Mandela: The triumph of the human spirit and the defeat of colonialism

Upon becoming the first elected Black African president of South Africa with a new constitution, Mandela not only succeeded in forming a country, but also brought to an end the colonial legacy on the African continent

Dr. Hatem Bazian
AMP Chairman

Nelson Mandela’s death allows us the rare opportunity to reflect back on his life and struggle, but more vitally, the triumph of justice over injustice. Mandela overcame Apartheid’s Robben Island Prison and culminated the journey to the mountain top with the presidency of the newly birthed free South Africa in 1994. Upon becoming the first elected Black African president of South Africa with a new constitution, Mandela not only succeeded in forming a country, but also brought to an end the colonial legacy on the African continent. The colonial calamity that started at the Cape in 1652 with the arrival of the Dutch and their expansion into the interior in a short period of time lasted until the demolishment of Apartheid in 1994. The changes witnessed in South Africa are surely due to the leadership of Nelson Mandela, the members of the ANC and the struggle of countless men and women inside and outside the country that made the last racist and colonial outpost in Africa unwelcome on the world stage. 

Yet a more important question must be asked at this time as to how we should celebrate Mandela’s life and work in the middle of mourning and what elements ought to be highlighted to contextualize his contribution. As has been the case with countless other leaders, the corporate media and political opportunist will work to sanitize and “main-stream” the departed hero and empty them from the meaning so as to prevent others from envisioning and dreaming of a similar path.  A hero is dangerous dead or alive and more so if his movement was successful. Nelson Mandela is such a hero and the process of sanitization is already underway.

Death leaves no one behind; therefore the meaning and the recollection of Mandela’s legacy after his passing should be undertaken in his words and deeds that left an imprint upon the world and helped give it hope despite the overwhelming daily pain and suffering.  If anything, Mandela gave the world a living and breathing example of what a dignified, honorable and free human being can aspire to and, indeed, accomplish despite all the odds arrayed against him domestically and internationally. One often urges the young and the ambitious to dream and to have a vision; however it is unique when you are able to provide a living example for someone who made the impossible real and touchable. Few individuals in history are able to envision a different world in the mixt of utter despair, human cruelty and racism and are capable to see it through to  a successful achievement.  Mandela’s example illustrates the ability of the human spirit when it sets out to transform the world and succeeds in doing so during a single life time.  We will be talking, learning, writing, celebrating, comparing, documenting and discovering all that Nelson Mandela has meant to our collective world and still more will be needed to correctly situate his global impact.

Mandela and Colonial History

From a long historical perspective, Mandela’s 1994 election as president should be understood in terms of the triumph of the anti-colonial forces in Africa and as closing the book on direct colonialism since South Africa was the last settler colonial outpost on the continent. The focus for many has been on the peaceful nature of the transition, and although important, we must also consider the utter genocidal nature of the colonial project that was set in South Africa for over three centuries to adequately appreciate the greatness of Mandela. 

The colonization process in South Africa had all the elements from importation of slaves, genocide campaigns, land confiscation and expansion, white settlements, pushing black Africans off their lands, civilizational projects, importation and abuse of labor and a heavy dose of structured violence.  Europe’s “rush for Africa” meant, and to a great extent still means, the robbing, pillaging and dispossessing people of the continent from the wealth and resources that rightfully belongs to them and their progeny. The colonial project ushered the net transfer of assets and resources from the African continent to Europe, a fact that continues up the present post-colonial period since the structures set in place over the past 300-400 years have yet to be undone. 

We must constantly be reminded that colonization is a process and not a single event; thus its reversal requires a similar process directed at undoing its effects first and foremost in the colonial educational enterprise and immediately second the economy.  The colonial project worked structurally to create an inferior other that can legitimize the continuation of the process itself. Africa as a whole resisted colonization and some managed to expel the colonizers earlier than others but resist they did from the beginning.

