An ode to Nelson Mandela
12 Dec 2013 10:49 PM GMT
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the last of the giants who led South Africa’s struggle against colonialism, is no more. ‘White supremacy implies black inferiority.’ His words were truth to the powers and he devoted his life to opposing systems that protect and abet this superiority. It made him the most recognisable icon of struggle against oppression, injustice and discrimination all over the world.
Mandela, or Madiba as he was popularly known to fellow Africans, was a qualified lawyer who later became the first black president of South Africa. More than just a politician, he was a political activist. Mandela truly believed in the cause of freedom, democracy and justice. He experienced first-hand how apartheid had stripped black South Africans of their dignity and was holding them back, and took up the cause for equal political rights for blacks.
In 1944, Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC) and participated in the resistance against the apartheid policies of the white South African government. He wanted to change the situation in South Africa where whites were rich and the blacks poor, and the laws which allowed this to happen. He wanted nothing less than banishing the ‘apartheid’ system of governance which allowed one group to establish supremacy and dominate the other. In his initial years, Mandela called for calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had subjugated the blacks after centuries of tyranny, exploitation, and oppression by the whites. But when every lawful way of protesting against injustice and discrimination was taken away from the blacks, and violence and intimidation was unleashed on them, he learnt the hard way that it is the oppressor who sets the nature of the struggle. The oppressed is often left with no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of his oppressor. After a point, one can only fight fire with fire.
In 1961, Mandela formed the military wing of the ANC, the Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) which was involved in targeting and sabotaging government facilities, destruction of power plants, and interfering with rail and telephone communications. The motive was to scare away foreign capital and cut the external economic and trade links which were propping up the apartheid regime. Mandela and his colleagues were soon arrested and put on trial.
During his open trial, popularly known as the Rivonia Trial or the trial that changed South Africa, Mandela spoke from the docks about economic and political injustices faced by blacks in South Africa in their everyday lives. He talked about how Africans wanted to live normal lives, be paid living wages and perform work which they were capable of doing and not what they had been told to do. How poverty and the breakdown of family life had secondary effects; children wandered the streets of townships because they had no schools to go to, or no money to go to school, or no parents at home to see that they go to school, because the parents had to work to keep the family alive. This lead to a breakdown in moral standards, to an alarming rise in illegitimacy, and to growing violence which erupted not only politically, but everywhere. He wanted blacks to have a just share in the whole of South Africa, a stake in society. The Rivonia Trial was watched by the whole world. But the words of Mandela had no effect in the courts run by an apartheid government. While the Afro-Asian nations strongly condemned the ongoing trial, the Western states turned their backs. Britain, US and France also abstained from the UN Security Council resolution passed two days before the verdict in the Rivonia Trial urging the apartheid government to grant amnesty to all political prisoners convicted or being tried for their opposition to apartheid. This emboldened the white South Africa, as it faced no serious challenge to it apartheid policies from Western states.
On 12 June 1964, Mandela was sentenced to 27 years in prison at Robben Island and reduced to prisoner number 46664. He accepted it with dignity. He knew that overthrowing apartheid called for struggle and sacrifice, and was prepared for the long walk to freedom.
Ten thousand days in prison failed to break Mandela. Jail honed Nelson. It made him and the country. Jail could not capture him, no more than release from jail could not set him free, for he was always free. He knew that his dream of South Africa as a rainbow nation free from injustice and domination would eventually be realised, and no oppressor could suppress this dream. He refused to compromise on his beliefs or leave the struggle halfway. In February 1985, President P W Botha offered Mandela his freedom on the condition that he reject violence as a political weapon, but Mandela rejected the proposal. His response was a rebuke to the apartheid regime and its supporters. ‘What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.’ It is a cause for celebration and inspiration that a man of such conviction and principles lived among us. Till his death, he remained an African true to the soil. ‘I have done whatever I did, both as an individual and as a leader of my people, because of my experience in South Africa and my own proudly felt African background, and not because of what any outsider might have said.’
By arrangement with Governance Now
Mandela, or Madiba as he was popularly known to fellow Africans, was a qualified lawyer who later became the first black president of South Africa. More than just a politician, he was a political activist. Mandela truly believed in the cause of freedom, democracy and justice. He experienced first-hand how apartheid had stripped black South Africans of their dignity and was holding them back, and took up the cause for equal political rights for blacks.
In 1944, Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC) and participated in the resistance against the apartheid policies of the white South African government. He wanted to change the situation in South Africa where whites were rich and the blacks poor, and the laws which allowed this to happen. He wanted nothing less than banishing the ‘apartheid’ system of governance which allowed one group to establish supremacy and dominate the other. In his initial years, Mandela called for calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had subjugated the blacks after centuries of tyranny, exploitation, and oppression by the whites. But when every lawful way of protesting against injustice and discrimination was taken away from the blacks, and violence and intimidation was unleashed on them, he learnt the hard way that it is the oppressor who sets the nature of the struggle. The oppressed is often left with no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of his oppressor. After a point, one can only fight fire with fire.
In 1961, Mandela formed the military wing of the ANC, the Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) which was involved in targeting and sabotaging government facilities, destruction of power plants, and interfering with rail and telephone communications. The motive was to scare away foreign capital and cut the external economic and trade links which were propping up the apartheid regime. Mandela and his colleagues were soon arrested and put on trial.
During his open trial, popularly known as the Rivonia Trial or the trial that changed South Africa, Mandela spoke from the docks about economic and political injustices faced by blacks in South Africa in their everyday lives. He talked about how Africans wanted to live normal lives, be paid living wages and perform work which they were capable of doing and not what they had been told to do. How poverty and the breakdown of family life had secondary effects; children wandered the streets of townships because they had no schools to go to, or no money to go to school, or no parents at home to see that they go to school, because the parents had to work to keep the family alive. This lead to a breakdown in moral standards, to an alarming rise in illegitimacy, and to growing violence which erupted not only politically, but everywhere. He wanted blacks to have a just share in the whole of South Africa, a stake in society. The Rivonia Trial was watched by the whole world. But the words of Mandela had no effect in the courts run by an apartheid government. While the Afro-Asian nations strongly condemned the ongoing trial, the Western states turned their backs. Britain, US and France also abstained from the UN Security Council resolution passed two days before the verdict in the Rivonia Trial urging the apartheid government to grant amnesty to all political prisoners convicted or being tried for their opposition to apartheid. This emboldened the white South Africa, as it faced no serious challenge to it apartheid policies from Western states.
On 12 June 1964, Mandela was sentenced to 27 years in prison at Robben Island and reduced to prisoner number 46664. He accepted it with dignity. He knew that overthrowing apartheid called for struggle and sacrifice, and was prepared for the long walk to freedom.
Ten thousand days in prison failed to break Mandela. Jail honed Nelson. It made him and the country. Jail could not capture him, no more than release from jail could not set him free, for he was always free. He knew that his dream of South Africa as a rainbow nation free from injustice and domination would eventually be realised, and no oppressor could suppress this dream. He refused to compromise on his beliefs or leave the struggle halfway. In February 1985, President P W Botha offered Mandela his freedom on the condition that he reject violence as a political weapon, but Mandela rejected the proposal. His response was a rebuke to the apartheid regime and its supporters. ‘What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.’ It is a cause for celebration and inspiration that a man of such conviction and principles lived among us. Till his death, he remained an African true to the soil. ‘I have done whatever I did, both as an individual and as a leader of my people, because of my experience in South Africa and my own proudly felt African background, and not because of what any outsider might have said.’
By arrangement with Governance Now
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