gdvsmit@watrose.UUCP (Riel Smit) (09/07/85)
I apologize for the length of this, but am not planning on doing the
it again soon.) What arguments are there against the statements in
the following article by Allan C Brownfeld, writing in the New York
City Tribune, July 23, 1985 ? I don't know of any.
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Nelson Mandela is a Black South African leader of the African National
Congress (ANC), and is now serving a life sentence in Pollsmoor Prison,
Cape Town.
In the Congress, there is much agitation on behalf of his release from
prison. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass), is leading this crusade in the
Senate, and in the House more than 180 members last year managed to pass
Rep George Crockett's (D-Mich), "Mandela Freedom Resolution". Two leaders
in the current campaign for sanctions against South Africa, Reps Steven
Solarz (D-NY), and Jim Leach (R-Iowa), were strong supporters of the
Mandela measure.
Recently , Samuel Dash, who was chief counsel to the Senate Watergate
Committee and is a professor at law at Georgetown University, became the
first American permitted to visit and interview Mandela in prison. He
reported about this interview in an article in "The New York Times
Magazine" (July 7, 1985). When he asked Mandela about his connection with
the Soviet Union, Dash wrote, "Mandela dismissed charges that the ANC is
controlled by the Soviet Union or by the South African Communist Party
(SACP), emphasizing the congress' independence and discipline, and comparing
its communist members to radicals in Britain and other Western democracies."
All Mandela wants for South Africa, he told Dash, was "unified" country
and equal political rights for all. Of South Africa's White population,
Mandela said: "Unlike White people anywhere else in Africa, Whites in
South Africa belong here - this is their home. We want them to live here
with us and to share power with us."
In the Congress, Nelson Mandela is pictured as a political prisoner,
jailed because of his views. On the pages of "The New York Times Magazine",
Mandela is taken at his word as a moderate with only the loosest of ties
with Moscow. Unfortunately, this picture of Mandela bears no relationship
to reality.
To begin with, Mandela is NOT a political prisoner. As a leader of the
ANC he was convicted in 1964 of planning, along with Communist Party
members, a major guerrilla uprising against South Africa. The plan, which
was called "Operation Mayibuye", envisioned the deployment of thousands of
trained guerrilla warfare units throughout the country. In his own speech
from the dock in Pretoria Court on April 20, 1964, Mandela admitted his
guilt. He said: "I do not ... deny that I planned sabotage ... I planned
it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation
that had arisen after many years of tyranny... I admit immediately that I
was one of the persons to form Umkhonto we Sizwe (the military wing of the
ANC), and that I played a prominent role in its affairs until I was arrested
in August 1962..."
Discussing his plans, Mandela declared: "Attacks on the economic lifelines
of the country were to be linked with sabotage on government buildings and
other symbols of apartheid. These attacks would serve as a source of
inspiration to our people. In addition they would provide an outlet for
those people who were urging the adoption of violent methods ... I started
to make a study of the art of war and revolution and, whilst abroad, under-
went a course in military training ... Summaries of books on guerrilla
warfare and military strategy have also been produced. I have already
admitted that these documents are in my writing ... I also made arrangements
for recruits to undergo military training ..."
Senator Kennedy, Rep Solarz may think that Nelson Mandela is, somehow, a
"political" prisoner, but Amnesty International, the London based human
rights organization, does not. When it was asked by Allan Ryskind, editor
of the Washington political weekly "Human Events", why Amnesty International
(AID) has not worked for the release of Nelson Mandela as a prisoner of
conscience, AI's press assistant, Carline Windall, replied:
Amnesty International opposes torture and executions in all cases
and seeks fair and prompt trials of all political prisoners. It works
for the release, however, only of 'prisoners of conscience'. These
are defined in the Statute of Amnesty International as people detained
anywhere 'by reason of their political, religious or other
conscientiously held beliefs or by reason of their ethnic origin, sex,
colour or language, provided they have not used or advocated violence.'
AI does not believe that this definition applies to Nelson Mandela.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 after acknowledging in
court his participation in the planning of acts of sabotage as a
leader of the ANC.
Nelson Mandela does not need the aid of Senator Kennedy and his colleagues
to obtain his release from prison. South African President PW Botha has
offered to free Mandela if he will only renounce violence. Mandela has
refused. He remains, in 1985, very much the kind of terrorist he was in
1964.
Beyond this, the ANC's ties to Moscow are far from incidental. Without
Moscow, the ANC would hardly exist in its present form. For many years,
ANC members have been trained in the Soviet Union. Dr Igor S Glagolev,
who defected from the Soviet Union in 1976 and had been closely involved
with Soviet support for Southern African terrorism, declared:
The decision to begin an offensive for the conquest of Southern
Africa was taken by the Politburo of the Soviet Union near the end of
the 1960's... The Soviet leadership controls through him (Usef Dadu,
national chairman of the South African Communist Party), not only the
SACP but the ANC as well.
In November 1982, the Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism of the US
Senate Judiciary Committee issued a report on "Soviet, East German and
Cuban Involvement in Fomenting Terrorism in Southern Africa". The report
declared: "The original purposes of the ANC and SWAPO have been subverted
and the Soviets and their allies have achieved alarmingly effective control
over them."
In US Senate testimony, Bartholomew Hlapane, a former member of the
Central Committee of the SACP and the National Executive Committee of the
ANC declared: "No major decision could be taken by the ANC without the
concurrence and approval of the Central Committee of the SACP. Most major
developments were in fact initiated by the Central Committee." The sole
source of funds for the ANC's military activities, Hlapane declared, was
the Communist Party itself. Hlapane and his wife were murdered in their
home in Soweto on December 16, 1982 by an ANC assassin armed with an AK-7
assault rifle.
Why are so many members of congress so eager to embrace a Soviet-
supported advocate of violence and terror? Perhaps they do not really
know who Nelson Mandela is or what he wants. If that is the case, their
advocacy is simply misinformed and guided by ignorance. If so many
members of Congress do understand the truth and still embrace Soviet-
supported terrorism, the nation may be in more trouble than even many
pessimists suggest.tonyw@ubvax.UUCP (Tony Wuersch) (10/01/85)
In article <7529@watrose.UUCP> gdvsmit@watrose.UUCP (Riel Smit) writes: >I apologize for the length of this, but am not planning on doing the >it again soon.) What arguments are there against the statements in >the following article by Allan C Brownfeld, writing in the New York >City Tribune, July 23, 1985 ? I don't know of any. > >--------------------------------------------------------------------- ... > Why are so many members of congress so eager to embrace a Soviet- >supported advocate of violence and terror? Perhaps they do not really >know who Nelson Mandela is or what he wants. If that is the case, their >advocacy is simply misinformed and guided by ignorance. If so many >members of Congress do understand the truth and still embrace Soviet- >supported terrorism, the nation may be in more trouble than even many >pessimists suggest. I gotta laugh. Nobody is misinformed here. I guess the nation is in for more trouble. Got any better ideas? Tony Wuersch {amd,amdcad}!cae780!ubvax!tonyw