[vixen99]

"Mandela was leader of the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe which he co-founded. "he coordinated a sabotage campaign against military and government targets, and made plans for a possible guerrilla war if sabotage failed to end apartheid". If that's not terrorism (systematic use of violence as a means of coercion for political purposes) what is? The morality of this is another discussion.

[wnoise]

> terrorism (systematic use of violence as a means of coercion for political purposes)

All warfare seems to fit under this definition. Commonly explicitly added qualifiers are "against civilians" or "by non-state actors". Another implicit one is "by people the speaker doesn't like".

[lmm]

Right, but we're talking about a non-state actor attacking civilian targets like power stations. Mandela fits any reasonable definition of terrorist.

[wnoise]

Sure, not disputing that, only the definition expressed.