Mandela And Reality

Mandela was never the man his awestruck fans were describing since his death.  As a young man he was first and foremost a fighter for freedom; the fact that he was hated by all the right people and scared the shit out of the reactionary West was one of the finest things about him.  He was a symbol for freedom and the official ending of apartheid in South Africa, but his tenure as president was not the proper course for South Africa.  Mandela's election cemented the interest and desires of the West into post-apartheid politics of the nation.  What we've been hearing about Mandela is not the whole story--and certainly not the most important one.  But it is the happy bullshit one, so it is probably the story most are going to be stuck with.