OxBlog

Wednesday, October 01, 2003

# Posted 7:31 PM by Ariel David Adesnik  

BETRAYING THE REVOLUTION: Nick Kristof writes that
A generation ago, Americans protested and held divestment rallies in a snowballing movement against the injustices of South African apartheid...

These days, an incomparably greater injustice — random sickness and death, often striking infants — ravages South Africa.

[President] Mbeki's know-nothing obstructionism has killed incomparably more South Africans than any apartheid leader ever did.
Those are harsh words coming from such a staunch liberal. Imagine saying that Ben Gurion killed more Jews than Hitler. The sad thing is, Kristof is probably right. Mbeki's negligence is criminal.

But is there any hope for change? I guess I'd say there is a possibility, if not much hope. I suspect that change will only come if Nelson Mandela is willing to risk his reputation as South Africa's founding father and demand that Mr. Mbeki and the ANC start acting responsibly.

While Mandela does often say the right things about AIDS, he does not say them loud enough. He is an old man who seems afraid of risking his incalculable prestige by taking a controversial position on the major issues of the day.

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