
A Stain on Mandela's Sanctity

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16 years 9 months ago
At first, I was in total agreement that Mr. Mandela's silence was uncharacteristic and questionable. However, upon further reflection I wonder if his silence was the result of a sort of horrendous ''Sophie's Choice'' situation, born of the assumption that if he had stood on the world stage at this moment in time, feted as the venerable and honored stateman, and lambasted Mugabe, as the world's villain (which surely he is)hundreds might have immediately paid with their lives in hideous and tortuous ways as Mugabe might well have sought blood retaliation against his former colleague's statements. On the worst and grandest scale, this represents the same predicament we all face when we see or hear a parent treating a child cruelly; we know we are bound to make a report, but if we say something directly to the parent, will we make things worse for the child or for any other children in the home? Mandela has seen enough of torture and suffering. Perhaps we should leave the question of his sanctity to God, after all.
16 years 9 months ago
I couldn't agree more. Mandela missed a golden opportunity on Friday to increase his stature as a global statesman. And if early reports coming from the African Union meeting in Cairo are any indication, the AU also won't call Mugabe to task for his fraudulent (and violent) re-election as president of Zimbabwe. All of this is a painful reminder that the development of democracy in Africa has many years to go.
16 years 9 months ago
I agree that Mr Mandela, for all his good points, missed what should have been one of his biggest moments of moral leadership. "...the anti-colonialist omerta..." - what a brilliant statement of unfortunate fact. We see this all too often, not only in nations with a legacy of colonization by other powers, but in our own country, where it is more important to retain solidarity with the group than it is to see justice done (consider the "stop snitching" campaigns that force misguided and fearful inner-city residents from cooperating with the police to rid their neighborhoods of drugs and violent criminals). I hope Mr Mandela can look at himself in the mirror after this cowardly squandering of his moral authority.
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