Here is the background of the
Rivonia Trial (the trial that sent Nelson Mandela to prison for twenty six years). Yes the ANC abandoned non violent opposition to armed struggle (including what could be deemed acts of terrorism). And yes, the South African government was harsh in dealing with the ANC. It is fair to say both sides have considerable blood on their hands.
Mandela and the ANC were supported by Communists (both from neighboring African countries and the Soviet block).
Mandela was a man of the left and at a minimum was a Communist sympathizer.
Thomas Sowell notes where he thinks Mandela came from ideologically. Hammond states he supported the Apartheid government of South Africa, not because he was a racist but because he opposed Communism. I was not a fan of Apartheid, there were serious civil rights abuses during that time,
but it was not as bad as Communism. Not even close.
It is interesting in this account that the thing that seemed to really get Hammond into hot water with Nelson Mandela was not challenging him on Communism, but not jumping for the opportunity in having his photograph taken with Mandela. There is a reason
vanity is the Devil's favorite sin.
Unlike
RSM,
Bob and
Adjoran (and also
Michael Haz) my appreciation of Nelson Mandela was how he transitioned his position as President and then stepping down after one term (without excusing or justifying the past acts or failed policies of the ANC). With all due respect to the Mandela skeptics,
my views on Mandela are closer to this. That does not mean the skeptics are not right on many of their points. It is just counter productive (and wrong) not to acknowledge what good Mandela did. Because the good Mandela did was substantial and real.
This is what
Mark Steyn had this to say about Nelson Mandela's legacy:
Well, he was a man of enormous grace and dignity. He spent three decades in jail for his political beliefs, and it would have been very easy, particularly once he’d become the champion of a global moment. There were hit pop songs called Free Nelson Mandela, there was a huge all-star rock gala at Wembley Stadium. He was, he became a poster child for the anti-Apartheid cause. And it would have been easy for him once he’d come out of jail to have been a bitter and a partisan and divisive figure. And he wasn’t. He was enormously generous in spirit given what the South African Apartheid state had done to him for the most productive decades of his life. And whatever the problems of South Africa currently, that period when he and F.W. De Klerk, his predecessor, the last Apartheid leader of South Africa, when they basically agreed to a genuine reconciliation, such as one rarely sees in Africa, I think that is his towering achievement.
While we should remember history accurately (because it is often grossly distorted), Mandela deserves kudos for that first term as President (without joining the left and low information media in making Mandela out to be a secular saint). It has hardly been all successful in South Africa since 1994,
Desmond Tutu acknowledges South African society is now far more violent than it was under Apartheid.
Education in South Africa is arguably worse since 1994. The danger is whether economic frustration will steer South Africa toward the disastrous course of further property redistribution, violent crime, corruption, and tribalism. That is the path
Mugabe took with a disastrous outcome.
The only hope for South Africa going forward is embracing the good example that Mandela demonstrated when he served as President without forgetting his and others mistakes in that transition. The solution to the problems of the present is not rejecting things that were good in the recent past. Hey,
even Singapore is experiencing economic frustration. But the worse way to deal with these challenges
is to embrace victim-hood. I do not discount
these are perilous times, but I do appreciate what Nelson Mandela did as president of South Africa.
RIP.
Update:
While it is appropriate to remember the good he did, is important not to go
too far over the top with Mandela:
*
President Obama is adopting the wrong things from President Mandela's legacy.
The focus on Mandela is contrasted by South Africa's current leaders (
they are not anywhere near as good)
Lem links
Barack Obama's comments at Nelson Mandela's funeral with Machiavelli political "facts." 
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