Reply #42: They're still involved in Africa and South Africa [View All]

[HamdenRice]

This is a lesson for the supporters of Israel.

The anti-apartheid movement continued to support the ANC and United Democratic Front during the constitutional negotiations of the 1990s. When South Africa achieved majority rule many continued to focus on Africa and supported the Mandela administration.

It is interesting that in the 1970s and 1980s, a lot of us then-young people had a commitment to Africa that was "Africa right or wrong" and we supported some bad regimes, just because they were independent. But after the 1980s, people become much more critical about which governments deserved support.

Some are involved in criticizing Sudan over Darfur and others are highly critical of the post-Mandela Mbeki government of South Africa for failing to address the AIDS crisis effectively and its neo-liberal economic policies.

In other words, the mostly African American community deeply involved in Africa became oriented to the African people, not African governments.

I wish the people who support Israel would make the same distinction.