www.peoplesworld.org December 21, 2013

Celebrating Mandela’s life

By Mark Waller

he death of Nelson Mandela on Decem- But on the street, outside the Mandela homes ber 5th at the age of 95 and after pro- in Soweto and Johannesburg, people gathered to longed bouts of illness hardly came as sing freedom songs, and to dance (you can’t do the a surprise. It was a gentle touchdown to one without the other). The same has been hap- aT hard reality that years earlier had vexed many: pening in other parts of the country, in townships what will happen when Madiba goes? What will and villages. we do? People packed the stadium in the far-flung Had he died suddenly while still president, or Limpopo rural township of Malamulele in the in dubious circumstances when he was obviously north of the country on Sunday. The atmosphere in robust health, the fears that still raw social ten- was hardly sombre, and all the more poignant for sions would erupt violently would seem grounded. But Madiba’s decline allowed for a sense of t h i s w e e k : placid transition between him being here and no longer with us. Feelings of loss more readily mix • Celebrating Mandela’s life with a sense of affirmation. • A handshake that shook the world This is the mood at many of the township • Michigan residents fast for immigration reform and village gatherings held over the last few days. • Chile: la promesa de profundas transformaciones Though the country faces massive challenges to • Domino’s agrees to reinstate 25 fired in New York end poverty, inequality and underdevelopment, it has come a long way on these counts, and Man- read more news and opinion daily at www.peoplesworld.org dela is readily associated with the good that has happened. This all contrasts with the wall-to-wall TV its mix of mourning and celebration of a revolu- and radio tributes broadcast unrelentingly. They tionary life that helped win South Africa its free- tend to offer a teary send-off for Mandela, steeped dom from apartheid. in muzak, the touchy-feely bromides of celebri- It’s not all raucous celebration. Many areas ties, and cursory historical accounts that gloss are quiet as daily life goes on, though less freneti- over Mandela’s radical career. cally than usual. People are taking things in their

Page 1 stride. been celebrating Mandela. In the once staunchly white working-class Swarms of heads of state and other dignitar- suburb of Pretoria North, just outside South Af- ies will descended on South Africa to attend Man- rica’s administrative capital, the congregations of dela’s state funeral, and the period of national the Dutch Reformed Church held services and to mourning will shifted into another gear. commemorate Mandela’s achievements. These be- But recent days have shown South Africa gan the day after the announcement of his death. coming to terms with the loss of Mandela on its The Dutch Reformed Church was tradition- own terms, and in ways showing that most people ally a bastion of apartheid values, renounced and here see South Africa as a better place because of Most see South denounced as the church reinvented itself. It was what Mandela did and stood for. Africa as a better a reinvention made possible largely by Mandela’s Had the country’s transformation failed - and place because of resolute strategy of reconciliation prior to and in the bourgeois commercial media in South Africa what Mandela did the wake of the first democratic elections in 1994. spend most of the time telling people that it has - and stood for. Pretoria North is now a shadow of its miser- it is hardly likely Mandela would be celebrated the able past. It’s a lower-middle and working class way he is in poor or less well off areas here. suburb where black and white people have socially Perhaps this more than anything gives the integrated to a level that far exceeds wealthier ar- lie to the musings of Slavoj Zizek that Mandela’s eas.There have been continuous services and vig- legacy was one of “bitter defeat”. In fact a recent ils in other churches in the area and in the large Gallup poll of South Africans showed that 91 per- nearby townships of Soshanguve, Winterfeldt and cent felt that their families were better off than Mabopane. Most are charisma (holiness) church- now than during apartheid. es, preaching born again Christianity, and here the up-tempo gospel songs and sermons have Mark Waller writes for Peoplesworld.org.

