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| Nelson Mandela (1918 - 2013) |
Cork Workers Party Councillor Ted Tynan has
paid tribute to former South African President Nelson Mandela, saying that he
and his comrades in the African National Congress had been an inspiration for
many decades to all those involved in people’s struggles in Ireland and around
the world.
Cllr. Tynan said he will support the
posthumous granting of the Freedom of Cork to Mr. Mandela, saying it was an
appropriate, if belated, bestowing of proper recognition on behalf of the
people of Cork.
Cllr Tynan said, “As usual the majority of
the Irish citizens were way ahead of their elected representatives when it came
to supporting demands for the freedom of Nelson Mandela and for an end to
apartheid in South Africa. When the
Workers’ Party proposed that Mandela be given the Freedom of the City of Cork in
1987 the motion was defeated by some of those who are now loudest in their
praises for Mandela. They have very
short memories”.
The Workers Party councillor said that
without the brave stand taken by the Dunnes Stores workers and others at home
and around the world it is likely that Nelson Mandela would have died in
prison. “It was the acts of solidarity worldwide and
the struggles of the ANC within South Africa which defeated apartheid, not the worlds’
political elite now claiming credit”, he said
Cllr. Tynan continued, “With a few notable
exceptions most of the world’s governments had to be shamed by their citizens
into joining the fight against apartheid.
It is fitting too”, he concluded,
“that we do not forget the many who did not live to see the end of apartheid,
from those who led the struggle to the many victims of the murder and
repression of the apartheid state. For
their sakes and for all peoples it is essential that the struggle continues
against the class and economic apartheid that continues to exist in Africa,
Ireland and throughout the world”.
