Nelson Mandela: A Great Man and Great Anti-Racist

The death of Nelson Mandela is a landmark moment in global politics. It has allowed the BBC in particular to draw a new narrative, casting those who opposed the USSR and socialism as racists and those who supported socialism in Southern Africa as heroes. The rise of Mandela was a new dawn for Internationalist Socialism and his death has been an opportunity to lionize those who fought the West and Western Capitalism.

. "In 1990, the same year that he was released from prison, the Soviet Union awarded Mandela the Lenin International Peace Prize.  He was the last person to receive the prize, which was no longer awarded after the fall of the Soviet Union. " Russia: beyond the headlines

This was our greatest sadness, that the crowning achievement of the struggle in Southern Africa should also be linked with the end of the USSR.  We gave so much to support SWAPO, the ANC and FRELIMO and it was only as the Soviet Union fell in 1989-90 that Mandela was released.  At the time it seemed like a Pyrrhic victory.

However, in 1989-90 few of us had moved from Marxist Leninism to Anti-racist Post Marxism.  Those who shed tears because Mandela's release was too late can now raise their heads with pride and announce to the world how they fought the political fight for the ANC and can show how the capitalists were racists and how the struggle was not about East versus West but about Anti-racism versus racism.