Difference between revisions of "Nelson Mandela"

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[[Image:Mandela2.jpg|right|thumb]]
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{{Officeholder
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|name=Nelson Mandela
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|image=Mandela2.jpg
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|party=[[African National Congress]]<br/>
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|spouse=Evelyn Ntoko Mase (1944–1957)<br/>Winnie Madikizela (1958–1996)<br/>Graça Machel (1998-)
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|religion=[[Methodism]]
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|offices=
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{{Officeholder/president
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|country=South Africa
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|number=
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|terms=10 May 1994 – 14 June 1999
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|vp=[[Thabo Mbeki]]<br/>[[F. W. de Klerk]]
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|preceded=F. W. de Klerk
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|former=y
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|succeeded=[[Thabo Mbeki]]
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}}
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}}
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'''Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela''' (July 18, 1918 - December 5th, 2013) was a [[South Africa]]n anti-apartheid leader, politician and [[philanthropist]] who served as President of South Africa from 1994-1999. For his life Mandela received  more than 250 honors, including the 1993 [[Nobel Peace Prize]], the US [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] (from [[George W. Bush]]), the Soviet Order of Lenin and the Bharat Ratna.
  
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'''Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela''' (July 18, 1918 to December 5th, 2013) was a [[South Africa]]n leader, who fought hard against [[apartheid]] until he was imprisoned in 1964.  He was released in 1990 and went on to become South Africa's first president to be elected by a multi-racial electorate in 1994. Unlike [[Martin Luther King]] Mandela used violence.<ref>http://www.ju-kreis-soest.de/weblinks.php?JUKVSOSESSION06=a3a08d9ae4498e03033370bf162d8dc2</ref>
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==Early life==
 +
Mandela was born Rolihlahla Mandela on July 18, 1918, in Mvezo, to Nonqaphi Nosekeni and Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa,<ref name="AllAfrica"/> a chief of the Thembu people, a subdivision of the Xhosa nation.<ref name="NYT obituary">{{cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/06/world/africa/nelson-mandela_obit.html?pagewanted=1&ref=international-home|work=The New York Times|author=Keller, Bill|date=December 5, 2013|accessdate=12-10-2013|title=Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s Liberator as Prisoner and President, Dies at 95|format=HTML|language=English}}</ref> When his father died at nine Nelson was taken in as a ward to Jongintaba Dalindyebo.<ref name="official biography">{{cite web|work=Nelson Mandela Foundation|title=Biography|format=HTML|language=English|accessdate=12-10-2013|url=http://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/biography}}</ref>
  
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== Early Life and Political Socialization ==
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===Education===
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Mandela was sent to a [[Methodist]]<ref name="independent biography">{{cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/nelson-mandela-life-story-a-long-walk-to-immortality--the-life-and-times-of-madiba-8406457.html|work=The Independent|language=English|country=UK|format=HTML|title=Nelson Mandela biography: A long walk to immortality - the life and times of Madiba|author=Sampson, Anthony}}</ref> mission school for his primary education,<ref name="AllAfrica">{{cite web|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201312091064.html|work=AllAfrica|title=South Africa: Biography of Nelson Mandela|date=12-06-2013|accessdate=12-10-2013|format=HTML|language=English}}</ref> followed by time at Clarkebury Boarding Institute and Healdtown.<ref name="official biography"/> He began studying for a [[bachelor's degree]] at University College of Fort Hare, the only residential college for [[blacks]] in South Africa,<ref name="NYT obituary"/> but, along with Oliver Tambo,<ref name="AllAfrica"/> was expelled for joining a student [[protest]].<ref name="official biography"/> Upon returning to his village, as retribution,<ref name="official biography"/>, Mandela's family selected a bride for him and his cousin, Justice; the two fled the family - and the prospect of leadership in [[tribal]] government - for [[Johannesburg, South Africa]].<ref name="AllAfrica"/><ref name="NYT obituary"/> There he worked in gold mines as a guard, but was fired when his superior discovered he was a runaway.<ref name="AllAfrica"/><ref name="NYT obituary"/> Mandela would complete his bachelor's degree at the University of South Africa in 1943 and return to Fort Hare for his graduation.<ref name="official biography"/>
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Almost immediately, we see Mandela plunged into political life, as his father was the ‘right hand man’ to the Acting Paramount Chief of Thembuland (ANC archive). Although the reasons for his political socialization are evident and obvious, one ought to consider the ramifications of his environment; for instance, it can be argued that the class system in South Africa was in conflict with his ideals:  “Ideologies and ideologists arise in class-divided societies…” (Ball and Dagger)  If this is true, then it is vital to speak of Mandela and apartheid as two sides of the same coin.
 
