Terrorism Was A Part Of The Struggle

As terrorist outfits go, MK was at the more responsible end of the spectrum. For a long time, it attacked only symbols and servants of the apartheid state, shunning random attacks on white civilians even though they were the main beneficiaries of that regime. By the time it did start bombing bars and the like in the 1980s, Mandela had been in prison for 20 years and bore no direct responsibility for the MK's acts - but neither he nor the ANC ever disowned the organization. Indeed, after the transition to majority rule in 1994, MK's cadres were integrated into the new South African Defense Force alongside the former regime's troops. There's nothing unusual about all this. Jomo Kenyatta in Kenya, Archbishop Makarios in Cyprus, Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and a dozen other national leaders emerged from prison to negotiate independence after "terrorist" organizations loyal to them had worn down the imperial forces that occupied their countries. In the era of decolonization, terrorism was a widely accepted technique for driving the occupiers out. South Africa was lucky to see so little of it, but terrorism was part of the struggle there, too. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13929.htm Also of interest with regards to understanding terrorism an interview by Bill Moyers with Mary Gordon on his new PBS series "Faith and Reason". You can view the program online or read a transcript of the interview. I identified with her thinking on this matter. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/portraits_gordon.html

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