Mandela

Nelson Mandela is a historical figure of epic proportions.  It might sound funny coming from someone who just wrote about hyperbole and its abuse in popular culture, but if ever there was a man to whom the term epic can be applied, it was Mr. Mandela.

Mr. Mandela is criticized by some conservatives as a communist because he consorted with them and dictators, too.  Frankly, if I were living under the horrible conditions in which Mr. Mandela found himself and his people, I'd reach out to anyone who would help us get out of them.  The old phrase the enemy of my enemy is my friend does have application in this situation.

There is historical precedent that many conservatives won't want to admit. Upon the outbreak of World War I, Roger Casement negotiated with Germany to get materiel with which to fight the British occupation forces, under whose boot the Irish had been living for centuries.  The plot was uncovered, the weapons seized and Casement executed for treason to the crown.  Had I been living in Ireland during that time, I would have been involved in the conspiracy.

That's why criticizing Mandela for his links to communism is a morally bankrupt exercise.  Apartheid had segmented the population along the same lines as slavery and discrimination had in the United States prior to the 1970's.  To complain that a person sought equality using any means possible once the non-violent ones were removed from the discussion is putting form over substance.  The ultimate goals -- equality and freedom -- which are, after all, God-given, should be attainable by any means necessary once they've been denied democratic application.  It's not the nicest outcome, but is the alternative, being subject to another people not by one's choice, better?

I'm sure there were some nasty episodes in Mr. Mandela's past.  Armed rebellion isn't clean and pretty.  But the ultimate goals were worth the struggle, and Mr. Mandela competently navigated his country through troubled waters.  What's more, he had the good sense not to seek revenge once he came to power, something that should go a long way to negating the ugliness of the means he used to achieve freedom and equality for his people.  History is replete with rebels who, upon overthrowing the establishment and assuming control, wrought havoc on the vanguished.

In the end, Mr. Mandela was a human with all the flaws and endowments the come with the condition.  He should be judged accordingly and not solely on the basis of his time as a rebel.

As an aside, I am still troubled by the notion that the Irish could ever be slaveholders.  To take my own argument and apply it, the Irish have all the flaws and endowments of any human, but for a people with such a long history of being subjugated, I'm ashamed and saddened that there were Irish slaveholders, first, and that some Irish still view blacks as less than human.  In this sense, my fellow Irishmen could take a page out of Mr. Mandela's book and learn how to treat those whom they've overcome.

It's said that history is written by the victors.  In purely imperial terms, the Brits beat the Irish.  In survivor's terms, the Irish won.  But as more and more history is uncovered and published about the Brits' treatment of Ireland and the Irish, just who won may be unclear.  Still, the Irish and those descended from them should keep George Santayana's dictum in mind, because it's the right thing to do to treat others equally.

Thucydides wrote in his magnum opus History of the Peloponnesian War wrote that it was even more important to be magnanimous in victory as it is to be humble in defeat.  Mr. Mandela understood this, and his country and its people have benefited from his guidance.

(c) 2013 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles