Nelson Mandela and hypocrisy

I know, it's not the kind of thing you're supposed to put in the same sentence. But it's Amnesty International's hypocrisy I'm referring to. They never adopted Mandela as a prisoner of conscience, although that is what he was. This is why they decided not to, and the position they took back in 1965 was at least a coherent one, and reached by an assembly of their members. It was of course based upon the decision to approve the use of violent means by Umkhonto we Sizwe in support of the ANC's objective of non-racial democracy for South Africa. In 2006 Amnesty adopted Mandela as an "ambassador of conscience", long after he had left prison and after he had been the first non-white President of South Africa. When the moment had passed. Amnesty is of course now a discredited organisation, for Jew-hating, and nobody much cares what that organisation thinks about anything any more.

I don't salute the memory of Nelson Mandela for his part in the struggle for non-racial democracy in South Africa. He didn't do it alone, and many people died in that struggle. I salute him though for his generosity of spirit, for his willingness to pass the baton of power on to others, lesser people than he was, which is the finest political intelligence there is, and for his promotion of forgiveness. It seems to be that it is in Africa that you find forgiveness and reconciliation. They are forgiving in Rwanda, where many of the population have much to forgive. In other places, Ireland, the former Yugoslavia, they don't seem to find it possible. Maybe they could learn from Madiba.

campaigning in between

stolen from John Howarth's Facebook page

here Mr Howarth puffs himself campaigning in Woodley, a suburb of Reading which would never describe itself as such. He mentions in passing Matt Rodda, the Labour parliamentary candidate for Reading East, and Rodda may be in this picture somewhere. Good to see the excellent and indefatigable Woodley Labour campaigner Roger Hayes in the picture though. Campaigning in the suburbs brings its own issues with it. Most important is identity. Woodley of course had a Labour MP for eight years, and in that time Reading Labour refused to go near the place, sneering at it at meetings. We had great fun once stitching up the Reading Labour boys with a motion on local authority boundaries, promoting bringing Woodley into Reading. We marched them up the hill to cries of outrage, then we withdrew the motion, which we had planned to do all along. Martin Salter clapped Roger Hayes on the shoulder patronisingly and said "Well done Roger". That Roger (a) kept a straight face (b) didn't punch Salter is a measure of the qualities of the man. Now Mr Howarth has set foot in Woodley, and I hope he treats the place with respect, as he should any place he is seeking to represent. If he does get elected his time in Strasbourg will be a living hell. I can promise him that.