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Old 12-11-2013, 11:46 AM   #151
Mean Mr. Mustard
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch View Post
I will admit that I was always torn on the issue, Mandela did advocate violence, and not just against the whites, his wife was infamous for basically inventing the tire necklace that was used on blacks that they saw as collaborators.

However with that regime I tend to think that violent protest was the only thing that was going to work, non violent protests were met with rubber bullets and tear gas and clubs.

Where I gained a lot of respect for Mandela was when he became president he could have fallen to the temptation that a lot of rebel leaders do when they get power and enact bloody revenge. He didn't do that, he worked very hard to consolidate black and white into what he called a rainbow nation, and that should do more to clean any blood off of his hands then anything. The other thing to remember is that Mandela was a pretty hard core marxist, but he didn't enact any of those programs once he got into power which kept a lot of the industry there.

While SA is far from a mixed race paradise now, it is a better place. Bringing some semblance of normalcy between blacks and whites and bringing down one of the most odious government policies since the Nazi's (Godwin yo) earns him a place in heaven if there is a heaven.
I would agree with all these points, I just think that it is very interesting how his image has changed over time to being that in which (especially young people) he is equated with peace, which isn't the case. I firmly believe that his positive contributions to the world greatly outweigh the negative, and as you suggest necessary ones.
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