Mandela And The African Liberation Struggle

by Horace Campbell Counterpunch

( December 13, 2013, Beijing, Sri Lanka Guardian) On Thursday December 5, 2013 the people of South Africa lost one of the foremost freedom fighters and re olutionary !ho made his mar" on humans e ery!here# $elson %olihlahla &andela !as born in South Africa in 1'1( and matured as Africans in South Africa rose to the challenges posed by the most brutal social and economic system of that moment, the system called apartheid# &andela has no! )oined the ancestors and he has left his mar" beside those great humans *such as &ahatmas +andhi, &artin ,uther -ing .r, %osa /ar"s, 0mm -ulthum, 1he +ue ara and %osa ,u2emburg3 !hose greatness

emerged from the mo ements that created them# The forms of struggle that emerged from South Africa inspired the refinement of the philosophy of 0buntu# This is a philosophy that says one4s humanity is being enriched by another4s and that as humans !e are lin"ed to a !ider uni erse and spiritual !orld# &andela had said clearly of 0buntu, 5The spirit of 0buntu 6 that profound Africa sense that !e are human beings only through the humanity of other human beings 6 is not a parochial phenomenon, but has added globally to our common search for a better !orld#7 The philosophy of Ubuntu challenged the ideals of individualism, greed, unhealthy competition, obscene self-enrichment and those destructive forms of human association that have brought the planet to the brink of extinction. When the movement elevated elson !andela to the position as "resident of a politically free #outh $frica in %&&', after () years of incarceration, the political leadership of #outh $frica sought to give practical meaning to the philosophy of Ubuntu by establishing a Truth and *econciliation Commission +T*C,. -n all parts of the .orld, the international media remember !andela and his contributions to peace and reconciliation but the same corporate media seeks to confuse the youth by marketing !andela as an unusual individual .ho performed the /miracle0 of ending apartheid. -n the process of the .all to .all media coverage of the celebration of the life of elson !andela, it is important that the voice of $frica is clear on the meaning of !andela. !andela .as against racism and the dehumani1ing social system that created hierarchies. $s peace activists it is vital that .e remember !andela as a defender of peace and social 2ustice and the fact that he .as an extraordinary human being. What is important to remember is a product of a social movement3 the extraordinary circumstances of the oppression of apartheid created this !andela. !andela 2oined a social movement, the anti-apartheid movement and for a moment in history, he became the symbol of the struggle against .ar and apartheid. His freedom came from the sacrifices of millions, especially the youth of #o.eto and the .orkers from the !ass 4emocratic !ovement .ho laid do.n a marker for the ne. tactics of revolution. While he .as the "resident of #outh $frica, !andela .orked for peace in 5urundi and Central $frica and .orked hard to end the .estern manipulation of .ho can be branded as a terrorist. Those .ho branded !andela as a terrorist are seeking to program the minds of the youth to see !andela as some sort of visionary leader 6dropped from heaven7 .ithout links to real struggles for peace. !andela .as very clear that his life .as linked to the collective struggles of humans every.here, and .hen he .as released in 8ebruary %&&9 he said, 6$mandla, $mandla : greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all. - stand here before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people.7 This media coverage of elson !andela challenges contemporary freedom fighters to contemplate ne. tactics, ne. tools of struggles and ne. net.orks for peace in order to complete the tasks of ending global apartheid. The $frican ational Congress in government had been trapped by its inheritance of the social capital of the apartheid state. e. forms of organi1ation and ne. ideas .ill be needed as humans gird themselves to fight against the nefarious forms of racism, exclusion and oppression that have been refined by global capital as

