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Nelson Mandela
Artwork by Germain Dufour
December 15, 2013

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Nelson Mandela a People struggle to survive in waiting
by
Germain Dufour
Spiritual Leader of the Global Community
and by
Global Community Assessment Centre
Global Community of North America
December 15, 2013

Nelson Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the first black South African to hold the office, and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid through tackling institutionalised racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial reconciliation. Politically an African nationalist and democratic socialist, he served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1991 to 1997.

The ANC was formed on 8 January 1912 by John Dube, Pixley ka Isaka Seme and Sol Plaatje along with chiefs, people's representatives, and church organizations, and other prominent individuals to bring all Africans together as one people to defend their rights and freedoms. The ANC from its inception represented both traditional and modern elements, from tribal chiefs to church and community bodies and educated black professionals, though women were only admitted as affiliate members from 1931 and as full members in 1943.

Mandela believed that black Africans should be entirely independent in their struggle for political self-determination. In 1944, deciding on the need for a youth wing to mass mobilise Africans in opposition to their subjugation, Mandela was among a delegation that approached ANC President to form the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL).

By the end of the 1940s, the Youth League had gained control of the African National Congress. It called for civil disobedience and strikes in protest at the hundreds of laws associated with the new apartheid system. These protests were often met with force by the South African Government.

In 1946 the ANC allied with the South African Communist Party in assisting in the formation of the South African Mine Workers' Union.

In 1950, 18 blacks were killed during a walkout, while protesters, including Mandela, were jailed and beaten for their opposition to the government.

In 1952, the ANC began preparation for a joint Defiance Campaign against apartheid with Indian and communist groups, founding a National Voluntary Board to recruit volunteers. Deciding on a path of nonviolent resistance influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, some considered it the ethical option.

In July 1952, Mandela was arrested under the Suppression of Communism Act and stood trial as a part of the 21 accused in Johannesburg. He was found guilty of "statutory communism".

Mandela spent much of his time to educate himself and became a full-fledged attorney. In August 1953, Mandela and Oliver Tambo opened their own law firm, Mandela and Tambo, operating in downtown Johannesburg. The only African-run law firm in the country, it was popular with aggrieved blacks, often dealing with cases of police brutality. Disliked by the authorities, the firm was forced to relocate to a remote location after their office permit was removed under the Group Areas Act.

Mandela agreed to acts of sabotage to exert maximum pressure on the government with minimum casualties, bombing military installations, power plants, telephone lines and transport links at night, when civilians were not present. Mandela himself stated that they chose sabotage not only because it was the least harmful action, but also because it did not involve loss of life and it offered the best hope for reconciliation among the races afterward.

The ANC planned a campaign against the Pass Laws, which required blacks to carry an identity card at all times to justify their presence in White areas, to begin on 31 March 1960. The PAC pre-empted the ANC by holding unarmed protests 10 days earlier, during which 69 protesters were killed and 180 injured by police fire in what became known as the Sharpeville massacre.

Following the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, the ANC leadership concluded that the methods of non-violence such as those utilised by Gandhi against the British Empire during their colonisation of India were not suitable against the Apartheid system. A military wing was formed in 1961, called MK, meaning "Spear of the Nation", with Mandela as its first leader. MK operations during the 1960s primarily involved targeting and sabotaging government facilities. In 1961, in association with the South African Communist Party, Mandela lead a sabotage campaign against the apartheid government.

The ANC was classified as a terrorist organisation by the South African government and by some Western countries including the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Of course! Those two nations have a history of invading and 'occupying' other nations and, if Natives oppose to be invaded, they call them 'terrorists'.

In August 1962, police captured Mandela. South African authorities were reportedly tipped off about Mandela's whereabouts by the C.I.A. Jailed in Johannesburg's Marshall Square prison, he was charged with inciting workers' strikes and leaving the country without permission.

Representing himself as legal advisor, Mandela used the trial to showcase the ANC's moral opposition to racism while supporters demonstrated outside the court. At his hearing, he disrupted proceedings by wearing a traditional kaross, refusing to call any witnesses, and turning his plea of mitigation into a political speech.

He was convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the state, and also convicted of sabotage.

Deeming him to be a violent communist agitator, South Africa's government ignored all calls for clemency, and in June 1964 Mandela and two of his co-accused were found guilty on all charges, and were sentenced to life imprisonment rather than death. Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island, along with Sisulu and other ANC leaders after the Rivonia Trial.

After his death, the Communist Party and the ANC confirmed that he was a Communist Party member when he was arrested in 1962.

In March 1980 the slogan "Free Mandela!" was developed by journalist Percy Qoboza, sparking an international campaign that led the UN Security Council to call for his release. Despite increasing foreign pressure, the government refused, relying on powerful foreign Cold War allies in US President Ronald Reagan and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; both considered Mandela a communist terrorist and supported the suppression of the ANC.