The struggle in South Africa was part of a long and steady resistance to colonization all over the continent beginning with the initial arrival of European settlers all the way up to the election of Mandela and beyond.  In celebrating Mandela’s life and struggle we are also honoring all of those who lost their lives, were forced into slave ships and worked in factories and mines from “can’t see in the morning to can’t see at night.”  The honor extends to those who were made to hate their own skin because it was deemed inferior or worse, God’s curse upon them, and to men and women forced to be “educated” to serve the master race, who more importantly, were to be asked more than once about violence while all along being the constant victims of structured violence committed by white settlers. Colonization is the highest form of violence because at its core it negates the humanness of the indigenous population and treats them no different than an inanimate object, a complete and total eraser, a violence like no other. 

Africa entered the 20^th century as a colonized and ravaged continent with various European powers dividing the loot among each other at the expense of the indigenous population.  The declaration of self-determination after WWI did not include South Africa or Palestine for that matter.  Indeed, immediately after WWI the League of Nations granted mandate authority to colonial powers through which a continuation of the status quo can occur alas under a different more “civilized” term.  The mandate authority is colonization by means of a newly constituted international legality that excluded the right of self-determination of indigenous populations.

I know the idea of reparation for Africa has been at times laughed at or seen as impossible under current conditions, but the forces that make these arguments are the same colonial masters of the past that are utilizing the colonially constructed international legal structure to prevent and derail any such considerations.  These states have plundered their way through the continent in the colonial period and pillaged the resources in the post-colonial and neo-liberal economic era, while espousing human rights and international law language at every opportunity in an effort to prevent an actual accounting and reparations for this grand theft.  Celebration of Mandela’s life and contribution is meant to affirm the correctness and justness of the struggle waged by anti-colonial and anti-racist forces from the earliest periods all the way up to the present.  We are only a mere 10 years removed from the end of Apartheid and the changes that are needed are still overwhelming considering the challenges faced in a post-colonial state with resources still subject to colonial structures.

During Nelson Mandela’s tour of the US in 1990, the two vexing questions from the establishment and those who just recently shifted their position on the Apartheid regime centered on how he will approach the economy and his position on Palestine. In each case, the attempt was to extract from Mandela a position more amenable to the status-quo crowd and to calm those worried about a re-distribution of wealth campaign. 

On the question of the economy and whether a re-distribution of wealth or the prospects of a socialist shift would commence, the response was far more comforting to investors. The challenge for Nelson Mandela immediately after his release and to the present ANC leadership was on how to reverse the colonial effects without causing a collapse of the South African state and causing a civil war in the process.  Yet, we must understand that a political compromise was struck through which the economy was kept as is without any redistribution of wealth or altering the basic contours of white economic power in the country.  Mandela opted to take political power for the Black majority in South Africa without extracting further economic concessions from the whites; rather his approach was for a more gradual shift through government support and intervention to facilitate the emergence of black economic power.  The jury is still out on this particular area and the economic gap between the whites and the blacks has only seen modest improvement since the end of Apartheid.  When Mandela ascended to the presidency he inherited a highly segregated and stratified society with enormous challenges; however in the span of a single five year term, he was able to forge a unified nation and through it became larger than the office and the country he led.  Furthermore, Mandela’s decision not to seek a second term and instead to retire early is unique among liberation figures and indeed an apt lesson for those who get glued to the seats of power and only exit directly to the mausoleum.

On the Palestine front, Mandela did not give-in to the US-Zionist pressure and maintained unwavering support to the Palestinians in their struggle against a settler colonial structure similar to the one faced by the South Africans. The ANC's position on Palestine was formed in the trenches considering the PLO’s support and facilitation of training and logistical knowhow for the South African activists that was carried out in Algeria, Lebanon and Libya, while on the other hand, Israel continued with its support and supply of weapons to the Apartheid regime in contravention of the international weapons embargo imposed at the time on South Africa.  Thus, Israel was a key ally for the Apartheid regime, provided weapons, jointly developed and tested nuclear bombs, and at a key moment helped in building the security fence on the border with Mozambique to prevent ANC activists from crossing into South Africa.  Indeed, the relationship between South Africa and Israel was very deep and involved a broader strategic alliance set against liberation movements and anti-colonial struggles across the continent with the ANC being one such target.  In this case, Palestine for Nelson Mandela and the ANC was part of the global anti-colonial struggle and Israel in its occupation of the Palestinians was no different than the early Dutch settlers that formed the racist South African system.

