The man who believed in full equality for all, for everyone everywhere … One of the most remarkable human beings of all time
By Melanie Nathan, Dec 05 , 2013.
Our beloved Madiba, Nelson Mandela, has just died. With deep sadness we extend our condolences to Madiba’s family and all of South Africa. As much as we hoped this day would never come it has. Our hope is that Madiba rests in peace and that South Africa remains at peace.
At 95, we could not have hoped for much longer a life on this earth, and as prepared as we were, we still need him. And we always will. Even though his political days were well behind him, his presence prevailed as a beacon of continued hope for a country that still suffers on so many levels. There will never be another Nelson…
South Africa’s iconic leader Nelson Mandela passed away on Thursday. Mandela was 95 and had spent months in the hospital earlier this year for a recurring lung infection.
Leaders around the world expressed their condolences in the wake of the announcement, reminding the world of the strength and the compassion that characterized South Africa’s remarkable leader.
It was South African president Jacob Zuma who announced the death of Madiba. “Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father,” Zuma said, according to CNN. “He is now resting, he is now at peace,” Zuma added.
Speaking from the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama said “Mandela has achieved more than could be expected of any man, he lives for the ages.”
We’ve lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with. He…
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Xhosa pronunciation: [xoˈliːɬaɬa manˈdeːla]; born 18 July 1918) is a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the first black South African to hold the office, and the first elected in a fully representative, multiracial election.
His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid through tackling institutionalised racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial reconciliation. Politically an African nationalist and democratic socialist, he served as the President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1991 to 1997. Internationally, Mandela was the Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999.
A Xhosa born to the Thembu royal family, Mandela attended Fort Hare University and the University of Witwatersrand, where he studied law. Living in Johannesburg, he became involved in anti-colonial politics, joining the ANC and becoming a founding member of its Youth League.
After the Afrikaner nationalists of the National Party came to power in 1948 and began implementing the policy of apartheid, he rose to prominence in the ANC’s 1952 Defiance Campaign, was elected President of the Transvaal ANC Branch and oversaw the 1955 Congress of the People. Working as a lawyer, he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and, with the ANC leadership, was prosecuted in the Treason Trial from 1956 to 1961 but was found not guilty.
Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the South African Communist Party he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in 1961, leading a bombing campaign against government targets. In 1962 he was arrested, convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government, and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial.
Mandela served 27 years in prison, first onRobben Island, and later in Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison. An international campaign lobbied for his release, which was granted in 1990 amid escalating civil strife. Becoming ANC President, Mandela published his autobiography and led negotiations with President F.W. de Klerk to abolish apartheid and establish multiracial elections in 1994, in which he led the ANC to victory.
He was elected President and formed a Government of National Unity in an attempt to defuse ethnic tensions. As President, he established a new constitution and initiated the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses. Continuing the former government’s liberal economic policy, his administration introduced measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty and expand healthcare services.
Internationally, he acted as mediator between Libya and the United Kingdom in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial, and oversaw military intervention in Lesotho. He declined to run for a second term, and was succeeded by his deputy Thabo Mbeki, subsequently becoming an elder statesman, focusing on charitable work in combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Controversial for much of his life, right-wing critics denounced Mandela as a terrorist and communist sympathiser. He has nevertheless received international acclaim for his anti-colonial and anti-apartheid stance, having received over 250 awards, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Soviet Order of Lenin. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Xhosa clan name of Madiba or as Tata meaning Father; he is often described as “the father of the nation”.
