Category: Nelson Mandela

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Canada Featured Nelson Mandela

Mayor Rob Ford Votes Against Nelson Mandela and Olympic Athletes

What could be controversial about the city of Toronto congratulating Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes?

Ask Rob Ford. The Toronto mayor on Wednesday cast the sole ‘no’ vote on a City Council motion to offer the athletes kudos. Minutes earlier, he also was the only council member to vote against a proposal to name a Toronto street after the late Nelson Mandela.

Ford asked for a re-vote on both motions a half-hour later but was denied.

‘We all make errors,’ said Ford, who claimed he was stretching a sore back and voted quickly. ‘I guess I pushed the wrong button. Of course I support Nelson Mandela.’

The mayor also said he supports Olympic athletes.

Ford is seeking re-election this year despite a record of erratic behavior. After he acknowledged last year that he had smoked crack, the City Council voted to strip him of most of his mayoral powers.

Ford is known for often casting the lone dissenting vote, but his votes on Wednesday drew gasps in the council chamber. City councilor Adam Vaughn said Ford knew exactly what he was doing.

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Nelson Mandela Politics

Contents of Mandela’s Last Will Revealed

Nelson Mandela left portions of his roughly $4.1-million estate to his wife Graca Machel, family members, staff, schools and the ANC, according to a summary of his will released Monday.

Two months after the death of the 95-year-old South African statesman, lawyers said wife Graca was entitled to half the estate, but may opt to receive only specified assets, including four properties in Mozambique.

Royalties from his books and other projects, as well as his homes in Johannesburg, Qunu and Mthatha were left to a family trust.

The home in Houghton, Johannesburg where Mandela died on December 5 will be used by the family of his deceased son Makgatho.

“It is my wish that it should also serve as a place of gathering of the Mandela family in order to maintain its unity long after my death,” the former statesman wrote.

Mandela’s children each received $300,000 in loans during his lifetime and will have that debt scrapped if it has not been repaid.

Mandela’s other bequeathments reflected a life in politics and championing education.

Mandela gave around $4,500 each to members of staff, including long-time personal aide Zelda la Grange.

The will also gave around $9,000 each to Wits and Fort Hare Universities, and the same amount to three other schools.

The African National Congress, which Mandela led to victory in the first democratic elections in 1994, will receive a portion of his royalties, between 10 and 30 percent of his royalties.

The cash will be used specifically to promote “policies and principles of reconciliation amongst the people of South Africa.”

The will was first written in 2004 and last amended in 2008.

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Nelson Mandela Politics

Nelson Mandela’s Will to be Made Public Today

The dying wishes of South Africa’s anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela will be revealed on Monday, the Constitutional Court announced.

“The executors in the estate… invite you to a media briefing on the contents of his last will and testament,” the court’s vice president, Dikgang Moseneke, said in a statement Sunday nearly two months after Mandela died on December 5.

The Mandela Foundation will reveal the contents at midday on Monday at the foundation, he said.

A spokeswoman for the foundation, Danielle Melville, told AFP: “I don’t know if the entire document will be read, but certainly it will be summarised.”

Mandela became South Africa’s first black president in 1994 after spending 27 years in apartheid prisons.

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Nelson Mandela Politics

PIC – Is George Bush Flirting at Nelson Mandela’s Memorial?

So President Obama went to the Nelson Mandela Memorial a few days ago and the right wing media couldn’t control themselves when this photo went public.

They were quick to point out that President Obama was flirting and Michelle Obama was obviously the angry black woman. After all, she is black and she is… a woman.

But did you see the picture below? Did you hear anything about it? I bet you didn’t.

Using the same logic the right used to chastise the President and the First Lady, couldn’t it be said that the former first lady was angry because the former president was apparently doing his thing with the beautiful young lady behind him?

Apparently the same logic doesn’t apply in George Bush’s case. You will not hear about this photo in right winged media.

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Nelson Mandela Politics

Mandela’s Fake Sign Interpreter Speaks – Says He’s Schizophrenic

JOHANNESBURG — The South African sign language interpreter accused of using “fake” signs at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service this week said he suffered a schizophrenic episode at the event during which he hallucinated and heard voices.

Thamsanqa Jantjie made the admissions to Johannesburg’s Star newspaper Thursday following allegations that have led to him being called an impostor by sign language experts.

“There was nothing I could do. I was alone in a very dangerous situation,” Jantjie said. “I tried to control myself and not show the world what was going on. I am very sorry, it’s the situation I found myself in.”

The latest revelations prompted an apology Thursday by a South African cabinet minister who said a mistake was made in hiring Jantjie. Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu apologized to South Africa’s deaf community during a press conference but denied that the country felt embarrassed by the controversy.

“I don’t think he was just picked up on the street. He went to a school for the deaf,” she said.

Still, in a separate interview with the Associated Press, Jantjie said that while he was on stage at the FNB Stadium he saw visions of angels. He also told the AP that he has previously been violent and was once hospitalized in a mental health facility for more than a year.

Jantjie stood approximately three feet from President Obama and other world leaders during Tuesday’s ceremony to honor Mandela, and the state of Jantjie’s mental health that day will raise serious security questions for South African authorities.

Jantjie told the Star newspaper that he was paid R850, or about $85, to interpret at the ceremony.

“Life is unfair. This illness is unfair. Anyone who doesn’t understand this illness will think that I’m just making this up,” he said.

He said that as a result of the episode his ability to hear and interpret was impaired, but that he felt that given the gravity of the occasion he couldn’t leave.

On the day of the memorial service Jantjie was due get a regular six-month mental health checkup to determine whether the medication he takes was working, whether it needed to be changed or whether he needed to be kept at a mental health facility for treatment, the AP reported.

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Barack Obama Nelson Mandela Politics

Jon Stewart to the “Media” – “What The F*ck Is Wrong With Us?”

It was a memorial service for one of the most important man on the face of the earth. But if you listened to the American media earlier this week, the story was not about Mandela or his amazing accomplishments in ending Apartheid, or becoming South Africa’s first black president, or his underlining amazing quality of forgiveness. No. If you listened to the American media covering the Nelson Mandela memorial, all you heard was about a handshake between President Obama and Cuba’s Raúl Castro.

Or, and a selfie the President took.

This fact did not escape the watchful eyes of one of the most on-point media man in America, Jon Stewart.

Video

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Featured Nelson Mandela News

‘Fake’ Sign Language Interpreter Marred Mandela Memorial

As President Obama and other world leaders spoke Tuesday in Johannesburg at a memorial for Nelson Mandela, a man stood nearby and appeared to be doing sign language interpretation. Many in the deaf community are outraged because the man appeared to be faking.

Pedro Ugarte /AFP/Getty Images

There’s outrage among many in the deaf community over the appearance on stage Tuesday of a man who they say was only pretending to do sign language interpretation as President Obama and other world leaders eulogized Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Among those who noticed what was happening was Wilma Newhoudt, the first deaf person elected to South Africa’s parliament and a vice president of the World Federation of the Deaf.

“Shame on this male so called interpreter on the stage,” she wrote on Twitter during the memorial service. “What is he signing? He knows that the deaf cannot vocally boo him off. Shame on him!”

Others who protested included Bruno Peter Druchen, national director at the Deaf Federation of South Africa. “Please get RID of this CLOWN interpreter, please!” he tweeted.

The Limping Chicken, a U.K. website that focuses on news involving the deaf community,posted a video showing both the “fake” and a sign language interpreter who many TV viewers saw in a small box superimposed on their screens. The woman in that box was actually interpreting what was said, Limping Chicken reports. You can see how different her actions and gestures are compared to those of the man on stage.

As you can see from the photo we’ll attach to the post, the man was within just a few feet of Obama as the president delivered his remarks.

