Originally published August 2013.
We have lost one of the greatest men of our time. I can't match the numerous tributes in the media over the course of the last few days but can reflect that from a personal point of view that his cause clarified the difference between left and right in the politics of my generation.
When I was at university in the early 1980s the anti-apartheid movement and the ANC were our cause celebre. The governing Conservatives and their disgusting student wing, the Federation Of Conservative Students, saw fit to defend the minority regime. The Tory party at that time had absorbed large numbers of the defunct National Front, attracted to Margaret Thatcher's particular brand of nationalism and racial prejudice. A large chunk of the party was therefore made up of closet, and not-so-closet, racists. We on the left campaigned for recognition and support for the ANC, but the right continued to condemn them as terrorists.
We saw a manifest injustice that needed to be swept aside, but the right insisted it would lead to a bloodbath. We argued for one person one vote, but the right insisted that 'blacks' were incapable of self-government. To us there was no reasonable objection to international action against Pretoria, but to the right hesitation, obstruction, delay and undue consideration given to white interests was the preferred approach. While we boycotted Barclays, they refused to join international sanctions. We sang "Free Nelson Mandela", they sang "Hang Nelson Mandela".
We have lost one of the greatest men of our time. I can't match the numerous tributes in the media over the course of the last few days but can reflect that from a personal point of view that his cause clarified the difference between left and right in the politics of my generation.
When I was at university in the early 1980s the anti-apartheid movement and the ANC were our cause celebre. The governing Conservatives and their disgusting student wing, the Federation Of Conservative Students, saw fit to defend the minority regime. The Tory party at that time had absorbed large numbers of the defunct National Front, attracted to Margaret Thatcher's particular brand of nationalism and racial prejudice. A large chunk of the party was therefore made up of closet, and not-so-closet, racists. We on the left campaigned for recognition and support for the ANC, but the right continued to condemn them as terrorists.
We saw a manifest injustice that needed to be swept aside, but the right insisted it would lead to a bloodbath. We argued for one person one vote, but the right insisted that 'blacks' were incapable of self-government. To us there was no reasonable objection to international action against Pretoria, but to the right hesitation, obstruction, delay and undue consideration given to white interests was the preferred approach. While we boycotted Barclays, they refused to join international sanctions. We sang "Free Nelson Mandela", they sang "Hang Nelson Mandela".
It makes me uncomfortable and a more than a little angry now to see Conservatives joining in the tributes and quietly forgetting their party's past behaviour. To be fair to David Cameron he did apologise back in 2006 but with his 'modernisation project' now proving so unpopular with the grass roots and his party's consequent lurch to the right it no longer suffices. A large number of those former FCS members who called for Mandela's execution are knocking around in the higher echelons of government and the Tory party now. They should take this opportunity for an up-front, unambiguous, front page apology undersigned by all past offenders for their profound lack of judgement, and for delaying the process of reform. They should ask themselves how many extra people suffered needlessly or even died as a result of their continued support for the apartheid regime.
Until I see that apology I won't believe the rank and file have really changed. I am not holding my breath.