unbridled capitalism seeks to turn our youths into mindless consumers. -t is up to the youth to gird themselves for the ne. phase of internationalism and peace activism so that .e can create the conditions for the inspiration presented by the life of elson !andela to be grasped in all corners of the globe. !andela lived a full life and .e .ant to add to the tributes as .e celebrate his life of struggle. The society that created elson !andela $s soon as it became clear that the most obscene forms of .hite supremacy could not survive after the massive resistance of peoples in all parts of the globe, international ne.s programmers began to present elson !andela .ho, as a visionary leader, single handedly ended apartheid. 5ooks, films, documentaries, blogs and other mainstream media seek to present the changes in #outh $frica .ithout reference to the reality that elson !andela al.ays represented a liberation movement. -nevitably, as the movement mobili1ed around the release of elson !andela .hen he had been incarcerated for () years, !andela became a symbol of the antiapartheid struggle. $s the struggle matured in the final phase after his release from 2ail on 8ebruary %%, %&&9 the myth making .as developed as part of an election campaign. -t is this mythmaking that ensured the positive and the negative in the representation of elson !andela to a generation that .as not yet born .hen the liberation struggles .ere at the peak. When !andela .as born in the village of ;unu, in the province that .as called Cape "rovince, the Union of #outh $frica had been formed eight years earlier. The Union government had celebrated the crushing of the 5ambata rebellions and in the face of the failure of open military rebellions by regional military forces, the $frican ational Congress had been formed in %&%(. !andela gre. up in #outh $frica in the turbulent period of the %&<90s capitalist depression. -t .as in the midst of this depression .hen the capitalists of #outh $frica refined the repression of black mine .orkers and inculcated in .hite .orkers the idea that they +.hites, .ere not .orkers but from a superior race. With the villages of #outh $frica and the .ider region of #outhern $frica providing cheap labour for the mines, mining capital reaped super profits at a moment .hen the instability in the international monetary system re=uired a steady supply of gold from #outh $frica. The royal families of the pre >Union society could not escape the effects of the deformities of segregation and dehumani1ation. !issionaries .ere deployed to teach sons of chiefs and it .as from one of the missionaries that !andela received the name elson because the missionaries had difficulties saying *olihlahla. $fter this missionary education !andela .as sent to 8ort Hare University and it .as in this University .here the other famous anti-apartheid and anticolonial stal.arts .ere groomed. ?. @. !atthe.s, Aovan !beki, Bliver Tambo, Coshua komo, Walter #isulu, *obert #obuk.e, 4esmond Tutu and *obert !ugabe .ere some of the notable students in the forties at this University. $s an activist he .as expelled from 8ort Hare and he .ent on to study Da. at the University of Wit.atersrand. elson !andela 2oined the $frican ational Congress +$ C, in %&'( and in %&'', along .ith Walter #isulu, *obert #obuk.e, and Bliver Tambo, they formed the Eouth .ing of the $ C. This youth .ing 2oined the hundreds of anti-colonial movements all over the .orld and .hen the repressive legal structures of apartheid .ere formalised to support the social divisions, the peoples responded .ith a 8reedom Charter. The #harpeville massacres of !arch (%, %&F9

foreclosed all possibilities of a peaceful non >violent opposition to apartheid and in %&F( !andela .as dispatched to the independent states of $frica to gain support for the armed .ing of the $ C, Umkhonto .e #i1.e +abbreviated as !@, translated as 6#pear of the ation,. !andela .as one of the co-founders of !@ and he received training in many $frican countries before he returned to #outh $frica. !andela participated in the debates about unity and struggle that .ere at that time raging in the "an $frican 8reedom !ovement for Gast and Central $frica +"$8!GC$,. #elf Brgani1ation of the Eouth of #o.eto #outh West Cohannesburg +#o.eto, .as one of those dormitory to.ns that .ere a reservoir of cheap labour for the rich and middle class .hites in the suburbs of Cohannesburg. !andela .as arrested in %&F( for planning 6sabotage7 of the government and .as branded a terrorist by the #outh $frican state. The U# military and intelligence agencies .orked hand in glove .ith the apartheid military to crush opposition from the $frican ma2ority. 8rom %&)< the .orkers of 4urban had given notice that there .ould be ne. organi1ational forms to oppose apartheid and the youth of #o.eto follo.ed .ith the massive uprisings of %&)F. These rebellions are central to the kind of politics that developed in the period .hen !andela .as incarcerated after the *ivonia trials in %&F'. The sacrifices of the youth and their determination had created ne. alliances and these alliances matured in the !ass 4emocratic !ovement and the United 4emocratic 8ront +U48,. While elson !andela as a la.yer had been groomed to focus on the legal =uestions of the apartheid la.s, the social =uestions of health, education, housing, police brutality placed the fight against apartheid on a ne. terrain as the $ C .orked to remain alive in the heat of the conservative push of *onald *eagan and !argaret Thatcher. The formation of the U48 had provided for an alternative source of political po.er at the grassroots and strengthened the capacity of the resistance to transform their conception of the long term struggles to create an alternative to the social system. 8or.ard planers for the investors in the Cohannesburg #tock Gxchange .ere sufficiently alarmed .hen the rebellions of the youth rendered #outh $frica ungovernable and apartheid un.orkable. $fter the killing of #teve 5iko, the planners sought out the brightest from among these rebellious youth to send them to be trained as future leaders in orth $merican and Guropean Universities. Those educated in the schools of the West became the experts after return to #outh $frica to be at the forefront of the negotiations for the form of society to be built after apartheid. 8ree !andela Committees .ere an integral of the global antiapartheid struggles. -n response to these local, regional and international alliances to end apartheid the #outh $frican 4efence forces +#$48, spread death and destruction in the to.nships and across the region of #outhern $frica. The terrorism of apartheid along .ith the killing of more than ( million in the neighboring states did not break the .ill of the people. -f anything, international solidarity intensified .ith the support of the Cubans assisting the $ngolans to fight the apartheid army at Cuito Cuanavale. The importance of Cuito Cuanavale Bne of the many tasks of .estern propaganda organs has been to do.nplay the sacrifices of the peoples of the region of #outhern $frica for the independence of amibia %&&9, the release of elson !andela, and the negotiations to end apartheid. The epic battles at Cuito Cuanavale

