"Playing with the Enemy" - Mandela & the White Nationalist Springboks

[IndyOp]

Once upon a time, white nationalists in South Africa celebrated their control of the African continent and its people and the tremendous wealth they drew from this control by playing rugby:


The African people hated, hated, hated the national rugby team -- it was a symbol of every physical blow that had landed on their heads and on their backs. It was a symbol of the hatred, the constant soul-killing disrespect that had been heaped upon them for being, simply for being and for having the audacity to fight to hold onto self-respect as they lived their lives. The Springboks' anthem was a racist, nationalistic, white supremacist little ditty that they sang with gusto before every game. The team was, of course, all Afrikaner.


And then Nelson Mandela was released from Robin Island and elected President.

Within days of his inauguration as president in 1994 Nelson Mandela sent for François Pienaar, the Springboks’ captain.... He had a special role in mind for him in his political plans. “You looked at him,” Mandela said, “you considered where he came from and what you saw was a typical Afrikaner.” <snip>

Pienaar grew up in Vereeniging, an industrial town south of Johannesburg. Vereeniging weighed heavily on the minds of the residents of the nearby black township of Sharpeville. It was the place from which death had been famously visited on them. Sharpeville had endured the single worst atrocity of the apartheid era: in 1960 police opened fire on unarmed, fleeing black demonstrators, killing 69. There was probably more hatred concentrated toward whites in Vereeniging than anywhere else in South Africa. Yet Pienaar had little notion that the blacks viewed him as a mortal enemy and no sense of Sharpeville’s existence, let alone its history. Black people drifted around the fuzzier edges of his consciousness: “We were a typical, not very politically aware working-class Afrikaner family who never spoke about politics and believed 100% in the propaganda of the day.”<snip>

Yet if there was one thing Mandela had learnt in his dealings with the Afrikaners it was to see past appearances. “He did not seem to me at all to be the typical product of an apartheid society,” Mandela said. <snip>

Pleasure was the last thing on Pienaar’s mind as he stood on the stone steps of the giant Union Buildings on June 17, 1994, preparing to go inside for their first meeting. “I was incredibly tense as the moment arrived when I would meet him,” he recalled. In less than five minutes, Pienaar’s mood had been transformed. “It’s more than just being comfortable in his presence,” Pienaar recalled. “You have a feeling when you are with him that you are safe.” <snip>

Pienaar would not have guessed it at the time, but winning him over – and, through him, enlisting the rest of the Springbok team – was an important objective for Mandela. Pienaar had become the latest Afrikaner to be “enveloped”, as he himself put it, in Mandela’s aura; but he did not become an overnight evangeliser. He was a straightforward rugby man, for whom big words like “nation-building” carried little meaning. The message he took away from that meeting was a straightforward one: get out there and win, wear that shirt with pride, certain of my support. Mandela bade Pienaar goodbye as if they were already the best of friends.

In moments, the Springbok succumbed to Nelson Mandela’s charm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/arti...

When Mandela began wearing the Springbok jersey it felt like the stab of a knife deep into the hearts of Black South Africans and their allies around the world. The pain and rage roiled the nation.



And then, over time, the Springboks replaced their ugly racist anthem with one that reflected that a new day had arrived --


And, over time, because "those people" no longer drifted around the fuzzier edges of the Afrikaner team members' consciousnesses, because they finally saw their fellow citizens clearly, the team was integrated -- and...






The end of this story hasn't been written yet. Too many black South Africans are now living in even worse economic conditions than before Apartheid ended. What will happen next? I don't know, but I am confident that this painful step -- Mandela reaching out to the much-hated Springboks -- will keep its place in the history books.

I know that this isn't a very good analogy of the events of today. The pain felt by our gay and lesbian loved ones and by all of us allies as a result of Obama inviting Warren to give the invocation is deep.

If Obama were reaching out to white supremacists we would all be clear that he felt the burn of this invitation as acutely as we all would. It isn't clear that he is feeling the pain he is causing by doing this -- if I were assured that he really felt our pain and believed it was in ALL our best interests to do this then I would feel more at peace.

