Epidemic diseases: rabid rich-poor chasm, AIDS: “Grotesque
levels of exploitation and poverty afflict most of the population” [O'Connor]
Excerpt, minor edit, end comment by
Carolyn Bennett
“Mandela’s death,” Patrick O’Connor observes today in the World
Socialist Web Site news, “has been accompanied by an outpouring of tributes
from world leaders, each seeking to outdo the other in presenting the most
mawkish (over-sentimental, sappy, mushy, foolish) depictions of Mandela as a
secular saint.”
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too sensed a multi-layered fakery and peddling of ignorance.
I don’t need to re-quote the rhetoric here but to continue with O’Connor’s
outline of Mandela’s deeds and the unmentioned South African reality.
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| Severe Poverty South Africa today |
“Underlying the cynical rhetoric of the current and former
war criminals occupying the White House, and that of their allied heads of
government around the world, is genuine gratitude for the invaluable service
Mandela rendered to the South African ruling elite and world imperialism,” O’Connor
writes.
“Mandela utilized his indubitable political skills and
personal courage to stave off the threat of a social revolution in South Africa, dismantling the Apartheid regime while
defending capitalism and protecting the property and wealth of the country’s
white rulers and of transnational corporate investors.
“…Mandela courted the South African ultra-wealthy. The
Guardian’s obituary noted his ‘attachment to the glamour of the very rich.’ The
newspaper explained:
Money was dazzling. Hence, once
freed, he [Mandela] holidayed at the Irish businessman Sir Tony O’Reilly’s
Caribbean island and gave the go-ahead for his takeover of South Africa’s
biggest newspaper group, in anticipation of his ‘magic money’ providing black
empowerment in the media.
He allowed the casino king, Sol
Kerzner, to host the wedding of his daughter Zinzi.
He borrowed rich men’s houses and
flew around South Africa in their aircraft.
“The social and economic disaster now evident in South
Africa stands as an indictment of Mandela’s role in preserving capitalist rule
and of his perspective of promoting a ‘non-European bourgeoisie.’…
“Nearly 20 years after the end of Apartheid, South Africa
remains one of the most unequal societies in the world. Grotesque levels of
exploitation and poverty afflict most of the population, with just over 50
percent living below the official poverty line.
“Officially, unemployment stands at 25 percent of the
workforce, but the real figure is far higher.
“South Africa has the largest population infected with
HIV/AIDS in the world, with up to 6.4 million people, or 12 percent of total
population, including 450,000 children affected. Official data shows that only
28 percent of those infected are receiving treatment. Life expectancy was just
58 years in 2011, among the lowest in the world.
“At the other end of society, a tiny minority that now
includes a layer of ANC, ex-Stalinist, and trade union figures have amassed
enormous personal wealth. The country now has the most U.S. dollar billionaires
of any African state, with 14 individuals now in this category, up from two a
decade earlier.
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| Severe Poverty South Africa today |
“Mandela has died right at the point where social and
political tensions in South Africa have reached a boiling point.”
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his is another view of the esteemed leader.
Observe for
yourself.
Read news and information reports and opinion beyond western and
westernized concentrated corporate news.
Believe what you like.
Sources and notes
“Former South African President Nelson Mandela dies” by
Patrick O’Connor, December 6, 2013, http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/12/06/mand-d06.html
Long standing leader of the African
National Congress (ANC) and the first president of post-Apartheid South Africa,
Nelson Mandela, after suffering a protracted respiratory illness, has died (December
5) in Johannesburg. He was 95 years old.
Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
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