Simple Minds – Mandela Day – Lyrics
It was 25 years they take that man away
Now the freedom moves in closer every day
Wipe the tears down from your saddened eyes
They say Mandela’s free so step outside
Oh oh oh oh Mandela day
Oh oh oh oh Mandela’s free
It was 25 years ago this very day
Held behind four walls all through night and day
Still the children know the story of that man
And I know what’s going on right through your land
25 years ago
Na na na na Mandela day
Oh oh oh Mandela’s free
If the tears are flowing wipe them from your face
I can feel his heartbeat moving deep inside
It was 25 years they took that man away
And now the world come down say Nelson Mandela’s free
Oh oh oh oh Mandela’s free
The rising suns sets Mandela on his way
Its been 25 years around this very day
From the one outside to the ones inside we say
Oh oh oh oh Mandela’s free
Oh oh oh set Mandela free
Na na na na Mandela day
Na na na na Mandela’s free
25 years ago
What’s going on
And we know what’s going on
Cos we know what’s going on
Nelson Mandela, the revered South African anti-apartheid icon who spent 27 years in prison, led his country to democracy and became its first black president, died Thursday at home. He was 95.
“He is now resting,” said South African President Jacob Zuma. “He is now at peace.” “Our nation has lost its greatest son,” he continued. “Our people have lost their father.” A state funeral will be held, and Zuma called for mourners to conduct themselves with “the dignity and respect” that Mandela personified.
Wherever we are in the country, wherever we are in the world, let us reaffirm his vision of a society… in which none is exploited, oppressed or dispossessed by another,” he said as tributes began pouring in from across the world.
Though he was in power for only five years, Mandela was a figure of enormous moral influence the world over – a symbol of revolution, resistance and triumph over racial segregation.
He inspired a generation of activists, left celebrities and world leaders star-struck, won the Nobel Peace Prize and raised millions for humanitarian causes.
South Africa is still bedeviled by challenges, from class inequality to political corruption to AIDS. And with Mandela’s death, it has lost a beacon of optimism. In his jailhouse memoirs, Mandela wrote that even after spending so many years in a Spartan cell on Robben Island – with one visitor a year and one letter every six months – he still had faith in human nature.
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion,” he wrote in “Long Walk to Freedom.” “People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
Mandela retired from public life in 2004 with the half-joking directive, “Don’t call me, I’ll call you,” and had largely stepped out of the spotlight, spending much of his time with family in his childhood village.
Feb. 1990: NBC’s Robin Lloyd reports on Nelson Mandela on the eve of his release from prison in 1990. Mandela’s name has become a rallying cry for the overthrow of apartheid, but no one but prison guards and visitors have actually seen him since he was jailed 27 years ago.
His health had been fragile in recent years.
He had spent almost three months in a hospital in Pretoria after being admitted in June for a recurring lung infection. He was released on Sept. 1, 2013.
In his later years, Mandela was known to his countrymen simply as Madiba, the name of his tribe and a mark of great honor. But when he was born on July 18, 1918, he was named Rolihlahla, which translated roughly – and prophetically – to “troublemaker.” Mandela was nine when his father died, and he was sent from his rural village to the provincial capital to be raised by a fellow chief.
The first member of his family to get a formal education, he went to boarding school and then enrolled in South Africa’s elite Fort Hare University, where his activism unfurled with a student boycott.
As a young law scholar, he joined the resurgent African National Congress just a few years before the National Party – controlled by the Afrikaners, the descendants of Dutch and French settlers – came to power on a platform of apartheid, in which the government enforced racial segregation and stripped non-whites of economic and political power.
As an ANC leader, Mandela advocated peaceful resistance against government discrimination and oppression – until 1961, when he launched a military wing called Spear of the Nation and a campaign of sabotage. The next year, he was arrested and soon hit with treason charges.
At the opening of his trial in 1964, he said his adoption of armed struggle was a last resort born of bloody crackdowns by the government.
Fifty years of non-violence had brought the African people nothing but more and more repressive legislation and fewer and few rights,” he said from the dock.
April, 1994: Former political prisoner Nelson Mandela is on the verge of being elected South Africa’s first black president.
“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” He was sentenced to life in prison and sent to Robben Island.
As inmate No. 466/64, he slept on the floor of a six-foot-wide cell, did hard labor in a quarry, organized fellow prisoners – and earned a law degree by correspondence.
As the years passed, his incarceration drew ever more attention, with intensifying cries for his release as a global anti-apartheid movement gained traction.