  
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Mandela’s primary education began in a local mission school, and his secondary education was completed in a Wesleyan institute in Healdtown. Around this time, he began to see cases in the Chief’s courts, many involving apartheid issues, and this primed him to want to become a lawyer instead of taking his father’s place in Thembuland politics (ANC archive).
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==Pre-imprisonment career==
 +
===Work experience, early political activism===
 +
In Johannesburg, Mandela was introduced to Walter Sisulu, a [[real estate]] businessman and a prominent member of the [[African National Congress]] (ANC); <ref name="NYT obituary"/><ref name="AllAfrica"/> Sisulu arranged for Mandela to be articled to a white attorney, Lazar Sidelsky, while Mandela studied [[law]] part time at University of the Witwatersrand - though he would leave the school in 1948.<ref name="independent biography"/><ref name="official biography"/> Mandela began to follow Anton Lembede; he, along with Mandela, Tambo and Sisulu organized the radical A.N.C. Youth League, alienating some white sympathizers with their strong black national rhetoric.<ref name="NYT obituary"/><ref name="independent biography"/><ref name="AllAfrica"/> The Youth League was also critical of the "old guard" leadership of the ANC.<ref name="AllAfrica"/>
 +
{{QuoteBox2|quote=“I was angry at the white man, not at racism ... While I was not prepared to hurl the white man into the sea, I would have been perfectly happy if he climbed aboard his steamships and left the continent of his own volition.”|source=Nelson Mandela<ref name="NYT obituary"/>|align=left|width=300px}}
 +
At this time Mandela fell strongly onto the side of Africanism is the liberation debate between Africanism and nonracialism
 +
in liberation theology, though his eventual embrace of nonracialism would define his life and career.<ref name="NYT obituary"/> The ANC Youth League was also fiercely anti-[[communist]]; Mandela would break up Communist Party meetings - regarding Communism as foreign and non-Afircan and believing that blacks should liberate themselves.<ref name="independent biography"/><ref name="NYT obituary"/> This philosophy changed with the victory of the [[Afrikan]]er National Party in 1948 in the all-white elections; the National Party had run on a platform of [[apartheid]].<ref name="independent biography"/> This spurred the radicalization of the ANC - the party adopted the ANCYL - in 1949 the Youth League's tactics of boycott, strike, civil disobedience and non-co-operation as official policy, and older members were purged from leadership positions.<ref name="AllAfrica"/> Mandela would assume leadership positions within the party - including President of the Youth League and National Volunteer-in-Chief of the ANC.<ref name="AllAfrica"/>
  
