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I understand people's frustration with "post-apartheid" South Africa and the seeming failure of one of the world's larger and more restive social movements to improve living conditions for the vast masses of South Africans. Still, I think an item I came across through Wikipedia encapsulates why Mandela is not just another MLK and the South African struggle a lively "teachable moment" for young people with no memory of the Eastern Bloc: from an ANC memorial for Mandela -- "Madiba was also a member of the South African Communist Party, where he served in the Central Committee." http://www.anc.org.za/nelson/show.php?id=10658 Despite having some (white) relatives that live in South Africa, I have never systematically buckled down to study the thing and if this is merely transposed common knowledge, rather than a new item, his neoliberal "betrayal" of progressive hopes is more relevant. But surely no recent figure with even a Communist past bulks so large in international reputation, and this is at least interesting from the standpoint of poli. sci. Is it not a textbook example of how "popular democracy" requires socialist institutions, if there could be no ANC without the SACP? Shall we not bury and praise Mandela, as an enlightening reminder of the importance of all forms of struggle for the common weal? Jeff Rubard ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
