Sir, – One of my earliest memories of Nelson Mandela was when I was just a little boy in South Africa. I was sitting in our living room watching his inauguration in 1994, and while I was perhaps too young to appreciate the significance of the event, I distinctly recall the expression on the face of the lady who worked in our household (who was a black South African).
Some days before or after the inauguration I remember her saying to me, with a confidence I did not recognise in her tone, that a new time had come to her country – her country. Whether we are white or black, our tears for this valiant champion are all the same hue. – Yours, etc,
Dr SEAN ALEXANDER
SMITH,
Aiken Village,
Sandyford, Dublin 18.
A chara, – How long ago was it that your Letters page printed an appeal for readers to send Christmas cards to ANC prisoners on Robben Island? How many of your readers took up the challenge?
How many Irish Times readers attending Ireland/ Springboks rugby matches passed Barry Desmond and his Labour friends, objecting to apartheid in South Africa, and chose to dismiss concerns about the practice of apartheid in sport? And how many continued to shop in Dunnes Stores during the time of the pickets, when Dunnes shop workers challenged us to protest too.
Now how many are mourning the passing of a great man, joining in the tributes, signing condolences books and agreeing that apartheid was wicked?
Mandela challenged us all and given his leadership the crowd of supporters grew and an unjust system was overturned. Are there leaders like him left in the world today? – Is mise,
NIAMH BHREATHNACH,
Anglesea Avenue,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Sir, – I think the suggestion of naming the Spire after Nelson Mandela is wide of the mark (Fiachra Ó Luain, December 9th) .
The Spire will eventually be torn down and go the way of the fountain that used to be in O’Connell Street. It would be far better to rename Henry Street as Mandela Street. This is where the strike took place, a strike everyone in power is now claiming they supported. My recollection of events is somewhat different. But let them put their money where their mouth is and have a Mandela Street. Unlike the Spire, the street is unlikely to be ever demolished. – Yours, etc,
GEARÓID Ó LOINGSIGH,
Calle 12D, Bogotá,
Colombia.
Sir, – Patrick Doyle (December 9th) refers to the ANC as "an organisation whose terror tactics in some instances would make the IRA seem like altar boys". Nothing could be further from the truth.
Mkhonto we Sizwe (the Spear of the Nation) was probably the most inept liberation army ever. Apart from an attack on the Sasolburg oil refinery which resulted in part-time army units being called up for a month to guard other similar installations and a few bombings they achieved little of note. Most of their planned operations were known to the authorities in advance. A perfect example is a planned attack on one of the three oil refineries in Durban one weekend. The only aspect of the plan that was not known was which refinery was the target. The police and all commando units, one of which I commanded, in Durban and environs were put on standby. In the event the would-be attackers ran into a police patrol and were chased into a builder’s yard. One threw a grenade that bounced back off some scaffolding and killed them all. My opinion, which I voiced at the time, was and still is that a dozen IRA men could have blown half the country apart in a week. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN P O CINNEIDE,
Essenwood Road,
Durban,
South Africa.
Sir, – As a schoolboy I vividly remember seeing for the first time the Springboks playing in Lansdowne Road in December 1960. It was an “all white” team.
At the time I did not understand the meaning of the word “apartheid” nor had I heard of the Sharpeville massacre. I was innocent!
Thanks to people such as Kader Asmal of TCD, I began to wake up to the evils of apartheid and by 1970 I stood outside Lansdowne Road protesting, “sport knows no colour” against the Springbok visit. There were approximately 8,000 protesters, some of whom tried to stop the bus transporting the Irish rugby team to the ground. By the early 1990s apartheid was over. This was brought home to me when I saw the talented rugby winger Chester Williams, a black man, on the Springbok team. I could not believe my eyes. It was a dream come true.
Nelson Mandela passionately believed in integration through sport. His presence at the rugby World Cup final in South Africa said it all. He could be described as a man who led his people from the darkness of apartheid into the dawn of hope. – Yours, etc,
JOE MURRAY,
Beggars Bush Court,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4.