Still, I think Obama's actions come from good and decent motives. That is just my opinion.

I am sorry to anyone and everyone who is hurting right now. Truly sorry.

[ananda]

1. Do the warmfuzzy feel goods cover up for or justify..

.. making nice with the enemy and then
allowing economic conditions to worsen?

I keep thinking that the struggle for
freedom and for just and fair economic
policies and conditions is a constant
and enduring one, and that members of
an oppressed group and their allies
must remain vigilant and willing to
fight until justice and equality are
served on a basis that cannot be undone.

I speak here as a member of a seriously
oppressed group: women. Over the years,
we have gained much.. but lately we have
lost much in the way of hard earned
freedom and rights.

We must unite with all our brothers and
sisters from all oppressed groups and
work together to get our rights and
freedoms back and maintain them.

That means marriage for homosexuals,
and it means complete control over one's
body for every woman, including unconditional
access to birth control and abortion.

Sue

[IndyOp]

3. Wow - thanks for your really thoughtful reply.

I have some of the same doubts you do about taking "warm and fuzzy" symbolic actions and whether they really get us to the place where we make real progress. I think they do. I think that the great social quests are constantly changing, interacting marathons -- there are times when we sprint and times when we can just barely maintain a pace that keeps us with the pack and times when we fall behind. We all win when we all win. That is my goal.

[IndyOp]

6. Kick! (n/t)

[NEDem]

2. Amandla Awethu!

[IndyOp]

4. I've never seen or heard anyone speak who reminded me more of a "natural born king" than Mandela.

What I've learned of his strategy for leading a nation I just love - like the notion of "leading from behind" - you have to get the people milling about and thinking and taking action and then when that reaches a certain level you can take an action that will look like leadership, but if you do it right you stay behind the crowds.

[tabatha]

5. Yes, Mandela is Xhosa.

The Xhosa believed in Ubuntu, an humane treatment of others.

What amazed me a couple times in SA before the end of Apartheid, occurred with a couple close black friends. Generally, the black folk were happy and cheerful in their interactions. But underneath, there was a lot of anger. I saw that anger on just two occasions, and they were at specific events.

Yet, most of the time, one would never have known about. I don't know if this was a result of Ubuntu, or what. But they certainly had far better attitudes towards others (despite their hardships) as opposed to the dour, narrow-minded Afrikaners.

[MedleyMisty]

7. Did the guy speak at Mandela's inauguration pre change of heart?

I see it mentions a meeting. Meetings are cool. I don't see where it says the dude was given an official platform that legitimized his racist views before his change of heart.

[IndyOp]

8. No and I said it was not a great analogy. I think it is a good one though in that

it turned out to be less difficult to "turn" this guy than many would have thought and that it was very painful when Mandela reached out. Also, it might not have worked -- Mandela might've made the overture and the Springboks might've clung to their racist ways. I don't know what Obama has in mind re: Warren, but I do think that our politics are much smaller than our problems and that there is no way to resolve long-standing problems without going through pain.

[psychmommy]

11. i think it was a good analogy.

it shows the pain of a much repressed segment of the population who finally have someone that represents them. then he goes and "legitimizes" a representation of the oppressor by wearing their (jersey) in a meeting viewed by the nation. i can empathize with the south african folks and i can empathize with our lgbt family. mandela did alot of good and brought his nation together through those rough days. i hope pres obama took a page out of mandela's book to bring our country together-it is so bitterly divided. to bring us together is going to take some growing pains on all sides, i hope in the end we can come together as a party and as a nation. divide and conquer is how the repubs will come back into power. we need our lgbt family to remain a strong and diverse party.

[IndyOp]

12. Agreed - we have to just keep getting stronger. Diversity is part of our strength. (n/t)

[yowzayowzayowza]

9. So you don't think Mandela would have ...

accepted a generic Christian prayer during his inauguration for hiz presidency and the country as a whole?

[Odin2005]

10. Wow, amazing post!

Off to the Greatest page with ya!