The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > Mandela's greatness may be assured, but not his legacy > Comments

Mandela's greatness may be assured, but not his legacy : Comments

By John Pilger, published 13/12/2013

When I reported from South Africa in the 1960s, the Nazi admirer Johannes Vorster occupied the prime minister's residence in Cape Town.

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. All
Oh dear.

Regarding Syria Tony Abbott said something to the effect that it wasn't the goodies versus the baddies but the baddies versus the baddies.

And so it was in South Africa.

It was always about competing gangs of thugs vying for power with the civilians caught in the middle. The breakthrough came when the ANC leadership realised that crony capitalism would serve their purposes even better than Stalinism.

I used to say that one gang of crony capitalists replaced another. But in reality I think it was more a merger of the two gangs.

And that is Mandela's legacy.

And you know what? Maybe it's the best outcome that was possible. Maybe now South Africa does have a chance to move forward. China, after all, has made great strides with a crony capitalist regime.

A merger of crony capitalist gangs is surely preferable to the sort of bloodbath we're seeing in Syria.
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Friday, 13 December 2013 10:13:14 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
The world is stuffed full of crony capitalist gangs! There are high concentrations of them in some nations like America, Britain, Australia, and many others where the intoxicating smell of money prevails.

Wherever money can be made, that's where you find them. Like blowflies around roadkill, they can be seen circling and laying their eggs. When the eggs hatch, the once firm body becomes a stinking soup. Soon, all that is left are whitening bones which foxes and feral cats chew on.

Mandela, like Jesus, saw what humans were. He had a long time in jail to think about the world and its depravity. And nothing encourages human depravity more than lots of money and power.

Did Mandela compromise himself? Of course he did but, unlike Jesus, he also achieved things for his people and his country. He must've realized that dying on a cross was rather a waste. So he lived and became a flawed legend.

Mandela was a great man, but in a world where crony capitalist gangs run the Earth, they must be dealt with and their demands heeded.

The Ancient Greeks detested the mindset of traders and money changers. They were regarded as the lowest of the low, an insult to the nobility and highmindedness of warriors and philosophers and scientists and writers.

But the disciples of greed won out in the end and the world is a rotting charnel-house of the fine dreams of what humans could have been.
Posted by David G, Friday, 13 December 2013 11:24:40 AM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
if he was such a disciple of non-violence, why did he push through a very liberal abortion law in 1994?
That is tantamount to an exercise in hypocrisy.
Posted by SHRODE, Friday, 13 December 2013 1:26:49 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
In order that our own dear anointed Leader not be pilgered by the Curse of Pilger! I hereby recommend to Parliament that it pass a Law to ban this bounder from our shores forever.

The reason? Pilger's crimes against our Queen's English and other values we hold dear.

:-P
Posted by plantagenet, Friday, 13 December 2013 5:55:51 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
dont..need to read the blurb/john
once i..thought much the same..but..mate..its a mess

a HUGE>>BIG MESS

here is some MORE..'info..to ignore

its sad enough..'the mime'..behind obomber

but it gets even worse..[how to treat
the saviour of the sudaten land]

now..http://www.google.com.au/search?q=mandela+family+charade
brain dead since june

http://guardianlv.com/2013/12/nelson-mandela-family-finally-gives-up-charade-and-admits-mandela-dead/

his family refused to turn off the life support machines hooked up to his body. Thus, the family could keep him artificially “alive.” Their motive? To settle a huge lawsuit against Mandela’s estate.

It was revealed that Mandela’s family was suing him for control of his estate and since it is impossible to sue a dead person, it seems Mandela had to be kept “alive” with machines until a resolution could be found for the lawsuit.

Thus far, there is no word on whether that lawsuit had been settled, but there are already many speculations in the press that this announcement today will begin the battles over the Mandela estate afresh.
Posted by one under god, Friday, 13 December 2013 6:33:57 PM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Apparently racial prejudice is subordinate to class interests after all, another triumph for neo-liberalism and capital.
Posted by mac, Saturday, 14 December 2013 1:41:12 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy