{"id":3243,"date":"2013-12-05T22:12:51","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T03:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/nocrossnocrescent\/?p=3243"},"modified":"2013-12-05T22:12:51","modified_gmt":"2013-12-06T03:12:51","slug":"lets-not-forget-mandelas-very-few-white-allies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/nocrossnocrescent\/2013\/12\/05\/lets-not-forget-mandelas-very-few-white-allies\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Not Forget Mandela’s (Very) Few White Allies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Nelson<\/a>
Nelson Mandela and Joe Slovo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the world mourns the loss of Nelson Mandela, the hero who spearheaded the fight to end institutionalized racism in South Africa, secularists will be well advised to remember a rather obscure angle of his life: that while Mandela was fighting for racial equality, South African whites weren’t all so keen on letting go of their privileged position, and hence aside from those who actively tried to shore up the apartheid, most stayed out of the matter. Only a very small group of white South Africans entered an alliance with Mandela and fought alongside him to end the apartheid. And who were those?<\/p>\n

The godless communists.<\/a><\/p>\n

The CPSA [Communist Part of South Africa] was declared illegal in 1950. The party went underground and, in 1953 relaunched itself as the\u00a0South African Communist Party<\/i>\u00a0– the name change emphasising the party’s orientation towards the particular concerns of South Africans. The party was not legalised until 1990.<\/p>\n

The CPSA\/SACP was a particular target of the National Party government elected in 1948. The\u00a0Suppression of Communism Act\u00a0was used against all those dedicated to ending apartheid, but was obviously particularly targeted at the SACP.<\/p>\n

Following the repression of the CPSA, the party adopted a policy of primarily working within the ANC [Mandela’s African National Congress] in order to reorient that organisation’s programme from a\u00a0nationalist\u00a0policy akin to the CPSA’s former\u00a0Native Republic\u00a0policy towards a\u00a0non-racial\u00a0programme which declared that all ethnic groups residing in South Africa had equal rights to the country. While black members of the SACP were encouraged to join the ANC and seek leadership positions within that organization, many of its white leading members formed the\u00a0Congress of Democrats\u00a0which in turn allied itself with the\u00a0African National Congress\u00a0and other ‘non-racial’ congresses in the\u00a0Congress Alliance. The Congress Alliance committed itself to a democratic non-racial South Africa where the ‘people shall govern’ through the\u00a0Freedom Charter. The Freedom Charter, having been developed by leading members of the Congress of Democrats, was adopted by the ANC leadership and has since remained the cornerstone of the ANC’s programme throughout the years of repression.<\/p>\n

In exile the influence of the SACP grew as communist states provided the ANC with funds and arms. Patient work by the ANC slowly rebuilt the organisation inside South Africa and it was the ANC, with communists in prominent positions, who were able to capitalize on the wave of anger that swept young South Africans during and after the\u00a0Soweto Uprising\u00a0of 1976.<\/p>\n

Communist\u00a0Joe Slovo<\/strong>…\u00a0was perhaps the leading theoretician of the revolutionary struggle the ANC were engaged in. The ANC itself, though, remained broadly\u00a0social democratic\u00a0in outlook. [Emphasis added]<\/p>\n

Eventually external pressures and internal ferment made even many strong supporters of apartheid recognise that change had to come and a long process of negotiations began which resulted, in 1994, in the defeat of the National Party by the ANC.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, the theoritician of ANC’s struggle was a godless communist, Joe Slovo (picture above, with Mandela, after the latter’s release from prison). And Slovo is doubly hated<\/a> by racists, for being Jewish, and for being an ally of Mandela.<\/p>\n

And calling Slovo is godless communist (to fully imitate McCarthyist rhetoric) is fully justified<\/a>, as it happens.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Although his family were religious, he became an atheist who retained respect for “the positive aspects of Jewish culture”.<\/p>\n

Slovo joined the\u00a0South African Communist Party\u00a0in 1942. Inspired by the\u00a0Red Army’s battles against the\u00a0Nazis\u00a0on the\u00a0Eastern Front\u00a0of\u00a0World War II, Slovo volunteered to fight in the war, afterwards joining the\u00a0Springbok Legion, a multiracial radical ex-servicemen’s organization, upon his return.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, the point here is not to praise communism. And actions of Slovo, no matter how wonderful, by no means provide expiation for communist atrocities committed by the KGB, Mao’s Red Guards, or the Stasi. On the other hand-when religious apologists (all too often) blame the said atrocities on atheism, it is helpful to gently bring the communists’ part in bringing democracy to South Africa also to their attention.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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