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Indian Legion wholeheartedly respects every religion, caste, race and sex. It's Nelson Mandela's Day, so one of our family member tried her best to come up with an informative article on him, give it a read.
I think we can all agree that Nelson Mandela is a name we have all heard of in the news, in the books, or from our parents. Today is July 18th, the day the legend was born. On July 18th, 2009, the United Nations declared the day as the International Nelson Mandela day or the Mandela day.
" Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."
Nelson Mandela was the president of South Africa, from 1994 to 1999. He was most widely known for his struggles against the apartheid government of South Africa.
For those who aren't aware of the apartheid government of SA, it was the government which was run by the white minority of the country and called for total segregation of any people of color from the white-colored minority,(legalized racial segregation) with the black Africans not even given the basic rights to be at a public place without official written permission from someone white, along with many more injustices against all people of color.
Born as Rolihlahla Mandela, he was a member of one of the royal families of Africa. He was later given the name Nelson by his church school teacher. He lost his father at a young age and his mother had later entrusted him in the guardianship of the Thembu regent. Here, he went to school along with the chief's children to get a proper secondary education.
"Education is the most important weapon you can use to change the world"- Nelson Mandela.
After receiving proper education he sought out to accrue a BA degree, from the University College of Fort Hare, where he studied English, Anthropology, Politics, Native Administration, and Roman-Dutch Law. He was a great student and played sports, acted in the college theater. He was a model. But he was also vocal against Injustice, a trait he had inherited from his father. He spoke against the college administration time and again, and protested against the quality of food being served to the students, this led him to be expelled. He never came back to complete his degree.
After being expelled he returned to his home, where his guardian had arranged marriages for Mandela and his friend. They fled to Johannesberg to avoid the marriage.
" Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do." -Nelson Mandela
It was here that he started studying Law at the University of Witwatersrand. He was the only Black African to study law and was witness to much racism.
He had started politics by this time, because of which he failed three times in his final year, ultimately he was denied the degree. He still went on to become one of the few black Africans to practice law, working for the black Africans rights. In fact, his law which he started with his friend Oliver Tambo was the only African-run Law firm in all of the country.
In 1950 he was elected the leader of the Youth Wing of the African Nationa Congress Party (ANC). When the government prohibited ANC, Mandela formed a secret Military organization coined Umkhonto we Siwze('Spear of the Nation'). He was initially against violence but after being met by hard violence form the apartheid government, he approved the violence and actively took part in it.
Mandela was imprisoned in 1962 on grounds of treason, sabotage, and violently overthrowing the government. He was found guilty and given Life Imprisonment. In his time at the prison during his trails, he started correspondence studies for an LLB from the University of London International Programmes.
Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his life in jail cells, continuing his work against the apartheid government and for Black African rights even from the jails. He was kept in three different jails, even contracting and overcoming tuberculosis due to the dampness of his cells.
In 1990 the then-president F.W. de Klerk went to meet Mandela, after which all previously banned parties were legalized along with the announcement of the unconditional release of Nelson Mandela.
In the following years Mandela worked non stop with the ANC to form a Multiracial election system. This came to fruition with the first-ever Multiracial election held in 1994, allowing every citizen to vote and participate in the elections.
This was the first time that Mandela got to vote in the elections. He was selected the President of South Africa, the first-ever black president of South Africa. He promulgated a new constitution that gave equal rights to all citizens of the country.
He worked towards the reconciliation of the races in the country, saying that the country needs everyone to have equal say.
Nelson Mandela received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 along with approximately 250 other awards. He is 'the father of the nation' of South Africa. Still fondly remembered as 'Khulu' meaning the Great One.
Nelson Mandela was a great personality, who studied, fought, and build a nation. He struggled against his own skin color and aced hate for it, and yet he taught the world to love. He was the epitome of peace, that stood for justice when needed he revolted violently but ultimately it was his peace effort that made the South African national free of racism.
"No one is born hating another because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes naturally to the human heart than it's opposite."-Nelson Mandela
A man truly ahead of his time, with a vision of a just world and Nation, the will to act on the vision, went against a whole country, losing years of his life, Nelson Mandela continues to be an inspiration to his country and the world.
On this day, let us honor the man.
Let's make his vision come true in our own small ways, let's make this world a just place, a world filled with love, and a world where there is no discrimination against anybody for skin color, sexuality, socio-economic background, caste, creed, race, or, religion.