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Mandela’s earliest political experience came while enrolled at the University College of Fort Hare, where he was working to obtain a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. While at the college, he was elected to a student political organization known as the Student’s Representative Council.  Soon after, Mandela was expelled for participating in a protest on campus (ANC archive). Because of this, Mandela attended Johannesburg where he finally obtained his BA.  Soon after, he joined the [[African National Congress]] in 1942, during the height of [[World War II]].
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In 1952 the ANC launched its first passive resistance - the Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws.<ref name="AllAfrica"/><ref name="independent biography"/> The Defiance Campaign with suppressed with legislation lead by the National Party; protests were met with arrests - including that of Mandela's in 1956 on charges of [[treason]] (one of 156 ANC leaders to be arrested that year).<ref name="independent biography"/> The court found that Mandela had consistently advised his adherers to not resort to violence, but he was found guilty of contravening the Suppression of Communism Act and given a suspended prison sentence.<ref name="AllAfrica"/> Mandela was also confined to Johannesburg for six months and prohibited from attending gatherings; during this time Mandela, despite not completing his law degree, and Tambo set up the first black law partnership in South Africa;<ref name="NYT obituary"/> the firm helped black clients with their political and other legal difficulties.<ref name="independent biography"/>
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Nelson Mandela’s personal fixation with freedom brought him to work with many other members of the African National Congress to form a group under the leadership of a colleague, Anton Lembede (ANC archive). The group’s main focus was to change the African National Congress into a mass movement, including all people from urban communities to those in the countryside.
 
  
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Mandela was instrumental in many political endeavors, many of which were anti-apartheid movements such as the Programme of Action, a policy-based initiative which was founded on the principle of using the non-violent weapons of “boycott, strike, civil disobedience and non-co-operation” (ANC archive). This eventually became the modus operandi of the African National Congress.
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In 1953 Mandela created the M-plan (named after him) - a contingency plan in case the ANC - like the Communist Party - was declared illegal. The M-plan detailed how the party could run underground, communicating with members without resorting to public meetings.<ref name="AllAfrica"/> Throughout the fifties Mandela would be consistently banned, arrested and imprisoned.<ref name="AllAfrica"/> In 1960 - the more radical Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) broke away from the ANC; their tactics- though still peaceful - were more aggressive and were met with violence.<ref name="independent biography"/><ref name="AllAfrica"/> On March 21, 1961 police killed 69 peaceful protestors in what became known as the Sharpeville Massacre; after this massacre both parties were banned.<ref name="NYT obituary"/><ref name="AllAfrica"/><ref name="independent biography"/>
  
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And yet, some of our greatest leaders and role models have to resort to evil in order to do good. Mandela, being no exception to this, was the leader of an armed resistance group known as Umkhonto we Sizwe, formed in 1962.  Mandela explains his reasoning:
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===Militarist leader===
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The massacre sparked a turning point for Mandela - he became convinced that the ANC needed to adopt a separate military wing, called Umkhonto we Sizwe, or Spear of the Nation; Mandela was made commander-in-chief.<ref name="NYT obituary"/><ref name="independent biography"/> There is also evidence that Mandela briefly joined the South African Communist Party (though he denied it through his life) - presumably for contacts.<ref name="NYT obituary"/> The new violence goals of the ANC were to destroy power plants and communications systems; the goal was that these acts would limit overseas investment. Mandela left the country soon after the Spear of the Nation began its tactics hoping to generate worldwide support and economic sanctions so that Pretoria might abandon apartheid.<ref name="independent biography"/> In 1962 Mandela was arrested after 17 months in hiding, charged with incitement to strike and illegally leaving the country.<ref name="independent biography"/> Mandela was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.<ref name="AllAfrica"/><ref name="independent biography"/>
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:“At the beginning of June 1961, after long and anxious assessment of the South African situation, I and some colleagues came to the conclusion that as long violence in this country was inevitable, it would be wrong and unrealistic for African leaders to continue preaching peace and non-violence at a time when the government met our peaceful demands with force.” –Nelson Mandela (ANC archive)
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{{QuoteBox2|quote=“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realized. But my lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”|source=Nelson Mandela<ref name="NYT obituary"/>|align=right|width=300px}}
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While serving, the South African police raided a farm near Rivonia - finding future plans of sabotage; Mandela and his colleagues were charged with organising sabotage and violent revolution, and furthering the aims of communism; at his trial - Mandela declared in a four hour speech his ideal of democracy - concluding, "It is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."<ref name="independent biography"/> Mandela acknowledged his crimes - that he was the commander of Spear of the Nation and that he had made alliances with Communists, but declared that he had turned to violence only when nonviolent means were foreclosed and likened his affiliation with Communists to Churchill’s cooperation with Stalin against Hitler.<ref name="NYT obituary"/> Nelson also commented on his political evolution from black nationalist to multiracialist.<ref name="NYT obituary"/> He and his colleagues were sentenced to life in prison.  
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It was this notion, along with strong governmental apartheid sentiment that would eventually land Nelson R. Mandela in prison.
 
