nelson mandela

Modern Stoic Philosophers: My Favorite Maxims: Viktor Frankl, Nelson Mandela, and Others
Philosophy

Modern Stoic Philosophers: My Favorite Maxims: Viktor Frankl, Nelson Mandela, and Others

Bruce Strom 0

Why don’t the Roman Stoics discuss justice as much as Plato? In the direct Radical Democracy of Athens, the citizens served on the juries and passed the laws, which meant that ordinary citizens participated in rendering justice. This is why Socrates sought to educate ordinary citizens on justice. But in the Roman Empire, the totalitarian Emperors and their servants were responsible for the administration of justice, the ordinary citizens no longer directly influenced the administration of justice. But that is not the case in modern America and most democracies, many ordinary citizens serve on juries and vote for many political officials, local and national. Justice should be our concern.
You can make a strong argument that Stoicism, like Judaism and Christianity, is founded on the two-fold Love of God and neighbor, that you should Love God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Plus, we have the St Maximus the Confessor corollary, that we should be eager to forgive our neighbor. […]

Facism

Mandela Talking with the Enemy and Freedom, Blog 4

Bruce Strom 2

This chapter Mandela titles “Talking with the enemy.” Indeed, the ruling National Party was starting to realize that majority rule was inevitable. They were coming under increasing political and financial pressure, new sanctions were imposed by the UN, US, and other countries, more companies closed their operations in South Africa, banks and investors decreased their holdings in the country, ANC acts of sabotage increased, protests and riots and bloodshed on both sides kept increasing, the days of apartheid were numbered. […]

Facism

Mandela, Decades Spent In Prison, blog 3

Bruce Strom 3

Prison made Mandela a living martyr. Mandela had the good fortune to be the first military director of the ANC just as it started its campaign of sabotage, which meant he was that rarest of generals, the general who had no blood on his hands. His blood free hands allowed him to successfully make the transition to majority rule after apartheid was abandoned.
Mandela was a stoic. He echoes Epictetus when he writes, “prison and the authorities conspire to rob each man of his dignity. No man or institution can rob me of my dignity because I refuse to part with it for any price or pressure. I never seriously considered the possibility that I would not emerge from prison one day.” […]

Facism

Mandela as a Reluctant Revolutionary, Blog 2

Bruce Strom 4

Mandela was a reluctant revolutionary. He recalls his thoughts at the time, “I began to suspect that both legal and extra-constitutional protests would soon be impossible. In India, Gandhi had been dealing with a foreign power that was more realistic and farsighted, unlike the Afrikaners in South Africa. Non-violent passive resistance is effective as long as your opposition adheres to the same rules as you do. But if peaceful protest is met with violence, its efficacy is at an end. For me, nonviolence was not a moral principal but a strategy; there is no moral in using an ineffective weapon.” […]

Facism

Nelson Mandela, Blog 1, A Childhood in Transition

Bruce Strom 5

Although Mandela never mentions stoicism, his public and private life demonstrates stoic qualities. Mandela in his law practice and later in his politics strives to work for the public good, avoids strong emotions, lives in spartan simplicity, accepts his present lot in life, is tolerant and forgiving in his relationships with both friends and enemies, always keeping open lines of communication with bitter enemies, but never avoiding the difficult decisions thrust upon us both by events and by those close to us who disappoint us. […]