bet.een Bctober %&H) and Cune %&HH changed the history of $frica. The #$48 had invaded $ngola .ith the plan to impose Conas #avimbi in Duanda and to defeat the freedom fighters from amibia of the #outh West $frica "eople0s Brgani1ation +#W$"B,. The apartheid army became bogged do.n at the crossroads of t.o rivers in #outhern $ngola. -n order to intimidate the peoples of $frica the #$48 had manufactured tactical nuclear .eapons .ith the assistance of the -sraeli state. When the #outh $frican army became bogged do.n the "resident of #outh $frica, ".W.5otha fle. to the frontlines of the battles in $ngola to broker a debate bet.een the generals on .hether #outh $frica should deploy and use its nuclear capabilities. The international isolation of the .hite racist regime meant that there .as no sympathy for this option, even from the conservative *eagan $dministration. The racist army had to fight against a confident $ngolan military .ith Cuban reinforcements. $fter nine months fighting the #$48 .as roundly defeated .ith the remnants of the #$48 retreating on foot to orthern amibia. -n order to rescue the #$48 so that the military .ould not be routed as the 8rench army .as routed at 4ien 5ien "hu in %&I', in stepped the U# $ssistant #ecretary of #tate for $frican $ffairs, Chester Crocker to broker the decent .ithdra.al of the #$48 from amibia. This battle .as episodic and 8idel Castro rightly asserted that the History of $frica .ill be .ritten as that of before Cuito Cuanavale and after Cuito Cuanavale. elson !andela and the #outh $frican struggles after Cuito Cuanavale elson !andela0s .alk of 8reedom out of incarceration in %&&9 had represented a ma2or step in the peoples of the .orld for a ne. system after apartheid. Ho.ever, those .ho o.ned the banks, the mines, the insurance companies and the land .ere planning for a post-apartheid society .here the capital remained in the hands of the .hite minority along .ith ne. black allies. -nternational capital had grasped the full implications of black partners in societies such as @enya, ?imbab.e, Cameroons, $lgeria and igeria. Hence even .hile the negotiations .ere on going for the e. #ociety in The Convention for a 4emocratic #outh $frica +CB4G#$,, the more far sighted elements such as the Bppenheimer family of $nglo-$merican Corporation .orked to support those .ithin the movement that believed that the end of $partheid .as for the development of a class of black entrepreneurs under 5lack Gconomic Gmpo.erment +5GG,. The nature of the ine=ualities in #outh $frica today demonstrates the success of the plan to create black allies. Cyril *amaphosa is the poster child of a militant trade union leader of the anti-apartheid era .ho became a mining magnate after apartheid, exploiting the very .orkers he had vo.ed to defend. The image of Cyril *amaphosa .ho had escorted elson !andela out of "rison in %&&9 operating and multibillionaires .as one sign of the class formation in #outh $frica. -n (9%(, the political leaders of the $ C oversa. a government that shot <' !arikana .orkers .ho .ere striking for better conditions at the "latinum !ines in #outh $frica. -t .as a proper clarification of the politics of transformation .hen *amaphosa, a multibillionaire, emerged as the spokesperson for the o.ners of the "latinum !ines in re2ecting the demands of the .orkers for better .orking conditions and better .ages. The $ C and its tripartite alliance of the Communist "arty, the Congress of #outh $frican Trade Unions +CB#$TU, had fashioned a theoretical basis for the enrichment of a fe. by arguing that before #outh $frica could enter the phase of transformation beyond capitalism there had to be the development of the productive forces. elson !andela .as caught in %&&' in the midst of the alliance and .ithin five years sought to extricate himself by stepping do.n as "resident of

