Corruption of tea trader Jaliya Wickramasuriya has been rewarded by Mahinda Rajapaksha

Monday, 02 December 2013

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the USA, Mr. Jaliya Wickramasuriya, a cousin of President Mahinda Rajapaksha has been more interested in his tea business and other fraudulent activities in the USA than the work of his diplomatic assignment. One cannot also expect good results from an unqualified and unskilled person like Wickramasuriya in his ambassadorial assignment.

It is no secret that during his time in this high office the relations between the USA and Sri Lanka got worsened and USA moved resolution after resolution in Geneva against Sri Lanka. Therefore, Wickramasuriya has pathetically failed in his duties. Another US resolution is expected in Geneva in March 2014.

However, according to our sources at the External Affairs Ministry in Colombo, he has now been appointed as next High Commissioner to Canada, sidelining Mr. Esala Weerakoon, a very senior Diplomatic Service Officer. Ironically, this new appointment has been done to reward Wickramasuriya for corruption according to Mahinda Rajapaksha theory of “saving our man by shaping up things”. This practice has now become a core principle of“Mahinda Chinthana”.

The story behind the new appointment is that Wickramasuriya has been found guilty of fraudulent misappropriation of US Dollars 350,000/- during the recent purchase of a building for the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Washington D C. Dr. P B Jayasundera, Secretary to Ministry of Finance has helped Wickramasuriya by providing funds urgently to purchase this building while misguiding Sri Lanka’s Cabinet of Ministers.
A 62 year old 07 bedroom house at 3025, Whitehaven Street NW, Washington DC 20008 was purchased for use as Embassy of Sri Lanka in Washington DC in January this year at a cost of US Dollars 6, 250, 000/-.   But Wickramasuriya has got the Cabinet approval of US Dollars 6, 600,000/- for purchase of this building. After finalizing the deal he has stolen US Dollars 350, 000/- of poor tax payers money of Sri Lanka. The details of this building and respective real estate agents are available at internet link www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/3025-Whitehaven-St-NW-20008/home/9988570. According to our sources in the USA no reports on valuation, structural and other conditions of the building has been obtained by Sri Lanka.

Later, Mahinda Rajapaksha has been informed of this corrupt activity by the Foreign Ministry but in accordance with his normal practice he has given Wickramasuriya yet another diplomatic posting as High Commissioner to Canada by cutting a senior public servant. Mahinda Rajapaksha has also ordered G L Peiris not to conduct any investigation into this deal.
The hilarious thing is that Wickramasuriya will have to appear before the high post committee of Parliament soon in order to get his new appointment cleared. The chairman of this Committee is the Prime Minister and there are a number of opposition MPs including Leader of the Opposition as members of the Committee. But Foreign Ministry sources say that this Committee will clear Wickramasuriya without even asking a single question.

Sri Lankans in the USA have told this website that Wickramasuriya was not interested in any official work at the Embassy but only interested in promoting his tea business. He has been using Embassy resources for this purpose and got the Foreign Ministry to appoint staff to deal with the business. These staff are not paid by Wickramasuriya’s company but the government of Sri Lank. These payments include housing, health and educational grants. Our sources in Washington said that Gayan Edirisinghe, a close relative of Mrs. Daya Gallage, private secretary to Mahinda Rajapaksha has been appointed in the Embassy, during last 06 years, exclusively to manage the tea business. Wickramasuriya has told his close friends in the USA that he recently got services of Edirisinghe extended once again by misleading G L Peiris. Therefore, after Wickramasuriya’s departure to Canada Edirisinghe will run the tea business in the USA.

Indo-Lanka relations: some naïve Lankan expectations

By Lynn Ockersz-December 10, 2013, 8:06 pm 

If some observers in Sri Lanka are expecting a resounding BJP victory at India’s next general election, sometime early next year, they cannot be faulted because recent state level polls in India seem to be bearing out this prediction. In these polls, including those held in New Delhi, the Grand Old Party of India, the Congress Party, has suffered defeat and the expectation that the Congress would be routed at the next Lok Sabha polls seems to be well founded at present.

Indo-Lanka relations some naïve Lankan expectations by nelvely

Dalai Lama To Miss Nelson Mandela Memorial In South Africa (VIDEO)

12/09/13 05:35 AM ET EST
NEW DELHI (AP) — A spokesman says the Dalai Lama will not attend memorial services for fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nelson Mandela in South Africa, where the Buddhist spiritual leader has twice been unable to obtain a visa.

