Happy B-Day to Communist Nelson Mandela

Never understood the respect and admiration given to this man.

www.freerepublic.com...

"Nelson Mandela is a symbol, an icon, one of the world's most famous statesmen, recognised and revered by all. He dines with royalty, associates with the world's great leaders and his opinion is sought and valued on all weighty matters. He has achieved an almost divine status in the world, equal to that of the Pope or the late Princess Diana."

Most people on the left of the political spectrum would agree wholeheartedly with the above quote. But they run into an unexpected problem when someone asks "why is he considered such a great statesman?"

The problem is that Mandela, apart from having a likeable personality, has achieved next to nothing in his relatively short political career which saw South Africa rapidly decline to the status of the world's most violent and crime-ridden country, and, to add to the confusion, his greatest friends are communists and dictators like Fidel Castro, Moammar Qaddafi, Yasser Arafat and Saddam Hussein. His ex-wife Winnie Mandela, whom he quickly jettisoned when it became clear she was a considerable embarassment to his political career, is a self-confessed advocate of terrorism and violence and has even committed murder.

Does anyone understand the fascination with this guy? Praises communism and puts down the United States, but Obama and other lefties would give their right arms to be seen with this guy?

Sure he spent some time in jail, but other than that what has he done to be revered so?

That fact that he puts down the United States IS the reason Obama and other liberals want to be associated with them.

Putting down the United States is what they do.

reply to post by Carseller4


I agree with you.

Usually, an individual has to die (assassination being the preferred choice) to be revered in such a manner. Somehow Mandela has achieved this without having to pay such a heavy price.

One of the most overrated individuals on the planet.

it is simply down to him being a symbol of the fight against Apartheid. Nothing more, nothing less. Kind of like the Burmese pro-democracy advocate, I forget her name...

As far as his actual record, he is a convicted terrorist and the leader of an organisation that the US put on it's "terrorist" list and has killed numerous civilians in it's fight against white rule.

reply to post by nyk537

Not true for the liberals I've talked to. Maybe for Hollywood tools and politicians.

reply to post by Carseller4

Is he a communist? Does or did he rule over a communist country? Castro was the only communist you listed in the op.

He gave a rise of hope in Southern Africa that still ferments to this very day. A classic story how someone who comes from nothing can be a somebody.

South Africa was not since he was in or even since has ever been a Communistic nation.

I too question Mandela he smacks of tptb to my mind. Let's not forget he's royalty. Let's not forget Biko, he died in custody whilst Mandela spent his sentence in a bungalow on the grounds of Robben Island not in a cell. If he was such a terrorist and a true thorn in the side of the S.A. government of the time I believe he would have been killed.

I believe that he is respected for standing by his conviction that racial segregation was a bad thing.

Yes, as most "revolutionaries" he was considered a terrorist as the leader of the ANC, and was jailed for 27 years.
That's longer than most people would hold on to their convictions!

So, he saw the government acting in an unjust way, and actually did something about it... maybe we could use a few Mandelas today!

Apart form him being critical of U.S. and U.K foreign intervention in recent times, a stance which many here on ATS may agree with, I don't see anything wildly controversial about this man.

Do you have any links to support the claim that he was somehow more intimate with the world leaders you have listed in the OP as compared to others?

the Billmeister

reply to post by Carseller4


Wow. I guess it's always good to get perspective from the Aryan Nation Stormfrontesque-types and not just the evolved part of the world.

What has he done?! Are you freakin' kidding me? He was the leader of ANC's armed wing. He opened up doors to let Africans live equally in the place their ancestors have lived for eons. He then led those people as the president for years.

And to judge him for his "friends" is silly. Half of those people were put into power by Americans. If Mandella is their good friend, then America is their best friend.

And as far as his sentiments towards America... who doesn't hate us? If you could call any foreign powers a friend to the US, Mandella would be among them on the hate/tolerate scale.

I know people that have Communist views that have never led a country.

He was himself originally incarcerated, not for his political views, but for involvement in 23 different acts of sabotage and conspiring to overthrow the government. He and his fellow conspirators of the ANC and the South African Communist Party were caught by the police while in the possession of 48,000 Soviet-made anti-personnel mines and 210,000 hand-grenades!

It is also interesting to note that in later years Mandela was offered his freedom by none other than the South African President Botha if he would simply renounce the use of terrorism, but Mandela refused to do this.

Not only was the guy a Communist, he was a terrorist as well.

if you judge a party by their heroes all it takes to look at who the left and democrats look up to

mandela,chez,mao,chavez,clinton,obama,andy stern,saul alinsky and the list goes on.

i will never be a liberal or democrat because of who they idolize.

happy birthday mandela never

happy birthday to those who dislike the left and everything they stand for and who they idolize.

reply to post by Carseller4

Not only was the guy a Communist, he was a terrorist as well.

So were Americas founding fathers. What's your point

Can someone enlighten me because i'm a little confused here.

Fighting against apartheid is wrong??

You do realize that that is what Mandela was doing right? He spent 27 years in prison, won the fight and went on to become the first Black president of SOUTH AFRICA.

Nevermind, Unicorn dude just said what I was going to say.

Originally posted by ProphecyPhD
Can someone enlighten me because i'm a little confused here.

Fighting against apartheid is wrong??

You do realize that that is what Mandela was doing right? He spent 27 years in prison, won the fight and went on to become the first Black president of SOUTH AFRICA.

Yes, but it's "The Free Republic" which is renowned as a bastion of fair and balanced, unbiased, apolitical reporting.

Don't forget his gifts of necklaces to people who disagreed with him.

A necklace? How nice you say?

How would you like a tire draped around your neck and set fire?

from wikipedia

Necklacing sentences were sometimes handed down against alleged criminals by "people's courts" established in black townships as a means of circumventing the apartheid judicial system. Necklacing was also used to punish members of the black community who were perceived as collaborators with the apartheid regime. These included black policemen, town councillors and others, as well as their relatives and associates. The practice was often carried out in the name of the ANC, and was even explicitly endorsed by Winnie Mandela, then-wife of the imprisoned Nelson Mandela and a senior member of the ANC.

Originally posted by neo96
if you judge a party by their heroes all it takes to look at who the left and democrats look up to

mandela,chez,mao,chavez,clinton,obama,andy stern,saul alinsky and the list goes on.

i will never be a liberal or democrat because of who they idolize.

happy birthday mandela never

happy birthday to those who dislike the left and everything they stand for and who they idolize.

Can the hatered that lies within you be more evident and apparent? This is one of the master problems this nation has is people like you who will forever put party ideaoly above nation which will lead us to our demise. Either put nation above party or else remain silent on issues like this because the more you or anyone else here plays into the con known as "The Left-v-Right" paradigm are doing TPTB's work for them by keeping us infightin over stupid nonesense., What you had just said shows how communistic your ideaological stances really root.

reply to post by TheImmaculateD1


How come it's only the lefties that push the "Left/Right" paradigm?

Sort of like covering your tracks?

How very Progressive of you.

You know what's truly pathetic about these threads, is that it's always, liberals this, left that, conservative this.

ALWAYS with the labels....

As for Mandela he certainly had more balls than the OP and fought for racial equality, for the things he believed in. That's more than can be said for this ridiculous talking shop