I found myself thinking of this tonight because of Nelson Mandela's death. He was a liberating figure for the poor black South Africans, unfortunately he is also a victim of doublespeak. Since he stepped down as president of South Africa in 1999 he has become the media darling and hero around the world, especially in the West. For those who remember American policy during the 1980's and previous years Mandela was anything but a hero, he was a actually considered a terrorist - funny how things change. According to the NY Times from May 9, 2009 the political party that Mandela belonged the African National Congress (ANC) was labeled a "notorious terrorist group" by our government. Fortunately for Mandela in 1988 the US government removed the ANC from its terrorist watch-list, consequently Mandela was able to enter the US without a waiver. It is amazing the media overlooks this now especially since the ANC is very closely affiliated with the South African Communist Party, but none of this is deemed worthy of mentioning by the media now. The real goals of the ANC was laid out in a statement called the 'Freedom Charter' (see link below) - all that talk about the people controlling the wealth and banks makes me think the US wouldn't exactly approve of it. See what you think.
Maybe it went down the memory hole...
Here's a great article about the changing US view of Nelson Mandela:
http://www.voanews.com/content/us-view-of-mandela-changed-from-cold-war-communist-to-anti-aparthied-hero/1804745.html
Link for Doublespeak:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Doublespeak
Freedom Charter:
http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=72
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