Mandela statue unveiled in London

[Shinobi]

The statue depicting Nelson Mandela delivering a speech, by sculptor Ian Walters, is 2.7 metres high, made of bronze and faces the Houses of Parliament.

A statue of former South African president Nelson Mandela was unveiled in London on Wednesday in tribute to a man British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called "the greatest and most courageous leader of our generation."

The 2.7-metre bronze statue stands in Parliament Square alongside figures of other leaders such as Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln and former South African prime minister Jan Smuts, a leader in the Boer rebellion against Britain.

"When [fellow anti-apartheid campaigner] Oliver Tambo and I visited Parliament Square in 1962, we joked that we hoped one day a statue of a black person would be erected here, alongside that of General Smuts. Oliver would have been proud today if he were here," Mandela told the crowd at the unveiling. Tambo died in 1993.

The ceremony marked the achievements of 89-year-old Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison for trying to overturn South Africa's racist apartheid system. He was freed in 1990, becoming South Africa's first black leader in 1994 after the fall of apartheid.

Mandela fondly remembered appearing at London's Wembley Stadium in 1990 just after he was released from prison and thanked the British people for supporting his fight against apartheid "during the dark years."

He also announced that his international AIDS awareness "46664" foundation, named for his prison number, will hold a concert in London's Hyde Park next summer to mark his 90th birthday.

The statue is the work of Ian Walters, who finished it just before he died last August. Walters was chosen for the project by anti-apartheid campaigner Donald Woods, author of the book Cry Freedom, because of his sculpture of Mandela on the south bank of the River Thames and for his links with the anti-apartheid movement.

"Though this statue is of one man, it should in fact symbolize all those who have resisted oppression, especially in my country," Mandela said on Wednesday. "The history of the struggle in South Africa is rich with the studies of heroes and heroines, some of the leaders, some of them followers. All of them deserve to be remembered."

Brown and Mandela held private talks at the prime minister's residence on Tuesday.

Brown has often expressed admiration for the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize winner and profiled Mandela in his book Courage: Eight Portraits.

"I'm proud to welcome to Downing Street the most inspiring, the greatest and most courageous leader of our generation," the British prime minister said.

Brown attended the unveiling ceremony, along with Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, London Mayor Ken Livingstone and Richard Attenborough, who directed the movie Cry Freedom.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/08/29...tatue.html

[Weyland]

LOL! What a fucking waste of bronze! There is soooo much bullshit in the world. They should melt it and turn it into baby shoes. :biggrin:

[MC David]

How do you guys feel about Mandela, is he a good guy or bad? I've never really looked into him that much. He seems to be for peace but he associates with some suspiscious people but maybe he has to.

[Hei Hu Quan]

IllumiNazi lackey, he was a broken puppet backed by the Rothschilds and Oppenheimers to retain their filthy diamond and gold trade and prevent South Africa from being indigenously African led rather than a neo-colonial state serving their former colonizers. To show you what a backwards and loyal dog he was he even fashioned a Mandela Rhodes Foundation to produce other sell-out garbage like himself and advance the Rhodes, as in Cecil Rhodes' ideals and machinations. Read up on Cecil Rhodes who is known as the "Hitler of Africa" and the legacy he left in the Rhodes Roundtable Group, the Rhodes Scholarship and his will and trust. The Roundtable Group is the British precursor that the U.S. Council of Foreign Relations was established from.

Never worship the idols your enemy puts up for they will be criminals just like himself.

[Blackthor]

Quote:IllumiNazi lackey, he was a broken puppet backed by the Rothschilds and Oppenheimers to retain their filthy diamond and gold trade and prevent South Africa from being indigenously African led rather than a neo-colonial state serving their former colonizers. To show you what a backwards and loyal dog he was he even fashioned a Mandela Rhodes Foundation to produce other sell-out garbage like himself and advance the Rhodes, as in Cecil Rhodes' ideals and machinations. Read up on Cecil Rhodes who is known as the "Hitler of Africa" and the legacy he left in the Rhodes Roundtable Group, the Rhodes Scholarship and his will and trust. The Roundtable Group is the British precursor that the U.S. Council of Foreign Relations was established from.

Never worship the idols your enemy puts up for they will be criminals just like himself.

"Mandela Rhodes Foundation", damn :sad: You know people only give you a statue if you serve their interest!

Let the chips fall where they may

[MC David]

Was he geniune perhaps at one time, like when they imprisoned him, & then sold out along the way? Because I read that Dick Cheney pushed people in I think the Reagan administration to label him a "terorist" back then, but now he speaks highly of him & likes him.

To his credit I read Mandela has denounced Israel & the U.S. War on Terror, but maybe he's a globalist of the more 'neoliberal' variety. That Cecil Rhodes stuff is bad news.

[Hei Hu Quan]

The Oppenheimers visited Mandela when he was in Robben's Island prison to cut the deal. His party, the African National Congress (ANC) were always moderates who wanted the Apartheid system to accommodate the masses of South Africans as in the U.S. civil rights movement. However the Pan African Congress (PAC) made it clear that they wanted the land to be out of the hands of Afrikaners, Germans and other European colonizers and made it clear that the diamond and gold trade would be nationalised back into African hands and control with the Oppenheimers, DeBeers and the Rothschilds by proxy, kicked out.

Quote:To his credit I read Mandela has denounced Israel

That's called award-winning acting, as you can't denounce and then serve the interests of Israel (diamond trade) and be a stooge for Zionism (Oppenheimers & Rothschilds).

Judge not a man by his words but by his actions.