Why We Will Miss Nelson Mandela In A Feministy Way
We are still having sads that Nelson Mandela, who was a far better human being than all of us combined times 12, died on Thursday. He was a genuine, good-hearted badass who pissed off all the right people. Ronald Reagan? Check. Dick Cheney? Check. Jesse Helms? Check. And he was also a genuine, good-hearted feminist badass, as Erin Gloria Ryan femsplained at Jezebel. He fought for a Women's Bill of Rights. He fought for free health care for children and pre- and post-natal care for their mothers. Also too this:
Mandela was key in promoting the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa in 1997, which contained passages guaranteeing gender equality and prohibiting sexual discrimination.
Seriously, go read the whole thing right now, but then come back here because you will definitely want to know about this other thing he did in 1996 .
South Africa's new abortion law passed its final legislative hurdle today, clearing the way for President Nelson Mandela to replace one of the world's toughest abortion laws with one of the most liberal. [...]
The bill will cancel an existing law allowing abortion only in the case of rape, incest or immediate danger to the mother's mental or physical health. Under the new law, women and girls will be entitled to a state-financed abortion on demand during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy if they have no private medical insurance, and, subject to widely defined conditions, for a further eight weeks.
We don't really have any jokes to make about this because we are basically just in awe of his awesomeness. While the whole world (okay, except for wingnut commenters, but what can you expect from them?) is being mostly gracious and humble about Mandela's passing and saying -- rightly -- that he was a great role model and an inspiration, we hope that's actually true and that what he actually did and believed and said might serve as an actual example for other leaders to actually follow. Just a thought.
Yes, but we will all enjoy the spectacle of them choking on their own words as they deliver the obligatory muttered, generic words of eulogy and praise.
Just as we enjoyed that time when Reagan had to sign the law making MLK's birthday a national holiday, after having called him a treasonous commie. Yadda yadda dreamer. Yadda yadda humble.
And that time when Reagan had to sign the bill he had tried to veto, which put in place the economic sanctions that helped Mandela bring down apartheid.
Today several billion people worldwide are celebrating and cherishing and mourning the memory of one of the modern era's greatest leaders. The people who opposed him through either indifference or active hostility can tuck themselves into bed tonight knowing that when they die, the world will either shrug or dance on their graves.
Eighteen years after Martin Luther King died, when his birthday was made a national holiday (to general rejoicing and over the objections of a few), the GOP took a look at the trend in public opinion. So they began crafting that cute narrative in which MLK would have been a Republican today, if one of their buddies hadn't murdered him.
Some people complained about it, but Mayor Andrew Young of Atlanta (one of MLK's longtime generals), said, "It thrills me. It never bothers me to see somebody come around.''
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1986..." target="_blank">" rel="nofollow noopener" title="http://www.nytimes.com/1986/01/20/us/saving-a-dis...">http://www.nytimes.com/1986...