Schechter notes that George W. Bush kept Mandela on the Terrorist Watch List

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View Article Stats No comments OpEdNews Op Eds 12/16/2013 at 02:41:21 The Mandela Barbie By Greg Palast (about the author)     Permalink       (Page 1 of 1 pages) Related Topic(s): Bush ; Economic ; Hypocrisy ; Injustice ; Money ; Politicians ; Presidency ; Revolution ; Revolution ; Threat , Add Tags Add to My Group(s)
I can't take it anymore. All week, I've watched Nelson Mandela internet download manager reduced to a Barbie doll. From Fox News to the Bush family, the politicians and media mavens who body-blocked the anti-Apartheid Movement and were happy to keep Mandela behind bars, now get to dress his image up in any silly outfit they choose. It's more nauseating than hypocrisy and ignorance. The Mandela Barbie ( CONTINUED BELOW)
Schechter notes that George W. Bush kept Mandela on the Terrorist Watch List -- no kidding -- even after Mandela was elected President. Schechter has just completed the difficult job of making the official internet download manager documentary companion to the Hollywood version of Mandela's life, Long Walk to Freedom. The fictional movie is about triumph and forgiveness. Schechter's documentary, Inside Mandela, and book, Madiba A to Z: The Many Faces of Nelson Mandela , has this aplenty. But knowing Mandela, Schechter includes Mandela's anger, despair and his pained legacy: a corroded South Africa still ruled by a brutal economic apartheid. Today, the average white family has five times the income internet download manager of a black family. Welcome to "freedom." The US and European press have focused on Mandela's saintly ability to abjure bitterness and all desire for revenge, and for his Christ-like forgiveness of his captors. This is to reassure us all that "good" revolutionaries are ones who don't hold anyone to account for murder, plunder and blood-drenched horror - or demand compensation. That's Mandela in his Mahatma Gandhi doll outfit - turning the other cheek, kissing his prison wardens. internet download manager Schechter doesn't play with dolls. He knew Mandela the man - and Mandela as one among a group of revolutionary leaders. Mandela's circle knew this: You can't forgive those you defeat until you defeat them. Despite the hoo-hah, Mandela didn't defeat apartheid with "nice" internet download manager alone. In the 1980s, says Schechter, South African whites faced this reality: The Cubans who defeated South African troops in neighboring Angola could move into South Africa. The Vietnamese who had defeated internet download manager the mighty USA were advising the ANC military force. Mandela internet download manager was Commander-in-Chief. And so, while Mandela held out a hand in forgiveness - in his other hand he held Umkhonto we Sizwe , a spear to apartheid's heart. internet download manager And Mandela's comrades tied a noose: an international embargo, leaky though it was, that lay siege to South Africa's economy. Seeing the writing on the wall (and envisioning their blood on the floor), the white-owned gold and diamond cartels, Anglo-American and DeBeers, backed by the World Bank, came to Mandela with a bargain: black Africans could have voting power . . . but not economic internet download manager power. Mandela chose to shake hands with this devil and accept the continuation of economic apartheid. In return for safeguarding the diamond and gold interests and protecting internet download manager white ownership of land, mines and businesses, he was allowed internet download manager the presidency, or at least the office and title. It is a bargain that ate at Mandela's internet download manager heart. He was faced with the direct threat of an embargo of capital, and taking note of the beating endured by his Cuban allies over resource nationalization, Mandela swallowed the poison with a forced grin. Yes, a new South African black middle class has been handed a slice of the mineral pie, but that just changes the color of the hand holding the whip. The 1% Rainbow In the end, all revolutions are about one thing: the 99% versus the 1%. Time and history can change the hue of the aristocrat, but not their greed, against which Mandela appeared nearly internet download manager powerless. So was Mandela's life a waste, his bio-pic a fraud? Not at all. No man is a revolution.  We have much to learn f