Richard Hawley

Richard Hawley Forum
It is currently Tue Mar 19, 2024 9:06 am

All times are UTC [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 8 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: R.I.P. Nelson Mandela
PostPosted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 12:00 am 
Offline
Hawleytastic!
User avatar

Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2007 12:07 am
Posts: 2902
Location: Stoke-on-Trent
Sad indeed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25249520

_________________
http://www.nickbarberphotography.co.uk


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 3:12 pm 
Offline
Hawleytastic!

Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:56 am
Posts: 2629
Location: London
As someone who spent a good proportion of their youth standing outside Sainsbury's, urging people not to buy South African fruit and wine, I am surprised to find out that, all along, the Tory Party, Royal Family and big business always thought Mandela was a fantastic man and that the Apartheid system was evil.

Just listening to Boris and Dave on the radio, exhalting his greatness. But they way I remember it is that their idol, Thatcher, called Mandela a terrorist and the Federation of Conservative Students, in which they both were leading lights, produced a poster calling for him to be hanged.

Have had to turn it all off and pay my respects in my own way. x


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 4:45 pm 
Offline
The Boss
User avatar

Joined: Fri May 30, 2003 9:54 am
Posts: 18679
Location: Sheffield
Same here Helen it's truly sickening to watch those awful people making claims they have right to make

What a truly awesome man Mr Mandella was,one of the greatest human beings ever to walk this earth I feel very sad as I'm sure we all do but just imagine what the world would be like without him?Rest in peace sir I salute you and your colossal legacy ..>

_________________
now,then!


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 5:43 pm 
Offline
Hawleytastic!

Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:56 am
Posts: 2629
Location: London
My 13 year old has just done a history project on Mandela and what life was life under Apartheid, so I spent a few hours going through stuff I had collected over the years, put him in touch with a few friends who I knew when they were in exile here in London but who have since gone home, and looking at news reports and music on YouTube.

He was absolutely gob-smacked, disbelieving that those kinds of laws could've existed until so relatively recently. He loved all the Mandela quotes – if you can learn how to hate, you can be taught how to love, being his favourite. We watched the Free Nelson Mandela concert at Wembley on YouTube and, apart from the shockingly bad hair, the thing that struck me was how political it was – can't imagine that happening now. Of course, he didn't know who any of them were and I was trying to explain that it was like Rihanna, Jay Z, One Direction and all the other crap bands he likes coming together to call for the freedom of one man. He just thought that was so cool.

And it sort of made him look at me a bit differently too. I went to my first anti-apartheid meeting when I was 14, just a few months older than he is now. Different times, eh.

I like what Tony Benn said today: "Nelson Mandela was a man who took direct action against apartheid and was described widely in the West as a terrorist because he used force. Then he won and then world leaders flocked to praise him and gave the impression as if they had supported him all along. I felt he was the Godfather of the Human Race."

I thought that was lovely.

When I went in to say goodnight last night, my boy said: "He's died, mum, and I've only just got to know him." Which I thought was very sweet but also a measure of the sort of feelings people have about him.

I heard a ex-Fords worker on Robert Elms today, in tears in the queue to sign the condolence book at South Africa house, recalling the strikes they had had at his factory in protest at Fords' building the bodies of South African police cars. Think it is important to remember that it is the 'little people' who gave up so much that will mourn him most. xx


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 9:51 pm 
Offline
Too much time on my hands

Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 9:03 pm
Posts: 561
Location: South Yorkshire
helenwatson wrote:

Just listening to Boris and Dave on the radio, exhalting his greatness. But they way I remember it is that their idol, Thatcher, called Mandela a terrorist and the Federation of Conservative Students, in which they both were leading lights, produced a poster calling for him to be hanged.

Have had to turn it all off and pay my respects in my own way. x


Helen, I said exactly the same thing to my husband when we watched it this morning. A cat walked by and stopped when Dave when he was giving his 'speech'. My husband suggested the cat was thinking 'what a prick' before moving on. Thatcher's 'terrorist' was a great and humble human being whose legacy will, I hope, never be forgotten.

I remember, years ago, singing 'Free Nelson Mandela' along to a tape in the car. My friend asked me who Nelson Mandela was. It is so great to hear your 13 year old knows more about him now than she did then. One man who made such a difference and whose values were more important to him than his own freedom. A lesson I have learned from him is that there is always hope - no matter how insurmountable it seems, keep believing. A truly great man.

_________________
up the Owls


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 11:26 pm 
Offline
Hawley Super-Groupie

Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2012 4:18 pm
Posts: 214
top bloke ..> rip x


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 12:09 pm 
Offline
Hawleytastic!

Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:56 am
Posts: 2629
Location: London
Great piece as the great and the good line up...

http://marksteelinfo.com/tributes-have-flooded-in/


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 3:07 pm 
Offline
Hawleytastic!
User avatar

Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 12:12 pm
Posts: 4530
I still won't go near Barclays Del Monte and the rest of the fuckers who supported the Boer regime. Mandela though showed the eay with dignity and the courage that sustained him throygh prison. Yes Dave the PM and co are the same people who spunked in their undies over Thatcher the Pinochet apologist but I prefer to see the tributes as a symbol of how far things have come and we should maybe focs on the fact that these miserable fuckers are venerating a man who rose above the nastiness of their idols. FW De Klerk has paid tribute. If you wete alive and politically sentient in the 80s just stop and wonder at that and see just what a transformation one man's struggle and humanity can do. Now then Obama how about Guantanamo Bay....


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 8 posts ] 

All times are UTC [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group