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Nelson Mandela dead at 95, Dec 5th 2013

Eye In The Sky

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http://www.cbc.ca/news/nelson-mandela-dead-at-95-1.2417872]Article Link

Nelson Mandela, one of the greatest leaders of modern times, passed away Thursday at his home in Johannesburg after a prolonged lung infection. He was 95.
South African President Jacob Zuma announced that Mandela, "the founding president of our democratic nation, has departed," adding that he "passed on peacefully."

"Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father," Zuma said.

"Our thoughts are with the millions of people who embraced Mandela as their own and who saw his cause as their cause.… This is the moment of our deepest sorrow.”

Mandela will be accorded a state funeral, Zuma said, and national flags will be lowered to half-mast.

"We saw in him what we seek in ourselves. And in him we saw so much of ourselves," he said. "Nelson Mandela brought us together and it is together that we will bid him farewell."

Mandela's respiratory problems in recent years may be connected to his imprisonment, when he contracted tuberculosis after working in a prison quarry. He had been in hospital in recent months.

His hospitalization on June 8, 2013, marked his fifth visit to hospital in two years. In April 2013, he spent 10 days in hospital after being treated for pneumonia.

Mandela was a prominent international figure for more than half a century, first as a leading human rights campaigner in South Africa and then as the world's best-known political prisoner.

Following his release, he again became the leader of the anti-apartheid struggle, and in 1994 became the first president of a democratic South Africa.

On July 18, 2009, the first Mandela Day declared by the United Nations, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoke about how "Nelson Mandela has made a lasting imprint on our lives."

More at link

RIP Mr Mandela. 
 
Mandela, giant among men who epitomized the good in our world, has died at age 95 of complications from a recurring lung infection.

"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies."

RIP Good Sir

:salute:
 
Posted by a friend on FB:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

 
I am very saddened to hear of his passing.  I was exposed to his legacy amongst South African's when I had the pleasure to visit in 09.  He was a far far better man than I could ever hope to be with forgiving his enemies and encouraging forgiveness.  My wife and I are going back in March-April it will be a different country I'm sure.
Tonight in the mess, I raised a glass to Mr. Mandela.  RIP. Sir.  I wish I was half the man you were.  :salute:
 
The world is sad tonight at his loss, but much is better for his having lived.  :salute: 
 
cupper said:
The world is sad tonight at his loss, but much is better for his having lived.  :salute:

I think he was a great man, and did much for the blacks of his country,
but I'm still puzzling about the ``world`` part ... 

How is Asia, Oceania, America, Europe better ?
 
There's always that one guy on FB...

Says "Good riddance Mr. Mandela..."

"Blah... blah... He's a terrorist."

Oh well.

A noble man that ended a terrible time for his fellow humans.

:salute:
 
"Blah... blah... He's a terrorist."
Well, for all he accomplished against the practice of Apartheid, he was involved in political violence and bombings back in the 60s, so I wouldn't call him a spotless saint.
 
When the POLICE is firing upon crowds of peaceful protestors unprovoked, maybe responding in kind is the only course of action. It worked, didn't it?
 
I dunno, but I think opposition to a terrible thing doesn't necessarily justify doing terrible things yourself. Martin Luther King Junior IMHO is more of a hero in that he managed to accomplish what he did without ever endorsing violence.

That might seem weird coming from a guy who is applying to join a military, but it isn't really. I (somewhat obviously) agree that violence is sometimes necessary when other options fail, but the fact that Mandela was more successful in later periods when he had de-facto given up on endorsing violent attacks only goes further to prove that it wasn't necessary.

Just my 2 cents. In short I applaud what he accomplished, but I'm not going to write any hagiographies.
 
For what it's worth, aparteid in South Africa was far worse than the civil rights issues in the US, and even today it is not even close to gone. Also, there were plenty of violent civil rights activists in the US which probably also helped move the cause along.
 
Yrys said:
I think he was a great man, and did much for the blacks of his country,
but I'm still puzzling about the ``world`` part ... 

How is Asia, Oceania, America, Europe better ?
By being an inspiration to other people on how to be better men/women.  I am just one person, he inspires me.  I'm not alone.  So if I'm less of a dick, that's a positive effect.
 
What the PM had to say in the House of Commons last night:
Mr. Speaker, when I look back on the sweep of political history over my lifetime, what may be the most important development of all has been the struggle and the successes against the phenomenon of racial discrimination over the past half century or so. In this regard there has been no more powerful symbol in the world than Nelson Mandela.

    There has been no more powerful symbol of the struggle and the successes against discrimination than Nelson Mandela. With his death, the world is losing a great moral leader and statesman.

    The world has lost one of its great moral leaders and statesmen. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years by the former government of South Africa for his part in the struggle that would ultimately end the system of apartheid. Despite his long years of captivity, Mr. Mandela left prison with his mind closed to any settling of scores and his heart open to those he had fought against.

    He sought truth and reconciliation, and he worked for greater understanding among all people.

    He demonstrated that the only path forward for his nation was to reject the appeal of bitterness. His magnanimity spared all South Africans incalculable suffering.

    Nelson Mandela’s enduring legacy for his country, and the world, is the example he set through his own long walk to freedom.

    He showed how people can shape better tomorrows and do so in their own time. Nelson Mandela's long march to freedom, his grace and humility throughout that walk, and the bridge to the future he built for his people as he proceeded along it ensures that his remarkable example will inform others for generations.

    On behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians, Laureen and I and all of my colleagues wish to extend our condolences to Mr. Mandela's widow, Graça Machel, his entire family, and all citizens of South Africa. Canada, a nation Mr. Mandela honoured by becoming our first-ever honorary citizen, mourns with them and with the entire world today.
 
PMedMoe said:

``The sequence of events, as Bizos, who accompanied Mandela to Oslo, told it, was this.
When de Klerk’s turn came to give his Nobel acceptance speech, Mandela expected him
to make some acknowledgement of apartheid’s cruelties and injustices, to make some
sort of apology for white South Africa’s past sins. De Klerk did not. Instead he limited
himself to saying that “mistakes” had been made on all sides. Bizos recalled looking
at Mandela and seeing him shake his head. ``

``Bizos said he was aghast to hear such venom spill from his old friend’s lips. “He
gave the most horrible detail of what happened to prisoners on Robben Island,”
said Bizos, referring to the Alcatraz on the southern Atlantic where Mandela spent
18 of his 27 years in jail. He told a story, Bizos recalled, of prison warders on the
island “burying a man in the sand up to his head and urinating on him. ... He told
it as an example of the inhumanity there had been in this system, though he did
actually stop short of saying ‘Look, here are the people who represented that system.’ ” ``

It wasn't venom. It was fact.
 
An interesting interview on NPR

Robert Siegel talks to writer Walter Isaacson about the legacy of Nelson Mandela and what makes a "great man" (with a nod to Thomas Carlyle's "great man theory" of the 19th century). Isaacson has written biographies of other great historical figures, including Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin. He says history is made by individuals and Mandela was a person who changed the course of history.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=249339961
 
Okay, he did some great things and was a great man to a lot of people.

However, he's dead and buried. How much longer is the news, electronic and print, going to subject us to all things Mandela.

Soon he'll be showing up as a figure on burnt toast and wallpaper mould in the tabloids.

Never mind the myriad of books and movies in the works.

I, for one, have heard enough for now.

Just my  :2c:
 
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