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Nelson Mandela Memorial Mass Mania
Coming Together under the "Global Umbrella" of Nelson Mandela?

South Africans say Good Bye to their Native Son
The World Converges on South Africa for Nelson Mandela's Memorial Service

By Scott Rohter, December 2013


"While there is nothing inherently wrong with bringing the world closer together, we must always be cognizant of who is trying to bring us closer together and why." - Scott Rohter

Prelude

There are many closet racists hidden inside of the Conservative Movement who are coming out of their closets now and trying to use the opportunity of Nelson Mandela's death and funeral to dis-inter his memory and nail a stake right through the dead man's heart. They are exposing themselves for everyone to see, but they are also hurting the Conservative Movement and casting a bad light on the Tea Party with their unseemly and hateful behavior. What they are doing is just as inappropriate as what the Left is doing by trying to elevate Nelson Mandela into some kind of a saint. The sad truth is that both sides that participated in the liberation struggle for Black South Africans committed acts of violence for which they should be sorry today in their efforts to either defend or overthrow the unjust system of Apartheid.

For anyone who wants to call Nelson Mandela a Communist or talk about "necklacing" in South Africa, I would simply ask them to read about the Sharpeville Massacre which was committed by Whites against Blacks and occurred before the A.N.C. started resorting to violence... And for Pete's sake stop trying to rehash the old rehash already... That story has been decided by the people of South Africa. This article is not about Apartheid or about the sins that were committed either in defending it or in destroying it. This article is primarily about Nelson Mandela's death and the people who are using it for their own selfish advantage. So if you don't want to learn anything more about that, then just don't read the rest of this article.

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All of the adulation is finally over now, at least for the time being, but the adoration of his admirers will undoubtedly last forever. How much of it is actually deserved or not is still a matter of debate, but it will last forever in the minds of his admirers in spite of all the Mandela family's legal bickering, and all of the current corruption going on in South Africa with the government of Jacob Zuma and the ruling African National Congress Party. They have finally stopped fighting with each other and stealing from one another long enough to lay Nelson Mandela's body to rest. So many South Africans have proved themselves to be unworthy of the personal sacrifices that he made for them. Now that his mortal remains have been placed in a humble grave near the Mandela property and next to where three of his children are buried or reburied (its hard to know which) it is just about over now.

Nelson Mandela is buried near his boyhood hometown of Qunu, South Africa. The B.B.C. called it his “ancestral homeland”. That is typical of the type of adulation that the B.B.C has shown towards the departed South African leader. That would be like calling Chicago my ancestral homeland, or saying that London is the ancestral homeland of the Queen of England, or calling Dixon, Illinois the ancestral homeland of Ronald Reagan. The B.B.C. sure knows how to lay it on thick, but with all due respect to the Mandela family can’t we just cut all the crap? And while they are doing that, why don't they all just stop fighting with each other over who is going to make the most money from Nelson Mandela's life now that he is dead. They are just disgracing their father's memory.

Nelson Mandela was buried on a small private plot in a family graveyard near the Mandela property and near the town that he grew up in. That is the truth and it is sufficient. It isn’t necessary to call it his ancestral homeland. It is a little farming village of about three hundred people, located about two hundred miles southwest of Durban where he spent his childhood. I have never seen so much adulation being paid to one man before in my life. I admit that Nelson Mandela was an important figure of this Century and the last Century, and what he accomplished with his life was a remarkable achievement, but for Pete’s sake, enough is enough already. Why is everyone trying to use his death for their own purposes, or positioning themselves to make money from his legacy. Even his heirs and family are not above crass commercialism.

There has been constant, around the clock news coverage of his life and death on radio and television ever since his passing. That’s all they can talk about at the B.B.C. Nelson Mandela this and Nelson Mandela that. They keep going on and on, day and night till it’s coming out of my ears. All of the broadcast "media hammers" over at the “Beeb” just never seem to know when to stop. Whether it’s global warming, gun control, or stories about their real life political heroes, they just keep hammering away until their socialist agenda becomes a reality.

