A 2.75m statue of Nelson Mandela stands on the spot in Washington DC where thousands of Americans were arrested in the 1980s for protesting against apartheid. Photo: Mary Calvert/Reuters
THE US Democrats’ reported call for the removal of the statue of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela from Washington, if true, exposes their sheer lack of understanding and/or appreciation of the freedom fighter’s enormous contribution to humanity.
Some weeks ago, in July, Democrats’ House leader, Senator Chuck Schumer, was quoted as saying: “We should never give convicted felons a place of honour in the seat of holy democracy.”
The Democrats are equating Mandela to the Republican 2024 presidential nominee and former US president Donald Trump, who stands convicted of felony.
The US politics have increasingly grown intolerable of dissent.
The two assassination attempts on Trump in a space of eight weeks perhaps illustrate best the national political divide in the US. The world takes interest in the goings-on in Washington, for good reason.
The US is the world’s only remaining superpower since the end of the Cold War at the turn of the 1990s.
Under the Democrats, US President Joe Biden has been a staunch backer of Ukraine in the conflict with Russia. Additionally, Biden has been a committed financial and material backer of Nato, an offensive military bloc that has expanded eastward to the doorstep of Russia.
This has caused great global tension and conflict, resulting in the spread of the US-led Western hegemony.
The call by the Democrats for the removal of the Mandela statue reveals more about them than the claims Schumer makes against the affable Madiba, who is regarded globally as the symbol of freedom.
Mandela served 27 years in prison on SA’s notorious Robben Island in the Western Cape. Four years after his release from prison in 1990, Mandela’s party, the ANC won South Africa’s first democratic elections.
That catapulted Mandela to the presidency of the country, and thus he has come to be viewed as the founding father of SA’s democracy.
In a statement, the Democrats are quoted as sayinga: “Nelson Mandela was imprisoned by his own government, which he was clearly a bad guy who totally deserved it. Tear this dangerous statue down immediately.”
The Democrats fail to appreciate that Mandela’s jailers were the architects of the heinous apartheid system, which was condemned by the UN as a “crime against humanity”.
The story was initially reported by The Babylon Bee, a US conservative Christian news satire website, which seeks to shine the torch on topics otherwise largely ignored by the mainstream media.
Now, Democrats too often project themselves as more leftist, inclusive and multiracial and multicultural party.
Barack Obama was running on the Democratic Party ticket when he became the first black president of the US. Granted, parties, like politics, evolve. Oftentimes they attract individuals who could harbour views previously viewed as unacceptable.
I have no issue with constant change of standpoint in public discourse. However, anyone who could end up narrowing their political world view to regard Mandela unfavourably needs closer scrutiny.
I hope that the story could be unreal. Having being born and bred during apartheid South Africa, Mandela represents the spirit of resistance and everything that is positive about humankind.
He is globally credited with an incredible spirit of magnanimity, having forgiven his jailers and leading to build a new South Africa based on the ideals of equality before the law and racial coexistence harmoniously.
The thought of anyone or a party wishing to remove the powerful symbolism of the Mandela statue in any public space is an affront to the essence and notion of public good.
The Americans, in their millions, fought courageously for the release of Mandela and many other political prisoners. It was the Americans who led the international sanctions against the apartheid SA, ensuring the US businesses divested from SA.
It was the Americans who also spearheaded debate about a peaceful settlement of institutionalised racial discrimination and the road to the new dawn.
This is a chapter of courage and heroism for many in the US. To blemish such with unfortunate reports of demands for the removal of Mandela’s statue is sad indeed.
It is obviously improper and incorrect to paint all Americans with the same brush. After all, human beings are individual, unique beings. One person’s wrong behaviour should never tarnish the good behaviour of others simply because they all share same nationality.
As I indicated earlier, I sincerely hope that The Babylon Bee story is not a true reflection on the Democrats. Mandela is an inspiration to millions of Americans and others across the world. His presence, albeit through statues in public spaces, is a constant reminder of the triumph of good over evil.
In addition, today’s generations and future ones deserve to learn about the heroism of people such as Mandela. To remove his statue from Washington or any other place does not and cannot obliterate history.
* Abbey Makoe is Founder and Editor-in-chief: Global South Media Network. The views expressed here are his own.