In the 80's the Tories were right, the ANC were terrorists

Despite already apologising for the description of Mandela and the ANC as terrorists in 2006 Dan Hodges wants David Cameron to do it again. To do so would be wrong, firstly because it would seem like an attention seeking move and secondly, more importantly, they were terrorists in the 80's.

The rate at which history books are being revised is scary indeed. News outlets referring to Mandela as a "political prisoner" when Amnesty refused such a title because of the violence he helped organise and refused to denounce. Well during the 80's the military side of the ANC that he co-founded (the MK) were hard at work and here are just some of the highlights.

Church Street bombing, 20th of May 1983

A car bomb attack that killed 20 and wounded 217. This was one of their largest attacks in the ANC's campaign again's Apartheid. Was this terrorism? Well while the number of civilian vs military deaths & injuries was unclear the truth and reconciliation commission but the estimates at 7 dead and 84 injured for the military. Meaning you were far more likely to die if you were an innocent than a legitimate target.

Amanzimtoti Shopping complex, December 23rd 1985

During the peak of the Christmas shopping season, MK member Andrew Sibusiso Zondo detonated a bomb in a rubbish bin at the Sanlam shopping centre. Two women and three children were killed in the blast and more than forty were injured.

Roodepoort Standard Bank, June 3rd 1988

The target had not been civilians but a police station nearby but something went wrong, or so they say. The ANC gave no explanation for what happened. 4 people were killed with 18 injuries.

The debate continued on Twitter with Mr Hodges in debate with others on the subject of the ANC and terrorism. He believes that because there was no democracy then the ANC weren't terrorists. I disagree and while there is no international consensus on the definition this sums it up pretty well.

"The unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims"

So while you could argue that a group engage in terrorist acts for justifiable reasons you could still say that that terrorist acts are being committed. Further to that it is my personal opinion that any group targeting the public deliberately are terrorists. Sure if a political or military Apartheid base got bombed civilians would be killed as well but the intent is to attack the enemy. Instead, in one example, they kill three innocent children out Christmas shopping.

Judging what you describe terrorism because of what the goals of the group are is dangerous. It means that the acts themselves are inconsequential and there is no line for them to worry about crossing.

Mandela could have ended the violence sooner by denouncing it's use as a political weapon, this would have also meant he would have been released from prison earlier but he refused. So next time the Tories are pressed on their 80's stance they would do well to give an answer rather than meekly backing away into a corner saying sorry.

For all Mandela's rights and wrongs one thing scares me. He has been a figurehead, his unity dream that he emerged from prison with (be it genuine or coldly calculated) is now gone. Without it the ANC are free from those shackles and they are well versed in using violence to achieve their goals. 

When Zuma was elected I remember a real fear that he would become the next Mugabe. Well the sight of him and Winnie Mandela side by side and smiling at the weekend should have us all deeply concerned for the future of South Africa.

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Nelson Mandela was no saint

Twitter exploded last night with the news of Nelson Mandela's death with people competing for the most sycophantic tribute. The all too familiar "I'm so upset by this" bleatings of people desperate to show just how upset they are that someone they didn't know has died. This is always pathetic and in this case made worse by either the ignorance or selective memory of some people.

Firstly I am not a Mandela hater or anything like that. He lived a remarkable life and did achieve a lot of good. Although exactly how much is open for debate given the current state of South Africa and for a supposed socialist (the lefties are working hard to claim him as one of their own) he managed to die a rich man while people starve in his country.

Young people in this country today seem to think he was locked up for purely political reasons. That the Apartheid government hated a black man with a high profile challenging their views and well, they probably did. But the reason he was locked up was the guilty plea for the 156 violent attacks, including bombings, he planned. This was a man who refused to renounce violence and Amnesty even refused to take his case;

“[the] movement recorded that it could not give the name of ‘Prisoner of Conscience’ to anyone associated with violence, even though as in ‘conventional warfare’ a degree of restraint may be exercised”

There is more as well, including some support for dictators (well he was a lefty) and more. An excellent blog by Backbencher gives the highlights. My point is that you can't choose the parts of history you like the best and ignore the rest, imagine if people said, and actually meant, the following.

"Hitler was a genius who turned around Germany's failing economy"

Was Nelson Mandela a great man? Well he did achieve great things but that doesn't make you a great man. Maybe he gets a free ride on his past because of what he was fighting against. Apartheid was disgusting but does that make the deaths of so many innocents ok? Especially given these weren't people working at a legitimate target but bombs placed in public places deliberately, Johannesburg railway station for example.

By only remembering parts of history and not all of it  we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. This what you want of Mandela but Gandhi he wasn't, lets not deify someone with so much blood on their hands. 

What he did wrong in life is as important as what he did right.

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