Comments on: A Nation Mourns http://cominganarchy.com/2006/10/31/a-nation-mourns/ Speak Victorian, Think Pagan Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:26:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Curzon http://cominganarchy.com/2006/10/31/a-nation-mourns/comment-page-1/#comment-150721 Curzon Sat, 11 Nov 2006 02:29:51 +0000 http://www.cominganarchy.com/?p=2285#comment-150721 I couldn't disagree more. Botha's reign marked a real transitional point in the breakdown of the Apartheid regime. And although he is a remembered as a right-winger, he could have done much worse. As for a natural death, Harry Truman said it best: "Communism maintains that social wrongs can be corrected only by violence. Democracy has proved that social justice can be achieved through peaceful change." South Africa faces many problems today, which would likely be far worse if the apartheid regime was ended by violence, not a democratic and peaceful struggle. I couldn’t disagree more. Botha’s reign marked a real transitional point in the breakdown of the Apartheid regime. And although he is a remembered as a right-winger, he could have done much worse.

As for a natural death, Harry Truman said it best: “Communism maintains that social wrongs can be corrected only by violence. Democracy has proved that social justice can be achieved through peaceful change.” South Africa faces many problems today, which would likely be far worse if the apartheid regime was ended by violence, not a democratic and peaceful struggle.

]]> By: Garrett http://cominganarchy.com/2006/10/31/a-nation-mourns/comment-page-1/#comment-150529 Garrett Fri, 10 Nov 2006 17:40:18 +0000 http://www.cominganarchy.com/?p=2285#comment-150529 Whoever said it was bad form to speak ill of the dead clearly didn't have P.W. Botha in mind. It is a rare man who can do so much harm in one lifetime that his death is justly met with cheers even after he has long left power. It's a shame he was allowed to die a natural death. (With apologies to Mark Twain, who was speaking of Jane Austen.) Whoever said it was bad form to speak ill of the dead clearly didn’t have P.W. Botha in mind. It is a rare man who can do so much harm in one lifetime that his death is justly met with cheers even after he has long left power. It’s a shame he was allowed to die a natural death. (With apologies to Mark Twain, who was speaking of Jane Austen.)

]]> By: Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace http://cominganarchy.com/2006/10/31/a-nation-mourns/comment-page-1/#comment-146917 Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace Wed, 01 Nov 2006 02:11:43 +0000 http://www.cominganarchy.com/?p=2285#comment-146917 For those who are not long term readers of private Eye, "this may help explain Lord Curzon's reference...":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik_Verwoerd <blockquote>Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966... and was Prime Minister during the Sharpeville massacre, the banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress, and the treason trial of Nelson Mandela and others. He also presided over the establishment of a republic through a whites-only referendum. </blockquote> <img src="http://www.ugandandiscussions.co.uk/covers/124_big.jpg" width="360"/> For those who are not long term readers of private Eye, this may help explain Lord Curzon’s reference…

Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966… and was Prime Minister during the Sharpeville massacre, the banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress, and the treason trial of Nelson Mandela and others. He also presided over the establishment of a republic through a whites-only referendum.

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