#outh $frica in %&&& after one term. Ubuntu in practice, the Truth and *econciliation Commission +T*C, Bne of the sterling contributions of the #outh $frican struggle .as to be able to clarify the differences bet.een restorative 2ustice and retributive 2ustice, based on Ubuntu. -n fact, !andela not only embraced Ubuntu, under his political leadership, there .as an attempt to bring the ideas of Ubuntu from its philosophical level to the level of practical politics in .ays that helped avert bloodbath to form a better society, ho.ever imperfect. $nd this .as in part done through the establishment of a Truth and *econciliation Commission. -n the three years after the release of !andela, the international media .as predicting a bloodbath in #outh $frica if 5lacks .ere to emerge victorious from the first democratic elections in %&&'. Those .ith strategic control over the means of violence sought to make this bloodbath a reality right up to the moment .hen !andela .as inaugurated in !ay %&&' as the first 5lack "resident of a 4emocratic #outh $frica. Bne year after !andela became "resident, the "arliament of #outh $frica established the "romotion of ational Unity and *econciliation $ct, o. <' of %&&I. This became the legal frame.ork for the establishment of the Truth and *econciliation Commission and !andela thre. his international .eight behind the process of *econciliation. While the T*C .as holding sessions under the Chairperson 4esmond Tutu, !andela made a number of public gestures to demonstrate the fact that he supported full reconciliation bet.een the oppressed blacks and the oppressors. Bf the t.o most public of these gestures .ere the visit to have tea .ith !rs 5etsie Jer.oerd at Briana in %&&I and donning the 2ersey of the segregated #outh $frican rugby team in the World Cup in #outh $frica. !rs Jer.oerd, the .ido. of the architect of the most brutal apartheid structures had retreated to the to.n of Brania in the Cape seeking to establish an all-.hite to.n because the .hites could not live under a black political leadership. The extreme $frikaners around !rs Jer.oerd had chosen the small community to set up a laager and the .hites in the to.n did not .ant any black around, not even black servants. These .hites did not recogni1e !andela as the legitimate "resident of a 8ree #outh $frica. !andela took the bold step of travelling to this all .hite to.n of Brania to demonstrate to !rs Jer.oerd that the ne. #outh $frica .as based on forgiveness and .illingness to share, core principles of Ubuntu. This gesture .as relayed all over the .orld by the local and international media as !andela sat do.n to have tea .ith the people .ho .ere responsible for arresting and incarcerating him. T.o months earlier !andela had orchestrated another public act by going to the *ugby World Cup !atch and putting on the 2ersey of the #outh $frican team. #porting activities had been one of the strongest bases for segregation in the society and in all areas of sporting activity !andela inspired #outh $frica to rise above the structural violence that had become part and parcel of #outh $frica. $t the legal level, #outh $frica0s post-apartheid constitution is one of the most progressive in the .orld, and it dra.s on Ubuntu to enshrine e=ual constitutional rights for all > black, .hite, colored, .omen, youths, elderly people and same-gender-loving persons. This effort at *econciliation at the legal level and at the public level .ent side by side as the T*C started hearings in Cape To.n in %&&F. The mandate of the commission had been to bear .itness to, record and in some cases grant amnesty to the perpetrators of crimes relating to human rights violations, as .ell as reparation and rehabilitation. Witnesses .ho .ere identified

