When statesmen walked the earth...

Michael - Alternate Thursdays 

And in the news:

"South Africa has announced that it wants staff from Mexico to join its embassy in Washington to process applications from persecuted Americans who wish to move to South Africa as refugees. The South African government has requested the US government to treat the issuing of visas to these staff as a matter of urgency because the persecution of Americans has significantly increased over the last year."

Well, no, not really. It's the other way around. The US urgently wants Kenyan staff to be issued visas to help process white "refugees" in South Africa because of the increased persecution. (Mathematical joke: The said persecution has increased by 100% over the last year. It started at zero.)

Unfortunately, satire falls pancake-flat these days, because whatever the satirist can think of, something more unbelievable is happening in real life. 

So, instead, I thought we might like to be reminded of the life of a truly remarkable and principled man.

Nelson Mandela returns to Robben Island after being elected
president of South Africa

So much has been written about Nelson Mandela that it seems redundant to add anything more. Pat and I went to the FotoZA exhibition of photographs for the hundredth anniversary of his birth with some reservations. But how could one not allow oneself to be reminded of this life of commitment to a cause and to justice that had to take precedence over everything else, including his own needs and desires and those of his family? There would be no compromise – until it allowed him to move to his ultimate goal.

The exhibition gives few new perspectives, yet pulls us once again into the life of this extraordinary man who spent nearly thirty years in prison yet held to his principles, and then – harder still – spent five years as president of South Africa and still never compromised them.

Two feature of the exhibition struck us - unexpected amongst the flood of bitter pictures. The most moving was a display of the calendars that he was allowed in his prison cell. Year after year with notes, appointments and comments. Just before he was transferred to Victor Verster prison in Paarl and then released, he noted scarily high blood pressures. But most of the annotations referred to precious visits and meetings that the authorities dealt out like scraps to a dog. As the years passed, they became more frequent, yet every one was a cherished connection to the outside world.

The second was a display of posters from around the world calling for his release, the release of all South Africa's political prisoners, and for the abolition of apartheid. Most are from European countries sympathetic at the time to the ANC, and many are lithographs - crude by modern standards - yet their message is strong across the years.

Hard labour in prison.

A less serious poster - the makeover

Artist's impression of Mandela before he was released.
There had been no photographs of him for many years.

Mandela's letters from prison. A new comprehensive collection offers many insights.
From: The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela

It was a very moving experience. His life continues to be a beacon of where we could be in the future if we care enough.