Songs were dedicated to him and 600 million people watched the Free Mandela concert at London’s Wembley Stadium in 1988. In 1985, he turned down the government’s offer to free him if he renounced armed struggle against apartheid. It wasn’t until South African President P.W. Botha had a stroke and was replaced by F.W. de Klerk in 1989 that the stage was set for his release.
“Our struggle has reached a decisive moment,” he said. “We have waited too long for our freedom. We can no longer wait.” Over the next two years, Mandela proved himself a formidable negotiator as he pushed South Africa toward its first multiracial elections amid tension and violence.
He and de Klerk were honored with the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts.
When the elections were held in April 1994, the ex-prisoner became the next president and embarked on a mission of racial reconciliation, government rebuilding and economic rehabilitation.
A year into his tenure, with racial tensions threatening to explode into civil war, Mandela orchestrated an iconic, unifying moment: He donned the green jersey of the Springboks rugby team – beloved by whites, despised by blacks – to present the World Cup trophy to the team captain while the stunned crowd erupted in cheers of “Nelson! Nelson!”
After leaving politics, he concentrated on his philanthropic foundation. He began speaking out on AIDS, which had ravaged his country and which some critics said he had not made a priority as president. When he officially announced he was leaving public life in 2004, it signaled he was slowing down, but he still made his presence known.
For his 89th birthday, he launched a “council of elders,” statesmen and women from around the world who would promote peace. For his 90th, he celebrated at a star-studded concert in London’s Hyde Park. As he noted in 2003, “If there is anything that would kill me it is to wake up in the morning not knowing what to do.”
The ANC called him “a colossus.”
“Madiba loved South Africa,” it said in a statement.
“We recall the strength of his fist punching the air as he stepped out of prison after 27 years; and his sternness during the negotiations for the freedom of our beloved country. We celebrate his ever-present smile, the cheerful Madiba jive, his love for children and great respect for the women of this country.
The large African Boabab, who loved Africa as much as he loved South Africa, has fallen. Its trunk and seeds will nourish the earth for decades to come.”
For one, they provide us with a vehicle for expressing and sharing our experiences with others. Most of us don’t realize, however, that the words you habitually choose also affect what you experience.
Transformational Vocabulary is about how you can take control of your habitual vocabulary to change the quality of your life. Simply by changing your habitual vocabulary—the words you consistently use to describe the emotions of your life—you can instantly change how you think, feel and how you live.
What’s interesting is how two people can experience the exact same sensations differently in their bodies by virtue of the labels they put on the experience. For example, one person may feel “frustrated” while the other just feels “a little confused.” It amounts to a huge difference in the way we feel, and when we change the way we feel, we change the way we behave.
~~This is the essence of Transformational Vocabulary~~
…. the words that we attach to our experience become our experience, regardless of whether it’s objectively accurate or not.
Therefore, if we want to change our lives and our destiny, we need to consciously choose the words we use to describe our emotional states. What would happen if, the next time you were in a situation that used to make you feel angry, instead you felt annoyed? Or if you used a word like “peeved” instead of “enraged” to describe your experience? Maybe instead of feeling “worried,” what if you used the words, “I’m a little concerned,” or “I need some clarification”?
Conversely, if someone asks you how you’re doing, think of the difference between responses like “Oh, I’m okay, I guess” and “I’m feeling on top of the world!” The labels we put on our experience become our experience.
“Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”
I remember saying those words when young to try and convince myself of its truth in the face of painful words thrown my way. Unfortunately, it is far from true. Verbal insults, verbal abuse, and the power of words to affect your emotions and actions are well demonstrated in science. For example, scientists have found that just hearing sentences about elderly people led research subjects to walk more slowly. In other research, individuals read words of ‘loving kindness’ showed increases in self-compassion, improved mood, and reduced anxiety.
But words are not attended to equally by all.
Studies reveal that we place our attention toward words differently depending on our own biological or personality traits.