Tenzin Takhla gave no reason Monday for the Dalai Lama's missing a memorial service in Johannesburg and funeral in Mandela's hometown.

Takhla said only that "logistically it's impossible at this time."

South Africa blocked the Dalai Lama from attending a Nobel laureates' peace conference in 2009, and stalled on a 2011 visa until the Tibetan leader withdrew the application.

The Dalai Lama has been based in the Indian hill town of Dharamsala since fleeing from China in 1959. He seeks more autonomy for Tibet, but China accuses him of being a separatist.

Arms, funding from Gota to revive LTTE!

பதுமன் தலைமையில் புலிகளை மீண்டும் உருவாக்க கோத்தபாய இரகசிய திட்டம்! தமிழ் அரசியல் தலைவர்களை கொலை செய்வதே பிரதான நோக்கம்!

[ புதன்கிழமை, 11 டிசெம்பர் 2013, 12:28.04 PM GMT ]

இலங்கையில் தற்பொழுது செயற்படாமல் இருக்கும் விடுதலைப் புலிகள் அமைப்பையும் அதன் தாக்குதல் நடவடிக்கைகளையும் மீண்டும் ஆரம்பித்து, சர்வதேச நாடுகளை ஏமாற்றி இறுதியில் அதனை தமது இருப்புக்காக பயன்படுத்தும் அரசாங்கத்தின் ரகசியமான திட்டம் ஒன்று அம்பலமாகியுள்ளது.இவ்வாறு லங்கா வெப் நியூஸ் செய்தி வெளியிட்டுள்ளது

                                              .மேலும் படிக்க>>>

Wednesday, 11 December 2013

We are hereby exposing a top secret plan to revive the LTTE organization, presently in a state of inaction both locally and internationally, and its combat capabilities, and use it for the furtherance of the government by misleading the world community.

It is entirely a plan by defence secretary Gotabhaya Nandasena Rajapaksa, which is being plotted without the knowledge of the commanders of the three armed forces or top government politicians. A handful of local military officers very loyal to him are making the plans under his direct and full supervision.

As the first part of the plan, the LTTE armed wing leader Sivasubramaniam Varathanathan alias Colonel Paduman is to lead the revival of the organization. He is one of the two LTTE armed wing leaders who had attended a news briefing held by Prabhakaran at his Kilinochchchi headquarters on the day the then UNP regime signed a peace agreement with the LTTE in February 2002. The other participant was Karuna Amman, who was the then eastern province armed wing leader. Following an internal struggle for power, Paduman was ordered by Prabhakaran to be imprisoned, while Karuna broke away from the organization. After being in LTTE custody for nearly two years, Paduman escaped during the final stages of the war, surrendered to the military and was imprisoned.

Gotabhaya first employed Karuna, presently a deputy minister of the government, to tempt Paduman into his project, and the two had first met in the middle of this year at prison. Paduman had straightforwardly told Karuna that he wanted to revive the armed struggle against the Sinhala government. Karuna then told Gotabhaya that he cannot convince Paduman into agreeing to his project. Taking matters into his own hands, Gotabhaya met Paduman at a secret location, and as a result of their meeting, Paduman was absolved of charges and acquitted in late September by Trincomalee high court judge Amal Ranaraja who had cited a lack of evidence against him.

Paduman is now in Trincomalee, living double life. To the outside world, he is leading a secluded, peaceful and religious life and is attending Kovil poojas twice a day. But, in actual fact, he has taken 40 LTTE cadres who had been under him in the armed wing, to Colombo. They are now receiving special training at a location near the Panagoda Army Camp. The coordination of this group is being done by a group of soldiers competent in the Tamil language. This team of LTTEers intends to resume jungle combat activities, for which the defence secretary will provide all the necessities. For Paduman’s use in Colombo, the defence secretary has given him a luxury house in the high security zone where the official residences of the commanders of the three armed forces too, are located.

The foundation is now being laid under the defence secretary’s orders to revive the LTTE. Accordingly, firearms are being found and taken into custody at various locations and from buses and motor vehicles, which all are being given wide publicity, also on his orders to all media. The LTTE organization being revived with government sponsorship is targeting to assassinate leading Tamil politicians, especially Northern Province chief minister C.V. Vigneswaran, TNA leader R. Sampanthan, MPs Sridharan and M.A. Sumandiran. The defence secretary has tasked the new LTTE with the elimination of all pro-democratic tendencies.  We are in possession of further details, but it is not yet time to reveal them. It has been several months since we exclusively received details of this plan, and we have been collecting, comparing and double checking the details. We will now reveal these details step by step.

BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION ARE PARASITES IN SOCIETY AT PRESENT - CJ

Rajapaksa Family Stands To Receive In Commission Anywhere Between US$1.2 To US$ 1.8 Billion During 2005-15

BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION ARE PARASITES IN SOCIETY AT PRESENT - CJ

December 10, 2013 

Bribery and corruption are like parasites in present day society and poverty is the primary cause, Chief Justice Mohan Peiris stated.

He said that poverty as well as decreasing income leads government sector workers towards bribery and corruption while a person from the time of birth is pushed towards it due to social conditions.

The Chief Justice pointed out that children are exposed to this sort of behaviour from a very young age whether it be giving their teachers gifts or during the process of entering them into schools.

Speaking at the same event held yesterday (December 9) Attorney General Palitha Fernando stated that Sri Lanka has a high rate of bribery and corruption which in turn has resulted in the lack of investors.

He explained that if Sri Lanka is able to lower the levels of corruption in the country it will increase the amount of investors that will be interested in the country as well.

Sri Lanka guilty of genocide: PPT verdict

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 December 2013, 11:08 GMT]
After an assessment of evidences presented by eyewitnesses and experts, judges of the Permanent People’s Tribunal reached unanimous consensus that the Sri Lankan state was guilty of crimes of genocide against the Eezham Tamils and that the genocide is continuing even after the end of the military operations against the LTTE. Concluding the four day session with a press conference at Bremen on Tuesday, the judges also noted that the Sri Lankan military did not have capacity to commit genocide on its own and that it was supported by the UK-USA-India axis. While the judges held the USA and the UK to be complicit in the genocidal process, they were of the opinion that more evidence was needed as regards India’s role. 

The Eezham Tamils were killed not as individuals but as a group and the target of the Sri Lankan state was the destruction of the identity of this group, the findings noted. 

The judges took care to highlight the significance of the usage of the term ‘Eelam Tamil’ to refer to the genocide-affected Tamils from the North-East of the island of Sri Lanka. 

Noting that the protracted history of genocide extended much before the beginning of the armed conflict, the Tribunal asserted that the Sri Lankan state continued to commit acts of genocide after the end of the “genocidal onslaught” against the de-facto state of the LTTE. 

This, however, was not possible without the assistance of world powers.

The UK’s historical role in assisting Sri Lanka, its complicity in procuring arms in aiding and shielding the perpetrator of genocide was discussed.

The judges also noted that the USA’s military-to-military relationship with Sri Lanka enhanced the capacity of the latter to commit genocide. The Tribunal was of the opinion that US role in the peace process tilted balance in favour of the Sri Lankan state and led to the massacre of Tamils in 2009.

However, the Tribunal wished to postpone deliberations on India's role in the genocide pending submission of potential evidence.

Responding to a question from TamilNet on the failure of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Sri Lanka, Dr. Denis Halliday, one of the judges, opined that the R2P doctrine introduced by Gareth Evans was a cover for intervention but not genuine humanitarian intervention, as evidenced in the case of genocide against Eezham Tamils in the island.

The UN has failed the Eezham Tamils and maybe even complicit in the genocide, he said, also noting the failure of the International Community to take appropriate steps.

Burmese democracy activist Maung Zarni, answering a question on the use of the label of ‘terrorism’ to the LTTE, said that terrorism was a "discursive, strategic and political term" cooked-up by world powers as regards to their geo-political interests. 

Comparing LTTE and Nelson Mandela’s ANC, he said that a whole movement cannot be labelled as terrorist on the basis of few acts.

What Possibly Prevents Human Rights Fulfilment?

By Laksiri Fernando -December 10, 2013 

Dr. Laksiri Fernando

Today, 10 December 2103, marks the 65^th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The Anniversary may be celebrated on the basis of considerable awareness that this Declaration has created amongst the people all over the world about their rights and duties to respect others’ rights. The UN and others have made the Declaration available in over 150 languages. This year the UN is awarding the International Human Rights Prize to six winners, and the well-known Pakistani student activist, Ms Malala Yousafzai, is the most prominent among them, emphasising the importance of the right to education, particularly of young women. It is just four days ago that the world lost one of the most illustrious human rights icons, Nelson Mandela, who was also a previous winner of the UN Human Rights Prize.