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== Mandela in Prison ==
 
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Nelson Mandela, like many political activists, eventually found himself imprisoned. He was sent to the notorious Robben Island Prison where he would eventually serve twenty seven years (Battersby). He was one of the many victims of the Treason Trial.  After the trial, the African National Congress was banned, and the already convicted Mandela was sentenced to prison.
 
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In the 1970s and '80s, the [[ANC]] was officially designated a [[terrorist group]] by the South Afrian ruling [[white minority]]. Other countries, including the United States, followed suit. To the embarrassment of the US Secretary of State, Manedla was officially on the US terror watch list as late as 2008.<ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-04-30-watchlist_N.htm U.S. has Mandela on terrorist list], 30 April 2008, accessed 24 February 2012</ref>
 
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Mandela was in prison for twenty seven years, during which he endured a radical transformation.  Mandela, by self-admittance, had a temper problem prior to being incarcerated.  During prison, however, he had to learn to control his anger.  “One was angry,” says Mandela, “at what was happening [in apartheid South Africa]- the humiliation, the loss of our human dignity.  We tended to react in accordance with anger and our emotion rather than sitting down and thinking about things properly” (Battersby).
 
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Mandela claimed it was the solitude in the prison cell that allowed one to think to oneself, allowing the nerves to become calm.  In addition, many of Mandela’s prison mates were well-educated, well-travelled individuals.  “When they told you of their experiences,” Mandela says, “you felt humbled” (Battersby). Mandela, while in prison, was also instrumental in the transformation of Robben Island from a ‘criminal’ prison to a ‘student’ prison.
 
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Mandela had chances to prove his political worth while in prison, as well. During the seventies, Mandela was offered remission of his sentence if he recognized the apartheid racially segregated region of Transkei.  He refused. Later, during the eighties, Mandela was given a second opportunity at remission, only this time he was asked to renounce the violence that some of his groups partook in. He, again, refused (ANC archive).
 
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Indeed, during his prison time, Mandela proved to be a prime example of a strong believer in principle, while at the same time erupting as a shining light to others suffering alongside him.
 
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==Mandela is Released==
 
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Mandela, stepping out of his prison cell, faced a newly changed South Africa through the eyes of a newly changed man. Shortly after being released, Mandela and his colleagues agreed on the suspension of the armed struggle (Umkhonto we Sizwe). He was officially released from prison in 1990, and was eventually elected President of the African National Congress in 1991 (ANC archive).  Later, in 1994, he was elected President of the State of [[South Africa]] in the first truly democratic elections in the nation's history.
 
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Before retiring from public life in June of 1999, he had received over fifty honorary degrees at prestigious universities all over the world, and was chancellor of the University of the North (ANC archive).
 
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Elsewhere in the world, Mandela has made several attempts to make peace, even with nations outside his personal safety realm. For instance, in October of 1999, Mandela met with leaders from Iran, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Gaza, and the United States.  Although Mandela found these numerous meetings to be pleasant, he did mention that the [[Israeli]] prime minister, [[Ehud Barak]], rejected Mandela’s intervention into the conflict (Battersby).
 
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Mandela went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in a respect, as a representative of those who stand for peace and combat racism. Mandela, in the wake of this, regards his winning of the Peace Prize as a tribute to the people of Norway who stood against apartheid for so many years while so many more remained silent (ANC archive).
 
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Certainly, Nelson Mandela’s political career after prison is one which many could be both envious of, while at the same time stand in awe at such greatness.
 
