Mandela een Terrorist?

'The Axioms Of Evil

Mandela is no longer suspected of 'terrorism' - a term so politicised it is largely useless.
By Waleed Aly08/07/08 "The Guardian"

-- - Nelson Mandela was 44 years old when he was arrested in 1962, and subsequently imprisoned for leaving South Africa without a passport. Two years later, while serving this sentence, he was infamously convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to launch violent revolution, and spent his prime in prison as a result.These facts are frequently rehearsed. More rarely noted is that Mandela's arrest was made possible by the CIA, which effectively handed him over to the South African security police by revealing his whereabouts and blowing his disguise. Mandela was a villain then. His anti-apartheid activism had a vaguely communist hue, and threatened to undermine a friendly South African regime. Thus was he condemned. As a terrorist, no less. That much was made official during the Reagan era when Mandela and his party, the African National Congress, were added to the US government's terror watch list.Now, with Mandela on the brink of his 90th birthday, the scenery could not contrast more starkly. These days, the Queen meets him and London celebrates his milestone with a rock concert. Yet he officially remained a terror suspect until last week, when the US government finally removed his name, and that of the ANC, from its watch list. It rectified an absurdity that Condoleezza Rice said she found "embarrassing".But serious questions emerge from this. For example, precisely what is so "embarrassing" about Mandela's inclusion? Was his inclusion always so ridiculous, or did it only become so when the political winds blew apartheid to the ground? Margaret Thatcher did not seem remotely abashed in declaring the ANC terrorists in 1987, signing up to the prevailing Reaganite orthodoxy. Yet today, David Cameron sees a need to repudiate that stance. Mandela is "one of the greatest men alive", he wrote two years ago in the Observer. A terrorist no longer, he saved South Africa with his "leadership, his humanity and generosity of spirit".Who was right? At the heart of this is a lack of clarity on what we mean by the term "terrorist". Mandela, you will recall, founded and led the ANC's armed wing. In that role, he launched bombing campaigns on government and military targets. Is that terrorism? He took care to ensure no people would be killed in the attacks. Does that change your answer? It makes no difference under American or British law, where political violence qualifies as terrorism even if directed against property alone. Is that right?'


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