as victims of gross human rights violations .ere invited to give statements about their experiences, and some .ere selected for public hearings. "erpetrators of violence could also give testimony and re=uest amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution. Witnesses .ho .ere identified as victims of gross human rights violations .ere invited to give statements about their experiences, and some .ere selected for public hearings. "erpetrators of violence could also give testimony and re=uest amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution. $ ne. politics .as being developed in the context of seeking restorative 2ustice beyond the uremberg !odel of .inners0 court. The Healing po.er of the process .as manifest in the rituals that emanated from victims and oppressors, creating a space that could be the basis of holding the society together. This ritual of the T*C .ith the spiritual underpinnings of forgiveness and healing .as a po.erful antidote to the three hundred years of .hite racist oppression. !alidoma #ome had .ritten a book on the Healing Wisdom of $fricaK 8inding Dife "urpose Through ature, *itual, and Community. -t .as in the T*C .here one sa. some of the ideas being .orked out. 4uring the Hearings of the T*C there .ere public hearings as the narratives of perpetrators and victims moved in a constant motion across time +from present to past and present to future, and space +spiritual, social, physical, emotional, in a movement that may be called recursive. Here .as a profound moment in the history of #outh $frica as the $frican people offered a crucible for healing the society. elson !andela and 4esmond Tutu .ill go do.n in history as individuals .ho opened up the possibilities for another form of society. This healing process offered by the T*C, despite its imperfections, placed Ubuntu on the philosophical map breaking the ideation baggage of individualism, greed, competition and revenge. -f the 5lack people and the oppressed ma2ority .ere .illing to turn a corner, international capital .as not. "lans for the *econstruction and transformation of #outh $frica .ere shelved in the face of the timidity of the political leadership in calling for the cancellation of the apartheid incurred debt. The repercussions of managing the neo-liberal programe of international capital cut off the top leadership of the $ C from the rank and file. ;uestions of the social reconstruction after apartheid had to be shelved until ne. emancipatory formations arise in #outh $frica. -nternational capita took the lessons of #outh $frica to heart and sought to promote a neo-liberal agenda .here a small minority collaborated .ith international capital in the ne. template for the exploitation of the ma2ority. This form of class rule came to be understood as the globali1ation of apartheid .ithout its racial baggage. !andela and Ubuntu overseas !andela .as opposed to the Western designation of states as sponsoring terrorism and openly supported 8idel Castro of Cuba, Easser $rafat of the "alestine Diberation Brgani1ation +"DB, the #ahar.i $rab 4emocratic *epublic and the political leadership in Dibya. $s one .ho had been placed on the U# list of international terrorist, !andela in %&&( had made a clear statement about the standoff bet.een Dibya and the West over the do.ning of the %&&H "an $merican $ir.ays flight %9<. This plane had exploded over Dockerbie #cotland and the West accused t.o Dibyans of planting the bomb. This is despite the fact that at the precise moment of the bomb, .estern media had blamed -ran for planting the bomb. -n %&&H !andela travelled to Dibya three times .ithin one .eek to mediate bet.een the 5ritish government and the Dibyan authorities. $fter travelling back and forth bet.een the .estern

leaders and !uammar Aaddafi the head of the Dibyan state, !andela struck a deal .here Aaddafi handed over the t.o suspects in return for the lifting of international sanctions against Dibya. Aaddafi accepted the offer of elson !andela and offered to pay U# L(.) billion , approximately L%9 million for each of the victim0s families. Aaddafi .ent further to open up his economy to .estern oil companies and in (99' dumped his plans for the ac=uisition of Chemical and 5iological .eapons. 4espite this opening and the intense investments of the West, -nternational capital .as not satisfied and in (9%% orchestrated the invasion, bombing and destruction of Dibya under the banner of *esponsibility to "rotect. Aaddafi .as executed and humiliated as the West sought to roll back all ideas of $frican Unification and Diberation. !andela as a "eace maker $fter elson !andela .as rid of the responsibility of managing the structures of the apartheid economy, he became even more outspoken against ine=ualities. He .as assertive on the =uestion of the need for health for all and the provision of retroviral medicine for those affected by H-J $-4# even .hile other leaders of the $ C .ere e=uivocal over the response of the government of #outh $frica to this pandemic. Butside of #outh $frica !andela shamed the leaders of the Brgani1ation of $frican Unity +B$U, .ho had stood by .hile the fastest genocide unfolded in *.anda in %&&'. $fter the passing of Culius yerere in %&&&, elson !andela engaged the peace process in 5urundi and thre. his considerable international stature behind a tough process of negotiations to end the decades of .arfare in 5urundi. !andela .as opposed to the deployment of U# military personnel in $frica and he spoke out firmly against the $frica Crisis *esponse -nitiative +$C*-,, the forerunner to the current $frica Command. When Aeorge W. 5ush started his buildup for the .ar against the peoples of -ra= !andela offered himself up as a peace maker to be a human shield against U# bombs. -n an intervie. .ith e.s.eek !aga1ine in (99( prior to the invasion, !andela called the U#$ a threat to the peace of the .orld. 6-f you look at those matters, you .ill come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United #tates of $merica is a threat to .orld peace. 5ecause .hat M$mericaN is saying is that if you are afraid of a veto in the #ecurity Council, you can go outside and take action and violate the sovereignty of other countries. That is the message they are sending to the .orld. That must be condemned in the strongest terms.7 $s a peace activist, !andela took issues personal .ith Aeorge 5ush over the decision to invade -ra=. $ddressing the -nternational Women0s 8orum in Cohannesburg in (99<, a visibly furious !andela stated une=uivocallyK 6What - am condemning is that one po.er, .ith a president MAeorge 5ushN .ho has no foresight, .ho cannot think properly, is no. .anting to plunge the .orld into a holocaust. : -f there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the .orld, it is the United #tates of $merica. They don0t care.7 The legacies of elson !andela The differing legacies of the political leadership of elson !andela .ere on full display at the massive memorial event held in #o.eto on 4ecember %9, (9%<. There the mass of people expressed themselves in the admiration and .armth of elson !andela and at the same time expressing their opposition to the corruption of the top leadership of the $ C. The people booed the current leader of the $ C, Cacob ?uma, every time his face appeared on the giant TJ screens in the stadium. !andela had al.ays remarked that he .as a disciplined member of

