School Radio
Together Spring 2013 Unit 2: Heroes Freedom of Race.
GEMMA Hi everyone and welcome to Together.
Imagine the situation; your mum comes into the room with a plateful of your favourite biscuits.
She gives one to your friend, one to your sister, one to your brother and takes the last one for herself. How would you feel?
I think you’d feel ‘that’s not fair!’ And you’d be right. It’s called your sense of justice. Your sense of what’s fair…what’s right. We all have it.
We’re starting a new unit today, finding out about people who’ve all fought for justice and freedom. And today we’re go- ing to find out about someone who spent many years in prison for his beliefs…but who, once freed, became the leader of his country. He’s called Nelson Mandela.
Nelson Mandela was born in South Africa in 1918.
At that time different races in South Africa were kept apart by a system called ‘apartheid’. There was no democracy – power was in the hands of the white minority and black people did not have the same rights as white people…
Nelson Mandela chose to fight against that injustice. He joined a political movement called The African National Congress – or ANC – but the government banned the ANC and in 1964 Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Years went by but gradually pressure mounted on the South African government not only to release Nelson Mandela but also to end ‘apartheid’.
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Then in 1990 something momentous happened.
CLIP Free Nelson Mandela by The Specials AKA
The president of South Africa announced that Nelson Man- dela would very soon be free…and just over a week later the world watched on as he took his first steps as a free man in 27 years…
Nelson Mandela – freed in 1990 after spending 27 years in pris- on for speaking out against injustice…
For our story today we’re going to hear about a friendship that grows between a young boy and an old man – a South Afri- can musician living far from home. The story’s called ‘Walter’s Whistle…’
STORY WALTER’S WHISTLE
GEMMA So in the end Stevie helps Walter to overcome his fear of disap- pointment and return home to South Africa…
After Nelson Mandela’s release from prison events moved swift- ly. Mandela entered into talks with the government with the aim of holding the first truly democratic, all party elections in South Africa. And when that finally happened in 1994…Nelson Mandela became President – the leader of a new South Africa
It’s time to sing now and because we’ve been hearing about justice and freedom our song today is ‘If I had a hammer’ – it’s number 71 in Come and Praise. Number 71…
SONG IF I HAD A HAMMER
GEMMA Let’s take some time now to think about what we’ve heard to- day…
Today we’ve been thinking about justice – about making things fair…
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And we’ve heard about an inspirational leader – Nelson Man- dela – and his struggle to bring freedom and justice to all South Africans…
Think about what you’ve heard about Nelson Mandela….
Is there anything about his life that we can put into practice today?
How would you feel if you were a second class citizen?
What would you do to create change?
Is it ever right for injustice to go unchallenged?
Well that’s the end of our time together. But I’ll be back again soon and next time we’ll be hearing about a woman who also fought for justice . bye for now!
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