Nelson Mandela 1918-2013

[janedavitt]

What a lot he accomplished, what a legacy he left.

Born as a war ended, and involved in a different struggle for so much of his life.

At his age, it's not right to call it a tragedy; it's not, but it's a loss to the world.

And I have the song "Free Nelson Mandela" going through my head now and remembering when Mum would carefully not choose any fruit from South Africa for the Christmas fruit bowl, even though it looked lovely, because we never bought from there as a protest against apartheid.

Comments

[bluewolf458]

I agree you can't really call it a tragedy at his age, and the way his health has been recently, I'd guess he hiself was quite glad to go... His is a name that will be remembered.

The problem about that sort of protest, though, is that the people who suffer worst from it are usually the ordinary people you're trying to support, not the politicians.

[janedavitt]

The boycott movement was founded in 1959 by South African exiles. Julian Nyerere said, "We are not asking you, the British people, for anything special. We are just asking you to withdraw your support from apartheid by not buying South African goods."

It was the only way the public could show the SA government their disapproval and economic sanctions can be very effective.

I can't do much, but I can choose where to spend my money and if a company or country has policies and beliefs I find offensive, I will direct my money away from them.

[bluewolf458]

I do understand the logic behind it, and I also understand you don't agree with me when I say I don't think it helps the people who are suffering. I'm cynical about politicians, and I'm quite sure that whoever suffers in a trade boycott in a country with that sort of imbalance in the population, it won't be them. They'll hang onto power, stashing away as much money as they can, for as long as they can.

That said, I have boycotted goods from countries where I don't agree with their policies. I just don't believe, though, that it does much to help the people we're trying to support.