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==Mandela and President Bush==
 
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In a September, 2007 speech defending the Iraq war, [[George W. Bush]] blamed Mandela's death on [[Saddam Hussein]].  Mandela was, in fact, still alive.<ref>[http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070921/wl_nm/safrica_mandela_bush_dc Mandela still alive after embarrassing Bush remark ]</ref>
 
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The [[United States]] took Mandela off the [[terrorist]] watch-list in 2008, days before his 90th birthday.
 
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==Closing Thoughts==
 
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Nelson R. Mandela, in the wake of political turmoil, was one man who was both willing and able to stand up and fight back.  Indeed, we can see how the man developed his legacy through his activist years, his years in prison, and his much more elaborate life afterwards.
 
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Despite Mandela's history of supporting terrorism (was on the offical US Terrorist Watch List), the South African Broadcasting Corporation poll for the Greatest South Africans, had Mandela ranked number one greatest South African of all time.<ref>[http://www.biz-community.com/Article.aspx?ai=4673&c=11]</ref>
 
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== Health ==
 
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Mandela suffers from a lung infection. From December 2012 to April 2013 he remained in a hospital. He had already a procedure to remove a [[gallstone]].<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/03/31/south-africa-mandela-remains-in-hospital/</ref> On April 6, 2013 he left the hospital<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/04/06/nelson-mandela-discharged-from-hospital-south-africa-says/</ref>, but returned again in June 2013.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/06/08/south-africa-mandela-taken-to-hospital/</ref> Mandela is in a critical condition.<ref>http://townhall.com/news/politics-elections/2013/06/24/south-africanelson-mandela-in-critical-condition-n1625793</ref>
 
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On July 4th, 2013, it was revealed that court documents indicate that Nelson Mandela was on life support and was being kept alive by a breathing machine and faced "impending death". He was 94 years old and has been in hospital from June 8th, 2013<ref>http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/07/04/nelson-mandela-africa-apartheid/2489137/</ref> to December 5th, 2013 when he died.
 
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==Mandela and American Conservatives==
 
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Responding to critiques of Mandela's embrace of violence as a way to bring down the racist apartheid regime and his alliance with communists, conservative thinker [[Newt Gingrich]] said:
 
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{{cquote|Mandela was faced with a vicious apartheid regime that eliminated all rights for blacks and gave them no hope for the future. This was a regime which used secret police, prisons and military force to crush all efforts at seeking freedom by blacks.
 
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What would you have done faced with that crushing government?
 
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What would you do here in America if you had that kind of oppression?
 
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Some of the people who are most opposed to oppression from Washington attack Mandela when he was opposed to oppression in his own country.
 
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After years of preaching non-violence, using the political system, making his case as a defendant in court, Mandela resorted to violence against a government that was ruthless and violent in its suppression of free speech.
 
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As Americans we celebrate the farmers at Lexington and Concord who used force to oppose British tyranny. We praise George Washington for spending eight years in the field fighting the British Army’s dictatorial assault on our freedom.
 
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Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death.”
 
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Thomas Jefferson wrote and the Continental Congress adopted that “all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
 
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Doesn’t this apply to Nelson Mandela and his people?
 
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Some conservatives say, ah, but he was a communist.
 
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Actually Mandela was raised in a Methodist school, was a devout Christian, turned to communism in desperation only after South Africa was taken over by an extraordinarily racist government determined to eliminate all rights for blacks.
 
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I would ask of his critics: where were some of these conservatives as allies against tyranny? Where were the masses of conservatives opposing Apartheid? In a desperate struggle against an overpowering government, you accept the allies you have just as Washington was grateful for a French monarchy helping him defeat the British.}}<ref>[https://www.gingrichproductions.com/2013/12/what-would-you-have-done-nelson-mandela-and-american-conservatives/ Newt Gingrich, "What Would You Have Done? Nelson Mandela and American Conservatives." December 6, 2013]</ref>
 
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==Mandela and Cuba==
 
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Mandela was a supporter of [[Fidel Castro]]. Here are some of his quotes:
 
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{{Cquote|[[Che Guevara]] is an inspiration for every human being who loves freedom.}}
 
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{{Cquote|The cause of Communism is the greatest cause in the history of mankind!}}
 
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{{Cquote|There’s one place where (Fidel Castro’s) Cuba stands out head and shoulders above the rest – that is in its love for human rights and liberty!}}<ref>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/humberto-fontova/caveat-on-nelson-mandela/</ref>
 
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== Notes ==
 
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Ball, Terence, and Richard Dagger. Ideals and Ideologies. Fifth ed. Pearson Education,
 
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2004.
 
