"Answer: No, because the perception that would then arise among our people would be that, in so far as the West is concerned, they are prepared for democracy on the basis of one man one vote, but not as far as South Africa is concerned. The democratic principle is the only answer and we are saying that one man one vote follows the same principle which is adopted in England. The only difference is that we have a large and important minority whose fears must be addressed.
"This is why I favour a bill of rights which would be above politics and give every citizen protection through the courts, if necessary against the government.
"The first democratic government that is formed must contain representatives of every population group. This will inspire confidence that we now have a new government which has ceased to think in terms of colour. There will then be no need to think in terms of separate rolls.
"We don't want to do anything to perpetuate racialism . In Britain you have a minority of blacks, but there is no talk of separate rolls.
"In America you have got a substantial group of blacks. but no talk of separate rolls. That is the proper way."
March 1990 British Press
There are so many battlegrounds in the world. One example where the quote above applies is with false prejudice-see my blog entry of 11/10/13: The Fallacy of Prejudice-which Mandella did so much to correct. Another is the battle to maintain technology in the United States (and everywhere else, for that matter, thank you very much France) and to do something about the problems of over-centralization both in manufacturing and distribution.
The "bold" language above, "a bill of rights...[to] give every citizen protection...against the government is one which I consider to be most importatnt in terms of the former.
And by coincidence this 1990's era visit to California is when I had the opportunity to sit down in a crowded Oakland area Football Statium and listened to a distant Nelson Mandella give one of his "One man/one vote" speech.
Now, it did nothing but detract from the overall effect of the speech that Palestian supporter (no s) ran through the stadium with a flag; even though it was a blatant act to make the event about something other than what it was, but injustice is injustice and the lord knows that the middle east is ground zero for much of (but by no means all) the injustice in the world and has been since recorded time. I'm sure if you spend enough time reading this blog you'll see my dispair at Bush II taking us to Afganistan which is "the graveyard of empires" because he (and congress) were too short term intelligence oriented to see past the immediate (Russian within 10 years had been almost decimated there) or the effect on the future (welcome to our world) by doing something as stupid as invading Afganistan.
Nelson Mandella himself was not much more that a dot in the distance. My far-sighted friend was not far-sighted enough to bring binoculars, although it seems to me that I did use someone else's and look at this man who would do so much to make everyone equal in South Africa and to do it much less painlessly than our own Lincoln (The man clothed in the immense power of the office of the President of the United States) who might have been able to learn some lessons on how to change the world from a man who had no power at all and lived in a prison cell and changed the world and freed his people without a shot being fired; at least not by an army he commanded.
Anyway, not much of a story after all, but there it is.
The "bold" language above, "a bill of rights...[to] give every citizen protection...against the government is one which I consider to be most importatnt in terms of the former.
And by coincidence this 1990's era visit to California is when I had the opportunity to sit down in a crowded Oakland area Football Statium and listened to a distant Nelson Mandella give one of his "One man/one vote" speech.
Now, it did nothing but detract from the overall effect of the speech that Palestian supporter (no s) ran through the stadium with a flag; even though it was a blatant act to make the event about something other than what it was, but injustice is injustice and the lord knows that the middle east is ground zero for much of (but by no means all) the injustice in the world and has been since recorded time. I'm sure if you spend enough time reading this blog you'll see my dispair at Bush II taking us to Afganistan which is "the graveyard of empires" because he (and congress) were too short term intelligence oriented to see past the immediate (Russian within 10 years had been almost decimated there) or the effect on the future (welcome to our world) by doing something as stupid as invading Afganistan.
Nelson Mandella himself was not much more that a dot in the distance. My far-sighted friend was not far-sighted enough to bring binoculars, although it seems to me that I did use someone else's and look at this man who would do so much to make everyone equal in South Africa and to do it much less painlessly than our own Lincoln (The man clothed in the immense power of the office of the President of the United States) who might have been able to learn some lessons on how to change the world from a man who had no power at all and lived in a prison cell and changed the world and freed his people without a shot being fired; at least not by an army he commanded.
Anyway, not much of a story after all, but there it is.
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