However, the Anniversary cannot unfortunately be celebrated as a fulfilment of human rights that are embodied in the Universal Declaration, not necessarily in full, but not at least in half, or to any satisfactory extent. This is irrespective of the fact that all member states have pledged to respect the fundamental human rights by the UN Charter (1945) and they all have accepted the ‘universality of human rights’ at the last World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993. This year the UN also commemorates the 20 years of that Vienna Declaration on Human Rights, yet these pledges are also not fulfilled to any satisfactory extent.

Global Picture

During the last six years, the worst or extreme risk countries for human rights violations have increased from 20 to 34, according to the Human Rights Risk Atlas (Maplecroft). This is in fact a 70 percent increase. I am not saying the Maplecroft tabulations are completely correct, but they are an indication. Most of the worst countries come from the Middle East and North Africa, due to the ongoing political conflicts and state suppressions. These are mainly Syria, Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Sub-Saharan Africa stands next due primarily to endemic ethnic or sectarian conflicts and includes Sudan, DR Congo and Somalia. Sexual violence is rampant in some of these countries.

Asia or South Asia is no better due to similar or other reasons. Some of these countries are Pakistan, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and even India, highlighted by the report. China is no better, irrespective of its ongoing reform agenda. There is also no question that the state is not the only perpetrator in some of these countries.

Among the better or low risk countries, the most prominent are the Scandinavian ones (Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden) and Australia. America, although comes within the ‘better’ category, ranked only at the 139^th place among the surveyed 179 countries.               Read More      

Appeal in the name of Nelson Mandela to all the peoples of Sri Lanka

Tribute to Nelson Mandela-10 December 2013

Text of Speech by M.A. Sumanthiran-Delivered at the Sri Lanka Parliament on Dec 7, 2013:

We convene today as the world mourns the death of that outstanding human being Nelson Mandela. He passed away two days ago, aged 95.

M.A. Sumanthiran MP
Appeal in the Name of Nelson Mandela to All the Peoples of Sri Lanka by nelvely

A 20-20 Human Rights Vision Statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay for Human Rights Day, 10 December 2013

Twenty years ago, a historic document was adopted in Vienna. It crystallized the principle that human rights are universal, and committed States to the promotion and protection of all human rights for all people, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems.

Among many other significant and ground-breaking achievements, the Vienna Declaration led to the creation of my Office – the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

A 20-20 Human Rights Vision Statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay for Human Ri... by nelvely

SRI LANKA: Will international treaties protect human rights in Sri Lanka

written by Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena

Sri Lanka's ratifications of United Nations human rights conventions signal a certain willingness to adhere to the UN treaties and to be guided by international law. But the record of actual compliance with the international treaties tells a different story. The 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties says individual states must comply in good faith with the treaties they have ratified, and that a state may not invoke the provisions of its internal law to justify failure to uphold international agreements. In other words, individual states are bound to comply with the treaties they have ratified, and it is a well-established principle of international law that states have a duty to bring internal law into conformity with obligations under international law.

SRI LANKA Will International Treaties Protect Human Rights in Sri Lanka by nelvely

The JVP: Towards A Second Comeback

By Rajan Hoole -December 10, 2013 |

Rajan Hoole

The Indo-Lanka Accord and Sri Lanka’s Fault Lines: July 1987 – Part – 3

Several of the original leaders of the JVP, including its leader Rohana Wijeweera, were earlier in N. Shanmugathasan’s Communist Party (Peking Wing) and formed the JVP in the late 1960s. Their 1971 rebellion against the newly elected Left-leaning government of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike was brutally crushed and the leaders were imprisoned. They were released by the Jayewardene Government in 1977 and a section of them was for a time used to harass and discredit those in the SLFP close to Mrs. Bandaranaike. The JVP leadership quickly stopped this. In this their electoral phase, Wijeweera contested the presidential election in 1982 with hopes of emerging a major force but barely received two and half lakhs of votes. Wijeweera was thoroughly demoralised. The JVP faced a major crisis with many members leaving.

The character of the JVP is tied up with that of its erstwhile leader Rohana Wijeweera and the reputations of both remain, to a large extent, nebulous. Even some of those who knew Wijeweera very well in his early days are unable to make up their mind about him. In 1989 when his agents were hunting them, they saw him as a coward and a contemptible man whose fear of physical pain was matched by the ease with which he would inflict it on others. Several accounts of him suggest that with the slightest threat of pain under interrogation, as in 1971, he would divulge everything he knew.

