Mandela did not take the ‘easier’ path

When my family and were in exile in London, my late husband and I met up with personalities from the anti-apartheid movement.  Having come from the Philippines, we did not know much about the movement or maybe it was because Africa was too far from the Philippines. We failed to see at the time that the anti-apartheid movement was relevant to our opposition to Marcos dictatorship.

But we did find ourselves together in some meetings since the anti-apartheid movement was based in London. It began and gained momentum in the 60s and grew from strength to strength until apartheid was disbanded in the 80s. We met at meetings arranged through the British Labour Movement and some progressive members of Parliament. Indeed when the first demonstration of the Pagkakaisa ng Samahang Pilipino was organized in Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park against the unjust deportation of Filipino workers from the UK, we were joined by members of the anti-apartheid movement.

 In time, we slowly got to know each other better and understood that our causes were related — a struggle for freedom and human rights. 

Through our activities in London we knew of the South African leader Nelson Mandela. I am reminded of those days when his death was announced today (Philippine time) at his home. He was 95 years. It was a long life, considering that he spent a good part of it in prison.

When we first heard anti-apartheid stories I was surprised that it was still around in our day and age. In a sense anti-apartheid because it was so blatantly racist was easier to be angry about. The Filipino cause, being merely anti-colonial was often vague and invisible so we could not get the sympathy we hoped for in our own struggle against a dictatorship supported by a former colonizer.

It was also true that if anti-apartheid lasted so long and Nelson Mandela kept in prison indefinitely, it was thanks to Western governments’ support. The inference was that law and order could be maintained only if blacks and whites lived separately. Even Indians although not black did not enjoy equal rights with the superior white.

It was a place of beautiful houses, well-watered lawns, privileged wealthy whites spending their time in exclusive clubs, mimicking the life in their home countries in Europe and the US. The blacks could come in to white territory to work but would have to leave before nightfall. As it was in the American South, the blacks were seen as useful slaves but barred from enjoying the “good and equal life with whites.” I traveled to many parts of the world at the time except South Africa, fearful of not being accepted even as a visitor for not being white.

All that finally came to end. Richard Knight writing for Wikipedia said “the disinvestment campaign in the United States, which had been in existence for quite some years, gained critical mass following the Black political resistance to the 1983 South African Constitution which included a “complex set of segregated parliaments.”

But it was not until the blacks fought to reject apartheid in numbers that the world listened.

“In a total rejection of apartheid, black South Africans mobilized to make the townships ungovernable, black local officials resigned in droves, and the government declared a State of Emergency in 1985 and used thousands of troops to quell ‘unrest.’ Television audiences throughout the world were to watch almost nightly reports of massive resistance to apartheid, the growth of a democratic movement, and the savage police and military response.”

Mandela was the hero who symbolized the movement that put an end to white rule when he won the country’s first fully democratic elections in 1994 after his release from 27 years in jail.

There are many lessons Filipinos can learn from the black struggle against apartheid in South Africa. To my mind, the most important is never to lose faith that one day the cause for freedom and justice will be fulfilled. There was no bitterness from the man imprisoned for the most part of his life.

In his acceptance speech in 1994 as South Africa’s first black president he said “the time for the healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come.”

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Of the many books he has written or have been written about him, I like “Converstations with Myself.” I still have to finish reading the book but I will quote  a paragraph in the introduction by President Barack Obama.

“In the end, this is Mandela’s message to each of us. All of us face days when it can seem like change is hard – days when our opposition and our own imperfections may tempt us to take an easier path that avoids responsibilities to one another. Mandela faced those days as well.  But even when little sunlight shined into that Robben Island cell, he could see a better future – one worthy of sacrifice.

“Even when faced with the temptation to seek revenge, he saw the need for reconciliation, and the triumph of principle over mere power.  Even when he had earned his rest he still sought – and seeks to inspire his fellow men and women to service.”

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My objection to the appointment of Sen. Panfilo Lacson as the rehabilitation czar is an issue of meritocracy.  There are other personalities, not necessarily politicians, who have shown through their character, capabilities and have a track record to prove it. A manager is needed to be able to reconcile clashing interests and able to draw up a holistic plan for the program of rehabilitation. He must see it as a cause in itself for the betterment of the victims and not as a political platform. After all, if we accept that there are many different tasks involved in rehabilitation then the job must go to a man who has a varied knowledge of the skills needed, one that will engage individuals according to merit and looked up to with respect for understanding priorities.

I do not see any track record to have faith with the Aquino appointment. There are other issues like Kuratong Baleleng “massacre” and the Dacer-Corbito murders but these cases can be best written by those who knew the cases and followed it up through its conclusion in our justice system. He has been appointed and he has accepted the appointment so this may be a futile opinion. But it has to be made so in the future whatever and whenever when events unravel, I could in conscience say “I told you so.”