IOL, a news site from South Africa’s Independent Newspapers, reports that “government spokeswoman Phumla Williams said she was unable to respond to the allegations immediately, as she did not know which department procured the service provider. She said she did not know about his qualifications or expertise.”

Update at 1:45 p.m. ET. White House Regrets Distraction:

Asked about the apparently bogus interpreter, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday that “it’s a shame that you had a service that was dedicated to honoring the life and celebrating the legacy of one of the great leaders of the 20th century has gotten distracted by this and a couple of other issues that are far less important than the legacy of Nelson Mandela.”

The “other issues” he was referring to would include the handshake between Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro, and the selfie taken by Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt of Denmark.

Update at 11:20 a.m. ET. Government Is “Looking Into This Matter.”

The national government just emailed reporters with a statement about Tuesday’s memorial service. In it, there’s this passage:

“As we look at yesterday’s events, government has noted the concern expressed in various quarters about the alleged incorrect use of sign language at the National Memorial Service.

“Government is looking into this matter but has not been able to conclude this inquiry due to the demanding schedule of organising events related to the State Funeral.

“Government will report publicly on any information it may establish but wishes to assure South Africans that we are clear in defending the rights and dignity of people with disabilities.”

h/t NPR

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Nelson Mandela Politics

Right Wing Nut Compares George Zimmerman to Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa

So all George Zimmerman had to do was murder an innocent teenager. That’s it! That’s all he had to do for these Republican nuts to compare him to Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa!

His name is Jack Cashill. He is a contributor to a right wing blog called “World Net Daily.” Cashill, a huge defender of George Zimmerman, believes that Zimmerman did no wrong the night he murdered Trayvon, saying that Zimmerman is the least racist person in Florida. He then went on to say that if the U.S Justice Department went on to investigate George Zimmerman, “it’s like going after Nelson Mandela on Civil Rights or Mother Teresa!”

See the craziness below.

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Nelson Mandela Politics

President Shook Hands with Raúl Castro Castro – White House Says it Wasn’t Planned

White House aide Ben Rhodes told reporters the two exchanged no words more substantive than a greeting.

The Cuban government said the gesture may show the “beginning of the end of the US aggressions”.

The US broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba in 1961 as Fidel Castro aligned with the Soviet Union in the Cold War.

And on Tuesday after the handshake, a White House official said the Obama administration still had grave concerns about human rights violations in Cuba, Reuters reported.

Republicans on Capitol Hill were quick to condemn the gesture, with one Republican congresswoman chiding the move during a unrelated hearing on Tuesday.

“Sometimes a handshake is just a handshake, but when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like Raul Castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant,” Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who is known for her opposition to the Castro government, told Secretary of State John Kerry.

“Could you please tell the Cuban people living under that repressive regime that, a handshake notwithstanding, the US policy toward the cruel and sadistic Cuban dictatorship has not weakened.”

Gradual thaw disrupted

The last US president to shake a Cuban leader’s hand was President Bill Clinton, who greeted President Fidel Castro, Raul’s brother and predecessor, at a 2000 UN General Assembly meeting.

Under President Obama, the US has eased restrictions on Cuban-Americans travelling to the island and on remittances between family members across the two countries

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Nelson Mandela Politics South Africa

President Obama Compares Mandela to Lincoln

Prepare for the Republican freak out in 3, 2, 1…

President Obama at a memorial on Tuesday in South Africa called the late Nelson Mandela “the last great liberator of the 20th century” who “earned his place in history through struggle and shrewdness” along with “persistence and faith.”

Under a rainy sky at the start of summer in South Africa, Obama honored the nation’s first black president and anti-apartheid leader, who was a source of inspiration in Obama’s adult life.
He likened the late leader to Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. and said he “speaks to what is best inside us.”

“His struggle was your struggle,” Obama said, speaking at First National Bank Stadium before an estimated crowd of tens of thousands of people including British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, Oprah Winfrey and Bono.

“His triumph was your triumph. Your dignity and hope found expression in his life, and your freedom, your democracy is his cherished legacy.”

