Nelson Mandela –An Apostle of Peace
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ISSN 0970-8669 Odisha Review Nelson Mandela –An Apostle of Peace Dr. Bishnupriya Padhi Introduction Nelson Mandela’s quest for freedom took him from the court of tribal royalty to the liberation underground to a prison rock quarry to the presidential suite of Africa’s richest country. Mandela changed South Africa and the World. He became the father of a nation, an international icon, and a legend. He was a humble man who turned obstacles into stepping stones, who overcame and persevered. He never gave up, saw what was possible and went for it. He showed us how to rise above struggles around us and achieve our dreams. Mandela and peace are synonymous. In 1993, Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace I. Struggle to end apartheid in South Africa Prize. He spent his life fighting for equal Abolition of apartheid remains the biggest opportunity, education and political rights. legacy of Nelson Mandela. Mandela had decided Mandela negotiated subtly between his two selves: to become a lawyer and, in fact, he founded South the leader and the legend. Africa’s first black law firm with Oliver Tambo. A Mandela is the only individual to have an chance meeting with Walter Sisulu-a black estate international day named after him. In November agent who had an office in the city centre in the 2009, the UN General Assembly declared 18th days before Johannesburg became strictly July as Nelson Mandela International Day’, in segregated-shaped his destiny. Sisulu, his senior, recognition of the former South African President’s mentored Mandela. With Sisulu as his guide contribution to the culture of peace and freedom Mandela was quickly drawn into the sphere of around the World 1. the ANC, the decades old organisation fighting 32 August - 2016 Odisha Review ISSN 0970-8669 for greater rights for South Africa’s black goodness in using an ineffective weapon”. He was population. convinced that their peaceful rallies were no match Mandela joined the African National for the government’s aggression. Arrests, trials and Congress (ANC) in 1944, when he helped set bans-preventing him from leaving his home or up its Youth League as a crucible for the party’s meeting with more than one person at a time- firebrands. The white supremacist National Party became Mandela’s life. won election in South Africa in 1948 and In 1961, after years of arguing for an end institutionalized a racist Constitution in a set of to non-violence, the ANC authorized Mandela laws known as apartheid (apartness or to set up a military wing called Umkhonto we segregation). Blacks were banned from the better Sizwe (MK)-meaning Spear of the Nation. neighbourhoods, better jobs, better farmland and Mandela was secretly appointed commander of better schools. Most were banished to the wing. In his 15 short months heading MK, undeveloped areas in the country’s interior, the legend of Mandela grew. His career as a designated black homelands. If they were allowed guerrilla commander ended abruptly in 1962 on into white areas, it was under strict conditions- August 5th. He was arrested at Pietermaritzburg pass laws-that prescribed when, where, who, how and charged with inciting strikes and leaving South and why 2. Africa illegally. Mandela received a sentence of 5 African militancy started as the years. government tightened its control over the black Police raided a farm in Johannesburg population. Mandela together with comrades suburb in the summer of 1963 and found new Tambo, Sisulu and Ahmed Kathrada and joined evidence related to MK’s activities. Mandela and by the Indian Congress, and Women’s groups; nine others were charged with sabotage and spent much of the decade in non-violent protests. conspiracy. And Mandela faced death with The regime did not share the sentiment and hanging. In the Rivonia Trial, Mandela spoke in responded with violence, shooting dead 18 the court room: ‘It is an ideal for which I am demonstrators in 1950. On March 21, 1960, prepared to die’. This somersaulted him and the thousands of blacks had gathered in the township ANC and the need to bring apartheid into the of Sharpeville to peacefully protest the laws that global consciousness. During the Rivonia Trial, restricted movement of black people. Police he had been elected honorary president of the opened fire and killed 69 protestors. Pretoria students’ union at University College of London; declared a state of emergency banning ANC and dock workers around the world threatened not its leadership. Thousands were mass arrested 3. to handle South African goods; and the UN, Mandela went underground. After the members of the US Congress and the leader of Sharpeville incident he began to favour fighting the Soviet Union all protested the trial. In the end, fire with fire. He was already straining to stay loyal Mandela and his co-accused were convicted, but to the ANC’s Gandhian principle of non-violence. spared the