After a solid week of being dead, asleep, nearly dead, and then dead again, you may think that the death of the world's favourite terrorist came as no surprise to anyone? Well, the ANC Youth Leage (ANCYL) would prove you wrong. They are shocked by his death.
Their total obliviousness to current affairs reflects the level of intelligence and ignorance that you should continue to expect from the ANCYL.
Take a deep breath, then try read their hilarious press release.
ANCYL PAYS TRIBUTE TO YASSER ARAFAT
11 November 2004
The ANC Youth League is deeply shocked and saddened by the news of the passing of a great icon of liberation, a stalwart and a true leader who stood by his people at the worst of times and suffered with them. The world will never know anyone else like him (please God - Ed). Yasser Arafat has become the embodiment of human sacrifice, resilience and liberation.
As we dip our banners and fly our flags in half mast in honour of a man who became one with his people, we cry with the people of Palestine, and for this one moment in time, we have become one with the Palestinians.Our tears will wash the path you have prepared for your people, while your blood will nourish the trees that will line the road to freedom for the peace-loving people of Palestine.
We draw inspiration from a man whose life and personal ambitions ceased to exist outside those of his people. Indeed, he became Palestine, and represented everything the people of Palestine aspired for. As a young lion his roars reverberated across continents and his leadership earned him enormous respect worldwide. We salute a commander, a patriot and a footsoldier who led from the front and tackled the enemy toe-to-toe on the battlefield in a fight to preserve the dignity of his people and reclaim what is rightfully theirs, their land.
It was through his unflinching leadership that the world took note of the cause of the people of Palestine and their fight against illegal dispossession of their land. The creation of the state of Israel in Palestine and the continued subjugation of the Palestinians represents the worst form of dispossession known to mankind. The children of Palestine continue to be humiliated, degraded, dispossessed, murdered, treated as third class citizens in their own land. They had ceased to be a nation in the eyes of the imperial forces led by Britain, France and America, but apiece of property to be shared and divided. Yasser Arafat's life was dedicated to restoring the dignity of his people that was stolen from them on that fateful day in 1922.
As we bare our souls and cry for the immense loss we have all suffered, we must strengthen our resolve to pick up his spear and advance in the battle to liberate Palestine from tyranny and subjugation and never fall victim to the hypocrisy of the world superpowers.
The world has failed Yasser Arafat and the people of Palestine. It is a grave injustice that he passed on before he could hold in his arms a Palestinian child born to peace and freedom.
The Sharon regime must be isolated by the world and the military junta at its head be put in his place, the rubbish bin of history. Similarly, the time has run out for American mediation in the Middle East peace process. Bush has demonstrated time and again that he can never be trusted in this process. People of Palestine deserve to be free citizens of the world like the rest of us. We therefore have an obligation to ensure that they are liberated from the bondages of oppression and racism. Their struggle is our struggle.
We salute a man who has taught us the value of freedom and to him and Palestinian people, we say ALUTA CONTINUA.
Your struggle lives on!
I'm thinking that the youths at the ANCYL failed to pick up on their unintentional humour when they call Arafat the "embodiment of human sacrifice".
Of course, if a tribute is written in favour of the terrorist, it has to be created in broad generalities, evading all facts lest the truth creep in. For a factual account of Arafat, see this Honest Reporting account of his life or this tale of his destruction at CAMERA. For more on his drawn out death in France, read this Daniel Pipes review.
I like the part where they say that Israel "represents the worst form of dispossession known to mankind". I wonder if they've ever made any comment about their fellow communists China who continue to occupy Tibet, in what probably is actually the worst form of disposession known to mankind.
Posted by: Mr Smith | November 12, 2004 at 08:41
You know, these guys are far more radical than the PLO themselves. The disenchanted youth that has no more struggle to fight, they are just looking for something else to give their lives meaning. And that is what the ANC Youth League are about and that is why they have absolutely ZERO influence on the ANC.
Posted by: Jodi | November 12, 2004 at 10:48
Methinks the commies at COSATU will release something in similar vein.
Posted by: Anti-UN | November 12, 2004 at 10:54
Yasser's stolen billions
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004522351,00.html
BILLIONS of pounds stolen by warmonger Yasser Arafat in 40 years were last night being probed.