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Battersby, John. "Mandela." Christian Science Monitor (2000)
 
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"Birth of Freedom." Ed. Jon E. Lewis. New York: Gramercy Books.
 
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Denenberg, Barry. No Easy Walk to Freedom. Ca-Print Harcourt Heinamann.
 
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"Profile of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela." African National Congress Archive
 
  
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandela, Nelson}}
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandela, Nelson}}
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==References==
 
==References==
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*Apartheid:A History by Brian Lapping (detailed Mandela's conviction for terrorism at the Rivonia trial)
 
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*[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEFDB1631F932A1575BC0A96E948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all] "Mandela's 1985 refusal to renounce public violence"
 
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*[http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/07/04/nelson-mandela-africa-apartheid/2489137/] "Nelson Mandela on life support, court documents show"
 
 
<references/>
 
<references/>

Revision as of 18:05, December 10, 2013

Nelson Mandela
Mandela2.jpg
Former President of South Africa
From: 10 May 1994 – 14 June 1999
Vice President Thabo Mbeki
F. W. de Klerk
Predecessor F. W. de Klerk
Successor Thabo Mbeki
Information
Party African National Congress

Spouse(s) Evelyn Ntoko Mase (1944–1957)
Winnie Madikizela (1958–1996)
Graça Machel (1998-)
Religion Methodism

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (July 18, 1918 - December 5th, 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid leader, politician and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994-1999. For his life Mandela received more than 250 honors, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom (from George W. Bush), the Soviet Order of Lenin and the Bharat Ratna.

Early life

Mandela was born Rolihlahla Mandela on July 18, 1918, in Mvezo, to Nonqaphi Nosekeni and Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa,[1] a chief of the Thembu people, a subdivision of the Xhosa nation.[2] When his father died at nine Nelson was taken in as a ward to Jongintaba Dalindyebo.[3]

Education

Mandela was sent to a Methodist[4] mission school for his primary education,[1] followed by time at Clarkebury Boarding Institute and Healdtown.[3] He began studying for a bachelor's degree at University College of Fort Hare, the only residential college for blacks in South Africa,[2] but, along with Oliver Tambo,[1] was expelled for joining a student protest.[3] Upon returning to his village, as retribution,[3], Mandela's family selected a bride for him and his cousin, Justice; the two fled the family - and the prospect of leadership in tribal government - for Johannesburg, South Africa.[1][2] There he worked in gold mines as a guard, but was fired when his superior discovered he was a runaway.[1][2] Mandela would complete his bachelor's degree at the University of South Africa in 1943 and return to Fort Hare for his graduation.[3]

Pre-imprisonment career

Work experience, early political activism

In Johannesburg, Mandela was introduced to Walter Sisulu, a real estate businessman and a prominent member of the African National Congress (ANC); [2][1] Sisulu arranged for Mandela to be articled to a white attorney, Lazar Sidelsky, while Mandela studied law part time at University of the Witwatersrand - though he would leave the school in 1948.[4][3] Mandela began to follow Anton Lembede; he, along with Mandela, Tambo and Sisulu organized the radical A.N.C. Youth League, alienating some white sympathizers with their strong black national rhetoric.[2][4][1] The Youth League was also critical of the "old guard" leadership of the ANC.[1]

“I was angry at the white man, not at racism ... While I was not prepared to hurl the white man into the sea, I would have been perfectly happy if he climbed aboard his steamships and left the continent of his own volition.”
— Nelson Mandela[2]