As scientists uncover the power of words to effect behavioral change, the power of rhetoric has become a topic of the current election. Clearly we are all attending more to the power of words.
Wow! I am totally out of words, I got nominated for 5 awards and twice for the Versatile Blogger award!
How can I ever be worthy of such an honor? Well, truth is I can’t. But I will do my best! 🙂
(Blushing like crazy now!)
I got nominated by the Peace and Justice award by a man with a heart the size of a house! Thank you so much, Eddie–> http://bishoptatro.wordpress.com/! I am truly blessed with a friend like you! ❤
I got nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award, the Imagination Award and the Family Award (one of my favorites!) by sweet Horty–> https://hrexach.wordpress.com! Thank you Doc, I am so grateful to have met you!
I got also nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by the lovely Melanie–>http://lifewithcatnip.wordpress.com/ Thank you so much sweet friend, I am honored to receive this from you. Take a…
World peace is an ideal of freedom, peace, and happiness among and within all nations and/or people. World peace is an idea of planetary non-violence by which nations willingly cooperate, either voluntarily or by virtue of a system of governance that prevents warfare. The term is sometimes used to refer to a cessation of all hostility among all of humanity.
For example, World Peace could be crossing boundaries via human rights, technology, education, engineering, medicine, diplomats and/or an end to all forms of fighting. Since 1945, the United Nations and the 5 permanent members of its Security Council (the US, Russia, China, France, and the UK) have worked to resolve conflicts without war or declarations of war. However, nations have entered numerous military conflicts since that time.
Many theories as to how world peace could be achieved have been proposed. Several of these are listed below.
Proponents of the controversial democratic peace theory claim that strong empirical evidence exists that democracies never or rarely wage war against each other.
In her “The Roots of War,” Ayn Rand held that the major wars of history were started by the more controlled economies of the time against the freer ones and that capitalism gave mankind the longest period of peace in history—a period during which there were no wars involving the entire civilized world—from the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914, with the exceptions of the Franco-Prussian War (1870), the Spanish-American War (1898), and the American Civil War (1860-1863), which, notably, occurred in perhaps the most liberal economy in the world at the peak of the industrial revolution.
It must be remembered that the political systems of the 19th century were not pure capitalism, but mixed economies. The element of capitalism, however, was dominant; it was as close to a century of capitalism as mankind has come. But the element of statism kept growing throughout the 19th century, and by the time it blasted the world in 1914, the governments involved were dominated by statist policies.
Cobdenism
Proponents of cobdenism claim that, by removing tariffs and creating international free trade, wars would become impossible, because free trade prevents a nation from becoming self-sufficient, which is a requirement for long wars.
However, free trade does not prevent a nation from establishing some sort of emergency plan to become temporarily self-sufficient in case of war or that a nation could simply acquire what it needs from a different nation. A good example of this is World War I, during which both Britain and Germany became partially self-sufficient. This is particularly important because Germany had no plan for creating a War economy.
More generally, free trade — while not making wars impossible — can make wars, and restrictions on trade caused by wars, very costly for international companies with production, research, and sales in many different nations. Thus, a powerful lobby—unless there are only national companies—will argue against wars.
Mutual assured destruction
Mutual assured destruction is a doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. Proponents of the policy of mutual assured destruction during the Cold War attributed this to the increase in the lethality of war to the point where it no longer offers the possibility of a net gain for either side, thereby making wars pointless.
United Nations Charter and International law
After World War II, the United Nations was established by the United Nations Charter to “save successive generations from the two scourge of war which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind” (Preamble}. The Preamble to the United Nations Charter also aims to further the adoption of fundamental human rights, to respect obligations to sources of international law as well as to unite the strength of independent countries in order to maintain international peace and security.
All treaties on international human rights law make reference to or consider “the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”.
