By YANG Jianli
With Nelson Mandela’s passing we have lost giant who advanced the cause of liberty and democracy in great strides. Much has been written about his strength of character that allowed him to forgive and work with those at whose hands he had suffered so cruelly. It is true that he taught us how cries for justice and retribution must be tempered with careful concern for reconciliation and forward progress.
Mandela’s magnificent life, however, teaches three other lessons we must not forget. The first is the need to persevere against injustice and intolerance — to never give up no matter how strong and determined are the forces of oppression we must confront. Mandela won, for himself, for all South Africans, and for the cause of liberty because of his fierce persistence and refusal to accept the intolerable injustice of Apartheid. Like Mandela, we must persist in opposing the brutal human rights abuse of ethnic and religious minorities and democracy advocates in China, and in urging all decent men and women to join us.
Second, Mandela’s courage and steadfast commitment was not enough to erase the stain of Apartheid. It took people of goodwill worldwide, including a major grassroots movement throughout America to press national governments to confront and sanction South Africa, until it’s Apartheid government relented. The same popular consensus is needed to convince Washington that confronting China, publicly and forcefully, is not only necessary to protect human rights in China, but also serves the United States national security interests. This will continue to require the same kind of educational efforts as were necessary in explaining the horrors of Apartheid to the American people until they demanded that their elected representative take action.
The third lesson, and the one most often overlooked, is that Mandela had a magnificent partner, who was essential in transforming South Africa from a pariah state scorned for its brutal oppression into a modern democracy rooted in justice and fairness. FW de Klerk, the South African president under whom Mandela was finally released from prison, properly shared the Nobel peace Prize with Mandela. De Klerk’s own “transformation” paralleled South Africa’s. It started when they first met while Mandela was still in prison, with their mutual recognition that together they could bring South Africa into the sunlight of freedom. It continued as they partnered in developing a constitution and their nation’s first fully democratic elections, and culminated in de Klerk’s, serving, to the world’s surprise, as Mandela’s deputy in their government of “National Unity.” Together, they personally embodied the concepts of empathy and reconciliation.