Democratic Palestine : 37 (ص 34)
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- Democratic Palestine : 37 (ص 34)
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Seldom has the release of a political
prisoner held such great significance as
Nelson Mandela’s reunion with his
people on February 11th, after 27
years in apartheid’s dungeons. It would
be difficult to describe or quantify the
emotions this brought forth not only
among his family, friends and com-
rades, but also among millions the
world over who have grown to love
and revere Mandela as a symbol of
human courage and endurance in the
battle against injustice. Mandela’s
release is concrete evidence of what
both neutral and partisan observers, as
well as the ANC itself, have been say-
ing for some years now: The tide has
turned and apartheid’s demise is inevit-
able; it is coming soon.
Mandela’s release is proof that the
apartheid regime itself has now
acknowledged this fact. Reaching this
point has taken decades of popular and
vanguard struggle, untold sacrifices
and sustained international pressure.
True, the Pretoria government unban-
ned the ANC and other anti-apartheid
organizations in connection with Man-
dela’s release. But this was more of a
confirmation of the prevailing balance
of forces: The masses had already
lifted the ban in practice, especially
with the rising struggle of the mid-
eighties, where ANC slogans and sym-
bols were frequently raised, and an
increasing number of mass organiza-
tions in South Africa declared their
alignment with the ANC.
What the De Klerk government is
actually saying is that it is ready to
negotiate with the ANC as the undis-
puted leadership of the broad anti-
apartheid struggle. At the same time,
the minority regime, including the pro-
reform forces within it, will work to
steer these negotiations in a direction
which will leave decisive power and
certain privileges in the hands of the
white establishment.
32
Nelson Mandela and the ANC are
well-aware that the war has not been
won, but rather they are entering the
final battle. This was clear in Man-
dela’s speech to the crowd of 120,000
who gathered to welcome him back to
Soweto: «There must be an end to
white monopoly of political power and
a fundamental restructuring of our
political and economic systems to
ensure that the inequalities of apar-
theid are addressed... The factors
which necessitated the armed struggle
still exist today. We have no option
but to continue.» At the same time, he
urged the government to meet the con-
ditions for negotiations by lifting the
state of emergency and freeing all
political prisoners. Mandela advocated
negotiations for «peace, democracy
and freedom for all,» calling on whites
to «join us in the making of a new
South Africa» (International Herald
Tribune, February 12th).
With Namibia’s achievement of
independence under SWAPO’s leader-
ship, the native people of Palestine
and South Africa stand together as the
sole remaining victims of settler-col-
onialism in the world today. The dual,
but overlapping structure of the Pales-
tinian revolution, with the intifada in
the occupied territories and the PLO’s
political and military struggle from
exile, is to a great extent similar to
that of the Black majority’s struggle,
with the organized mass movement in
South Africa and the ANC in exile.
With the new stage signalled by Man-
dela’s release, the ANC has officially
reentered its homeland, reintegrating
its various arenas of struggle. Achiev-
ing such a situation is also an aspira-
tion of the Palestinian revolution.
Perhaps more than any other people,
the Palestinians are closely following
the unfolding events in South Africa -
and there is much to be learned.
One important lesson is the necessity
of a long-range view, revolutionary
patience and persistent struggle that
defy periods of set-back and hopeless-
ness. The ANC’s struggle dates back
to 1912, when it was founded and
embarked on non-violent resistance to
apartheid. The adoption of the Free-
dom Charter in 1955 marked a turning
point in that it laid down the principles
of the democratic society for which the
movement was struggling. Another
turning point came with the 1960 Shar-
peville massacre which prompted new
thinking about whether the people’s
aspirations could be achieved solely via
non-violent struggle in the face of the
massive brutality practiced by the apar-
theid regime. As a result, the military
wing of the ANC, Umkhonto Sizwe,
was formed in 1961, and began armed
struggle against the forces of apar-
theid. The arrest of Nelson Mandela,
and his being sentenced to life impris-
onment, along with other militants,
came at this time with the racist
regime’s attempt to nip the vanguard
struggle in the bud. But the ANC per-
sisted in multifaceted struggle through-
out these long decades until the
eighties when the anti-apartheid move-
ment was able to enforce the new
balance of power which is_ the
background for today’s events.
The very question of Mandela’s own
release has been under negotiation for
an extended period during which he
resisted any impulse to attain his own
freedom on conditions that would com-
promise the ongoing struggle for equal-
ity and justice. Yet there are those
who advise the PLO to compromise
basic Palestinian rights and its own
leading role in hopes of gaining an
undefined «something,» before it is too
late. The experience of the struggle in
South Africa speaks against such desp-
erate approaches. It shows that free-
dom, whether of a people or one of
their leaders, is not something to be
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