I join in wishing Nelson Mandela a happy 90th birthday!
Mandela, in news interviews, has called on the rich to share their wealth with the poor.
People are poor and impoverished because the rich have stolen the wealth working people have created. The rich are not going to voluntarily give up any of their wealth to help the poor.
Included among the "news" reports coming from the main stream media is the false idea that Nelson Mandela, imprisoned for almost three decades for the very struggle he led for which today he is recognized as a great hero, is the totally erroneous and fabricated misinformation that Mandela was, "released in 1990 to lead negotiations that ended decades of racist white rule."
Nothing could be further from the truth; it took a very powerful international movement to free Mandela and his comrades and end the racist system of apartheid which had been kept in place by the largest multinational corporations--- from the Ford Motor Company to General Motors and international mining corporations.South Africans are plagued by poverty today, like impoverished people everywhere, because these corporations, quite literally, "robbed them blind."
As Mandela is aware, and the main stream media refuses to report, a more powerful, more militant, more united international working class movement will be required to eradicate poverty than the movement which was required to free Mandela and put an end to apartheid.
Very powerful social and working class movements will be required in order to wrest the wealth from the rich.
We are not simply speaking of relieving the rich of their wealth and distributing this wealth to the impoverished of the world. What we are talking about is placing the mines, mills and factories presently under the ownership of powerful Wall Street coupon clippers, bankers and investors under public ownership so what is produced is owned by society and distributed according to need.
This is the only way to end poverty; to replace capitalism with socialism.
A socialist revolution is needed... workers rising in revolution to put an end to exploitation and poverty in every land would be a fitting present for Nelson Mandela on his next birthday.
Happy birthday Nelson Mandela... we appreciate your example of courage in the struggle... we share your thoughts of socialist revolution on your 90th birthday!
Happy 90th Birthday, Nelson Mandela!
Mandela on 90th birthday: Rich should help poor
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20080718/D9206VFO0.html
Jul 18, 6:22 AM (ET)
By CELEAN JACOBSON
QUNU, South Africa (AP) - Nelson Mandela celebrated his 90th birthday Friday by calling on the wealthy to share with the less fortunate and wishing that he had been able to spend more time with his family during the anti-apartheid struggle.
In an interview at his home in rural southeastern South Africa, the anti-apartheid icon was asked if he had a message for the world.
"There are many people in South Africa who are rich and who can share those riches with those not so fortunate who have not been able to conquer poverty," Mandela said.
Sitting with his wife Graca Machel in a lounge of the large home he built in Qunu, Mandela said he was fortunate to have reached 90, but in the countryside and in the towns "poverty has gripped our people.
"If you are poor, you are not likely to live long," he said.
At one point, a granddaughter brought a bowl of flowers into the room and gave Mandela a birthday kiss. He was asked if he wished he had had more time with his family during a life spent fighting apartheid and then leading South Africa.
"I am sure for many people that is their wish," he said. "I also have that wish that I spent more time (with my family). But I don't regret it."
Mandela was imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against apartheid.
He was released in 1990 to lead negotiations that ended decades of racist white rule. He was elected president in South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994. He now campaigns against poverty, illiteracy and AIDS in Africa.
