The Cosmopolitan Blog

One of the things you need to know about me is that I am addicted to the Biography Channel. In fact, biographies are one of my favorite types of books too. And since I can be just as shallow as I can be “deep and meaningful”, I’ll take as much pleasure in watching a biography on Charlie Sheen as I do on Nelson Mandela (granted, i would probably not take the time to read Charlie’s bio…).

But since this post is not in the shallow “That’s Hot” category, my post is about Nelson Mandela. This man is definitely one of the great people of this century, a hero to his country, we all know how he spent 27+ years in jail for a cause he believed in, how the people of his country remembered him and continued fighting in his name, how he came out of jail and ended apartheid, became the country’s official leader and held the first free multi-racial democratic elections in the country.

What I found particularly striking and I find reflects on the core of who he is as a man and a human being, is the fact that the lifetime he spent in jail did not remotely make him bitter or angry. He persevered until he reached his goal, and he rarely used guerrila warfare and violence. With regards to this, I want to highlight the following from Wikipedia:

Mandela explains the move to embark on armed struggle as a last resort, when increasing repression and violence from the state convinced him that many years of non-violent protest against apartheid had achieved nothing and could not succeed. Mandela later admitted that the [African National Congress] ANC, in its struggle against apartheid, also violated human rights, and has sharply criticized attempts by parts of his party to remove statements supporting this fact from the reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

I don’t think there is anything I could say in this post that hasn’t been said before on this great man, but what I reflect on is how his struggle to end apartheid was not motivated by anger and hate, be it before or after his 30 years in prison. I believe THAT was the variable that allowed his struggle to be successful. So how does a man who sees such injustices not become bitter and enraged? The answer, I believe can be found in his childhood. Mandela was born in a very influential and important family in his region, his great-granfather was the King of the Thembu people, and his father was chief of his village. The point is, for the first 18-20 years of his life, he lived in regions of South Africa that were all-black, and therefore, he did not grow up confronted on a daily basis with racial hatred, he was never meant to feel inferior for the color of his skin. Anyone growing up in an environment of hatred, violence and racism can only end up bitter and angry. Mandela did not feel any of this growing up. THIS, i believe is the key to how Mandela chose to fight his struggle.

*warning: random thoughts ahead :)*

I find Mandela such a beautiful person. I am not someone who is very much into analyzing people’s auras (in fact, i know nothing about auras), but i believe that he must have the world’s most impressive aura. Mandela has often mentioned that one of his greatest influence is Mahatma Gandhi, and I believe this is very obvious. One of the contemporaries that he admired greatly too is ex-US President Jimmy Carter, someone I also admire for his stance on peace throughout the Middle East (yes, yes, I know, Jimmy wasn’t the world’s greatest US president, but I don’t believe this should take away from his amazing foreign policy).

So is Mandela perfect? No, i think not, and in fact, I think that anyone who could devote his entire life to his country’s struggle in such a steadfast and focused way, must be a very difficult man to live with (or without, considering that he spent most the life he shared with his 2nd wife in jail). I think he made a choice of which way his life would go, and that meant that the more time he spent struggling, the less time he spend being a private man, a husband and a father. Life must not be easy being the child of Nelson Mandela. I just think it’s important to acknowledge his family for the sacrifice they were asked to make for the sake of their country.

Last random thought: this man is now 89 years old, and he has retired from public life… Sort of… Last month, he created the council of Elders, which, I know, sounds like something out of Star Trek or Harry Potter, but is, in fact, an amazing way to unite all the great living men and women of this century who have knowledge, wisdom and experience to:

“speak freely and boldly, working both publicly and behind the scenes on whatever actions need to be taken. Together we will work to support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict, and inspire hope where there is despair“.

I do believe that you probably have to be 70+ to join the club (i’m only 1/2 kidding, i think that to understand and share your perspective and wisdom, you can’t be 40-odd years old), and includes such greats as Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Muhammad Yunus and Jimmy Carter, each of these people having their own specialty and area of expertise.

I am thankful that there are people like Nelson Mandela in this world.

Part of the cosmopolitanism philosophy is the acceptance that no nation, culture or political model is better than another, that there are pros and cons for each, but that they each have a reason for existence. After all, each culture, nation and regime exists because it grew from a need for this ideology. If no one agreed with it, no one would adhere to it. There aren’t enough people in this world that can be mass-coerced to adhere. So should we be looking at the tribal way of life in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq (I mention them because they’re on our daily news, so I figure everyone knows where these countries are) and feel sorry for their backward way of life? I’m not sure.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the world is a better place without Saddam Hussein. I think that the tyrant deserved to be held accountable for his crimes. Should we show social responsibility by sticking around once we remove a dictator to ensure that the country will fall back on its feet? Possibly. But the very least we owe the citizens of that country is to see the world through their eyes. How did they get to this point? What motivated them to remain / accept this regime? Are you telling me that 25K+ Iraqi citizens have been sitting there praying for the brave westerners to rescue them? Really? Convince me, I dare you!

But we’re there now. So let’s see the world through their eyes for one moment. Can we honestly claim that democracy is a better regime that the country should aspire to establish? Why? Because it allows individuals to have their own rights and create their own wealth? Sure, that sounds like a good reason, and apparently, in the West, we believe it is, that’s why most western countries have adopted it. But why would be so arrogant as to believe that it will work best all over the world? Why do we think we’re doing other countries a favor by encouraging democracy?

It’s like criticizing woman in Islamic societies for wearing the hijab. Have you tried speaking to one of them and suggesting that they should be independant and non-submissive? Good luck with that! Yes, there will be a large number of them who will allow themselves to dream for a couple of seconds, and imaging the independant life they could be living, with their own goals and careers. And then they will submissively resign themselves to the current state of things. But! But, there’s a huge number of them will defend their choice and their way of life. They respect it and want it that way… It’s the way they’ve been brought out, to take care of the house and the family, and to think of the community before they think of their individual desires… And this is less noble than a career-minded western woman because….?????

I’m struggling to understand all of this… I should probably not think of the state of the world at 2am… *sigh*