United Political Debate

[kiwi_geomorph]

Hi all

http://tinyurl.com/wrttr

I doubt many South Africans will miss him. He stinketh of fascism.
On this same day, Amnesty International has awarded Nelson Mandela its
highest honour.

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411366/878058

Rob
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Mandela receives top Amnesty award

Nov 2, 2006

Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela received Amnesty International's
2006 Ambassador of Conscience award on Wednesday for being a moral
beacon in a world plagued by human rights abuses.

The award was presented by South Africa's Nobel Prize winning author
Nadine Gordimer in Johannesburg at the foundation Mandela founded to
raise awareness for humanitarian causes, including HIV/AIDS programs
and child rights.

"Mandela epitomises the human being of conscience, male or female,"
Gordimer said of the 88-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who guided
South Africa from apartheid to democracy and became the country's
first black president in 1994.

"We have him still, carrying the consciences of freedom ... to the
moral challenges of a new time in human responsibility."

Mandela said lifting people from poverty will restore human dignity
and praised the work of Amnesty's two million members for their
efforts to achieve world justice and prevent rights abuses.

"It is my fervent wish as I come together with human rights activists
that we shine hope for the forgotten prisoners of poverty," he said.

Amnesty used the event to make an appeal for more attention from world
leaders to protect vulnerable people who are dying every day of
poverty, war and disease.

At the presentation, Amnesty drew parallels between Mandela, who spent
27 years in prison for fighting white minority rule in South Africa,
and Guantanamo Bay detainees imprisoned in the US-led campaign against
terror.

"You find the world wanting today when you look at leaders like (US
President George) Bush and (British Prime Minister Tony) Blair. They
have sold out the dreams of global values with their war on terror,"
said Kate Gilmore, executive deputy secretary general of Amnesty
International. "Nelson Mandela is the antithesis of that style of
leadership."

Mandela officially stepped out of the spotlight two years ago but
still frequently makes public appearances to promote AIDS awareness
and other issues.

"The struggle has not ended for him," said George Bizos, the lawyer
who represented Mandela in his famous 1963 Rivonia treason trial.

The award was presented a day after the death of former South African
President P.W. Botha, the defiant face of minority rule during the
height of apartheid who had refused to release Mandela from prison.

[Joep]