Anti-Apartheid Movement and Multi-Racial Coalitions in the US:

Personally at the Associated Students of the San Francisco State University with a dedicated group of activists from student of color organizations, I became captivated by the anti-Apartheid struggle and the “Free Nelson Mandela” campaign as a global symbol for the movement. Also, being a Palestinian, I was already predisposed and conscious to the specifics of the South African struggle and the SFSU student and faculty political outlook had always been transnational and progressive, which meant the anti-Apartheid movement was at home and had a considerable grassroots infrastructure to mobilize effectively for the cause. 

Nelson Mandela from the prison cell, possibly unbeknown to him, managed to create and bring together coalitions of diverse groups of students at college campuses from Berkeley and SFSU in the west coast to Hampshire College and Rutgers in the east. All of them were mobilized in the US by the calling for an end to the Apartheid regime and freedom for its symbol. At college campuses the anti-Apartheid movement made it possible to engage in transnational struggles. In a short period, the students were able to constitute an agenda encompassing the global causes in South Africa, El Salvador, Palestine, Korea and the Philippines, as well as a strong domestic agenda focused on education, environment, American with Disabilities Act and financial reforms.  Indeed, the “Free Nelson Mandela” campaign and the boycott movement made it possible for the re-emergence of the progressive wing of politics in the mid-eighties during Reagan’s de-regulation approach, privatization and trickle down economic policies.

In the US, the 1960s anti-Vietnam war and civil rights movement was a distant past and the gains made on the front lines were wasted by political opportunist and a single focus on electoral politics as a way to bring about change caused disillusionment among many organizers.  One can see in the late 70s and early 80s a complete dis-orientation by the progressive forces that were further complicated by the intensification of the Cold War and global events in Iran, Afghanistan, El Salvador and Lebanon to name the obvious, which further contributed to disarray on the ground and a lack of purpose for many.

Nelson Mandela and the emergence of the anti-Apartheid movement helped bring life once again into a US movement that has witnessed almost a total collapse in the years following the Civil Rights Movement. This is due on the one hand, to the actual success of the COINTELPRO campaign directed at the organizations and leadership of the Civil Rights Movement and on the other hand, a direct result of a sense of success and accomplishment leading some to set back and watch from a distance.  Furthermore, the 1980s witnessed the resurgence of America’s right wing with a focus on robust militarism, intensification of the Cold War, a massive transfer of wealth schemes, financial and corporate de-regulations and rolling back social programs and funding for education.

For these and other reasons, the anti-Apartheid movement and Nelson Mandela, in particular, should be positioned at the intersection of the domestic and global since the fusing of both made it possible in the 1980s for a new and emboldened multi-racial, multi-ethnic, transnational and anti-colonial movement to emerge.  In addition, Reagan’s nuclear policy and deployment of ballistic missiles in Europe likewise brought another segment into the work and made for a massive peoples movement across the globe.  It is not a surprise that Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow coalition is born in the same time period and for a while captured the imagination of America’s middle class, and indeed South Africa and the anti-Apartheid movement must be credited for the ground swell it created contributed to the new political formation.

At San Francisco State University and UC Berkeley, Nelson Mandela and the anti-Apartheid movement made it possible for the re-emergence of the Third World Strike and Third World Liberation Front type of political discourses and indeed, a rediscovery and connecting the anti-colonial dots from earlier struggles on college campuses.  One can say that Nelson Mandela was the Golden Gate Bridge that made it possible for the new activists to travel to the past, discover, read and meet individuals from an earlier period that had had a profound impact on shaping the political discourses on college campuses before and through these, it was possible to create a continuum and close the knowledge gap. Further, it is very important to make the immediate link between the Anti-Apartheid movement and the renewed struggle for Ethnic Studies across the country, which was seen as a distant past. As a result, the divestment movement became more immediate and a new wave of student demands centering on a broader inclusion of erased histories took hold on college campuses. Nelson Mandela and struggles for ethnic studies became fused in more than one way and it further helped build the movement.

