MarcosLoura Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Nikki Finke@NikkiFinke R.I.P. Nelson Mandela, subject of Weinstein Co’s Idris Elba-starrer 'Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom' which opened Nov 29 and has awards buzz. So THAT'S where we know him from! Luthor played him in a movie! You mean Stringer Bell dude. In all seriousness, I'm usually pretty indifferent to "celebrities" deaths but Madiba's real hit me. Even when he got sick a couple of months I got teary-eyed because I realized "yeah he's really really old, he'll probably die soon. He was one of the best of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 There's a difference between celebrities and Nelson Mandela. He's one of the handful of most important figures of the 20th Century. There were a lot of awful things that happened during that century. In the final decade, a lot of those narratives were ended. Apartheid was one of them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Shit, I remember exactly where I was when he was released from prison, and that was in elementary school for fuck's sake. What a terrible loss, but my God, 95 years old. What a life that man lived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antacular Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Wow. The man was a goddamn icon. He's not Paris fucking Hilton or Lance Bass.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy LaRue Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 In our sarcastic, jaded, and spiteful society, there are those among us who bring light to the dark, and give hope where misery tries to dwell. Mandela was one of those beacons. We are sad because of his passing, but will be forever better for his presence while he was with us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LooseCannon Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Of course something like this was going to happen.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Ape Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 You know, I don't know what it says about me that I thought about it, but I'm kind of surprised (pleasantly, mind) that I've yet to see a single "RIP MORGAN FREEMAN" status or tweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomAct Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 You know, I don't know what it says about me that I thought about it, but I'm kind of surprised (pleasantly, mind) that I've yet to see a single "RIP MORGAN FREEMAN" status or tweet. It took 10 minutes for me to see one :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Sad news. Two main memories of his, his walk as a released man and wearing the South Africa Rugby Union jersey at the 1995 Rugby World Cup final won by the Springboks. R.I.P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 You know, I don't know what it says about me that I thought about it, but I'm kind of surprised (pleasantly, mind) that I've yet to see a single "RIP MORGAN FREEMAN" status or tweet. It took 10 minutes for me to see one :/ I learned of a Twitter that did nothing but RT tweets of people doing RIPs for Mandela while posting pics of Morgan Freeman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red is Dead Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Rest in peace madiba. You've done more for race relations in the world than any one person could. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Amazing moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buy Me a Burrito Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 I had to write an obit of the guy for work. Here it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcosLoura Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Today I learned that back in '87 there was a UN meeting (http://tinyurl.com/knjbkov) "... the Pretoria regime to release unconditionally and immediately all political prisoners and detainees, including Nelson Mandela and all other black leaders with whom it must deal in any meaningful discussion of the future of the country;" There were only 3 votes against this motion. EUA, UK and Portugal. The same guy that was the Prime Minister of Portugal is the current President. Nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Spanish Waiter Posted December 6, 2013 Author Share Posted December 6, 2013 Today I learned that back in '87 there was a UN meeting ( "... the Pretoria regime to release unconditionally and immediately all political prisoners and detainees, including Nelson Mandela and all other black leaders with whom it must deal in any meaningful discussion of the future of the country;" There were only 3 votes against this motion. EUA, UK and Portugal. The same guy that was the Prime Minister of Portugal is the current President. Nice. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikoBaltimore Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 I've learned a lot about Mandela in my life, but feel there's a lot more to know about him for me. It's amazing to think what one man has done in his life. Going from jail to president, the rugby story, ending Apartheid. It's impossible not to be inspired by what he's done. It's just too damn sad there's not too many people like him, who knows how we'd end up if that were the case. And there's something eerie about his daughters finding out while watching the movie about him. Of all the times to find out. Sad too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 There is a long history of right-wing and especially conservative Christian organizations in this country who were deeply opposed to Mandela as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 I heard at least one person today at work say they would not honor the presidental order to fly flags at half mast for Mandela. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomAct Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 There is a long history of right-wing and especially conservative Christian organizations in this country who were deeply opposed to Mandela as well. And apparently Obamacare and apartheid are the same thing, according to some. Not sure if this is can of worms that needs to be opened though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 Well, the first half is simple history. The second is current political debate, I guess, and thus probably taboo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 It's Rick Santorum, unless you're Phillip Rivers or completely insane, just ignore him at this point. It's what everyone else does. One of the loudmouthed morons tried to claim he'd be a Conservative if he was in the US, basically. Of course, folks have tried to say the same thing about MLK and Kennedy of all people, so who the hell knows what's going on there. Soon, Gandhi would have wanted to bomb Iran. Best to avoid it overall and just let the man's life and deeds speak for themselves. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranesi Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 Sadly that shit somehow matters in midterm elections, and then you end up with a local school board erasing the name Mandela from the history curriculum. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 El Jones reads a poem about Nelson Mandela during Solidarity Halifax's A people's History of Nova Scotia Conference on October 5, 2013, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.Don't let them take MandelaNo no don't let them steal MandelaMake no mistake they're going to fake erase and lie about MandelaThey can't wait for him to die so they can plasticize MandelaAppropriate MandelaDon't you know they hate Mandela?We can't have the free MandelaAnd they'll never let us know that we all can be MandelaThey won't let us feel MandelaWe can't have the real MandelaJust like Che Guevara shirts they're going to buy and sell MandelaNow that he cannot speak himself they're going to corporatize MandelaAnd we shouldn't be surprised when we don't recognize MandelaAnd they will whiten up Mandela and they'll hide the truth about MandelaBecause the last thing they want to do is end apartheid like MandelaSo they'll divide and rule and govern through a colonized MandelaAnd this capitalistic system will consume the true MandelaAnd we won't like the new Mandela cause he's not for me and youAnd they will take him from the ghetto and the township and favelaOh yeah they're gonna use MandelaSo we have to tell about MandelaDon't forget the freedom charter when we yell about MandelaBut they cast a big umbrellaFull of brainwashing and errorIt's got skeletons inside they already tried to get FidelAnd they will stick to their vendettaCause their clique goes on foreverThey'll shove Obama down our throatsWhile they hide speeches songs and lettersYou can bet that they will twist him to whatever serves them betterThey're going to write their own novellaBecause they can't control MandelaSo we have to hold MandelaKnow the goals that drove MandelaSpear of the Nation old MandelaAnd truth and reconciliation sold Mandela so we have to get to know MandelaNot the diamond mines MandelaOr the compromised MandelaNot the World Cup or Invictus or the canonized MandelaThe ride or die MandelaViva la revolution socialized MandelaCuito Carnavale and militarized MandelaCastro and Mandela raising fists to the oppressorOh but they'll give us safe MandelaNobel peace prize great MandelaAnd let's forget about the state and institutions that brutalized MandelaAnd are still in place world wide togetherThey'll say oh he forgave, remember?So there's no need for the poor to ever rise up like Mandela.We'll get quarter of MandelaA watered down MandelaA kindergarten cartoon for your sons and daughtersJust a shell of our MandelaJust like with Gandhi and with King they'll sound the death knell for MandelaAnd before his body's cold they'll cast their spell upon MandelaWe'll get have a dream Mandela and love your enemies MandelaAnd power to the people will be buried with MandelaSo we can't let them steal MandelaBecause they can't feel MandelaIt's the spirit of the revolution can't conceal MandelaIt's a 500 year connection sharing ideals with MandelaFrom the slave ships to Haiti, Cuba and SowetoThats what reveals MandelaAnd that's why they can't keep MandelaBut we can't sleep on MandelaBecause the truth is there never was just one complete MandelaIt's the people made MandelaThe movement create MandelaThe youth in streets while he was still behind prison gates propelled itAnd it went on whatever measures they attempted to suppress itAnd so the people can rememberSolidarity foreverBecause as long as our hearts beat then they can never take Mandela. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StretchMediatedHypertrophy Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 http://www.okwonga.com/?p=869 Dear revisionists, Mandela will never, ever be your minstrel. Over the next few days you will try so, so hard to make him something he was not, and you will fail. You will try to smooth him, to sandblast him, to take away his Malcolm X. You will try to hide his anger from view. Right now, you are anxiously pacing the corridors of your condos and country estates, looking for the right words, the right tributes, the right-wing tributes. You will say that Mandela was not about race. You will say that Mandela was not about politics. You will say that Mandela was about nothing but one love, you will try to reduce him to a lilting reggae tune. “Let’s get together, and feel alright.” Yes, you will do that. You will make out that apartheid was just some sort of evil mystical space disease that suddenly fell from the heavens and settled on all of us, had us all, black or white, in its thrall, until Mandela appeared from the ether to redeem us. You will try to make Mandela a Magic Negro and you will fail. You will say that Mandela stood above all for forgiveness whilst scuttling swiftly over the details of the perversity that he had the grace to forgive. You will try to make out that apartheid was some horrid spontaneous historical aberration, and not the logical culmination of centuries of imperial arrogance. Yes, you will try that too. You will imply or audaciously state that its evils ended the day Mandela stepped out of jail. You will fold your hands and say the blacks have no-one to blame now but themselves. Well, try hard as you like, and you’ll fail. Because Mandela was about politics and he was about race and he was about freedom and he was even about force, and he did what he felt he had to do and given the current economic inequality in South Africa he might even have died thinking he didn’t do nearly enough of it. And perhaps the greatest tragedy of Mandela’s life isn’t that he spent almost thirty years jailed by well-heeled racists who tried to shatter millions of spirits through breaking his soul, but that there weren’t or aren’t nearly enough people like him. Because that’s South Africa now, a country long ago plunged headfirst so deep into the sewage of racial hatred that, for all Mandela’s efforts, it is still retching by the side of the swamp. Just imagine if Cape Town were London. Imagine seeing two million white people living in shacks and mud huts along the M25 as you make your way into the city, where most of the biggest houses and biggest jobs are occupied by a small, affluent to wealthy group of black people. There are no words for the resentment that would still simmer there. Nelson Mandela was not a god, floating elegantly above us and saving us. He was utterly, thoroughly human, and he did all he did in spite of people like you. There is no need to name you because you know who you are, we know who you are, and you know we know that too. You didn’t break him in life, and you won’t shape him in death. You will try, wherever you are, and you will fail. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Westboro Baptist says they are flying to South Africa to picket Mandela's funeral. South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world. This will end well. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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