Mandela

The over-enthusiastic hagiography has already started, and I would imagine that the fusillade of opprobrium, some of it certainly warranted, will begin after dawn.  Regardless, Mandela the idea had an enormous impact on recent human history.  What was best about Mandela the idea--maybe second best after the hope he gave to so many people--was the fear he provoked in the west, in the racist reactionaries in the United States and Europe.  That was a beautiful thing.  Mandela the revolutionary was most successful as a prisoner.  Mandela the president was.  South Africa persisted under Mandela--he didn't burn it down or paint the streets with blood--and while apartheid as law was ended, economic and social apartheid continued essentially unabated for many.  Still, he was a tough bastard.  He rightly took up arms.  He survived his prison sentence.  He maintained the idea of Nelson Mandela to the best of his abilities even though he knew the realities of post official apartheid South Africa.  Whatever passes for peace in death, Mandela has that now.