Word: klerk
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...journalists get to make the history they write about. When Nelson Mandela was rehearsing for his only debate with President F.W. de Klerk before South Africa's elections last year, he called on Allister Sparks to pose as his Afrikaner antagonist. That selection may seem curious, but South Africa has long been a place where liberal English-speaking journalists like Sparks believed their job was not simply to record the struggle against apartheid but participate in it as well...
Sparks' skillful weaving of myriad strands-Mandela's secret sessions with the committee, the clandestine talks in England between the African National Congress and the government, the back-channel communications between Mandela and the a.n.c. in exile, the trepidation of Botha and the apparent transformation of his successor, De Klerk-possesses the drama and intrigue of a diplomatic whodunit. Sparks uncovers fresh details about Mandela's secret outings around Cape Town with his jailers (one of whom covertly brought the grandfatherly prisoner home to meet his two small children), the vital role of Mandela's courtly lawyer, George Bizos...
...might equally, however, argue that the spirit of inclusion which characterised Mandela's acceptance of the South African presidency (and F.W. de Klerk's concession of the same position) provide a sharp contrast with the hopeless inadequacy of minority political representation in the United States. It is this second argument which is pointed out powerfully by the recent publication of Lani Guinier '71's collection of articles,The Tyranny of the Majority...
Mandela: Mr. De Klerk had the courage to come out openly and say, "Apartheid has failed. The best way is negotiations." We must compliment him for that. But in spite of the fact that he made this commendable contribution, it was a foregone conclusion that his party was going to disappear. After the next five years, I don't think anybody will ever hear of the National Party. He applied dirty-trick tactics in this campaign. Very dirty, racist tactics. Nevertheless we beat them. But Mr. De Klerk has made a contribution. Without him, we could not have made this...
...government of national unity will actually reduce violence in Natal, and perhaps it will disappear altogether. As far as the question of the Third Force ((of right-wing security-force elements allegedly subverting democracy)) is concerned, we have taken over the army as well as the police. Mr. De Klerk tried to say, "If you take defense, give us the police. Or if you take the police, give us defense." I said, "No. Those two must be controlled by us. You are not in a position to clean the police force of the elements that are creating this violence...