Portside

Portside salutes May Day - rallies around the world; The Internationale in 40+ languages; May Day and labor history tools; Reader Comments -Cecily McMillian Trial Update -= Trial ends tomorrow; Net Neutrality; Chris Hani's political legacy; Ukraine; Israel and Palestine; Paul Robeson, Jr.; UPDATE - Northeastern University has backed down on the suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine; A Seeger Fest to Honor Pete and Toshi, and It's Free - July 17 - 21

Chris Hani was assassinated April 10, 1993. Yet in the view of this author, he should not be made into an ideal type or used to settle political scores in the present. And further, any observer of contemporary South Africa can't help noticing that while Chris Hani is still lionized and his name invoked in speeches and songs, the principles he stood for no longer animate the political project of the liberation movement he laid down his life for.

Catering to accumulated private wealth and their mythic "free market" may have helped Mandela consolidate a more peaceful transition to South Africa's justly praised multi-racial democracy. But did he have to pay such a high price? A variety of sources discuss this important question.

When Mandela was captured in 1962 the police did not know that he had been overseas for military training and was Commander in Chief of the recently formed Umkhonto we Sizwe, Spear of the nation, (MK). Only later, when Rivonia was raided and they came across documents that pointed to Mandela's wider role. Raymond Suttner worked with Nelson Mandela when he was first released from prison, here he writes his reflections, and a glimpse of history - much not previously known.

Reader Comments - Philippine Recovery and Climate Change; Human Origins; "Strange Fruit;" North Carolina; Delbert Tibbs; Adjunct Unions; Corporate Profits-great infographic; South Africa - COSATU-ANC-SACP Alliance; Education; Healthcare; ALEC; Occupy; Steve Kindred; Race and Cuba; Announcements - The Invention of the White Race; Celebrating the Life of Father Paul Mayer; Pete Seeger's new book

South Africa and the world today mourn the death of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela - leader in the fight against apartheid, head of the ANC and first president of a free South Africa. Statement by COSATU - The Congress of South African Trade Unions - "the greatest ever South African and most inspirational leader in our struggle for liberty and democracy..." Mandela's speech, "I Am Prepared to Die." from the dock in the Rivonia Trial in 1964 (full text and audio recording).

Some have questioned whether the Tripartite Alliance between the trade union federation, the ANC and the SACP. is still relevant to Cosatu. If the government ignores everything we say, what is the point of being in alliance with the governing party? This view is short-sighted. Yes we have suffered some setbacks, just as we did with Gear. But that battle raged for years before we eventually triumphed. It will be the same now.

The prospects that the ANC, SACP and Cosatu alliance once offered the broad masses have been forgotten at the feeding trough, says Raymond Suttner.

South Africa is not a perfect society. Full equality - social and economic - does not exist, control of the country's wealth remains in the hands of a few, so new challenges and frustrations arise. I believe we should be doing far better. Our liberation struggle reached a high point, not its zenith when we overcame apartheid rule.

Pallo Jordan's speech at the Bisho massacre memorial lecture in King William's Town, Eastern Cape, on September 7, 2012