Of Heroes And Terrorists

Husband-wife relationships turn sour for various reasons. We are not talking about Murdoch fuming over his wife's email exchanges with Tony Blair. Or how a stoic Hillary dealt with her husband's infidelities. Something must be really awful for Nelson Mandela to will money to children and grandchildren, staff and the African National Congress (ANC), but gave zilch to his ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

Justin Chadwick's "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" has an explosive scene when Winnie told him "the people are still angry". While he prevaricated, she remained solid. Mandela had decided to reconcile with and forgive the Apartheid thugs who had murdered and destroyed families but he himself could not reconcile with and forgive ANC's "Great Mother".

We are talking the same hero who had pleaded guilty to 156 acts of public violence including mobilizing terrorist bombing campaigns to plant bombs in public places, including the Johannesburg railway station (thanks, anon @ 2/11/2014 4:12 PM). South African President Botha had offered to free Mandela from prison, on condition he renounces terrorist violence. This he steadfastly refused to do so. Winnie was just doing same. Mandela's statement from the dock at the Rivonia Trial include these lines:
"Four forms of violence were possible. There is sabotage, there is guerrilla warfare, there is terrorism, and there is open revolution. We chose to adopt the first method and to exhaust it before taking any other decision."
Not exactly the prescription Gandhi had in mind when he preached, "an eye for an eye, and the whole world will be blind".

Just when you think you can tell heroes from terrorists, the New York Times revealed that the American backed Karzai has been negotiating secretly with the Taliban, the bad guys U.S. military spent US$4 billion per month to defeat. One theory about the change of face is that the Afghan President remembers what happened to the Soviet Union installed Mohammad Najibullah. When the Taliban rode into Kabul, he was denounced as a foreign puppet, castrated, body dragged through the streets and then strung up at a traffic barricade. Not everybody is prepared for the supreme sacrifice when the dirty politics get out of hand.