They are covering every aspect of Nelson Mandela’s life and death. They covered his memorial service and his funeral service from start to finish like it was the most important thing occurring in the world. They filmed the arrival of every important dignitary and commented on each as if they were all Hollywood celebrities. These world leaders are elected from their respective countries to serve their people, not to be put on a pedestal and idolized, but the B.B.C elevates them to celebrity status, even the bad ones like Hugo Chavez… especially the bad ones like Hugo Chavez.

Nelson Mandela’s memorial service was covered like it was some kind of an international multi-media event with all of the pomp and circumstance that they could muster. This must have been the most widely publicized memorial service in the history of the world… I have never seen anything like it. Not even the assassination of John F. Kennedy received so much worldwide public attention. His funeral service was covered in much the very same way, complete with speeches from various heads of state, a 21 gun salute, jet flyovers, and many different public celebrities. It was covered in every painstaking detail. Can’t we try to maintain some proper perspective in the news? Nelson Mandela’s death was not the only important thing going on in the world that was noteworthy.

Even before he died the international news services were covering the former President of South Africa’s stay in the hospital with around the clock news updates on his medical condition. As his situation improved or worsened they did man on the street interviews. But it is finally over now. With his burial at Qunu there is really nothing more to say or do, at least until next year when they will mark the one-year anniversary of his death. I don’t mean to sound disrespectful in any way to Nelson Mandela, but all of the news coverage of his life and death is coming out of my ears already. I could definitely use a break.

However unlike others I am not going to say one bad word about Nelson Mandela, the man. How could I? How could anyone malign his admirable record of achievement? Someone who successfully dedicated his life to overturning such an unjust system of institutionalized racism known as Apartheid, and who was willing to spend twenty-seven years of his life locked up behind bars as a prisoner of conscious in order to accomplish his goal is worthy of respect. That is his greatest accomplishment. He managed to live his life for a higher purpose, and in so doing he earned the respect, love, and admiration of the world that he is now receiving.

Anyone who willingly agrees to spend three decades of their life in prison on a matter of principle for such a righteous cause as he did is also worthy of that respect and admiration. Not many people would do what he did. To dedicate their life to eradicating an endemic system of injustice that oppressed millions of people just because of the color of their skin as South Africa did, or because of their ethnicity as Nazi Germany did is a mission that very few people would accept.

Nevertheless I am not going to participate in what increasingly appears to me to be like the beginning of a personality cult, nor will I elevate Nelson Mandela to the status of a demi-god. He was just a man albeit he was a very determined man who rose above his own limitations and came to be regarded by millions of people around the world for his courage, determination, and perseverance. Those were his greatest achievements. But I am not comfortable with “celebrating” someone’s life with all night parties and music, and gala festivities so soon after their death, rather than giving it the seriousness and respect that such a solemn occasion deserves… at least for a few days.

What is going on in Johannesburg in the aftermath of Nelson Mandela’s death appears to be just like some kind of an excuse to throw a big party. To drink alcohol and dance the night away while carrying on like the people of South Africa are doing now is not my idea of paying the proper respect to someone’s life. It is not my style or my way of acknowledging their passing.

Instead this article focuses on another aspect of Nelson Mandela’s funeral and memorial service. It focuses on the people who are promoting Nelson Mandela’s death as a way of bringing the whole world together into one place and one mindset through the power of radio and television… His life and death are being used to try to bring the world a little closer together, and while there is nothing inherently wrong with bringing the world closer together, we must always be cognizant of who is trying to bring us closer together and why. In other words is there some underlying purpose or an ulterior motive for bringing us all together to sing Kum-bay-ya?

Nelson Mandela’s memorial service was promoted as an opportunity for everyone in the world to overlook our political differences for a while. I won’t be a part of any event that fails to recognize our deep political differences, and tries to bring the whole world together into one mindset, for one purpose which I fear is the beginning of preparations for some kind of a new world order. It reminds me of Babel in the Scriptures when all of mankind tried to achieve such a unity. I am not eagerly anticipating that kind of a unity being foisted upon humanity, or any preparations for such an order where every country and every world leader is on the same page… where someone like Robert Mugabe, or Raul Castro, and an American President can agree on anything, or act like they have something in common. They don’t.

