Never forget

In their zeal to pat the moldering corpse of Nelson Mandela on the back as they lower him into the dustbin of history, the right wing in this country want you to forget how they tried for years to paint Mandela as a Communist terrorist.  But we must never let them forget how they persecuted Mandela and by extension all black folks, and justice loving white folks too, in South Africa.

For many years the government and corporate media machine here in the USA backed any dictator (Samoza, Sadat, Mubarak, Pinochet, etc), any repressive government (Saudi Arabia, Chile, South Africa, etc), and backed any movement (the Contras, the Taliban, Al Qaeda, etc) as long as they were anti Communist.  And anyone who opposed those who we backed we labeled them as Communists and terrorists.

The South African government's system of apartheid was supported by the US government because they provided us with a bulwark against the scary black Communists in Africa, which was where we fought many a proxy war during the cold war years.  If anyone opposed apartheid, then they opposed capitalism and they must by extension be a Communist, hence our refusal to press for Mandela's release or the end of apartheid.  St. Ronnie Reagan fought tooth and nail against sanctions and to keep Mandela locked up.  Bush the elder did as well, until it became crystal clear that Mandela was getting out and that the right was on the wrong side of history yet again.

Now they want us to forget all that.  Well fuck that.  I'll never forget it.  I won't let them use Mandela's life to prop up their corrupt political posturing.  They hated and feared him.  They tried to keep him locked up forever.  And if you read comments by them on articles on Mandela's death, they still feel that way.  Fuck them.  Fuck them bloody with a chainsaw.