MANDELA'S FIGHT AGAINST APARTHEID

Apartheid was a system of legal racial segregation¹ enforced by the National Party government of South Africa between 1948 and 1990. It continued the more informal racial hierarchy put in place by Great Britain in the late 19th century. Apartheid formally allowed the ruling white minority in South Africa to segregate and discriminate against the vast majority: black Africans mostly, but also Asians and other people of mixed races. Under apartheid laws, black South Africans were not only denied voting rights but were also forced to stay in small sections of the country. Travel was only possible with "pass books" designed to regulate the movements of black Africans in urban areas. It was during these times that Nelson Mandela rose up as a major speaker against the injustice of apartheid.

In 1944, Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC), a political party formed to increase the rights of the black South African population. At that time, the ANC worked relatively quietly for more legal inclusion. But under the Program of Action started in 1949, it began boycotts², strikes, and civil disobedience³ against apartheid. In 1952, as volunteer-in-chief for the ANC's Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws, Mandela organized the fight against apartheid discrimination. This led to a criminal conviction but also increased respect from his peers. He was then elected a deputy president of the ANC.

During this period, Mandela came to the conclusion that violence was inevitable⁴ since the government met peaceful demands with force. Thus, in 1961, he helped form Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation," abbreviated as MK). With MK, Mandela coordinated sabotage⁵ campaigns against military and government targets. Mandela also raised funds for MK abroad and arranged for paramilitary⁶ training of group members.

In 1962, Mandela traveled abroad illegally to gather support for the anti- apartheid struggle. Upon his return, he was arrested, convicted of crimes in two separate trials, and handed a life sentence. But Mandela continued to demand equality from within the confines of Robben Island Prison.

Mandela rejected an offer of release on the condition that he renounce⁷ armed struggle by stating, "What freedom am I being offered while the organization of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts."

Mandela firmly believed that the struggle for freedom was not only for the oppressed but also for the oppressors⁸. "A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred," wrote Mandela in his autobiography. “He is locked behind the bars of prejudice⁹ and narrow-mindedness¹⁰. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity."

After twenty-eight years in prison, Mandela was released in 1990. The following year, he became president of the ANC. In 1993, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to end apartheid. Finally, in 1994, Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa and remained in that office until June 1999, when he stepped down by choice after serving one term. He remained active in the philanthropic organizations he had founded and continued speaking on international issues. From 2004, Mandela largely withdrew from public life, enjoying the privacy that had been elusive during a lifetime of tireless activism. Then, in 2013, he finally succumbed to¹¹ the respiratory problems that had begun decades before in prison. When he passed away, he left a legacy on a par with that of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Pure Democracy

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in the small South African village of Qunu. His father, Henry, was chief counselor to the tribe's leader and also a sort of unofficial priest.

Mandela's father rejected the prejudice that those in his tribe, the Xhosa, held against the Mfengu tribe, who were better-educated and more “Western” than other tribes of the region. Chief Henry befriended two Mfengu brothers, George and Ben Mbekela. George, a retired schoolteacher, suggested Rolihlahla be sent to school. There he was given the English name “Nelson” in accordance with the usual custom in South African schools at the time.

When Mandela was twelve years old, his father died. The tribe's leader, Dalindyebo, became Mandela's guardian and began grooming him for leadership. Mandela attended tribal meetings where issues of concern to all village citizens were discussed and voted upon. Mandela observed how Dalindyebo would open meetings by addressing his amapakati, or “middle ones,’ who were sent to represent the interests of local clans. After explaining why the meeting had been called, Dalindyebo would give the floor to the amapakati. Then he would remain silent until each person had spoken.

Even when meetings became hostile, Dalindyebo would listen patiently until all opinions had been voiced. He would then help the group to achieve a consensus. Mandela credits his early exposure to this process, “democracy in its purest form,’ for his later principles and practices as a political activist and leader.