| I think FW de Klerk deserves an RIP 10:40 - Nov 12 with 725 views | Guthrum |
His record was far from perfect, but he was the man in a position of power who acted to end Apartheid in South Africa. |  |
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| I think FW de Klerk deserves an RIP on 10:56 - Nov 12 with 678 views | WeWereZombies |
It's been awhile since I read Anthony Sampson's biography of Mandela so I can't remember exact details of the role that Sampson perceived de Klerk playing in the end of apartheid - I hazard a guess that he, along with our government and the various anti-apartheid organisations around the World, was seen more as one the midwifes attending to an inevitable birth rather than the doctor in charge of a cesarean i.e he didn't stand in the way like a Vorster had done; that was because many white South Africans knew that the game was up and that they needed a competent person in charge for the handover. |  |
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| I think FW de Klerk deserves an RIP on 11:09 - Nov 12 with 653 views | Ryorry |
I was going to post it yesterday, but the last "controversial" R.I.P. I posted didn't end well (with downright disrespect to the individual concerned), so decided I didn't want to invite that again.
I agree with you. Whatever the motive/s, he was the one who chose to alter course, release Mandela & set SA on a better path.
R.I.P. |  |
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| I think FW de Klerk deserves an RIP on 12:03 - Nov 12 with 617 views | Ftnfwest |
From an original position of not particularly being a reformer as well. Maybe he wouldn't have got into the position of stepping in as premier otherwise but at least he then saw the need for change and acted on it, so yes RIP. |  | | |
| I think FW de Klerk deserves an RIP on 12:27 - Nov 12 with 583 views | Guthrum |
| I think FW de Klerk deserves an RIP on 10:56 - Nov 12 by WeWereZombies |
It's been awhile since I read Anthony Sampson's biography of Mandela so I can't remember exact details of the role that Sampson perceived de Klerk playing in the end of apartheid - I hazard a guess that he, along with our government and the various anti-apartheid organisations around the World, was seen more as one the midwifes attending to an inevitable birth rather than the doctor in charge of a cesarean i.e he didn't stand in the way like a Vorster had done; that was because many white South Africans knew that the game was up and that they needed a competent person in charge for the handover. |
He could have entrenched, as PW Botha did. I'm not convinced that Apartheid was in any sense about to fall. Certainly not the impression I had, or gleaned from a South African emigre friend in the late '80s.
After all, despite their nominal isolation, SA were tacitly supported by several Western powers* as a bulwark against communism in the south of the continent (including the Angolan Civil War).
* Plus Israel, with whom the cooperated on nuclear arms research. | |
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| I think FW de Klerk deserves an RIP on 12:56 - Nov 12 with 559 views | WeWereZombies |
| I think FW de Klerk deserves an RIP on 12:27 - Nov 12 by Guthrum |
He could have entrenched, as PW Botha did. I'm not convinced that Apartheid was in any sense about to fall. Certainly not the impression I had, or gleaned from a South African emigre friend in the late '80s.
After all, despite their nominal isolation, SA were tacitly supported by several Western powers* as a bulwark against communism in the south of the continent (including the Angolan Civil War).
* Plus Israel, with whom the cooperated on nuclear arms research. |
I think you are wrong there, the gradual drip, drip, drip of passive resistance was weakening the regime by the day and this, coupled with increasing isolation brought about the need for change. I would recommend Sampson's biography of Mandela (he only wrote one other, of Macmillan and I really should read that but I suspect it is as long, comprehensive and attention demanding as the Mandela one - which was neither given a full seal of approval or condemned by the subject, perhaps a sure sign that job's a good 'un.)
Also to amplify de Klerk's role can be seen as belittling the vital work put in by Mandela, Tambo, Sisulu and so many others, not to mention Steve Biko and the victims of the Sharpeville massacre who paid with their lives. | |
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| I think FW de Klerk deserves an RIP on 13:22 - Nov 12 with 524 views | Ryorry |
| I think FW de Klerk deserves an RIP on 12:56 - Nov 12 by WeWereZombies |
I think you are wrong there, the gradual drip, drip, drip of passive resistance was weakening the regime by the day and this, coupled with increasing isolation brought about the need for change. I would recommend Sampson's biography of Mandela (he only wrote one other, of Macmillan and I really should read that but I suspect it is as long, comprehensive and attention demanding as the Mandela one - which was neither given a full seal of approval or condemned by the subject, perhaps a sure sign that job's a good 'un.)
Also to amplify de Klerk's role can be seen as belittling the vital work put in by Mandela, Tambo, Sisulu and so many others, not to mention Steve Biko and the victims of the Sharpeville massacre who paid with their lives. |
I'm not as well informed as yourself or Guthers on this, but might the regime change not have been a lot bloodier if it had happened later, without de Klerk intervening as he did?
Don't think anyone is belittling any or all of the others you mention, it just happens that de Klerk is the one who has most recently died, therefore the focus is on him. I'm pretty sure that he himself in his lifetime heaped praise on at least Nelson Mandela as the major mover in SA's change of course; and those others have quite rightly had appreciative focus on themselves in the past. | |
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| I think FW de Klerk deserves an RIP on 13:42 - Nov 12 with 496 views | Guthrum |
| I think FW de Klerk deserves an RIP on 12:56 - Nov 12 by WeWereZombies |
I think you are wrong there, the gradual drip, drip, drip of passive resistance was weakening the regime by the day and this, coupled with increasing isolation brought about the need for change. I would recommend Sampson's biography of Mandela (he only wrote one other, of Macmillan and I really should read that but I suspect it is as long, comprehensive and attention demanding as the Mandela one - which was neither given a full seal of approval or condemned by the subject, perhaps a sure sign that job's a good 'un.)
Also to amplify de Klerk's role can be seen as belittling the vital work put in by Mandela, Tambo, Sisulu and so many others, not to mention Steve Biko and the victims of the Sharpeville massacre who paid with their lives. |
On that last bit, certainly de Klerk was not at all the architect of the end of Apartheid. He was the man who chose to press the switch - and in a more ordered and timely fashion than might have been the case.
I think it would eventually have gone, in part due to the changes in geopolitics with the end of the Cold War. But could have been sustained for some time with a more reactionary leader. | |
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