Mandela Speaking on Palestine

1990 Town Hall Meeting with Nelson Mandela on Palestine, Cuba and other issues

The above video is from a 1990 town hall meeting, held in New York City and chaired by Ted Koppel of ABC Networks (click here to watch the video on YouTube). The meeting formed part Nelson Mandela’s first visit to the USA immediately following his release from prison.

A significant part of the town hall meeting focused on Nelson Mandela’s advocating (on behalf of the African National Congress and the larger South African liberation struggle) for sanctions to be applied against Apartheid South Africa, his and the ANC’s support for the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as well as his close friendship with Yasser Arafat (of Palestine) and Fidel Castro (of Cuba).

The town hall meeting took place in 1990, long before the world had embraced Nelson Mandela as a “giant of justice”. However, even then, when it may have been unfashionable and unpopular to support the Palestinians against, what Mandela termed, Israeli “colonialism”, Mandela stood firm and resolute on his principles and the policies of the ANC – Mandela was, after all, conveying the long-standing positions held by the ANC and the larger South African liberation movement