A handshake that shook the world

By PW Editorial Board

n the spirit of Nelson Mandela, President and it is time for our policy to reflect that. It is Obama stopped and shook the hand of Cu- heartening to see the Obama administration ease ban President Raul Castro at the memorial the most extreme Bush-era sanctions against our Let us all honor to Mandela in South Africa. neighbor. Much more needs to be done. Mandela’s legacy IInstantly and predictably, the U.S. far-right U.S. anti-Cuba policies have hurt our own and finally Republicans and their mouthpieces went crazy. economy and isolated our country from the rest establish Now, nobody in their right mind could argue of the world, in particular the countries of North, neighborly ties to with following the example Mandela set of talk- Central and South America and the Caribbean. Cuba. ing, negotiating and finally reconciling with one’s The United States stands out like a sore thumb, enemies, especially when history has moved to a the only country in the hemisphere that does not new stage. have normal relations with the socialist island 90 But nobody said the tea party types are in miles from Florida’s shores.It was a handshake their right mind.More important, the idea that that shook the world, fittingly done at Mandela’s Cuba is the “enemy” of the United States is a memorial. Yes, Mr. President, let us all honor relic of the last century’s Cold War and needs to Mandela’s legacy - a man whom you rightfully de- be finally thrown on the ash heap of history. Not scribed as understanding “the ties that bind the just the idea, but also the numerous anti-Cuba human spirit” - and finally establish neighborly policies, starting with the U.S. embargo and trav- ties to Cuba. el ban. History has indeed moved to a new stage

www.peoplesworld.org Page 2 Michigan residents fast for immigration reform

By John Rummel

indy Garcia delivered a heartfelt plea on behalf of her husband as she fasted dur- ing the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dec. 12. “We’ve lobbied, we’ve marched Cwe’ve done everything we can to make sure my husband Jorge, who now faces deportation, stays where he belongs, with us,” she said. Garcia was one of more than 45 labor and immigrant rights activists across Michigan who undertook a 24 hour fast for citizenship and im- migration reform. The fast started Wednesday evening and ended 24 hours later on Thursday evening. It’s also a personal issue for Seydi Sarr, of the Garcia said Jorge, now 35, was ten when Senegalese Association of Michigan. Sarr and oth- he came to the United States. Her lobbying and ers fought and lost the deportation case of local marching took her, and the couples’ two young- Senegalese artist Michel Mendy. In 2010, he was est children, ages eight and 11, to Washington shot while a bystander during a robbery. Instead and Capitol Hill where for several days there they of going after the robber, the police detained him participated in the ongoing fast for immigration and turned him over to Immigration and Custom reform. Enforcement. Though he had been in the country 45 activists Garcia, a member of United Auto Workers since 1998, he was deported earlier this year undertook a who works at Dearborn Truck Plant, spoke at a Adding to Sarr’s concerns is the violence 24-hour fast for press conference Thursday at the International Mendy may encounter because he is gay. He is citizenship and Institute in Detroit. The event was sponsored by forced to live “in hiding” in his native Senegal, immigration Michigan United, a statewide coalition working where being gay puts one’s life at serious risk, she reform. for immigration reform. said. She said a 24-hour fast is a “small sacrifice” The process of fasting turns direct action into to make this holiday season. social action, said Prasanna Vengadam, president Too many holiday dinners will have “an emp- of South Asian American Voices for Impact. The ty place at the table,” said Michigan United orga- hoped for end result of that social action, a path to nizer Miriam Cuevas. She pointed out that every citizenship, would benefit the nation as a whole, day Republican Speaker John Boehner and the she said. She made the point that immigrants House of Representatives refuse to act, 1100 im- add to and help modernize our nation’s economy migrants are deported. thereby making our nation stronger. “This issue is personal. I am a dreamer,” Cue- “You are giving up on America if you don’t vas said. She has temporary protection from de- support immigration reform,” she said. portation under the president’s executive order What is the cost to our nation’s economy? It called DACA, but she said, “every day and every means a “$3 trillion loss” over the next ten years, hour I worry” about what will happen when the said Raquel Garcia-Anderson, a Michigan United protection expires. organizer.

www.peoplesworld.org Page 3 local news L o ca l c o n t ac t Chile: la promesa de

