I was going to
write about the strikes today, but that will go up on Monday. Though I don’t
think the death of a great man should trump the fight for equity, I do think
Mandela’s life exemplifies the ways a flawed man can change the world. Mandela
was an amazing man. He died at 95 on December 5, 2013. The tweet below from Chris Hayes sums things up well.
A man once
called a "terrorist" will be mourned by every right-thinking
person in the entire world today.
— Christopher Hayes
(@chrislhayes) December
5, 2013
Mandela’s quest for
freedom included economic justice in addition to an anti-racism, anti-sexism,
and anti-homophobic society. I hope all these points are taken away from his
life as the world mourns him. I hope they are applied to Palestine and the
impoverished masses. I am a firm believer in non-violent resistance, and
Mandela definitely was not. However, after he was released from prison, he
invited his jailer to his inauguration, which I consider to be one of the
largest acts of kindness. It also speaks to the kind of South Africa (and maybe world) Mandela
wanted.
