In the research for my book Madiba AtoZ, The Many Faces of Nelson Mandela, commissioned by the producer of the movie Mandela Long Walk to Freedom, i heard many stories of Mandela's pragmatic right turn away from nationalization and struct regulation of big business for fear that would alienate the country from the West.
This troubled many in the ANC like Ronnie Kasrils, a former commander in the ANC's armed struggle who became a Minister of Intelligence, now scolds his comrades for not holding firm as poverty and inequality remains pervasive.
He told me:
"What I call our Faustian moment came when we took an IMF loan on the eve of our first democratic election. That loan, with strings attached that precluded a radical economic agenda, was considered a necessary evil, as were concessions to keep negotiations on track and take delivery of the promised land for our people. Doubt had come to reign supreme: we believed, wrongly, there was no other option, that we had to be cautious, since by 1991 our once powerful ally, the Soviet Union, bankrupted by the arms race, had collapsed. Inexcusably, we had lost faith in the ability of our own revolutionary masses to overcome all obstacles. Whatever the threats to isolate a radicalizing South Africa, the world could not have done without our vast reserves of minerals.To lose our nerve was not necessary or inevitable."
This, too, is part of the Mandela legacy that does not feature in the coverage, and hence, what conversation there has been around it.
When he spent those long years in prison, photos of Mandela's image were strictly prohibited in South Africa. Most of the world media did not press his jailers to give them access, and went along with the prohibitions. Censorship there was accompanied by self-censorship here because media outlets feared they could be denied access when and if things began to change.
Africa has never been covered fully or fairly, and that is unlikely to change. Wrote former ANC Leader Pallo Jordan in South Africa's leading business newspaper: "South Africa will not experience such a proud moment for a lifetime or two! Not only the does this moment demonstrate the tremendous goodwill South Africa enjoys, thanks to Mandela, it is also a symbolic expression of the world community's unmistakable endorsement of the achievements of South African democracy."
Yet, many Western countries whose own democracies are being challenged don't want this spectacle to go on too long; it could inspire more activism of a kind that is being suppressed in countries like the Ukraine, China Egypt and Turkey. (It shouldn't be surprising that leaders like Netanyahu and Putin were no shows at the memorial).
You can bury people like Nelson Mandela but you can't bury their ideas, example and triumphs.
News Dissector Danny Schechter made six non-fiction films about Nelson Mandela and has written Madiba AtoZ (Madibabook.com).
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