As Arafat went into his final hours it emerged that he had creamed off vast sums given to his impoverished people by governments and aid agencies.
There were suspicions he was being kept “alive” — allegedly to give estranged wife Suha time to plunder his Swiss bank accounts.
Although separated from Arafat, she received £55,000 a month and occupies a £10,000-a-night floor of the most luxurious hotel in Paris.
Most Palestinians live on less than £2 a day and exiles want to know how £7million got into her French bank accounts from private Swiss vaults.
Arafat’s stolen millions have financed a ruthless army of fanatics. The International Monetary Fund launched a probe in September after a former bank chief exposed the corruption.
The European Union wants to trace £1.1billion given to Arafat in the past ten years.
Intelligence chiefs fear EU aid rewarded families of Palestinian suicide bombers.
Scores of Arafat allies who arrived in Gaza penniless have mysteriously acquired fortunes.
Many decent Palestinians hope Arafat’s death will end 40 years of conflict with the West.
Arafat has used poverty to stir anger against the West while using income to fund rent-a-mob riots and anti-western propaganda.
An independent poll revealed 85 per cent of Palestinians believe Arafat’s regime is corrupt.
Few will mourn his death.
They hope his successor will seize what may be the last chance of a peaceful, prosperous future and call for talks with Israel about a separate homeland.
Posted by: James | November 12, 2004 at 11:01
What interested me was that this ANCYL response is itself a hijack. How do I say that? Because the ANCYL gives local the SA rhetorical style a free ride on what is essentially a foreign issue. Take another look. You'll see that the statement turns Arafat into an ANC strugglista. He's built up using classic tub-thumping strugglista language. In fact the only thing they DON'T do is actually directly compare the Israeli state and the apartheid state.
'Aluta continua' indeed.
I may be going out on a limb here, but my guess is that this response is intended to satisfy ANC adherents in South Africa rather than PLO adherents in Palestine: this would be the aim of using language familiar to its intended audience, after all...
Posted by: DA mal | November 12, 2004 at 11:21
DA Mal said
"I may be going out on a limb here, but my guess is that this response is intended to satisfy ANC adherents in South Africa rather than PLO adherents in Palestine: this would be the aim of using language familiar to its intended audience, after all..."
Absolutely brilliant statement and I couldnt agree more.
Btw, take a look at what John Howard said
http://au.news.yahoo.com/041111/21/roik.html
"Mr Howard says many people regard Yasser Arafat as a terrorist and it is hard to believe that he could not have done more to restrain militant Palestinian groups.
“I think history will judge him very harshly for not having seized the opportunity in the year 2000 to embrace the offer that was very courageously made by the then Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barack, which involved the Israelis agreeing to 90 per cent of what the Palestinians had wanted,” he said."
Howard isnt even going to the funeral.
Posted by: Jodi | November 12, 2004 at 11:40
What a pity that they have used all their emotions and their tears and their praise for Arafat. When Mandela (G-d forbid) dies, there will be nothing left to say.
Ah, the enthusiasm of youth - I wonder if they have sent a representative to the funeral. Did you know that our flags are flying at half-mast today and for the next few days? How does one garner such respect and so many accolades? Obviously being moral and reaonable are NOT the route to go - so we have to find a new path. Now let's see .......disenfranchising the masses? There's a start - and one that is familiar - after all, if you watch the outpourings of grief among the Palestinians who Arafat disenfranchised and whose poverty and dire living conditions are directly related to his policies, there must be something in that - kick a dog when it's down, kick it more and in that way earn eternal gratitude from the dying dog!
Posted by: B | November 12, 2004 at 16:15
Talk about unintetional comedy!!
Look Who speaks of bank fraud???
LMAO
Posted by: DWYD | May 19, 2005 at 04:40
Nelson Mandela until April 2008 was listed as a terrorist. When evildoers lie they brand freedom fighters as terrorists.You may get away with this evil in this world but not the next.
Posted by: David | May 29, 2008 at 20:30
great job on the videos. i really enjoyed watching them. keep up the good work...
Posted by: 3M CP45B projector | January 01, 2012 at 21:46