RIP Nelson Mandela

[BorntoBubble]

Sad sad day, one of the greatest ever to live, really really loved this man.

RIP.

[RED-DOG]

Sad sad day, one of the greatest ever to live, really really loved this man.

RIP.

Amen to that.

[Sheriff Fatman]

RIP.

Many of the younger members will only have known him for his later political career and presidency.  However, during my childhood and teens he was simply a man in an old photograph, unseen from the world for many years, while the pressure to release him from prison intensified.

I remember watching the live coverage of his release from prison, which felt historic at the time, but his rise to the Presidency following that was quite remarkable, and truly a turning point in history as Apartheid slowly fell apart.

A quite remarkable life lived, despite a huge proportion of it being spent in a jail cell.

[The Baron]

Very sad day.

[Kev B]

Changed so many peoples lives and with such great humility. RIP the great man.

[BorntoBubble]

This for me is just one of those photos. I was just 4 years old when this happened and obviously to young for the times before but have been to South Africa and robben island, and would definitely put on the list of must visit places in the world

Click to see full-size image.

[Karabiner]

A wonderful human being.

I well remember him being released from jail after serving about twenty years for very little reason other than being a black intellectual who was the nemesis of apartheid, and his subsequently displaying no apparent bitterness or resentment towards his persecutors. He simply rose above it.

RIP

[JK]

"One of the brightest lights of our world has gone out".

Thought this quote summed it up

[Tal]

The Telegraph has a seven part obituary: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nelson-mandela/10115323/Nelson-Mandela-obituary.html

To give you a flavour:

Son of a chief of the Thembu clan of the Xhosa people, young Rolihlahla Mandela attends a local Methodist mission school. Here a British teacher, finding his name difficult to pronounce, christens him 'Nelson' after the admiral

[Rod]

Sad sad day, one of the greatest ever to live, really really loved this man.

RIP.

A mate of mine was saying last night the word legend is overused these days but in the case of Nelson Mandela it is the only word that does him justice. He will long be remembered as an example to many.

[rfgqqabc]

http://rt.com/news/mandela-sharp-quotes-media-860/
http://thebackbencher.co.uk/3-things-you-didnt-want-to-know-about-nelson-mandela/

No sources from the source ldo. Am I missing anything? Just a bit young for it all at a guess. He obviously did a lot of good things as well.

[redarmi]

http://rt.com/news/mandela-sharp-quotes-media-860/
http://thebackbencher.co.uk/3-things-you-didnt-want-to-know-about-nelson-mandela/

No sources from the source ldo. Am I missing anything? Just a bit young for it all at a guess. He obviously did a lot of good things as well.

I saw someone quote this on facebook the other day too.  I don't know enough to know if it is true or not but given it is widely considered to have been a just cause I don't see how it lessens his acheivements.  One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter etc?

[horseplayer]

No you are correct that is a good article

I did a lot of reading on Mandela at college lots of material was either very pro or very negative

My conclusion overall was he did a lot of good but a fair bit of bad which should not be ignored completely

[redarmi]

To be honest I don't really see how it is a good article.  There are three points.  The first - that he effectively supported violence in support of his cause I dealt with above.  The second and third, that he bought a lot of military hardware and was friendly with dictators could have been levelled at pretty much any world leader ever.  He would not have been a very effective leader if he hadn't done both.  I think the biggest legitimate criticism that can be levelled against his regime is that it was undoubtedly tainted by significant corruption.

[rfgqqabc]

http://rt.com/news/mandela-sharp-quotes-media-860/
http://thebackbencher.co.uk/3-things-you-didnt-want-to-know-about-nelson-mandela/

No sources from the source ldo. Am I missing anything? Just a bit young for it all at a guess. He obviously did a lot of good things as well.

I saw someone quote this on facebook the other day too.  I don't know enough to know if it is true or not but given it is widely considered to have been a just cause I don't see how it lessens his acheivements.  One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter etc?

Why does the media get to choose who is the terrorist and who is the freedom fighter? Who got to choose whether his cause was just? I'm sure  most terrorists see their actions as fighting for a just cause, and obviously this is easier to acknowledge but plenty of governments have taken action that could result in attacks that could be argued as someone "just cause".  Mandela has a whiter than white reputation, and I'm really struggling to see why. If I renounce my actions afterwards that makes everything ok? The only way to judge these terrorist/freedom fighter situations is to say any violence is wrong, unless it perhaps prevents further violence, but this does lead us onto another slippery slope. This is making my head hurt. Everyone talks about his lack of bitterness post release from prison, but how can he be bitter if he was fairly incarcerated?  

edit: For someone praised as such a peaceful man, praising dictators doesn't seem too great.