid regime. Citizens encouraged their respective
countries, businesses, and educational institutions to tow the boycott line.
In 1994, Mandela, still designated a terrorist by the U.S., in the nation's first democratic
election, became South Africa's first black President.
A year after Mandela's presidential inauguration he gave his
'Long Walk to Freedom' (1995) address. In it, he shared his fundamental conviction,
delivered in a message of hope:
'No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background,
or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught
to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.'
The dark clouds of racism and war swell ominously on the horizon today. Nelson
Mandela's heartening message is more timely than ever, and it is his lived experience; from
oppressed political prisoner, to president of a nation that aspires to be a rainbow nation of
many colors, free from oppression, discrimination and fear.
Nelson Mandela was born July 18, 1918. In 2009, the U.N. declared July 18th to be
'Nelson Mandela International Day' in his honor. Celebrating his 93rd birthday this year
there were songs sung by children's choirs, while others happily reported marking the day
doing good deeds of community service.
________________________
Notes:
[1] 'Apartheid Legislation in Africa'; Alistair Boddy-Evans; About.com;
http://africanhistory.about.com/library/bl/blsalaws.htm ;
by Diane V. McLoughlin, July 24, 2011
It was only three scant years ago, on July 1, 2008, that United States President
George W. Bush signed a bill dropping America's terrorist designation against Nelson
Mandela.
That he was ever considered a terrorist at all is a glaring example of the hypocrisy of states'
craft. Too often, centers of power hang together because it is convenient, not because it is
right.
Certainly there are many historical parallels in hypocrisy. America's founding fathers, for
example, were considered criminals and traitors in their day for rejecting the oppressive
yoke of the British Empire, all the while decimating the native peoples, putting those few
native Americans who survived under the yoke of occupation.
I had a personal awakening as a university student regarding the struggle against South
African Apartheid. In particular, the story of Nelson Mandela's personal sacrifice for
human rights was very compelling to me. At that time, Mandela was still a political
prisoner, held captive on South Africa's Robben Island. One day in the university library, I
brought down a nondescript book from a random shelf. Upon reading the first few words,
I sunk to the carpeted floor between the long rows and shelves, in the sudden and
unexpected presence of the profound: I was free...Mandela ought to be as free as me, as
equal as me, free to be whatever he wants to be, as I was, but he wasn't; because of the
color of his skin.
Terror is the use of violence to try to create and maintain a political reality. For
twenty-seven years of his life, Nelson Mandela was a victim of state terrorism. He was
locked in a tiny jail cell. He did hard time doing hard labor. After many prisoner protests,
prisoners, including Mandela, were permitted to study, and Mandela took full advantage.
He earned his Bachelor of Laws from the University of London during his incarceration.
He encouraged other prisoners to study, as well. Yet, his bed was a thin woven mat upon
the hard ground. His window was concrete-embedded steel bars.
Nelson Mandela's Robben Is.
prison cell - 17 of 27 years'
incarceration were spent here.
The United States played a role in Mandela's capture and arrest. The CIA uncovered
where he was in hiding and tipped off the Apartheid regime. For what? What was his
crime? Mandela held the bedrock conviction that we are all created equal. He preferred
peaceful means of achieving freedom, but if all else failed the ANC and Mandela reserved
the right to fight. But fight what, exactly?
The system of apartheid - 'apart' - that Mandela grew up in was a racist violent system run
by a minority who were Dutch, German and British descendants. They believed
themselves superior to blacks. This conviction of superiority is always part and parcel of
any form of colonialism.
Image from website,
'Intercontinental Cry'.
Article: 'South African Apartheid
victims suing 50 corporations';
by Ahni; 2008.
The Bantu Education Act is a dark example of apartheid law. The author, Dr. Hendrik
Verwoerd (who would later be elected Prime Minister) indicated that the purpose of the
Act was to prevent blacks from aspiring to work at skilled jobs. Education of blacks was
to provide them with basic skills to prepare them for work in menial jobs for whites. [1]
It is shocking to note that most of the laws underpinning the apartheid system came into
being after the Second World War and that western countries (for example, Great Britain,
the U.S., and Israel) - did business with Apartheid South Africa.
One way that apartheid was fought was that, around the world, civil society organized
world-wide boycotts against the apartheid regime. Citizens encouraged their respective
countries, businesses, and educational institutions to tow the boycott line.
In 1994, Mandela, still designated a terrorist by the U.S., in the nation's first democratic
election, became South Africa's first black President.
A year after Mandela's presidential inauguration he gave his
'Long Walk to Freedom' (1995) address. In it, he shared his fundamental conviction,
delivered in a message of hope:
'No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background,
or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught
to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.'
The dark clouds of racism and war swell ominously on the horizon today. Nelson
Mandela's heartening message is more timely than ever, and it is his lived experience; from
oppressed political prisoner, to president of a nation that aspires to be a rainbow nation of
many colors, free from oppression, discrimination and fear.
Nelson Mandela was born July 18, 1918. In 2009, the U.N. declared July 18th to be
'Nelson Mandela International Day' in his honor. Celebrating his 93rd birthday this year
there were songs sung by children's choirs, while others happily reported marking the day
doing good deeds of community service.
________________________
Notes:
[1] 'Apartheid Legislation in Africa'; Alistair Boddy-Evans; About.com;
http://africanhistory.about.com/library/bl/blsalaws.htm ;