The promoters of this world-wide multi-media event held on the occasion of Nelson Mandela’s death are trying to lay the international groundwork for some kind of a new world order. They are still in the very early stages of planning it, and we should be in the preliminary stages of resisting it. I don’t want to see a transition from the peaceful reconciliation between Blacks and Whites in South Africa which was a good thing, to the peaceful or otherwise reconciliation of some 150 different counties and their different political systems in the world which would be a bad thing.

I don’t ever want to see the reconciliation of all of the different political systems in the world into one common form of governance like they are dreaming about over there at the B.B.C. or at the United Nations. This would result in the planned merger into one political and economic union referred to euphemistically as the New World Order. This kind of a coming together would necessarily mean the end of our national sovereignty, the end of our Constitution, and the end of our liberty. So it is with skeptical eyes that I look at what is going on now in South Africa surrounding the life and death of Nelson Mandela. There is nothing wrong with unity or trying to make the world a friendlier place, but we must never overlook our serious political differences and we must always be aware of just who is trying to bring us closer together and for what purpose.

On the other hand I am equally concerned about extreme fringe groups on the right who are taking this opportunity… the occasion of Nelson Mandela’s death to criticize and condemn this man for being either a Communist or a racist who hated White people. Both of these accusations are unproven and have about as much credibility as the hateful people who are circulating them. Nelson Mandela personally denied being a Communist, and although he associated with some, and his African National Congress almost certainly did receive help and money from them, Mr. Mandela never nationalized any companies in South Africa when he was President like he once said he was going to do. I am sure that Mr. Mandela made whatever arrangements he could with whatever groups were willing to help him in his effort to overturn the unfair system of Apartheid that he lived under, and some of those groups were undoubtedly Communist or Marxist, but I do not fault him for doing whatever he could to bring about an end to the institutionalized system of oppression that he lived under in any way that he could.

The proof that Nelson Mandela was not really a Communist is that he only agreed to serve one term as President of South Africa, and when his term was over he turned the country over to the democratic process that he started. In spite of dubious land redistribution measures that have been taken after he left office, South Africa is still not a Communist country today. That is Nelson Mandela’s legacy, and it speaks a lot louder than all of the lies and innuendos that are being leveled against him now. His record is in direct contradiction to the records of real communist leaders like Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, or Vladimir Putin, who once they are in power, they never voluntarily give up power.

The struggle for freedom in South Africa for its indigenous Black people was primarily a non-violent struggle between the African National Congress and the Apartheid regime. Although violent acts were committed by both sides during the course of this conflict it did not set the main tone of the struggle. In its final stages the A.N.C. did resort to more acts of violence, but it was primarily property damage and not bloodshed that they engaged in. The confrontation was never a struggle between Communists and non-Communists. It was a struggle between the urge to oppress and the will to be free. It was not a struggle between communism and freedom. It was a struggle between freedom and unconscionable forms of oppression.

Some people have accused Nelson Mandela of being a Communist. Whether or not he ever was a Communist is debatable. Like the truth it is sometimes hard to know. The facts are these: Nelson Mandela didn’t start out as a Communist, and he didn’t end up as a Communist.
If somewhere in the middle he resorted to or with known Communists in order to achieve his goal of reforming the evil social and political system that he lived under, then one can hardly blame him. Whether or not he ever really became a Communist is not the point though. The point is that when he actually became the President of South Africa he didn’t rule like a Communist!

Furthermore I am amazed that there still are such hateful people around who can harbor such hostility in their hearts toward someone simply because of the color of their skin, and that they would try to malign such a good man’s reputation and character on the occasion of his death. That kind of fear and hate can only be overcome by the divine power of love.

Corroborating Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qunu
http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2013/07/mandela-family
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/21/newsid_2653000/2653405.stm
http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/sharpeville-massacre-21-march-1960

"The truth, the political truth, and nothing but the political truth. A journalist has no better friend than the truth." - Scott Rohter
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