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24th September 2002



When Nelson Mandela condemned the USA for the so-called "war" on terror in a recent interview, he was dismissed by many as an irrelevance, a relic of a bygone age. Mr Mandela noted that the USA's support for the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan, and its subsequent refusal to co-operate with UN after the Soviet withdrawal, led to the Taliban taking power. Mr Mandela correctly went on to say that the USA's interventions in the Middle East were "a threat to world peace"



Far from being a relic, in fact it was Mr Mandela who referred to warmonger Dick Cheney as a "dinosaur" and an "arch-conservative" who does not want Bush "to belong to the modern age." Perhaps Mr. Mandela can be excused the antagonism towards Dick Cheney when one considers that the latter was vehemently opposed to Mandela's release from prison.



Perhaps we should not be surprised at his opposition, when we take a quick look at the USA's voting record at the UN during apartheid-era South Africa. They were often the only nation to vote against resolutions which condemned the Apartheid regime, which called for economic sanctions, which called for an arms embargo and which called for aid for the people who suffered under that regime. It should be noted that South Africa was at this time an important source of Uranium for the American Government.



It is now widely believed that a CIA agent who had infiltrated the ANC was responsible for his arrest, so it hardly surprising that Cheney and his ilk were opposed to his release. No, Mandela's "crime" was to speak for the oppressed, and lead their fight for freedom. We can suppose that made him a "communist", and therefore, by default in America's eyes, a threatening influence to be neutralised.



Far from being out of touch, Mr Mandela knows only too well, after his many years as a political prisoner, of the suffering and injustice that is caused by US foreign policy. His voice may have become unsteady with age, but it is a voice that must still be heard.