death penalty, due to intense “For me, non-violence was not a moral principle international attention. They were sentenced to but a strategy”, he wrote, “There is no moral life imprisonment on Robben Island. August - 2016 33 ISSN 0970-8669 Odisha Review The decision in 1976 that school be to use it to....begin discussions with the taught half-time in Afrikaans proved to be the government....I chose to tell no one what I was breaking point. Students launched a series of about to do. There are times when a leader must protests in Soweto. The authorities reacted with move out ahead of the flock.” The strength of his deadly force. On June 16, 29 were killed and personality was so overpowering that he could most of them were children. Protests spread argue for a path of reconciliation. Contact with quickly, engulfing the whole country. Resistance the government began. In 1985, Mandela met to white rule grew. By then, sanctions and boycotts South Africa’s Justice Minister Kobie Coetsee. had begun to take their toll on South Africa. He had a series of meetings. And once talks were International banks were calling in their loans, underway, the conditions of Mandela’s causing loss to the rand by bringing it down. South imprisonment improved further. Most of his ANC Africa was bleeding/ pressure was mounting to comrades were opposed to Mandela’s free the prisoner who had become a global icon4. negotiations. But he had a disarming effect on Meanwhile, serving a sentence in Robben them. On July 5, 1989 Mandela was taken to Island meant almost total isolation from the outside meet Botha. Little of substance was discussed. world. Partly as a survival strategy, Mandela and F.W.de Klerk replaced Botha as his comrades continued their fight inside jail. President a month later. The new president was Through protests and petitions, Mandela and his pressurised, both at home and abroad, to bring comrades gradually improved conditions. While change. His first radical step came on October his oppositions to apartheid remained fierce, he 15, 1989 when he freed Sisulu, Kathrada and began to see the humanity in his enemies. “All four other political prisoners after 25 years of men, even the most seemingly cold blooded, have imprisonment. Mandela had negotiated their a core of decency,” he wrote. “If their hearts are release while in prison. He was like the captain of touched, they are capable of changing”5. a ship. He wanted to see them safely outside 6 And if Mandela was changing, the outside before he himself left . world was too. He embraced forgiveness and On February 2, 1990, the President in a reconciliation. He had morality but no mantras; remarkable speech to Parliament announced he he suited his tactics to his times. In 1985, President was freeing Mandela, lifting the ban on ANC and Botha publicly offered Mandela his freedom if he negotiating a new constitution for South Africa. 9 renounced violence. Mandela’s response was: “I days later, on February 11, 1990, Mandela am not a violent man... when all other forms of walked free after 27 years in prison. In June 1990, resistance were no longer open to us, we turned the ANC suspended its armed struggle. to armed struggle. Let Botha renounce violence. Mandela’s long march wasn’t over yet. Let him say he will dismantle apartheid...your With his release violence should have come to an freedom and mine cannot be separated. I will end but it was on the rise. White security forces return.” shot black protestors and the demonstrators That same year Mandela was separated fought back. Police were secretly funding the from his comrades in prison. Mandela wrote: “My Zulu-derailing the transition to democracy. In June solitude gave me a certain liberty, and I resolved 1992, when an Inkatha mob killed 46 residents 34 August - 2016 Odisha Review ISSN 0970-8669 of a pro-ANC township, Mandela suspended experience the oppression of one by another, and talks with the government. suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the Mandela started travelling the world, World.” meeting with heads of states and dignitaries, As President, Mandela saw that the pleading with them to keep sanctions in place, to Constitution was rewritten and a constitutional pressurize the South African government to push court was created to abolish death penalty. A Truth forward with democratic reforms. and Reconciliation Commission was established to address issues relating to the misdeeds of the Chris Hani, the most popular ANC leader apartheid regime. Instead of allowing them to after Mandela, was assassinated on 10 April fester or exploiting them for political advantage 1993. Mandela appealed to his followers to as many others have done in comparable remain calm and forgo reprisals, - ‘acts that serve circumstances South Africa has taken steps to only the interests of the assassin’s.’ Mandela’s expose and exercise the darker and less palatable supporters headed the call, but the emotional realities of its immediate past.