Nelson Mandela on U.S. Terrorist Watch List

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mandela.jpg A sign that perhaps things have gotten out of control.

Nobel Peace Prize winner and international symbol of freedom Nelson Mandela is flagged on U.S. terrorist watch lists and needs special permission to visit the USA. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls the situation “embarrassing,” and some members of Congress vow to fix it.

The requirement applies to former South African leader Mandela and other members of South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC), the once-banned anti-Apartheid organization. In the 1970s and ’80s, the ANC was officially designated a terrorist group by the country’s ruling white minority. Other countries, including the United States, followed suit.

The terrorist watch list has been, at times, a comedy of errors. Ted Kennedy was on it, as was civil rights hero and Georgia congressman John Lewis. A Marine returning from Iraq found his homecoming delayed because he was on the watch list. Babies have routinely had problems. The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, is famously on the watch list, and Catherine (“Cat”) Stevens, wife of Senator Ted Stevens, has had trouble when flying as a result. 60 Minutes once did a segment that featured a group interview with 12 Robert Johnsons, all of whom routinely had trouble boarding airplanes.

The DOJ reported in April 2007 that the terrorist watch list includes 700,000 names, and is growing by 20,000 a month. The ACLU is hosting a countdown to July, when it anticipates the one-millionth name will be added. “Small, focused watch lists,” it points out, “are better for civil liberties and for security.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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