On The Death Of Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa
''The most potent weapon in the hands of the
oppressor
is the mind of the oppressed ''(Steve Biko)
It's always difficult to know how to
talk about a legend, someone I never had the opportunity to
personally meet and,like many others,have only experienced through
the pages of time and history.
What I was struck by was the enormous
coverage of this momentous event in the West and it's virtual
non-existence on, say, Russia Today television network. Russia Today
is a TV network part-funded by the Russian government- in much the
same way as the BBC, PBS and Voice of America television networks
are by their respective governments. The difference,to explain to any Eastern European reader, who
might be slightly perplexed by such massive media coverage of the
death of a man-and a Black man at that, is that our own pluralistic
societies, with all of their problems of religion, race, ethnicity,
political and social divisions from Germany through the Atlantic to
the Caribbean to the West coast of the United States and on into the
Pacific region ending back in Africa, are all striving to create the
dream of equality and justice for all which was epitomized by this
very great man-as by example in his life and his contribution to the
world as one single community. The inventor of the World Wide Web,Tim Berners-Lee and Bill Gates, both
of whom have facilitated this communication you are now reading, have
likewise made profound contributions in the service of mankind. The
fact that a knife can be used to cut bread or kill someone is not the
real issue here. The intent to provide a platform, which,as the
Electronic Frontier Foundation might say, should remain completely
open and uncensored by any government or private corporation, is the
only real way that a true renaissance in a future electronic age will
really flourish through the internet.
The Long Walk To Freedom
It's difficult for many Russians to
understand because, as with Hitler, Stalin and all opaque
totalitarian regimes masking as libertarians, their governments,
through the media and branches of administration,
in public and private business, paint
a picture of a society not as it is but as they wish it to be
perceived and conformed to. This issue of the coverage of the death
of Nelson Mandela is very dangerous to a society built on deception,
rigidity of hierarchical structure,stratified caste and class systems
with little social mobility and which functions on separation of the
races, as a core theme of 'separate but equal'
echoing the days of Apartheid in
South Africa or racial segregation in the United States.
Russian Coverage of Political
Events In the United States
One can see this in Russia Today
coverage of the Obama administration-where subtle (if not blatant)
attempts are always made to portray The President's administration as
incompetent and financially inept rather than explaining the deep
philosophical political divisions in policy direction between the
Republican and Democratic parties-and the hatred this has
fueled-because of ignorance and absence of commonsense amongst
squabbling politicians-all vying for a slice of media coverage to
espouse their corporate or commercial-philosophical-driven
ideologies, which are all working against the interests of the
ordinary average man and woman-who just want to get on with life, a
job, a safe,decent community,justice and fairness for all, having a
home they can call their own, no healthcare (personal) bankruptcy
worries for themselves, their families and a working future for each
within his or her community.
Corporate Hijacking of The
Political System in The West
These principles are hijacked both by
corporate interests-as we saw in the Federal Government shutdown in
the United states this year or, in totalitarian and fascist regimes,
by the new nomenklatura, the political and new economic elites
who perceive stability in terms of rigid societal stratification.
Both types of societies produce
ruling elite classes. The difference lies in the fluidity of social
mobility
between the elites-as both types of
(societal) models have had different historical transformations.
Change in South Africa was inspired
not just by the African National Congress but by open democratic support from millions of
people living and organizing against Apartheid in South Africa in the
Free World (as opposed to those individuals living behind the Iron
Curtain- in Russia and the Warsaw Pact countries)
and in Communist China-where personal
liberty to organize in support of the ANC was always illegal-unless
it was State controlled.
Communism, it's Successor and
Islama-Fascism
As with 'aid' from Saudi Arabia today
to countries in need, the only purpose of Soviet aid was to
promulgate communism (Saudi Arabia's only mission is to export it's brand of religious racism and
Islamic-Fascism) as an ideology to be espoused by any future
independent 'free' South Africa. Quite rightly Nelson Mandela was
very quick to recognize such 'aid'
from Communist Russia s yet another
form of enslavement-this time to Moscow-and, to the displeasure of
Moscow, distanced himself from communism.
