On Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, one of the world’s preeminent figures, someone whose very name seemed to embody the spirit of the word liberation, died after a long bout with illness. His 27 years in the prisons of the Apartheid South African regime spawned perhaps the world’s most significant movement to demand freedom for a political prisoner, and he became a symbol of the overall struggle of Black South Africans against the brutal Apartheid system.
The apartheid system was completely supported by U.S. imperialism. In fact, even though the U.S. government positions itself as a supporter of Nelson Mandela, it was the CIA, working with the apartheid regime, that captured Nelson Mandela, leading to his 27-year-long imprisonment. The House of Representatives only voted to call for Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1986 when it was clear that the fascist apartheid regime’s days were numbered, leading the United States and Britain to abruptly shift course and broker a negotiated end to the white supremacist system. A mass worldwide anti-apartheid movement had completely isolated South Africa. Even with that, the U.S. government still retained the African National Congress on the official U.S. “terrorist list” for many years following.
On behalf of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, we offer our condolences to the family of Comrade Mandela and to the millions of South Africans mourning the death of a great leader. While much will be said in coming days, including from our Party, it falls on us first and foremost to recognize the tremendous accomplishments Mandela made to the struggle of South Africans for freedom, which inspired the hopes and dreams of many burning with revolutionary desires the world over.
In this moment of deep sorrow, we take solace in the heroic accomplishments of the South African freedom struggle, and its leader: Nelson Mandela.
