The accusations about communism are very simply absurd.

From Bill Keller's obituary there are three direct references to communism, applying to two different periods in his life.

1) as a youth he was a strongly anti-communist Africanist (he later discarded those Africanist beliefs):

Africanism versus nonracialism: that was the great divide in liberation thinking. The black consciousness movement, whose most famous martyr was Steve Biko, argued that before Africans could take their place in a multiracial state, their confidence and sense of responsibility must be rebuilt.

Mr. Mandela, too, was attracted to this doctrine of self-sufficiency.

“I was angry at the white man, not at racism,” he wrote in his autobiography. “While I was not prepared to hurl the white man into the sea, I would have been perfectly happy if he climbed aboard his steamships and left the continent of his own volition.”

In his conviction that blacks should liberate themselves, he joined friends in breaking up Communist Party meetings because he regarded Communism as an alien, non-African ideology, and for a time he insisted that the A.N.C. keep a distance from Indian and mixed-race political movements.

“This was the trend of the youth at that time,” Mr. Sisulu said. But Mr. Mandela, he said, was never “an extreme nationalist,” or much of an ideologue of any stripe. He was a man of action.

2) In his militant ANC period in the early 60's after the Sharpeville massacre up to his trial

Taking as his text Che Guevara’s “Guerrilla Warfare,” Mr. Mandela became the first commander of a motley liberation army, grandly named Umkhonto we Sizwe, or Spear of the Nation.

Although he denied it throughout his life, there is persuasive evidence that about this time Mr. Mandela briefly joined the South African Communist Party, the A.N.C.’s partner in opening the armed resistance. Mr. Mandela presumably joined for the party’s connections to Communist countries that would finance the campaign of violence. Stephen Ellis, a British historian who in 2011 found reference to Mr. Mandela’s membership in secret party minutes, said Mr. Mandela “wasn’t a real convert; it was just an opportunist thing.”

and in the 1964 trial that sent him to prison for life:

The four-hour speech with which Mr. Mandela opened the defense’s case was one of the most eloquent of his life, and — in the view of his authorized biographer, Anthony Sampson — it established him as the leader not only of the A.N.C. but also of the international movement against apartheid.

Mr. Mandela described his personal evolution from the temptations of black nationalism to the politics of multiracialism. He acknowledged that he was the commander of Spear of the Nation, but asserted that he had turned to violence only after nonviolent resistance had been foreclosed. He conceded that he had made alliances with Communists — a powerful current in the prosecution case in those Cold War days — but likened this to Churchill’s cooperation with Stalin against Hitler.

He finished with a coda of his convictions that would endure as an oratorical highlight of South African history.

“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination,” he told the court. “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realized. But my lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

The former is a anti-communist! The latter is a manipulator and user of communists! Definitely not a communist!

And then there's his presidency. Where such an accusation looks even more ridiculous. Because he acted about as pro-capitalist as a president could possibly be, to the detriment of labor unions and immediate help for the working poor:

But he was also casual, even careless, in his relationships with rich capitalists, the mining tycoons, retailers and developers whose continued investment he saw as vital to South Africa’s economy. Before the election, he went to 20 industrialists and asked each for at least one million rand ($275,000 at the exchange rate of that time) to build up his party and finance the campaign. In office, he was unabashed about taking their phone calls — and bristled when unions organized a strike against some of his big donors. He enjoyed socializing with the very rich and the show-business celebrities who flocked to pay homage.

At the same time, he was insistent that the black majority should not expect instant material gratification. He told union leaders at one point to “tighten your belts” and accept low wages so that investment would flow. “We must move from the position of a resistance movement to one of builders,” he said in an interview.

It is 7 am and 68 degrees here and going to 80 today.  I am headed to the farm to pick more tomatoes this morning.  I do know how it feels to be -7 degrees and watch ice build up inside the window because you are cooking and washing dishes. It is going to cool down a little on Friday.  I guess they are calling this Winter Storm Dion and Winter Storm Cleon came through first this week.. I just turned on the Weather Channel to see what was going on up north.  It looks like it is going to be bitter cold for you this week.  Wind chill is 30 below.  

Sending you warm wishes.

You know watching Fox is bad for your health.  Watch a few Christmas movies instead to go with the cold weather and to warm your heart. 

Those dooffuses on the right are just noise.  

A few years ago, I got curious and looked up the Singing Nun. It was a sad story. After the popularity of Dominique, Sister Luc Gabrielle - stage name Sœur Sourire, Sister Smile - chafed under her superiors attempts to control her music and left the order. She moved in with and seems to have had a close relationship with her childhood friend, Anne. She tried to make a living as a recording artist but the recording company wouldn't let her perform as Sœur Sourire or The Singing Nun. She tried calling herself Luc Dominique, but still her albums sold poorly. 

Later Belgium went after her for back taxes on royalties, even though the money had actually gone to the church. The church said it wasn't their problem. At about the same time Anne's autism center ran out of money and closed. The pair left a note and committed suicide with pills and alcohol.

I can't hear the song anymore without remembering how sad it all turned out.

If Nelson Mandela had run for office supporting lynching of whites without trial, and had sexually abused his white 'household employees' resulting in little unacknowledged 1/2 white babies, while at the same time running for office saying to black South Africans:

"All the bayonets in the Army cannot force Whites into our homes, our schools, our churches and our places of recreation,"

O'Reilly and the GOP would throw a big birthday party for him when he turned 100.

Each interesting in its own way.

A Dissenting Opinion on Nelson Mandela

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37033.htm

Mandela Will Never, Ever be Your Minstrel.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37034.htm

The real Mandela: Don’t let his legacy be abused

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37037.htm

This Is Nelson Mandela

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37039.htm

And a 1998 video by John Pilger that I have not yet watched, "John Pilger: Apartheid Did Not Die".

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37035.htm