the $ C and his membership of the organi1ation pointed to the differences bet.een the promises of the anti-apartheid struggles and the realities of the enrichment of a ne. class of $frican exploiters. -t .as appropriate that this celebration of the life of !andela marked a ne. stage for the corrupt leadership of the $ C. -n the period of the anti-apartheid struggles, funeral ceremonies .ere occasions for mass mobili1ation and education The entire proceedings played out before over &9 heads of states and governments reflected the ne. relationship bet.een the $ C and the mass of the poor. 4espite the fact that this occasion represented a huge logistical challenge, one could negatively compare the planning of the leadership on this occasion .ith the World Cup in (9%9. Hence, for one of the most important public events in the history of #outh $rica, for most of the time the stadium .as half empty. The $ C did not provide transportation to the stadium as promised. The poor travelled from near and far by train only to find that there .ere no buses to take them up to the stadium. Gven those .ho braved the do.npour of rain to make it to the stadium .as not allo.ed to celebrate the .ay #outh $fricans are used to celebrate at such events. -nstead they .ere expected to sit and listen like little children. $t such events people .ould sing and dance. -n fact, before each speaker someone .ould raise a song and people .ould follo. and sing until the speaker .as ready to speak. Gven ?uma .ould start a song and dance before he spoke. Cacob ?uma, the leadership and Cyril *amaphosa .anted the people to forget the kind of mass mobili1ation that .as engineered to end apartheid. They are afraid that this mass mobili1ation .ill s.eep the billionaires from po.er. The political leadership of elson !andela in the anti-apartheid struggle had both focused attention on him as an individual and released the energies of various groups .hose task .as to clarify the details of the real meaning of transformation beyond apartheid. -n this and in many other .ays, elson !andela symboli1ed the dialectic of resistance and transformation. His o.n life has mirrored the .ay in .hich a social movement shaped individuals. Hence, the youth .ho are hearing the tributes to !andela are faced .ith the contradiction bet.een focusing on great leaders and the kind of media coverage that is geared to.ards the depolitici1aion of the youth. *ichard 8alk summed up very lucidly the place of !andela for humans every.here .hen he .rote, 6-t .as above all !andela0s spiritual presence that created such a strong impression of moral radiance on the part of all of us fortunate enough to be in the room. - .as reinforced in my guiding belief that political greatness presupposes a spiritual orientation to.ard the meaning of life, not necessarily expressed by .ay of a formal religious commitment, but al.ays implies living .ith an unconditional dedication to values and faith that transcend the practical, the immediate, and the material.7 -n his earthly life, !andela could not escape this tension bet.een the spiritual and the material. The spiritual energies of the peoples had been unleashed to fashion a non-racial democracy. Diberal conception of democracy could not understand this attempt to transcend the ideas of the Western Gnlightenment, .hich itself built on human hierarchies that carved a supreme space for the enlightened .hite man. elson !andela had been reared in these ideas at 8ort Hare and as a la.yer but the struggles elevated him to be special human beings among revolutionaries. The .orld salutes elson !andela and .e 2oin .ith those .ho are sending tributes to his family.

We .ill also add that the people should not mourn but organi1e for the next round of struggle. Horace A .Campbell, a veteran "an $fricanist is a Jisiting "rofessor in the #chool of -nternational *elations, Tsinghua University, 5ei2ing. He is the author of Alobal $TB and the Catastrophic 8ailure in Dibya, !onthly *evie. "ress, (9%<.