His State visit to the Russian
Federation in 1999 was downgraded to that of a minor event and
received virtual no coverage within the Federation-as the majority of
rural Russian people still did not really know who he was or what he
was doing visiting Russia. I have no doubt he could contrast his
reception within the Russian federation with the rapturous and
genuine receptions he received from
Cuba, to Libya, to Western Europe to
the United states-where he was seen, not just as a statesman but as
someone we would all, politically, with all our divisions, like to
transcend and aspire to being.
This is impossible (in that they do not understand how) for totalitarian fascist and neo-nationalist regimes to explain to their populace the reasons for such profound coverage in the democratic world (as Karl Popper might define open societies)-so better just leave it as a minor passing event-which, other than an
obligatory mention to further business friendship, the significance
of Nelson Mandela's life and death is best quickly dispensed with.
Libertarianism
Stratification and Threats to National Unity-A
Historical Perspective
I recently attended an evening event
at a very prestigious international institution where I had the
privilege for over 3 hours of listening to several renowned experts
in ancient cultures and fine arts explain the purpose and
significance of the antiquities and fine works of art. For one
particular society, art was encouraged- up to a point where it began
to take liberties beyond the pale-depicting scenes of intimacy
between 'commoners' and other 'classes' in what were highly
stratified societies-based on class and rank. At such points, the
equivalent of the pornography Police intervened to arrest the
artists-with a severe crackdown on the libertines who had strayed
just a little too far and whose liberalism and bohemianism now
threatened the very stratified fabric and existence of the society
itself. One can see a similar process at work today in the
Ukraine-one part desperately trying to break free and reform from the
darkness of State-sponsored pogroms, anti -Semitism,
ultra-nationalism and Racism-all inherited from Russia-and never
properly dealt with under Communism-because they provided an ideal
buffer to Poland, potential Polish expansionism (and now NATO) in the
Western Ukraine after World War II.
The Long Walk To Freedom1
The Jerusalem Post today reported
that the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency says it is dropping the
definition of Anti-Semitism as it does no longer know how to define
it;“We are not aware of any official definition [of
anti-Semitism],” spokeswoman Blanca Tapia was quoted as saying by
JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency) ''According to Robert Singer, the
CEO of the World Jewish Congress, without clearly defined parameters
on what constitutes anti-Semitism “it will be difficult to combat
this growing phenomenon in Europe. The shocking results of the survey
about anti-Semitism in Europe, released last month by FRA, show that
the EU needs urgently to address this matter.”''The decision to
remove the definition is “inexplicable in light of [the FRA’s]
own report, which only one month earlier noted record high levels of
anti-Semitism across Europe,” the Israeli Jewish Congress
stated.''2
So racism is alive and well-not just
in the Ukraine but also at the heart of Europe.
The dream of one good man and the
long long road to freedom is a walk2 we are still
traveling in the West-but at least the journey has started.
Directed by Justin
Chadwick; written by William Nicholson; based on the autobiography
“Long Walk to Freedom” by Nelson Mandela; director of
photography, Lol Crawley; edited by Rick Russell; music by Alex
Heffes; production design by Johnny Breedt; costumes by Diana
Cilliers and Ruy Filipe; produced by Anant Singh and David M.
Thompson; released by the Weinstein Company.
Running time: 2
hours 21 minutes.
WITH: Idris Elba (Nelson Mandela), Naomie
Harris (Winnie Mandela), Tony Kgoroge (Walter Sisulu), Riaad Moosa
(Ahmed Kathrada), Jamie Bartlett (James Gregory), Lindiwi Matshikiza
(Zindzi Mandela), and Deon Lotz (Kobie Coetzee).
Opened last week
in New York and Los Angeles
2http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/Israel-urges-EU-human-rights-body-to-return-anti-Semitism-definition-to-website-334172
3http://www.safpi.org/news/article/2013/russia-south-africa-relations-beyond-revival