Reply #138: It was put simply because I didn't want to write for an hour. [View All]

Anti-apartheid may be conceptually very broadly defined. Helen Suzman, for instance, was held up as anti-apartheid by many, but she didn't always advocate one person, one vote. Lots of white liberals were quaking at the thought of a real, popular republic where National Democratic Revolution would play out (as it is). She and Frederik van Zyl Slabbert were useful, to be sure, but never destined to lead after the overthrow of fascist apartheid.

ANC and PAC (and some others too) certainly did fight with weapons. Bombs were planted which killed people, and spies and traitors were killed as well. The armed fight supported the other mass democratic activities like strikes and boycotts. The ANC saw that these were part of the same strategy. It was to make things ungovernable, which meant fighting the state power directly and indirectly.

As for Mandela, I do not believe that he has made a statement regarding Libya. Has he? I do know that he has had a tendency, even in quite recent times, to stand by his historical friends. Gaddafi was one of those, certainly - at least according to Mandela. Mandela's silence could mean something, but who knows? Probably at his advanced age he is basically retired from public life, and it's a rather sterile debate. But I suppose Zuma will decide S. Africa's course on any resolutions, and he Mandela did campaign for his election.