At this time Mandela fell strongly onto the side of Africanism is the liberation debate between Africanism and nonracialism in liberation theology, though his eventual embrace of nonracialism would define his life and career.[2] The ANC Youth League was also fiercely anti-communist; Mandela would break up Communist Party meetings - regarding Communism as foreign and non-Afircan and believing that blacks should liberate themselves.[4][2] This philosophy changed with the victory of the Afrikaner National Party in 1948 in the all-white elections; the National Party had run on a platform of apartheid.[4] This spurred the radicalization of the ANC - the party adopted the ANCYL - in 1949 the Youth League's tactics of boycott, strike, civil disobedience and non-co-operation as official policy, and older members were purged from leadership positions.[1] Mandela would assume leadership positions within the party - including President of the Youth League and National Volunteer-in-Chief of the ANC.[1]

In 1952 the ANC launched its first passive resistance - the Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws.[1][4] The Defiance Campaign with suppressed with legislation lead by the National Party; protests were met with arrests - including that of Mandela's in 1956 on charges of treason (one of 156 ANC leaders to be arrested that year).[4] The court found that Mandela had consistently advised his adherers to not resort to violence, but he was found guilty of contravening the Suppression of Communism Act and given a suspended prison sentence.[1] Mandela was also confined to Johannesburg for six months and prohibited from attending gatherings; during this time Mandela, despite not completing his law degree, and Tambo set up the first black law partnership in South Africa;[2] the firm helped black clients with their political and other legal difficulties.[4]

In 1953 Mandela created the M-plan (named after him) - a contingency plan in case the ANC - like the Communist Party - was declared illegal. The M-plan detailed how the party could run underground, communicating with members without resorting to public meetings.[1] Throughout the fifties Mandela would be consistently banned, arrested and imprisoned.[1] In 1960 - the more radical Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) broke away from the ANC; their tactics- though still peaceful - were more aggressive and were met with violence.[4][1] On March 21, 1961 police killed 69 peaceful protestors in what became known as the Sharpeville Massacre; after this massacre both parties were banned.[2][1][4]

Militarist leader

The massacre sparked a turning point for Mandela - he became convinced that the ANC needed to adopt a separate military wing, called Umkhonto we Sizwe, or Spear of the Nation; Mandela was made commander-in-chief.[2][4] There is also evidence that Mandela briefly joined the South African Communist Party (though he denied it through his life) - presumably for contacts.[2] The new violence goals of the ANC were to destroy power plants and communications systems; the goal was that these acts would limit overseas investment. Mandela left the country soon after the Spear of the Nation began its tactics hoping to generate worldwide support and economic sanctions so that Pretoria might abandon apartheid.[4] In 1962 Mandela was arrested after 17 months in hiding, charged with incitement to strike and illegally leaving the country.[4] Mandela was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.[1][4]

“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realized. But my lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
— Nelson Mandela[2]

While serving, the South African police raided a farm near Rivonia - finding future plans of sabotage; Mandela and his colleagues were charged with organising sabotage and violent revolution, and furthering the aims of communism; at his trial - Mandela declared in a four hour speech his ideal of democracy - concluding, "It is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."[4] Mandela acknowledged his crimes - that he was the commander of Spear of the Nation and that he had made alliances with Communists, but declared that he had turned to violence only when nonviolent means were foreclosed and likened his affiliation with Communists to Churchill’s cooperation with Stalin against Hitler.[2] Nelson also commented on his political evolution from black nationalist to multiracialist.[2] He and his colleagues were sentenced to life in prison.

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 South Africa: Biography of Nelson Mandela (English) (HTML). AllAfrica (12-06-2013). Retrieved on 12-10-2013.
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 Keller, Bill (December 5, 2013). Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s Liberator as Prisoner and President, Dies at 95 (English) (HTML). The New York Times. Retrieved on 12-10-2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Biography (English) (HTML). Nelson Mandela Foundation. Retrieved on 12-10-2013.
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 Sampson, Anthony. Nelson Mandela biography: A long walk to immortality - the life and times of Madiba (English) (HTML). The Independent.
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