Obama compared Mandela to another of his heroes: Lincoln. He said when Mandela emerged from his time in prison “without force of arms, he would, like Abraham Lincoln, hold his country together when it threatened to break apart.”

The president said “Madiba” showed the world “the power of action of taking risks on behalf of our ideals. And he quoted Mandela’s own words saying, “I’m not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”

South Africans affectionately call Mandela “Madiba,” which is a term of endearment and has become a nickname. It is a family name and is derived from a chief who ruled in the 18th century, according to the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

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Nelson Mandela Politics

Limbaugh: They Think Mandela’s Death is “All About Obama”

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh lashed out the press and the White House this Friday for making Nelson Mandela’s death “all about Obama.”

“Without Mandela there might not have been an Obama? I’ll tell you who’s putting this out there. It’s Obama doing everything and anything he can to link himself to Mandela, and the Clintons are the same thing. We got a nickname for him, The Funeral Crashers. I mean, they’ll show up anywhere where there’s a camera. This kind of stuff, the Drive-Bys, I’m telling you, they’re doing everything they can to make the news of Mandela’s death all about Obama,” he said.

President Barack Obama has made no secret about the fact that the late South African leader was an inspiration.

“I cannot fully imagine my own life without the example set by Nelson Mandela,” he said during an official statement following the 95-year-old’s death.

Limbaugh, as per usual, was unimpressed.

“Now, if you’re Obama — speaking quite honestly here, folks — who could blame Obama for thinking everything is about him?,” Limbaugh said. “The media makes everything about him.”

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Nelson Mandela Newt Gingrich Politics

For Mandela, The Process Was Not Ideal, But the Outcome is Undeniably

What kind of world are we living in, when the man responsible for freeing millions of people from an oppressed system, is denounced and dismissed as if ending such a horrible system as apartheid is a common, everyday routine.

When Nelson Mandela died at the age of ninety five, people from around the world recognized the importance of the man and the life he lived. But here in America,  a certain group couldn’t get pass the fact that Mandela, at a certain point in his life and in the struggle for freedom from apartheid, took a considerably unpopular path along the way. That small path in all his 95 years was enough to labeled him a terrorist. And it is this small path the naysayers focus on.

These naysayers, mostly in the Republican party, expressed their views when Ted Cruz and Newt Gingrich spoke positively about Mandela on Facebook. Some of their views got so unbearable, Newt felt the need to respond.

Mandela was faced with a vicious apartheid regime that eliminated all rights for blacks and gave them no hope for the future. This was a regime which used secret police, prisons and military force to crush all efforts at seeking freedom by blacks.

What would you have done faced with that crushing government?

What would you do here in America if you had that kind of oppression?

Some of the people who are most opposed to oppression from Washington attack Mandela when he was opposed to oppression in his own country.

After years of preaching non-violence, using the political system, making his case as a defendant in court, Mandela resorted to violence against a government that was ruthless and violent in its suppression of free speech.

As Americans we celebrate the farmers at Lexington and Concord who used force to oppose British tyranny. We praise George Washington for spending eight years in the field fighting the British Army’s dictatorial assault on our freedom.

Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death.”

Thomas Jefferson wrote and the Continental Congress adopted that “all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Doesn’t this apply to Nelson Mandela and his people?

Some conservatives say, ah, but he was a communist.

Actually Mandela was raised in a Methodist school, was a devout Christian, turned to communism in desperation only after South Africa was taken over by an extraordinarily racist government determined to eliminate all rights for blacks.

I would ask of his critics: where were some of these conservatives as allies against tyranny? Where were the masses of conservatives opposing Apartheid? In a desperate struggle against an overpowering government, you accept the allies you have just as Washington was grateful for a French monarchy helping him defeat the British.

Finally, if you had been imprisoned for 27 years, 18 of them in a cell eight foot by seven foot, how do you think you would have emerged? Would you have been angry? Would you have been bitter?

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