Later, after more international pressure was exerted on President F.W. de Klerk, the government agreed to the release of political prisoners and the legalisation of the ANC on the condition that they permanently renounce violence, break links with the Communist Party and not insist on majority rule. Mandela rejected these conditions, insisting that the ANC would only end the armed struggle when the government renounced violence.

A stronger international campaign lobbied for his release, which was granted in 1990 amid escalating civil strife.

Driven to Cape Town's City Hall through crowds, Mandela gave a speech declaring his commitment to peace and reconciliation with the white minority, but made it clear that the ANC's armed struggle was not over, and would continue as "a purely defensive action against the violence of apartheid." He insisted that his main focus was to bring peace to the black majority and give them the right to vote in national and local elections. Staying at the home of Desmond Tutu, in the following days Mandela met with friends, activists, and press, giving a speech to 100,000 people at Johannesburg's Soccer City.

With the election set for 27 April 1994, the ANC began campaigning, opening 100 election offices. The ANC campaigned on a Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to build a million houses in five years, introduce universal free education and extend access to water and electricity. The party's slogan was "a better life for all", although it was not explained how this development would be funded. With the exception of the Weekly Mail and the New Nation, South Africa's press opposed Mandela's election, fearing continued ethnic strife, instead supporting the National or Democratic Party. Mandela devoted much time to fundraising for the ANC, touring North America, Europe and Asia to meet wealthy donors, including former supporters of the apartheid regime.

In April 1994, in a tripartite alliance with the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the ANC won a landslide victory in the 1994 general election, and Nelson Mandela was elected the first black President of South Africa.

Mandela's inauguration took place in Pretoria in May 1994, televised to a billion viewers globally. The event was attended by 4000 guests, including world leaders from disparate backgrounds. South Africa's first black President, Mandela became head of a Government of National Unity dominated by the ANC – which alone had no experience of governance.

Presiding over the transition from apartheid minority rule to a multicultural democracy, Mandela saw national reconciliation as the primary task of his presidency Having seen other post-colonial African economies damaged by the departure of white elites, Mandela worked to reassure South Africa's white population that they were protected and represented in "the Rainbow Nation". Mandela attempted to create the broadest possible coalition in his cabinet, with de Klerk as first Deputy President.

His administration introduced measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty, and expand healthcare services.

He is often referred as "the father of the nation".

He saw the South African struggle as being racially based rather than class warfare.

Mandela's administration inherited a country with a huge disparity in wealth and services between white and black communities. Of a population of 40 million, around 23 million lacked electricity or adequate sanitation, 12 million lacked clean water supplies, with 2 million children not in school and a third of the population illiterate. There was 33% unemployment, and just under half of the population lived below the poverty line. Government financial reserves were nearly depleted, with a fifth of the national budget being spent on debt repayment, meaning that the extent of the promised Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) was scaled back, with none of the proposed nationalisation or job creation. Instead, the government adopted liberal economic policies designed to promote foreign investment, adhering to the "Washington consensus" advocated by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Mandela faced similar criticism from the West for his personal friendships with Fidel Castro and Muammar Gaddafi. Castro visited in 1998, to widespread popular acclaim, and Mandela met Gaddafi in Libya to award him the Order of Good Hope. When Western governments and media criticised these visits, Mandela lambasted the criticisms as having racist undertones.

Publicly, Mandela became more vocal in criticising Western powers. He strongly opposed the 1999 NATO intervention in Kosovo and called it an attempt by the world's powerful nations to police the entire world. In 2003, he spoke out against the plans for the US and UK to launch the War in Iraq, describing it as "a tragedy" and lambasting US President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair for undermining the UN. He attacked the US more generally, asserting that it had committed more "unspeakable atrocities" across the world than any other nation, citing the atomic bombing of Japan.

A democratic socialist, Mandela was "openly opposed to capitalism, private land-ownership and the power of big money". Influenced by Marxism, during the revolution Mandela advocated scientific socialism. Mandela "embraced communism and communists" in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the 1955 Freedom Charter, which Mandela had helped create, it called for the nationalisation of banks, gold mines, and land, believing it necessary to ensure equal distribution of wealth. Despite these beliefs, Mandela nationalised nothing during his presidency, fearing that this would scare away foreign investors. This decision was in part influenced by the fall of the socialist states in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc during the early 1990s.

Over time, the ANC received financial and tactical support from the USSR, which orchestrated military involvement with surrogate Cuban forces through Angola. However, the fall of the USSR after 1991 brought an end to its funding of the ANC and also changed the attitude of some Western governments that had previously supported the Apartheid regime as an ally against communism. The South African government found itself under increasing internal and external pressure, and this, together with a more conciliatory tone from the ANC, resulted in a change in the political landscape.

By the time of his death, Mandela had come to be widely considered "the father of the nation" within South Africa, and "the founding father of democracy". Within a decade after the end of his Presidency, Mandela's era was being widely thought of as "a golden age of hope and harmony". Across the world, Mandela earned international acclaim for his activism in overcoming apartheid and fostering racial reconciliation, coming to be viewed as "a moral authority" with a great "concern for truth".