Yet many years later, some of his early mates spoke of him as having been the greatest political strategist of their generation. This may be attributed to their removal to foreign lands and a humdrum existence. These circumstances do heighten nostalgia for the lost dreams of youth. The anger against Wijeweera they harboured,had mellowed with time to guilt – guilt over the revolution from which one was excluded, while the companions of one’s youth were consumed by it, along with their idealism, their cruelty, their courage and all. So Wijeweera himself remains something of a riddle. His supposed servility under interrogation itself may have been a clever stratagem. Perhaps it enabled him to give out something relatively trivial and hide what is crucial. We sketch what is known about him from testimonies of persons in Left politics.Read More

To be continued..

*From Rajan Hoole‘s “Sri Lanka: Arrogance of Power  - Myth, Decadence and Murder”. Thanks to Rajan for giving us permission to republish. To read earlier parts click here

EU piles pressure on Sri Lanka over human rights record

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Colombo: The European Union (EU) has asked Sri Lanka to allow free access to UN officials investigating the allegations of human rights violations in the country. 

"We welcome the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Special Envoy on Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons and encourage the Sri Lankan government to extend further invitations to facilitate outstanding visit requests by other UN special mandate holders, including the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances," a EU statement issued here today said. 

UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay visited Sri Lanka in August and sharply criticised the government for harassing and intimidating the locals who came to meet her. 

UN Special Envoy on Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons Chaloka Beyani also visited Sri Lanka last week. 

UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will meet in March, where Sri Lanka is expected to figure yet again, with a possibility of a third resolution on the country's human rights accountability and reconciliation of the Tamil minority. 

The UNHRC's has passed two US-moved resolution highly critical of Lanka's record in the final phase of a brutal 26 years of war against separatist LTTE that ended in 2009. 

The resolutions encouraged Lanka to conduct an independent and credible investigation into the alleged war crimes. 

The EU noted that while significant improvements had been made since the end of the conflict, particularly on resettlement and physical reconstruction, further challenges remain in upholding the independence and effectiveness of the judiciary and the rule of law, strengthening freedom of expression, taking effective action to end religious intolerance and preventing sexual abuse of women and children. 

PTI

The Mandela of Kurdistan is still imprisoned for life

Posted on December 6, 2013by Ruwayda Mustafah Rabar

The demonisation of political leaders and imprisonment is contingent upon the world’s political climate, and this is an undisputed historical fact. What strikes me as odd is how easily we perceive one political figurative leader to be a “terrorist” and another a “freedom fighter” when similar approaches have been embodied in the fight towards social justice.

Last night when Nelson Mandela passed away, the world paused in silence, mourning for the loss of a leader that was deemed to be a terrorist not long ago by European leaders. Around the world his quotes were tweeted, Facebooked, and instagramed. He was remembered for his resistance against the apartheid in South Africa, for mobilisation of young people towards a just cause, and in fighting injustice.

Elsewhere in Imrali prison on an Island remains Abdullah Ocalan, who has spent the past 13 years in prison for rebelling against the Turkish state’s brutality, state-sanctioned discrimination and inherently racist laws (at the time) towards Kurdish people. Abdullah Ocalan, similar to Nelson Mandela has renounced violence, continuously called for dialogue, peace, diplomacy and understanding between Kurdish people and the Turkish state. He has played an instrumental role in supporting the peace-process in Turkey, although little credit has been attributed to him within the Turkish media in his role as a peace-mediator.

When people mourn Nelson Mandela, his legendary work, and praise his strength, I wonder, do they do the same for Abdullah Ocalan? What I don’t understand is, how is it that we have come to accept the imprisonment of Abdullah Ocalan as “justifiable” but not that of Nelson Mandela? Surely, if Mandela’s imprisonment was unwarranted (and no doubt it was) then the same line of reasoning/logic can be applied to Ocalan.

Just as F.W De Klerk had the willpower to lift the ban of African National Congress and release Nelson Mandela, will the Prime Minister of Turkey follow suit or are we going to wait another 20 years before a Turkish Prime Minister realises that Turkey’s Kurdish question can only be answered and settled through the release of Abdullah Ocalan, and negotiation with his supporters.

