R.i.p. Nelson Mandela
 

R.i.p.

rip

Legend

People often say when someone dies at an advanced age "They had a good life". Nelson Mandela made a good life. His dignified and gentle courage and deep conviction significantly changed the world for the better. Not many can have that said of them, few leave such a powerful legacy. In mourning the death of a great man millions will also celebrate his life and enormous achievement as a true humanitarian. He will doubtless rest peacefully. He should, despite his great humility, rest proudly.

Terrorist.
He signed off on the deaths of innocent people, lots of them

Nelson Mandela was the head of UmKhonto we Sizwe, (MK), the terrorist wing of the ANC and South African Communist Party. At his trial, he had pleaded guilty to 156 acts of public violence including mobilising terrorist bombing campaigns, which planted bombs in public places, including the Johannesburg railway station. Many innocent people, including women and children, were killed by Nelson Mandela’s MK terrorists. Here are some highlights

-Church Street West, Pretoria, on the 20 May 1983

-Amanzimtoti Shopping complex KZN, 23 December 1985

-Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court, 17 March 1988

-Durban Pick ‘n Pay shopping complex, 1 September 1986

-Pretoria Sterland movie complex 16 April 1988 – limpet mine killed ANC terrorist M O Maponya instead

-Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court, 20 May 1987

-Roodepoort Standard Bank 3 June, 1988

Tellingly, not only did Mandela refuse to renounce violence, Amnesty refused to take his case stating “[the] movement recorded that it could not give the name of ‘Prisoner of Conscience’ to anyone associated with violence, even though as in ‘conventional warfare’ a degree of restraint may be exercised.”

More here:

http://youtu.be/NKiePbTcAfY

May his victims rest in peace.

Incredible how much of the world respected this man and now mourns his loss, a measure of what he achieved in his lifetime and how much he inspired past (and will inspire future) generations.

R.I.P.

'Bout Time. He was suffering. RIP.

I have a friend who works at the Daily Mail :bleh: who insists that Mandela actually died months ago.

Maybe....

...maybe not

Wow. What a asshat view.

He had blood on his hands. Yes or no? Rather than resort to name calling look up and see if he admitted ordering a train station bombing or just believe what the media tells you and live in bliss. The guy was a murderer pure and simple. When a Palestinian does it he is a "terrorist" so why is this guy not one? Other than the media spoon fed you a false god? I posted a list of his atrocities and what he plead guilty to and admitted in his own book.
All you have is "asshat". Way to go.

He was able to overcome what he did and become a phenomenal leader and man. He CHANGED. I met him in Washington DC years ago at the Martin Luther king JR Center for Nonviolent Social Change. He was such an amazing man. Who changed the fate of a country. His prison term changed him.

So if I killed your parents then found Jesus and spread the word for 20 years, would you be happy with that?

Well, as someone once said, 'one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist'.

Indeed. He may have accomplished great things, but we shouldn't forget how he accomplished them.

The great things he accomplished after he came out from prison were done with gentleness, skill, and an ability to compromise and to bring two very opposed sides together. As a freedom fighter in his youth he attacked infrastructure; yes, there were casualties, but there was violence on both sides, and he was fighting against a reprehensible system of oppression.

His achievements through peaceful means over many years to establish his rainbow nation were a model. I do not ignore his days of fighting, but honour his many more years of patient negotiation. he was a remarkable man, and I think it is a shame that a thread started with good intentions should become what this one has become.

Why, do facts get in the way? It is a shame to hide from truth. That is what is a shame.

I am not "hiding from the truth", nor do I think it is right to suggest anyone else is here. Some of us simply acknowledge the greatness of a man's achievements, which in my view (and it would seem of others) outweigh the actions he took in his youth in the struggle for freedom.

That a man can reflect, learn, find other ways to achieve great things is to his credit in my view.

Those who hold their freedom of speech dear and abhor any form of censorship, enjoy their freedom, are fortunate if they have not experienced being held down as an underclass in their own country.

Now I will leave you to have the last word, because I do think this argument is a sad reflection of the way a simple thread wishing a man who achieved great things to rest in peace is turned into a mission to diminish them.

Exactly...there's a time and a place.

Indeed, a time and a place for truth. He killed innocent people, period. What exactly he supposedly did to absolve himself of that I will leave to the liberals and the media who wants us to think he was Christ-like.
He died with innocent blood on his hands.

This thread was started as a place for people to pay their respects to Mandela. If you believe his actions don't deserve respect that's fine, but an RIP thread surely isn't the place to voice that.