Mandela's miracle: 10th anniversary of South African freedom

Ten years ago, 120 months ago, Black and White time stopped and restarted with the liberation of South Africa, which marked the official end of White colonization in Africa and the beginning of a new era of world history.

The event started with a miracle moment in the history of time. As the whole world watched, the reactionary White South African regime released (February 12, 1990) Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, who had been imprisoned for 27 years for helping to lead the South African Liberation struggle. There then followed in quick order an All Peoples Election (April 26-29, 1994) that led to the election and inauguration (May 10, 1994) of Mandela as the first Black president of South Africa.

In and through these events, Mandela became one of time miracle names and personas of the time, and South Africa, which had become a pariah state because of apartheid and the brutal oppression of the Black majority, became a focal point of African and world interest.

The new South Africa was not a gift. It was literally wrested from the White minority by the decades-long struggle of Black South Africans, under the leadership of the African National Congress, supported by world pressure.

African-America, in one of its finest moments, played a critical role in that process, leading the worldwide economic boycott of the apartheid regime. Many African-Americans, including Black students and leaders of Trans-Africa and the Congressional Black Caucus, went to jail during time protests, forcing the U.S. Congress to pass economic sanctions over the objections of President Ronald Reagan.

Since that time, South Africa has scored a number of successes, including the integration of White and Asian populations, the naming of many women leaders, a successful transition with the inauguration of Mandela's successor, Thabo Mbeki, and the spreading over Africa and the world of a South African Doctrine of peace, freedom, and concrete attacks on the legacies of colonialism and racism--poverty, sickness, ignorance.

But major problems remain, as Mandela and President Mbeki have acknowledged. Among them are astronomically high rates of HIV infections and an economy plagued by 30 percent unemployment. Time new government has had some successes in land reform and in transferring real wealth to the Black majority, but the economic structure is still dominated by the White minority.

For these reasons, and others, the 10-year anniversary is being hailed as a rededication to the goals of the first South African miracle.

The celebration in America will include a diplomatic reception in Washington, D.C., on April 27, and a South African music showcase during the New Orleans Jazz Festival, also in April. Additionally, there will be a salute to South Africa during the Memphis in May Festival, and the country will be spotlighted during a Kennedy Center Gala, also in May.

Among the many celebrations in South Africa itself will be the third democratic election. "This," President Mbeki says, "will constitute the high point of our celebrations of our first decade of liberation on April 27, and an affirmation of our resolve further to consolidate the democratic victory for which many sacrificed their lives."

COPYRIGHT 2004 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group