I read it in the context as in these 2 paragraphs, which are one after the other.
<I>British journalist Victoria Brittain wrote: “These were crimes whose results will live on into generations who have long forgotten the names of those responsible for them. This crime against humanity — as racial segregation has been recognised — stands along with Nazi Germany in the record of shame of the 20th century.”
This is how I remember PW Botha. He is up there with Hitler.</I>
Comparison is made in terms of crime against humanity as far as racial segregation is concerned. He is not comparing ‘quantity’ or any other ‘type’ of atrocity. Also he is hardly comparing as a ‘Judge’ even though after a certain level of crime committed by a person, even judgment is same, ‘up there’, in the jail. Also, I reckon that writer is also fed up of ‘selective amnesia’ & ‘extolling non-existent virtues’. All this writer is asking for is a fair & accurate assessment of history.
Let's get a few things straight about "a fair and accurate assessment of history.":
1. The article in question:
Flags fly at half mast, but let the truth be told: A monster is dead by (I assume as uncredited) Justice Malala. Does the author not have the balls to come out and say these things himself, instead relying on a quoted piece by an extreme (white?) left wing female journalist? Is the author not capable of making these judgements himself? Would he rather hide behind her skirts than have the intellectual grasp and mental bravery to call things as they are, as
he sees them. It is noted he does not have this intellectual bravery, and as a journalist on the ground(?) in this country it aptly shows the lack of faculty and his moral cowardice in a subject that should be closest to his heart and mental reasoning.
2. Victoria Brittain: while her moral crusade is exemplary we should acknowledge that moral crusades (especially british ones) have fiscal rewards, and the opportunity for great career advancement and personal name. There is nothing so viral as a punchy headline or paragraph especially when those lines or paragraphs sell newspapers, advance careers, and are not personally accountable (as noted by Justice Malala above, who in his moral turpitude does not have the bravery to come out and say these things himself.)
3. For measure when anybody mentions the word 'genocide' (or hitler in this context) I would take such as the following into account:
The racism and segregation that played out in the Rwanda cataclysm of 1994, where there were very different conditions and outcomes between whites and blacks, continues to be played out today. The telling and re-telling of the Rwanda ‘genocide’ story by its very nature revolves around a system of institutionalized segregation. Powerful whites in powerful ‘gatekeeper’ positions in the West hold a virtual monopoly over the information. Alongside of them are the select voices of non-whites who validate the predominant discourse. These ‘experts’ include Alison des Forges; Roméo Dallaire; Philip Gourevitch; Victoria Brittain; Samantha Power; Mahmood Mamdani; and many, many others.
“They believe Alison des Forges because she is white and they don’t believe me because I am black and I don’t speak English so well,” says Jean-Marie Higiro. “She is the expert, even though she was an observer and I was a participant.”
HOTEL RWANDA
Hollywood and the Holocaust in Central Africa
4. While I am busy trashing Victoria Brittain here are some other tidbits to keep in mind:
Khalifa Bazelya is not new on the block. In August 1997 David Shayler, the renegade MI5 spy, linked Bazelya with payments into Victoria Brittain's bank account. But at that time Bazelya was described only as the former head of the Libyan Interest Section in London. He was not fingered as a spy, far less implicated in a murder.
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source]
and:
After eight months of talks in Geneva between Angola, Cuba, South Africa and the United States, 1988 is drawing to a close with the distinct possibility that Pretoria may have been forced to end ten years of procrastination and redraw its regional strategy in such a way as to allow for an independent Namibia, with a complete change in the power base of its unita ally in Angola.
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So which is it? Genocide alongside hitler or a political atrocity masquerading as communism?
I just read it again, it is such a lucid & truth seeking article.
"We feel no joy at his passing. We seek neither revenge nor rancour. All we ask is that the history be accurate, be true, and be fair. " - Justice Malala
Get your facts straight and your moral compass in order before speaking of a "lucid truth seeking article."
Where is the truth? And if an author cannot put his own name to a contentious quote then I suggest he STFU and anybody who pretends his same moral order to do the same.
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