REMEMBERING NELSON MANDELA

 

I remember when we learned that Nelson Mandela was planning to make his farewell address to the United Nations, our Abolition 2000 Network organized an international letter writing campaign to him to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons in his UN speech. Sure enough, the London Guardian reported on its front page, Nelson Mandela Calls for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons! In his speech he actually said "what do they need them for anyway?" I only hope that we can honor and remember the enormous contribution he made to peace when he used the truth and reconciliation process he started as President of South Africa to avoid bloodshed and dedicate ourselves to making that process work for Syria, for Israel-Palestine, and other troubled spots on our beleaguered planet. Let us truly honor him by putting revenge and war behind us in a more peaceful world!

See, http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/1998/09/21_mandela.htm

See how the NY Times handled the story compared to the London Guardian, in a somewhat longer piece about the news and how it’s reported.
http://globalhousework.blogspot.com/2011/02/nixon-in-china-max-frankel-and-me.html