PEACE TODAY music by Faith Rivera
From the CD “Maluhia ~ Everyday Peace”
___________ Lyrics ____________
Peace is the promise I make today
There’s nothing greater for me to say
Than to lay down my fears
Lay down unhappiness
And surrender to
The peace I choose today
Peace is the gift that I give today
No easy shortcut, Peace is the way
I will lay down my pride
Lay down self-righteousness
And surrender to
The peace I choose today
My all, I give My love for all
Peace is the reason we’re here today
No accident, we’ve been by name
Called to lay down our lives
Stand up for greater good
And surrender to the peace we choose today
Peace, we choose – today
Peace, we bring – today
Peace, we live oh-today
The “Big Six” each have agreements with one or more of the others; their overall success has largely hinged on GMOs and increased control of agricultural inputs
The only thing worse than Monsanto and the dominance of the seed market are the cozy relationships with one another. Prof. Howard’s analysis reveals that every company in the “Big Six” has at least one mutual relationship with one another, and they together share corporate control of the seed industry.
Monsanto has established cross-licensing agreements for its transgenic patents with every single other company in the mix, while Dow has agreements with all except for Bayer. And Syngenta has agreements with Dow, Monsanto, and DuPont, while BASF has agreements with Dow and Monsanto.
What does this all mean?
It means that the already-disturbing oligarchy that controls the seed industry is shaping up to become a total monopoly with Monsanto at the helm, of course. And as transgenic technology continues to develop, which forces farmers to either go with the flow or leave the business, there may soon be no other choices in farming besides whatever Monsanto has to offer.
One would think that farmers would be more aware of this takeover and resist it. But the “Big Six” effectively fly under the radar, in most cases, by selling their seeds and chemicals through various vendors and under different names. According to Prof. Howard, this is how they effectively maintain an illusion of competition and choice in the midst of their takeover.
How things got this bad and how the situation can be fixed
Real competition in the seed industry has been systematically deconstructed over the years for numerous reasons. Besides blatant industry consolidation and takeover by drug and chemical companies, many farmers have simply been willing to accept the latest seed technologies, even when it has meant having to give up their seed saving freedom, and being forced to rely on the intensive use of chemicals and other synthetic interventions in order to farm.
Prof. Howard explains that a concept known as the “agricultural treadmill” has been a major contributing factor in the demise of the seed industry. Because demand for food is largely inelastic, any increase in production will cause crop prices to fall.
So as new farming technologies emerge, farmers that adopt them first inadvertently force all the other farmers to adopt them as well, just to maintain the same level of revenue. If they do not adopt them, or fail to
keep up with other farmers on the treadmill, they will eventually fall off, or be forced out of the farming business altogether.
Other factors include changes in policy that have decreased the barriers to accumulation that have prevented agricultural takeover in the past. By developing patented, transgenic traits, seed companies have been able to overcome a barrier to accumulation in agriculture.
When farmers cannot save their GM seeds, the corporate owners can effectively maintain a continual, yearly cash flow just from selling seeds and their corresponding pesticides and herbicides, which in turn makes agriculture a vastly more profitable enterprise for preying corporations like Monsanto than it used to be.
So what is the solution?
Prof. Howard suggests improving antitrust enforcement, which will prevent the continual shift of seed company ownership and gradual accumulation of the food chain by a few large companies. Another idea is to create policies that fight against the agricultural treadmill phenomenon, and that instead promote independent, self-sustaining agricultural systems that maintain control of food with the people rather than the corporations.
Perhaps the most effective suggestion — and one that we here at NaturalNews strongly advocate for as well — is to end the practice of granting patents on living organisms.
By re-establishing this most-effective obstacle to accumulation, there will be no more incentive for multinational biotechnology companies like Monsanto to focus on dominating agriculture because there will be no more opportunity for the massive accumulation of wealth and capital through patented seeds.
Want to know more about GMOs and why they are a serious threat to not only mankind, but the environment and natural ecosystem as well? Then here are some excellent articles, websites and research links for you to have a look at and learn more!
“Sei vorsichtig mit dem, was Du weisst. Damit beginnen Deine Probleme” 🍀 “Be careful of what you know. That’s where your troubles begin”
🌷
Wade in The 3 Body Problem
It Is What It Is 