[email protected] profundas transformaciones

Domino’s agrees Por Prensa Latina

to reinstate 25 a contundente victoria de con las propuestas del bloque, que la exmandataria Michelle buscan edificar un nuevo país, que fired in New York Bachelet en la segunda deje atrás la intensa desigualdad ex- vuelta de las elecciones istente y permita aflorar la equidad. Special to the World presidencialesL en Chile sitúa al país a Poco después de conocerse la victo- las puertas de profundas transforma- ria, Bachelet reiteró las prioridades ttorney General Eric T. Schneider- ciones sociales, de cumplirse su pro- del que será su Gobierno a partir del manannounced an agreement to grama de gobierno. 11 de marzo, cuando recibirá de vuelta reinstate workers whose employ- Poco después de conocerse la ar- la banda presidencial que hace cuatro ment with a Domino’s pizza store rasadora victoria en la tarde-noche años ella misma traspasó al presiden- Aended suddenly Saturday night, following a del domingo, Bachelet reiteró su vol- te Sebastián Piñera. wage dispute with store management. All 25 untad de llevar adelante los cambios Entre sus propuestas, remarcó la workers will be reinstated by Sunday at the de fondo prometidos, en la mayoría de voluntad de emprender una profunda latest. “Because of this agreement, 25 work- los casos emanados de las principales reforma educacional y avanzar hacia ers will be back to work in time for the holi- demandas que en los últimos años los una nueva Constitución. days,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. movimientos sociales llevaron a la ”Gracias a los jóvenes se ha “New York’s labor laws exist to ensure the calle.”Se trata de un triunfo de enver- manifestado con fuerza las ansias de protection and fair treatment of employees gadura histórica para las fuerzas de construir un sistema educativo pú- in the workplace. My office will take swift izquierda y progresistas en general”, blico (...) esa bandera la tomamos action where there is any indication that an declaró a Prensa Latina el presidente entre todos. Hoy ya nadie duda de employer may have retaliated against work- del partido Izquierda Ciudadana, Víc- que el lucro no puede ser el motor ers for complaining about illegal labor con- tor Osorio, cuya agrupación es parte de la educación”, expresó la expresi- ditions.” del pacto opositor Nueva Mayoría, el denta (2006-2010). Bachelet insistió The dispute in this case focused on em- que postuló a la expresidenta (2006- en que la educación no es una mer- ployees’ complaints, which they shared with 2010). cancía, porque los sueños no son management, that they were being paid a De acuerdo con el periodista y un bien de mercado. “Es un dere- “tipped” wage for spending excessive time político, la contundencia del triunfo cho de todos y de todas”, exclamó. performing untipped kitchen work. Under sobre la candidata de la Alianza de Según la mandataria electa, la nueva New York law, employees who regularly re- la derecha chilena, Evelyn Matthei, y Constitución debe asegurar más dere- ceive tips may be paid a lower hourly wage sobre todo lo que ella representa, ase- chos, y garantizar que en el futuro la and the employer may claim a “tip credit,” gura la profundidad de los cambios mayoría nunca más será callada por providing certain circumstances are met. estructurales que Bachelet y Nueva una minoría.”Una Constitución que Currently, the tip credit for delivery Mayoría se proponen acometer. se transforme en el paso social nuevo, workers is $1.60 per hour, so they must be En opinión de Osorio, el 62,16 moderno y renovado que Chile de- paid at least $5.65 per hour in wages. How- por ciento de los votos a favor de la manda y necesita, que sea la base de ever, in order to ensure that the lower wage exmandataria evidencia que la in- una nueva relación entre las institu- applies only to those who genuinely have the mensa mayoría de los ciudadanos que ciones y la ciudadanía”, apostilló. opportunity to receive tips, state and federal concurrieron a las urnas se identifica laws limit the amount of time a lower-paid, tipped employee may perform untipped work, such as cleaning or kitchen work. na t i o na l c o n t ac t

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