In a short period of time, the anti-Apartheid movement through the single focus on Nelson Mandela managed to recreate and mobilize a new multi-ethnic, multi-racial and transnational coalition, which in a short span contributed to the movement’s success on a local and national levels.  The impact of the anti-Apartheid movement can be witnessed in student divestment resolutions in every student council, the adoption of a strong language in the annual United States Student Association calling for divestment and sanctions on South Africa, as well as the mobilizations of trade unions, clergy, cultural producers and artists of all types. It was a rare moment of a rebirth of a movement. This coalition re-introduced a type of political analysis that was made in the early 60s by Malcolm X and later by Martin Luther King centering on the inseparability between the global and the local.  At SFSU this meant a unified front and a comprehensive platform between the Black Student Union, Pan-African Student Union, Asian Student Union, and Central American Solidarity Committee, General Union of Palestine Students, La Raza, Student Council of Intertribal Nations and Pilipino American Colligate Endeavor, that impacted the political landscape of the university and in a short period the city political landscape itself. 

Mobilizing to free Nelson Mandela was directly connected to all other causes and a real coalition was set in place that treated the global and the local as one cause having many different manifestations.  A most important and critical part of this coalition was the centrality of African American leadership in the movement after a very difficult period that witnessed the massive targeting of the community, systematic and structured control by means of imprisonment, the introduction of drugs and the assassinations of key leaders in the 60s and 70s.  Nelson Mandela from his prison cell helped many in the African American community overcome these losses and to reemerge to lead a movement and introduce once again a transnational paradigm for pan-Africanism and anti-colonial struggle. One point of clarification is the fact that African American movements in the US and across the world have always been transnational and global since their beginnings, due to the nature of slavery and colonization as transnational phenomenon that required a similar response from its victims.  At times it was and is insulting for some in the so-called “progressive” movement to speak and outreach to African Americans with the idea of “educating” them about these issues without considering the fact that living and experiencing these racist conditions is an education unto itself. More than theorizing such conditions to a group that have lived it for centuries, what is needed is how to overcome it. 

Anti-Apartheid movement effects are still felt today be it in the social responsibility language found in government contracts, corporate investment portfolios, student and university investments guidelines, and union retirement funds.  In addition, one should also recognize the impact witnessed among cultural producers who embraced the anti-Apartheid movement and Nelson Mandela. The effect was producing politically conscious and activist oriented music, art display, literature and concerts that managed to make a cross over effect to sections of the society that otherwise would not have been included. The relationship between music and revolution is as old as humanity itself and the anti-Apartheid movement unleashed the potential of this creative and politically conscious force.  The effects in this area can’t be over-emphasized as the role of the celebrities has only expanded since the successful time of the anti-Apartheid movement, and was itself a rebirth from the 1960s period that witnessed this infusion between the cultural and political to profound effects.  

“Revenge is human but forgiveness is divine” is the saying that comes to mind when thinking of Mandela’s accomplishment, for none so far in this modern period has been able to be so magnanimous at a most surprising moment and in the reconciliation approach and in seeking understanding and cooperation between the races in South Africa, which he managed to do with dignity and profound honor.  The colonizers fear of revenge was always used as a rationale to maintain oppression and not to alter the status quo; however Nelson Mandela’s actions put this fear to rest and demonstrated a profound generosity and courage.  Mandela could have extracted revenge and many in the black community in South Africa and outside would have been justified after 400 years to extract it from their tormentors but it would have caused a massive civil war and a total collapse of the state as well as a complete economic destruction.  It was a difficult choice that was made by Mandela and the ANC; however in doing so they managed to claim the moral high ground for ever and the ethical consequences of this are unmeasurable.  In the long run Mandela’s legacy will be determined by the South Africans themselves as they work to forge a new multi-racial, multi-ethnic and religiously diverse nation, but the difficulties will always be in the economy and closing the gap between the rich whites and poor blacks.