Winnie Mandela: Charming, Arrogant - and an embarrassment
BUENOS AIRES — "Those 18 months in solitary confinement . . . " Winnie Mandela pursed her lips, her eyes hard and far away, "bruised my soul. If I had had a weapon, I would have fought my way out."
Mandela told me that in a 1986 interview. Perhaps, in a tragic way, "fighting her way out" is what she has been doing for the past few years. She has become an increasing embarrassment for the internal and external South African liberation movements. Like a caged tiger with no way of taking revenge on her tormentors, Winnie Mandela has turned on her young, her people. Los Angeles Times
LATIN AMERICA: Still the Man on Horseback
BUENOS AIRES — Burned ballots, beatings, murders and a nullified election are not only symptoms of power abuses under Panama Gen. Manuel A. Noriega, but a reflection of the sad truth that despite a flowering of democracy in Latin America, generals still have the final say.
In the roughly dozen elections or referendums in Latin America this year, the military is a critical factor. In Panama, the military Establishment was fully revealed last week as a powerful, corrupt force. Today the people of Argentina go to the polls conscious of the military breathing down their necks. Candidates are hoping that, for the first time in 61 years, there will be a peaceful transition from one civilian government to another. Meanwhile, in Paraguay, civilians recently voted in favor of Gen. Andres Rodriguez, who earlier this year ousted Gen. Alfredo Stroessner from his 34-year dictatorship. And in December, Chileans will vote in the first general election since Gen. Augusto Pinochet assumed power in a coup 16 years ago.
In all but two South American countries, democracies are in power--yet the military rules. No decision is made by the new democracies without considering how the military will react. A veneer of popular participation covers the continuing power of the defense Establishment. Los Angeles Times
Despite Tea Parties at the Top, South African Apartheid Prevails
Neither recognizes the other -officially. But neither can advance without the other, and any setback either suffers is a consequence of actions by the other.... Los Angeles Times
Charlene Smith Remembers Winnie Mandela
With Linzi Bourhill, Cape Talk (audio), April 6, 2018
Tribute to Winnie Mandela (audio)
Shafiq Morton, Voice of the Cape, April 4, 2018
Defending the Legacy of Winnie Mandela
Radio Interview with Tsepiso Makwetla, SAfm, April 4, 2018
The Conscience of a Nation that has forgotten apartheid
On the death of Winnie Madikizela Mandela, April 4, 2018
Bara Gets to the Heart of the Matter
About Rashid and Rafiq Essop who, with their own funds, began the cardiology unit at Chris-Hani Bardgwanath hospital in Soweto, near Johannesburg. CHB is the largest hospital in Africa and the southern hemisphere.
Every 26 Seconds A Woman Gets Raped - Bob Simon, CBS 60 Minutes
Link to a CBS 60 Minutes interview with me. Anderson Cooper and Randall Joyce traveled to South Africa to interview me.
Interviewed by Huffington Post (video) following the death of Nelson Mandela
My interview is about 14 minutes in - unfortunately rather poor sound quality.
MLK and Mandela: Two countries, one dream
Interview with Associated Press about Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, what they shared, and what they did not
Nelson Mandela loved Boston
Cambridge Chronicle, Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 10, 2013
Memories about Nelson Mandela
Charlene Smith interviewed by Nancy Richards of SAfm
CNN with Carol Costello
Interview July 18, 2012 with Charlene Smith
SAfm 'Otherwise' with Nancy Richards
July 18, 2012, Nelson Mandela's 94th birthday - Nancy Richards interviews Charlene Smith.
Cambridge Chronicle Interview with Charlene Smith
Cambridge Chronicle Interview with Charlene Smith about Nelson Mandela