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How Ronald Reagan (& Others) Freed Nelson Mandela & Saved South Africa
This week marks the passing of a great, and deeply flawed man,Nelson Mandela. It is the arc of Mandela’s personal transformation from terrorist to a more dignified and effective leader of that nation’s transitional era where apartheid crumbled, and the opportunity for a more true democracy was initiated. And while Nelson Mandela deserves all or most of the accolades now pouring in for him following his death from around the globe for helping to lift his country up from the too often violent and divisive era that preceded his release after nearly thirty years in prison, so too does Ronald Reagan deserve credit for doing so much to foster an environment that allowed that release from prison, and the transformative era for South Africa that followed, to happen.
As relates to South Africa, Ronald Reagan wasn’t “on the wrong side of history” – he helped make that history.
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Now some within the liberal media have long attempted to portray the Reagan administration as being “on the wrong side of history” regarding the fall of apartheid in South Africa. They ignore the fact that the Soviet Union was very active throughout the African continent throughout the 1960′s, 70′s, and 80′s, activity that in fact was a direct influence on the more violent, Marxist ideology that dominated the younger, (and far less noble) version of Nelson Mandela.
So too did Ronald Reagan attempt to navigate around the too often clumsy, counter-productive generalized sanctions against the South African government in the 1980′s. That navigation was no indication of support for the apartheid regime – far from it. Reagan detested tyrannical government of any kind, but instinctively knew that simple sanctions would do little to nothing to quell the divisions within the country, or foster an environment of negotiation and mutual cooperation essential for a peaceful transition. Liberal history has also chosen to ignore the fact that when president, Ronald Reagan openly called for Mandela’s release from prison, an act that was then repeated by other leaders from Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and others nations.
continue article at The Ulsterman Report:
It’s not a balance view of Mandela to leave his radicalism out of his tributes. For a time he believed ending apartheid would require armed resistance, and although he eventually renounced violence, he refused to do so as a condition of being released from prison. He was a revolutionary who believed in a radical redistribution of wealth, and a global warrior against poverty, to the end. Yes, it’s important to remember his legacy of reconciliation, and love, toward white South Africans who had brutalized him. But it’s equally important to remember the commitment to equality that let him endure prison, and adopt reconciliation as the best strategy to achieve freedom and justice.
RIP Mandela