Erm, sorry we called you a terrorist, Nelson.

[poliphilo]

The Conservative leader has just apologised for his party's policy towards apartheidt South Africa in the '80s. Apparently no-one had thought to do this before- in spite of Nelson Mandela's status as the Gandhi de nos jours. 

So why would anyone want to vote for a party that takes almost as long as the Vatican does to apologise for its egregious past mistakes?

Comments

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I don't think this matters to a whole lot of people.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I also think a lot of people don't remember. I have the DVD of the show Paul Simon did for his Graceland album. He had to make it in Zimbabwe instead of South Africa, because some of the musicians he was working with (Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masakela) were not allowed back into South Africa. Anyway, Hugh Masakela wrote a song about Mandela that brings tears to my eyes when I hear it. At the time, it brought tears to my eyes because the idea of a free Nelson Mandela seemed so impossible. Now, it brings tears to my eyes because things have turned out so differently.

But this DVD is of a show that predates DVDs by a good many years. I'm not sure people remember.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You're probably right. Ancient history, blah-di-blah. Most LJers wouldn't have been born when the apartheidt government fell.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The fight against apartheidt, the songs, the demos- it all seems like yesterday to me, but of course it isn't; the world has moved on.

[methodius.livejournal.com]

Because it at last has a leader who is intelligent and honest enough to admit to an error?

How long will it be before Labour has a leader intelligent and honest enough to admit to the "errors" (far too mild a term) of the beligerent and bellicose Mr Blair?

Go Sir Ming!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Political parties are leviathans that require a huge turning circle.

I don't trust Cameron. I think he's a lightweight who's saying whatever it takes to get ahead of Blair.

His party remains the monstrous thing it ever was.

[methodius.livejournal.com]

The irony is, of course, that the ANC, which Maggie Thatcher castigated as a bunch of terrorists, is thoroughly Thatcherist today, and its economic policies are as Thatcherist as can be. They made one of their Communist Party allies Minister of Public Enterprises (to oversee their privatisation).

And yes, of course the leader may make some of the right noises, but it doesn't mean that the leopard has changed its spots.

But at the moment, surely, just about anything is better than the belligerent Mr Blair?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't/couldn't vote for Blair, but I'm not sure I could vote for the Tories either. I've voted Lib Dem in the past and probably will again, but it always feels a bit like posting the voting slip down the toilet.