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'Don't idolise Mandela'
13/07/2005 15:53 - (SA)
Pretoria - Former president Nelson Mandela should not be idolised and put on a pedestal but rather be viewed as an unsettling challenge, an American academic said on Wednesday.
Cornel West was speaking at a first of a series of lectures themed, The Meaning of Mandela, hosted by The Human Sciences Research Council in Pretoria.
West is a published author and has held positions at Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the University of Paris.
"Let's not view Mandela as an icon standing on a pedestal in a museum. He should be viewed as an unsettling political, intellectual and social challenge for us to cut against the grain," said West.
He said secular and religious leaders had to recognise all forms of idolatry was suspect.
Mandela came from a Socratic tradition of questioning and criticism, which was something no democracy could survive without.
"No democracy can survive outside of a culture of criticism, questioning and accountability, not trashing, but genuine criticism," he said.
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