What are some points I could use to argue that Nelson Mandela is/isn’t a freedom fighter?
I already have a few but I’ll probably need a few more. I have an exam on Nelson Mandela (and Jack the Ripper) on Monday and I need some help writing a practise essay on the question:
"Was Nelson Mandela a freedom fighter or criminal? Discuss."
Thank you so much! 
Thanks everyone who’s helped so far, but I can’t look at videos unless they’re on Youtube. Is there a version of that video you sent me the link to on Youtube? Thanks.
So a criminal is a person that has committed a crime, right? This is a logical assumption that cannot be challenged. But do we know what a crime is?
1. Is there a logical assumption that can clarify this question? This would mean something like "crimes are things that criminals do" but for this to be true a criminal should be an ontological entity regardless of time and space.
2. Do we have an intuitive way of knowing what a crime is? Perhaps, since there are some human deeds that we intuitively consider wrong because of the harm they do to others like murder. Human rights are supposed to hold all those actions that seem to hinder the notion of human behavior. But you also commit a crime if you don’t pay taxes or alimony. So…
3. Are some crimes non intuitive?
There are some actions committed by humans as citizens that are considered criminal not because they harm humanity but because they harm the State. So the State defines certain actions as criminal even when they could hinder notions that humans strive for, like liberty and the pursuit of happiness. So that is why "when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government".
It follows that Mandela would have been a criminal under the laws of a fair State but not under a despotic State since such a State had no underlying right to impose its abusive laws.
So Mandela was a freedom fighter.
it’s your point of view that affects this question, for example the U.S. has Mandela on a terrorist watch list due to his actions trying to end Apartheid, so that would be criminal since he did do acts of collateral damage i.e. arson. However, in my opinion, he was more of a freedom fighter since he did this to end apartheid and used violence to end a terrible thing. kind of like fighting fire with fire
.Sorry no logical argument or critique could portray Nelson Mandela as a terrorist.He was imprisoned by the white minority apartheid govt,for 27 consecutive years.
Nelson Mandela is probably the most revered person on the planet.By all religions,nations and cultures.He is a giant on the world stage.
Only a devout racist could argue differently
hey gab gab.. im scared about the exam tomorrow tooo
oooooooo freaky
mandela is a freemason u stupid ppl
mandela is a robot