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xocet

(3,870 posts)
Sat Dec 7, 2013, 04:55 PM Dec 2013

History Retrieved in Spite of the NYT: The iconicity of “peaceful resistance”

The iconicity of “peaceful resistance”
by Three Fingered Fox on December 6, 2013

Before it falls down the memory hole, it should be noted that the online US edition of the New York Times marked the sad passing of the great Nelson Mandela with this odd headline: “Nelson Mandela, South African Icon of Peaceful Resistance, Dies”. (They’ve since changed it to “South Africa’s…Moral Center”, which sounds like a place FIFA could have held business ethics conventions during the last World Cup.)

“Icon of Peaceful Resistance” makes it sound like Mandela was an advocate and practitioner of nonviolence. He wasn’t. Apartheid was above all a socioeconomic system of structured viciousness: the whites were not going to give up their advantages without a fight. The struggle against Apartheid was necessarily bloody. The symbolic force of an “icon”, no matter how noble its martyrdom, could not have defeated Apartheid. It had to be defeated at the cost of lives. Mandela always knew this.

Mandela founded and ran Umkhonto we Sizwe, the paramilitary wing of the ANC, which carried out armed resistance and a bombing campaign. The bombings mostly targeted high-profile pieces of property, but were nevertheless responsible for many civilian deaths. Umkhonto we Sizwe also executed collaborators.

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http://threefingeredfox.net/?p=98


History from the site South African History Online (http://www.sahistory.org.za/)


uMkhonto weSizwe (MK)

On 16 December this year, it will have been 50 years since Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) was launched as an armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC).

To mark this anniversary, SAHO will be updating this feature, specifically, the organisation’s history in exile; focusing on its activities in numerous countries in Southern Africa. Countries that will be covered in this series include Angola, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania.

The presence of MK in countries like Angola and Lesotho has been covered in some detail in the past, so it was easy to start off this series of histories with these 2 countries. Our challenge is now to develope material on those exile histories that have not been covered in detail. If you have any information that you feel should be added to this feature, from names of unsung heroes to information about certain campaigns and camps.

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http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/umkhonto-wesizwe-mk


It is interesting what is forgotten.


US embarrassment at terror list inclusion
Saturday, December 07, 2013

In 2008, just before his 90th birthday, the United States gave Nelson Mandela a special present, striking him from a decades-old terror watch list and ending what US officials called “a rather embarrassing matter”.

...

In the 1980s however, late Democratic US senator Ted Kennedy drafted legislation with senator Lowell Weicker that would eventually become one of the global catalysts leading to the collapse of the apartheid system.

President Ronald Reagan sought to bury their 1986 anti-apartheid bill aiming to impose economic sanctions on South Africa, by imposing his veto, saying he believed it would only lead to more violence and repression for black South Africans.

But for the first and only time that century, Congress rebelled and overrode Reagan’s veto on a foreign policy issue, passing legislation that slapped sanctions on Pretoria, snapped direct air links and cut vital aid.

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http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/us-embarrassment-at-terror-list-inclusion-251982.html


Here is the US government record of the US Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 and some of its legislative history:


H.R.4868
Latest Title: Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986
Sponsor: Rep Gray, William H., III [PA-2] (introduced 5/21/1986) Cosponsors (106)
Related Bills: H.RES.478, H.RES.548, H.R.997, H.R.1098, S.2701
Latest Major Action: 10/2/1986 Became Public Law No: 99-440.

MAJOR ACTIONS:

5/21/1986 Introduced in House
6/11/1986 House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Discharged by Unanimous Consent.
6/13/1986 Reported to House (Amended) by House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Report No: 99-638 (Part I).
6/16/1986 Reported to House (Amended) by House Committee on Ways and Means. Report No: 99-638 (Part II).
6/18/1986 Passed/agreed to in House: Passed House (Amended) by Voice Vote.
8/15/1986 Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate in lieu of S. 2701 with an amendment by Yea-Nay Vote. 84-14. Record Vote No: 252.
9/12/1986 Resolving differences -- House actions: House Agreed to Senate Amendments by Yea-Nay Vote: 308 - 77 (Record Vote No: 381).
9/12/1986 Cleared for White House.
9/15/1986 Presented to President.
9/26/1986 Vetoed by President.
9/29/1986 Passed House over veto: Passed House Over Veto by Yea-Nay Vote: 313 - 83 (Record Vote No: 425).
10/2/1986 Passed Senate over veto: Passed Senate over veto by Yea-Nay Vote. 78-21. Record Vote No: 311.
10/2/1986 Became Public Law No: 99-440.
Note: Public Law enacted over veto.

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http://thomas.loc.gov/home/bills_res.html
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