Unfortunately, for decades, Kurdish people have had fear drilled into their minds that there are certain political topics we simply should stay away from. We should not talk about Abdullah Ocalan or his role in establishing peace/harmony within Turkey’s Kurdish minority, but instead we should wither away in the shadows, hoping that someone else with no Kurdish affiliation (and nothing to lose) can talk about this topic.

I think it is time that we stop shying away from this topic and that we collectively realise that no one else is going to speak about Kurdish issues on our behalf if we are not willing to. The number of young Kurdish activists I have seen vocalise their concerns about women rights, children’s rights, and other marginalised groups within Kurdistan are many, and they should be just as loud/clear when it comes to the question of why Abdullah Ocalan is still imprisoned, and not released.

International Community Must Continue To Monitor Sri Lanka: Commonwealth HR Initiative

‘The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative has reminded the Commonwealth that Sri Lanka has a poor rights record when it comes to real accountability, and said the international community must continue to monitor Sri Lanka on its message to mark Human Rights Day which falls today, December 10.

“Previous commissions and investigations have been plagued by government interference and failed to achieve meaningful results and are mostly seen as a government ploy to delay effective criminal investigations. Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) failed to fix responsibility for war crimes and its recommendations remain largely unimplemented,” the CHRI said in its statement.

CHRI said complaints of torture, disappearances and the persecution of human rights defenders and journalists continue, accompanied by the unwarranted excessive military presence and involvement in civilian activities in the north of Sri Lanka.

“There can be no real reconciliation in Sri Lanka without justice,” said CHRI Director Maja Daruwala, “Freedoms like the right to associate, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly must be assured not only on paper but enjoyed on the ground without fear of retribution.  As chair of the Commonwealth now, Sri Lanka must show not only that it can abide by the recently adopted Charter of the Commonwealth but champion the human rights agenda both at home and abroad.

A first step will be to demonstrate an end to impunity for past and present actions and ensure that dissent is not met with threat and victimisation.”

Until it can demonstrate these standards, CHRI urges the international community to continue monitoring Sri Lanka’s human rights commitments.

The CHRI has also acknowledged the recent initiatives taken by Sri Lanka, new Chair of the Commonwealth, to address concerns related to its human rights record. Establishing a Presidential Commission to investigate cases of disappearances during the war from the Northern and Eastern Provinces, the on-going nationwide census to assess the loss of life and damages to property due to the nearly three decade long civil war, setting up a National Inquiry on Torture with Commonwealth assistance and the Cabinet’s nod to the Witness and Victim Protection Bill, are all encouraging steps.

The Hijacking of Mandela’s Legacy

by Pepe Escobar / December 10th, 2013

Beware of strangers bearing gifts. The “gift” is the ongoing, frantic canonization of Nelson Mandela. The “strangers” are the 0.0001 percent, that fraction of the global elite that’s really in control (media naturally included).

It’s a Tower of Babel of tributes piled up in layer upon layer of hypocrisy – from the US to Israel and from France to Britain.

What must absolutely be buried under the tower is that the apartheid regime in South Africa was sponsored and avidly defended by the West until, literally, it was about to crumble under the weight of its own contradictions. The only thing that had really mattered was South Africa’s capitalist economy and immense resources, and the role of Pretoria in fighting “communism.”Apartheid was, at best, a nuisance.

Mandela is being allowed sainthood by the 0.0001% because he extended a hand to the white oppressor who kept him in jail for 27 years. And because he accepted – in the name of “national reconciliation” – that no apartheid killers would be tried, unlike the Nazis.

Among the cataracts of emotional tributes and the crass marketization of the icon, there’s barely a peep in Western corporate media about Mandela’s firm refusal to ditch armed struggle against apartheid (if he had done so, he would not have been jailed for 27 years); his gratitude towards Fidel Castro’s Cuba – which always supported the people of Angola, Namibia and South Africa fighting apartheid; and his perennial support for the liberation struggle in Palestine.

Young generations, especially, must be made aware that during the Cold War, any organization fighting for the freedom of the oppressed in the developing world was dubbed “terrorist”; that was the Cold War version of the “war on terror”. Only at the end of the 20th century was the fight against apartheid accepted as a supreme moral cause; and Mandela, of course, rightfully became the universal face of the cause.

It’s easy to forget that conservative messiah Ronald Reagan – who enthusiastically hailed the precursors of al-Qaeda as “freedom fighters” – fiercely opposed the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act because, what else, the African National Congress (ANC) was considered a “terrorist organization” (on top of Washington branding the ANC as “communists”).

