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e i g h t Dismantling Apartheid We not only regard Congressman Bill Gray, Ron Dellums and TransAfrica’s Randall Robinson as friends, but as brothers who have done everything expected of them to help us sustain our struggle against South Africa. . . . But it is important to say that their legislative work is not ¤nished. The message of the ANC is that sanctions must continue against the South African government . They must continue not because we want con®ict, but we believe that maintaining sanctions is the best way to force the government to dismantle all remaining pillars of apartheid. —Nelson Mandela, interview with Ebony, May 1990 “Who is this man Mandela?” U.S. News and World Report asked in January 1990. It could come up with only three short paragraphs about the ANC leader. The sketch of Mandela’s life seemed to be drawn from a who’s who collection detailing his early education, legal practice, and arrest by South African authorities in August 1962. Referring to him as a “living legend,” a “martyr,” and a “saint,” the article nevertheless concluded that “Mandela has not been photographed or quoted directly since his ¤nal statement from the dock.”1 Nobody knew what Mandela looked like after twenty-seven years. Yet the effort to ban his image and words back¤red. Instead, he acquired a near-messianic aura. The “Free Mandela Campaign,” launched after he was charged with sabotage at the Rivonia trial in 1963, became one of the most visible international human rights movements of the twentieth century . The United Nations General Assembly repeatedly called for his unconditional release. Trade unions, political parties, and student groups around the world joined the campaign to free the leaders of the ANC. In 1984, both houses of the U.S. Congress adopted a “Mandela freedom resolution .” Mayor Eugene Gus Newport of Berkeley, California, proclaimed 9 June 1984 “Nelson and Winnie Mandela Day.” Detroit’s City Council adopted a resolution on 10 September 1984 calling for the release of Nelson and Winnie Mandela. On 11 October 1984, anti-apartheid organizations in the U.S. presented the United Nations with petitions for the release of Nelson Mandela signed by over thirty-four thousand people. In 1986, the Commonwealth’s Eminent Persons Group described Mandela as a “living legend.” While in prison, Mandela had received thousands of honors and awards, including the Simon Bolivar International Prize, the Third World Foundation Prize, national awards from Cuba and the German Democratic Republic ; freedom of the cities of Rome, Florence, Olympia, Sydney, Birmingham , and Greenwich; and honorary degrees from City College in New York, University of Lancaster, Free University of Brussels, Amhadu Bello University, and the University of Havana. Numerous buildings and streets around the world are named after him and he has been elected an honorary member of trade unions and other organizations. The imminent release of what the London Times called “the colossus of African nationalism in South Africa” sent media around the world into a frenzy. “Waiting for Mandela” became the standard headline. In an article titled “Awaiting Mandela,” the Economist wrote, “The man jailed a quarter of a century ago on sabotage charges now holds the key to peaceful resolution of his country’s racial con®ict.” Nevertheless, most of the magazine ’s editorial was devoted to giving credit to de Klerk for his “reforms.” Returning to Mandela at the end, the editor observed, “Prestige apart, this is true: when arrested 25 years ago, Mr. Mandela was merely one of the party’s four provincial leaders.”2 “Nightline makes history,” Ted Koppel declared from Cape Town, where he had relocated to cover Mandela’s release live. Koppel hosted a “town meeting” before the event at which de Klerk’s henchmen were given an opportunity to promote the new, “reasonable” face of apartheid. From the beginning, however, it was clear that the U.S. media were out of their depth. The Mandela story did not ¤t into the neat news cycles of the United States. First, the release was delayed by several hours, throwing everybody ’s deadlines off. Then, organizers allowed members of the South African Communist Party to hang the red ®ag on the podium and make “radical” speeches. Finally, Mandela’s ¤rst speech in twenty-seven years began with ¤fteen minutes of salutations to all the dignitaries assembled and freedom ¤ghters past and present who had made the moment possible. Soon after Mandela’s release, media reports turned to the growing threat of “black...

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