European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 16, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes William f. Buckley Mandela could become South Africa s Ayatollah concerning the release of Nelson Mandela a few observations i i would be difficult not to share in the elation experienced by Black South africans on the Lith of fcb Ruaro when their Christ indeed they think of him As a Savior emerged after almost As Many years in jail As Christ spent on Earth. He had become the most Molho Genic of men. And it is instructive that his Charisma was enhanced b his invisibility no picture of him had been taken since he went off to jail. Just As reclusive by helps car after car to increase the Glamor of circa xiarho and . S linger so did it increase Nelson Mandela s. One gets the impression that if Yas ser Arafat were to be a Little less ubiquitous he would be easier to tolerate. Among other things by giving the cameras a rest his supporters would be spared the pain of \ lowing his face. One needs to add to this that Man Dela is apparent a Man of great Natu ral dig nil. The son of a Paramount chief although born into a country that acknowledged no political and few pm rights for us Black Cili cons. He was. In that context to the Manor born and he eked out an education As a Lawver through the help of senior revolutionaries. 2 it is on the one hand notable and provident that Mandela did not win All the demands he made in his negotiations with president do Klerk on the other hand it is also notable and perhaps even tragic that president Ilc Klerk did not win on the matter of a commitment to non violence. The world was observing a quite unusual situation in which a Crisp Norwas setting Down terms on the basis of which he would agree to leave jail. That does t often happen but there Are Analogues. The great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich recently gave out the conditions under which he would con Sider resettling in the soviet Union. All the soviet Union has to do to con Ciliate or. Rostropovich is ban the communist party. At the rate at which Ellen Goodman the li6htat the a pop the Tunnel. This is happening it May be that a few years hence Only the untied Stales will have a communist party. Now on the subject of violence it Pavs to study carefully the words Man Dela used. Our resort to the armed struggle in i960 with the formation of inc military Wing of the Anc was a purely defensive action against the violence of apartheid. The factors which necessitated the armed struggle still exist today. Pc have no option hut to to the extent thai the african National Congress was Correct in i960 in saying that peaceful negotiations weren t working that Only the use of Force would work so is the Anc. Cor rect today. Mandela is saying in in sisting that the remnants of apartheid need to be abolished. More now Isth Lime to intensify the struggle on All fronts. To relax our efforts now would be a mistake that generations to come will not be Able to that is prot to Lough language. It is reasonably read As saying that and his Congress intend no concessions of any nature. Of was that phrase about As provocative As anything in recent political literature. South Africa should be pre pared to make a Home for not since Evila i Cron in the Early 50s conducted a National drive in Bueno Aires for cast off clothes to Send to the needy in Washington. Ixc., has any one come out with so calculated an effrontery. Perhaps Mandela has it in mind to let the whiles have All of the Transki 3 this is exactly the moment Lor de Klerk to enunciate his irreducible de mands. Otherwise he will find himself in such a situation As Loonry Kissinger de scribed in ins negotiations with due Tho on the future of Vietnam where Concession l y the United states granted on monday Only served to give Rise to afresh demand on tuesday. Enough of those and what you gel is boat was of course a mistake for the South africans not to have granted South african Blacks the most Funda mental of All freedoms which is the free Dom of properly. Hut to say that is the equivalent of saying that the american South would have been spared the great pains that afflicted it from 1864 until1964 if in had granted emancipation to the slaves a generation before Icv Gol it through a civil War. But or. De Klerk Isnow up against in. And he must pronounce Hose enduring rights of the while minority that Are not to be sacrificed. Unless lie docs this and in such a form Aslo Appeal to the opinion of Man kind As reasonable he May find that the Man he let out from prison on sunday will become an Ayatollah. Destiny denies Mandela what he seeks for offers first there was his face. Until sunday the image of this Man had been freeze framed in a photo graph blown up to the size of a heroic political poster. The phrase free Mandela under this picture had been a slogan As much As a plea. Now Nelson Mandela has walked Oul of prison a dignified Gray haired 71 ear old elder. The face was not that of an icon but a Man. Then there were the hands. The news reports would a that Mandela and his wife were holding hands but that was t quite right. She was holding his hand. He held his by his Side. There was meaning in this Small distinction. He had been freed to be a Leader not a husband. Then there were the cameras outside the prison Gale the crowd wailing in Cape town the thousands out Side his Home in Soweto. The leaders of the country and the world could t wait while one Man took Tinie for a walk in inc country or Lime to get used to being Home or Lime with his family. Across the water in Massachusetts a daughter who had been four when her father went to prison told a journalist in a moment of honest mixed emotion you know my father the South african people come first and i know Ihal we will not have enough Lime to spend Wilh him. He is a Public Man. And it s going to be very freed his life still belongs 10 others. Sitting in my Home surrounded by the Small to Eaurls of my own morning ritual the newspapers the Coffee Mug i wondered what it must be like. A Man who has spent 21 years in prison my entire adult Hood had come Oul to a Freedom that was not really his own. His imprisonment had been political and so of course was his release. Nelson Mandela would not have the luxury1 of a private life. Few of us watching this event. Americans who prize privacy above other values View a personal life As a luxury. We assume it we Call in Normal. We often forget How fragile in is and How much in depends on where we arc born and when on our color and our government. For much of the world s population Freedom Means inc right to be left alone. The right to marry to raise children to walk where you please say anything you want associate with anyone you want. This is not very grand or heroic stuff. It does t sound the Clarion Call of an Ideal. Unless of course you Don t have in. Bui in bad limes governments try to capture per Sonal terrain Inch after Inch until the private room is no larger than the space inside one s head. George Orwell s state in "1984" went so far As to declare Pri Vale life and love ils enemy. Across Eastern Europe this year the desire to push government Back is As much a pan of inc upheaval As inc desire to travel abroad speak aloud buy an appliance or taste a banana. In South Africa apartheid became the antonym of Freedom through hundreds of daily intrusions into what should be private lives. The regulations of inc Ualita the bureaucracy of bigotry still dictate where and How people can live and work. They split families and friends parents and children. Under apartheid the government of South african whiles said Mandela in his 1964 speech do not look upon them Blacks As people with families of i hair own. They do nol realize icy have a motions that they fall in love like White people do that they want to bewitch their wives and children like White people want to be Wilh theirs " in that context the sacrifice of one More private life Mandela s own must have seemed trivial to this moral Man. Oppression is not just evil it s profoundly wasteful. Measure thai waste in Lime lost. Measure in in lives damaged. In lakes 27 years from a Man. In makes his daughter s need for a father seem selfish family life seem and in the Pursuit of Freedom the ability to live life As you choose in demands a Lite of free Mandela. In Soweto. They were changing the words to read Mandela is free. The Frozen wasteland of the prison years is Over. But South africans cannot afford him the luxury of a private life. You can Sec that in his face and in his hands. The destiny of this elder. Irving to free his people is never to be free him sell. C the Doston glob newspaper company the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing inc views of the stars and stripes or the United states government