With victory, a number of Communists occupied prominent positions on the ANC benches in parliament. Most prominently, Nelson Mandela appointed Joe Slovo as Minister for Housing.

So now, what is Africa today, and what future is seen for the African continent? What will Africa become in a few generations from now? What is the legacy of Mandela, and how will it affect future generations all over the African continent? Is Nelson Mandela a symbol of a People struggle to survive in waiting? How well will his legacy help survival? Are the people of the African continent deemed to survive as a people? Those are important questions to ask ourselves at this time?

Unfortunately the future of the black population all over the African continent does not look has hopeful as Mandela was dreaming about. His first goals were the dismantling of the legacy of apartheid through tackling institutionalised racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial reconciliation; he also dreamt about the nationalisation of banks, gold mines, and land, believing it necessary to ensure equal distribution of wealth.

The black African people reminds me very much about the 51 killer whales that have washed up on a beach near Cape Town last week in Florida's Everglades National Park, and about 70 miles away, where another 11 whales -- eight females and three males -- died after beaching themselves. Scientists have been trying to untangle what factors cause these normally adept swimmers and maritime navigators end up in shallow water where they can become beached and die, basically committing a group suicide. They are also studying the possibility that a virus may be spreading through populations of dolphins and whales throughout the Atlantic. Mass strandings of dolphins, whales, and other marine mammals may be caused by human impacts of pollution, shipping noise and, in some cases, military sonar have led to a rise in such frequency and severity of such events.

Wildlife workers in boats struggled unsuccessfully Wednesday to coax nearly four dozen pilot whales out of dangerous shallow waters in hoping to spare them the fate of 10 others that already had died.

This may be a far-fetched use of an imagerie but the fate of the whale species does remind me of the fate of the black population all over the African continent. Let me explain!

There is plenty of natural resources and much healthy soils all over the African continent. Truly there is no reason for the majority black population to lose fate and disappear altogether this century. On the contrary there are plenty of good reasons why the black community should be successful and survive better than people from nations such as India, China and many others. The key here is survival! Because survival is the most important challenge of this century not just for the black population on the African continent but for all people on our planet. Why is that?! Why was explained over and over again by Global Community through the process of Global Dialogues. The question I ask myself is why the whales beaching themselves as if committing suicide reminds me the fate of the black population on the African continent.

Let me explain by showing you an example of survival here in Canada. My example is related to trade and to Canadians and other people in all parts of the world. The world is changing fast and, because of factors very much connected to the survival of life, a large percentage of the world population will disappear this century. That is a fact! Factors such as natural disasters, destructive human activities, or the lack of basic products such as clean fresh water, oil and gas, healthy food, none-polluted air, and pollution of all types, will all contribute to the extinction of life on the planet. So survival is key to understand my imagerie. Whales are a good indicator of what is happening to the human species. And therefore by extension, to what is happening to the black people on the continent of Africa is a good indicator of what is happening to all life on the planet.

In Canada, survival is also important to the extent that the people from other nations want to invade us economically. Just like the black people of the African continent, Canadians are gullible and naive because they are mostly honest, friendly and welcoming. Now how is this economic invasion happening was explained in a previous investigative report (see reference here). In short, everywhere in the world nations are struggling for natural resources wherever they may be found. Finding and obtaining resources is the first step to survival. As you will read in the report listed here, geopolitical boundaries are gradually being replaced by georesources boundaries everywhere in the world.

The continent of Africa is certainly one of the best places in the world today for acquiring resources, and so is Canada. In some ways Canada and the African continent are alike but Canada is in a better place geographically because of climate change and the melting of North Pole ice. Future generations in Canada will have much more resources to develop and therefore Canadians have better chances for survival.

I have to warn you not to make any 'free trade deal' with any nation in the world. Many governments will try to sweet a free trade deal just to get you to sign. That is the last thing you would want to do. In fact, Nelson Mandela himself thought that the nationalisation of banks, gold mines, and land, was necessary to ensure equal distribution of wealth. Despite these beliefs, Mandela nationalised nothing during his presidency, fearing that this would scare away foreign investors. The black community should take charge of their own natural resources and never make a free trade deal with any nation. You have resources other nations want, and they will pay for any prices you choose to sell them. If you choose to sign a free trade deal you will loose control of everything you do have to offer including your resources. If you wish more details on this issue read the report published in December 2013 Newsletter by Global Community at

"Global Community perspective on the proposed Canada-EU trade deal"
http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/Dialogue2014/Newsletters/December2013/Report.htm

and also you are welcome asking

Most Honorable Bilongo Bolo Serge Christian
Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
Global Government of Africa
Appointed by Global Parliament
Other initiatives
Diplomat
Ambassador of the Dominion of Melchizedek (Ecclesiastical Sovereign Nation State) to the Republic of Cameroon
Universal Peace Ambassador ( Universal Ambassador Peace Circle)
Member of the International Peace Bureau
Global File
www.gov-dom.org
ambassadeuruniversel@yahoo.fr
Lettre de nomination de Vice-Ministre des Religions (see Global File for copy)

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