Riku Rose wrote:
I think of Biko and I think of a man who was able to stand up and show that black people where equal to white people and weren't lesser beings. He stood up for what he believed in and did it in a dignified way that should be more applauded then it currently is. He spoke and acted in a dignified way that worried the government without causing harm to those not involved.
I agree with this largely, but to be honest, I think Biko eschewed violence more because he genuinely felt it wasn't an expedient means of gaining emancipation. He was probably right, as despite the ANC's violence (and despite what I said in my previous post) it was probably self sacrifice that did more for the cause than anything else. I definitely preferred Biko's stance too, yet at the same time, without the ANC's ability to capitalise after the Soweto massacre, the South African gov would have have crushed the movement altogether (at least for a time).
I think of Mandela and I think of a man that wasn't happy with how his people where treated so he helped in blowing up innocent people including women and children. He wasn't trying to show the government that black people should be appreciated and have the same rights but that they should be fear him. He was terrorizing people.
I wouldn't wish this on you but can you imagine if a member of your family was involved in one of the bombs he had a hand in. I'm sure you wouldn't have the light hearted view you have on it now if it personally effected you in the way it did to some people. Some people lost someone very important to them and they may not have been the slightest bit racist or for the apartheid in any way.
To me Mandela is a terrorist who killed innocent men, women and children who should have died in prison.
I'm not going to completely argue against your point, as it's sort of fair enough, and to an extent I do agree, but still I think it's too easy for you to act morally superior when you have never and will never know systematised racism. Not that I condone violence of any kind, because I don't, every death is a tragedy, but if you live in the Apartheid system, are benefiting from that system and are doing nothing to combat it, are you even really innocent? Not saying that people who were combating it weren't accidentally killed too though, as in the famous example of that white doctor or something who was murdered during the Soweto massacre. At the end of the day, I disagree with using the approach of calculated violence too, but I'm not about to get on my high horse like you are. One man's freedom fighter is always another's terrorist, and I'm slightly disappointed that so many in this thread don't seem to understand this.
But if they kept DOING THEM only if they obtain some sort of twisted advantage over it?
Twisted advantage? Seriously...