In remembrance of Nelson Mandela

Deng Xiaoping, the former President of China, was asked in the 1980s what he thought the impact of the French Revolution had been on world history. He replied “it is too soon to say”. To an extent, the same answer can be given to the question “what is the historical significance of the life of Nelson Mandela?”. As the tributes and eulogies are being written we can say for certain some of the events he inspired and facilitated, but it's really too soon for any of to fully understand the impact this man had and will have on history.

But we can say a few things. We know that he fought for the downtrodden, the oppressed, the unequal – the people with nothing. He fought against unjust and undeserved power, against powerful people who had no qualms about hanging on to their privileges through violence and repression and racism. This is the well-known Nelson Mandela, the version that will be taught in schools and repeated on news broadcasts, and to an extent this is rightly so – for he did all of these things.

However, some of the details of Mandela's life and work will be less repeated in  the media in the coming days, as they reveal a man who was not just the simple anti-racist symbol that western politicians would like him to be. Mandela, like Gandhi, understood that you don't get equality just by asking nicely. There must be the underlying threat that equality, because it is a right, will at some point be taken if it is not freely given. This explains Mandela's leadership of the armed wing of the ANC, one of the most controversial aspects of his life, and the thing that most directly led him to a prison cell on Robben Island. And Mandela knew the power of solidarity among the oppressed, and the way in which working class organization can provide that threat and that promise – he was a lifelong supporter of trade unions.

Another thing that is forgotten by the politicians that are currently celebrating him – their predecessors, the powerful people of the 1970s and 80s, hated Mandela. In the last decade-and-a-half, as an old man who had retired from active political life, he was easy to refer to as an example of how capitalism and liberal democracy can allow some level of justice and equality. But before the changes in the South African regime became inevitable in the early 1990s he was despised and abandoned by western leaders like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan – called a communist and a terrorist. Those leaders understood that Mandela posed a challenge to them, and they wanted to keep him down for as long as possible. Today's leaders are largely the same – a modern-day Mandela, championing the poor against the powerful, would no doubt spend a very long time in prison as well.

One final thing that we can definitely say about Nelson Mandela at this point – his life should be seen as an inspiration for future action, not merely as a monument to past achievements. Not everything he did was perfect, and the difficulties he faced in overturning centuries of oppression are evident in the continuing struggles of South Africa today. But ultimately, his vision was one of justice, equality, and fairness – the same things that we are fighting for, in our very different way. We hope you will join us in the journey.

Mandela, Deng Xiaoping, Gandhi, ANC, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, NRGLab, SH-box, violence, repression, racism