Former African National Congress (ANC) MP and Mandela government minister turned investigative journalist and UK political campaigner Andrew Feinstein, now based in London, knew Nelson Mandela well. And he has written to Keir Starmer and ‘justice’ secretary David Lammy to tell them that Mandela, whom they both claim as their hero, would be “shocked and outraged” by them.

Feinstein: Mandela would be ashamed

Starmer and Lammy’s contempt for law and their treatment of the eight hunger-striking political prisoners is shocking. Currently, the Labour regime has held them in prison without trial now for up to eighteen months, with many facing as much as another year in jail before trial, or even longer.

In a letter to the pair, shown exclusively to Skwawkbox and the Canary, Feinstein writes:

Sir Keir Starmer
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London

David Lammy
Deputy Prime Minister & Secretary of State for Justice
Houses of Parliament
Westminster
London

On Nelson Mandela and Hunger Strikes

Dear Sirs

You both identify Nelson Mandela as your political hero. I was privileged to serve under President Mandela in South Africa’s first democratically elected Parliament. He was a person of extraordinary integrity, humanity and justice; arguably the greatest statesperson of the second half of the last century.

You will recall that on his release from 27 years in apartheid prisons he declared: “Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinian people.” He said this to acknowledge the shared roots of the South African and Palestinian struggles and the support by the Palestinian people in our struggle to end apartheid in South Africa.

I would like to draw to your attention to the fact that Mandela also played a significant role in hunger strikes during his imprisonment, particularly at Robben Island. He and other political prisoners used hunger strikes as a form of protest against their conditions, unlawful detention and to demand their release. Soon after his release in 1990, his intervention was crucial in peaceably ending a hunger strike by over 300 prisoners. These hunger strikes were crucial tools in the struggle against apartheid.

Today, eight young people in Britain are on hunger strike in solidarity with the Palestinian people and in protest against their unlawful extended remand detention, the conditions of their imprisonment and the continued illegal supply of British weapons into what the International Court of Justice – following South Africa’s submissions – rules a likely genocide.

You and I know what Nelson Mandela’s attitude to the hunger strikers would be: total and unconditional support for their actions in support of the Palestinian people and for justice. He would be shocked and outraged by their treatment and by the lack of humanity demonstrated by yourselves as the two most senior politicians with responsibility for their plight.

I beseech you: if you have any commitment whatsoever to Nelson Mandela’s life’s work, to his extraordinary legacy, to his commitment to justice, equality and humanity, act now to address the demands of the hunger strikers and to release them on bail immediately.

Their plight, their lives, are in your hands. Please demonstrate the humanity that characterised the life and legacy of your political hero.

Sincerely,

Andrew Feinstein
[Former ANC MP]

Turning in his grave

Several of the eight hunger strikers are hospitalised after more than a month of starvation, ignored by Starmer and Lammy who are too focused on attacking UK rights to protect Israel, while those who try to support the humanitarian prisoners are attacked by police.

Mandela must be turning in his grave for his name even to be in the mouth of Starmer or Lammy.

Featured image via S Walker

By Skwawkbox

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