Sir, – I would like to suggest that IRFU and IFA agree to rename Lansdowne Road alias Aviva Stadium as Nelson Mandela Stadium.
This would achieve two things: It would make amends for the slow start of the IRFU in coming around to support the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa.
It would also be a first step for the public in reclaiming the right to name our public buildings after our heroes, as opposed to allowing them to be named commercially for temporary financial gain. – Yours, etc,
MARIE HUMPHRIES,
Wigan Road, Dublin 9.
A chara, – To try to draw any parallel between Nelson Mandela and Martin McGuinness is ridiculous. Sam Quirke (December 7th) should be reminded that Mr McGuinness ran for the Irish presidency and lost – a stark reminder that although followed by a few he will never be loved by the many! – Is mise,
CONOR FEENEY,
Frascati Park,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Sir, – On April 4th, 1968 Senator Robert Kennedy, speaking at an Indianapolis campaign rally, announced the death by an assassin’s bullet of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. During his extemporaneous remarks he said, “Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: To tame the savageness of man and to make gentle the life of this world.” Kennedy could not have imagined just how much Nelson Mandela would dedicate himself to doing precisely that. Rest in Peace Madiba. – Yours, etc,
ROBERT MANSON,
Celbridge, Co Kildare.
Sir, – Nelson Mandela believed passionately in education as the only sure route to a better life, and we in Breadline Africa are committed to keeping the flame of his legacy burning.
Since 2010 we have been privileged to co-operate with the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in providing school libraries, in deprived areas, both rural and urban, all over South Africa, using refurbished shipping containers. To date we have opened 33 libraries and the programme continues to develop. We are proud to recall that Irish donors, corporate and individual, have helped to commemorate Nelson Mandela’s memory in such a practical way. To see the joy of the children and their teachers as they grasp their new opportunities is to see Mandela’s vision in action. – Yours, etc,
NOO WALLIS,
Chairperson, Irish Advisory
Committee Breadline Africa,
Knocknacree Road,
Dalkey, Co Dublin.
A chara, – Mandela, the name says it all. M – Magnificent. A – Articulate. N – Non-violent. D – Dedicated. E – Elegant. L – Loving. A – African. – Yours, etc,
JAY NAIDOO,
Roebuck Road,
Clonskeagh,
Dublin 14.
A chara, – I was privileged to be in Grand Parade Cape Town when Mandela made his first speech after his release from prison. The most memorable day of my life. Is feidir Suaimhneas Siorai Da an Aman. – Yours, etc,
AINDRIAS O MARCACAIN,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – How about some balance in your paper’s reporting of Mandela? The glowing tributes are just too much. I even saw one ludicrous suggestion that Mandela is comparable to Gandhi. Nonsense. I beg people to look at Gandhi’s life and then go and learn about some of the workings of Mandela’s ANC. Particularly disturbing is its use of petrol-filled car tyres hung around the neck and shoulders of victims and they set alight. It must be the most horrific, painful, slow death imaginable. Gandhi was a pacifist who would have never have such atrocities happen in his name. Gandhi was also anti-abortion because he defended the most vulnerable born and not yet born.
Please go and find out the facts behind the airbrushing of history that is going on in the media worldwide today. If it was the death of a pope, even the most popular one of all time, there would be a lot more balance in the obituaries than there is in the one-sided glorification of Mandela. Only God will really judge him now. – Yours, etc,
EAMON REILLY,
Finea,
Mullingar,
Co Westmeath.
Sir, – Mandela, Gandhi and Martin Luther King are remembered chiefly for fighting against racial inequality. However, they also considered poverty and economic inequity equally abhorrent. We should remember all that they fought for to improve social justice and their courage in taking the less popular path. – Yours, etc,
PADDY MEYLER,
Charlesland Wood,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – As we remember Nelson Mandela, let us not forget our own unofficial apartheid, particularly in our larger cities. – Yours, etc,
JOSEPH MACKEY,
Glasson,
Athlone,
Co Westmeath.