The same applied to a then-Republican Congressman from Wyoming who later would turn into a Darth Vader replicant, Dick Cheney. As for Israel, it even offered one of its nuclear weapons to the Afrikaners in Pretoria – presumably to wipe assorted African commies off the map.

In his notorious 1990 visit to the US, now as a free man, Mandela duly praised Fidel, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat and Col. Gaddafi as his “comrades in arms”: “There is no reason whatsoever why we should have any hesitation about hailing their commitment to human rights.” Washington/Wall Street was livid.

And this was Mandela’s take, in early 2003, on the by then inevitable invasion of Iraq and the wider war on terror; “If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America.” No wonder he was kept on the US government terrorist list until as late as 2008.

From terrorism to sainthood

In the early 1960s – when, by the way, the US itself was practicing apartheid in the South – it would be hard to predict to what extent “Madiba” (his clan name), the dandy lawyer and lover of boxing with an authoritarian character streak, would adopt Gandhi’s non-violence strategy to end up forging an exceptional destiny graphically embodying the political will to transform society. Yet the seeds of Invictus were already there.

The fascinating complexity of Mandela is that he was essentially a democratic socialist. Certainly not a capitalist. And not a pacifist either; on the contrary, he would accept violence as a means to an end. In his books and countless speeches, he always admitted his flaws. His soul must be smirking now at all the adulation.

Arguably, without Mandela, Barack Obama would never have reached the White House; he admitted on the record that his first political act was at an anti-apartheid demonstration. But let’s make it clear: Mr. Obama, you’re no Nelson Mandela.

To summarize an extremely complex process, in the “death throes” of apartheid, the regime was mired in massive corruption, hardcore military spending and with the townships about to explode. Mix Fidel’s Cuban fighters kicking the butt of South Africans (supported by the US) in Angola and Namibia with the inability to even repay Western loans, and you have a recipe for bankruptcy.

The best and the brightest in the revolutionary struggle – like Mandela – were either in jail, in exile, assassinated (like Steve Biko) or “disappeared”, Latin American death squad-style. The actual freedom struggle was mostly outside South Africa – in Angola, Namibia and the newly liberated Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Once again, make no mistake; without Cuba – as Mandela amply stressed writing from jail in March 1988 – there would be “no liberation of our continent, and my people, from the scourge of apartheid”. Now get one of those 0.0001% to admit it.

In spite of the debacle the regime – supported by the West – sensed an opening. Why not negotiate with a man who had been isolated from the outside world since 1962? No more waves and waves of Third World liberation struggles; Africa was now mired in war, and all sorts of socialist revolutions had been smashed, from Che Guevara killed in Bolivia in 1967 to Allende killed in the 1973 coup in Chile.

Mandela had to catch up with all this and also come to grips with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of what European intellectuals called “real socialism.” And then he would need to try to prevent a civil war and the total economic collapse of South Africa.

The apartheid regime was wily enough to secure control of the Central Bank – with crucial IMF help – and South Africa’s trade policy. Mandela secured only a (very significant) political victory. The ANC only found out it had been conned when it took power. Forget about its socialist idea of nationalizing the mining and banking industries – owned by Western capital, and distribute the benefits to the indigenous population. The West would never allow it. And to make matters worse, the ANC was literally hijacked by a sorry, greedy bunch.

Follow the roadmap

John Pilger is spot on pointing to economic apartheid in South Africa now with a new face.

Patrick Bond has written arguably the best expose anywhere of the Mandela years – and their legacy.

And Ronnie Kasrils does a courageous mea culpa dissecting how Mandela and the ANC accepted a devil’s pact with the usual suspects.

The bottom line: Mandela defeated apartheid but was defeated by neoliberalism. And that’s the dirty secret of him being allowed sainthood.

Now for the future. Cameroonian Achille Mbembe, historian and political science professor, is one of Africa’s foremost intellectuals. In his book Critique of Black Reason, recently published in France (not yet in English), Mbembe praises Mandela and stresses that Africans must imperatively invent new forms of leadership, the essential precondition to lift themselves in the world. All-too-human “Madiba” has provided the roadmap. May Africa unleash one, two, a thousand Mandelas.

See also: “Nelson Mandela: Death of a Legend”

“Victorious over Apartheid, Defeated by Neoliberalism“