Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela was born in 1918 in South Africa. He studied to become a lawyer. So, in the 1942, he bacame a the leader of a political party called The African National Congress (ANC). This party adopted a policy of peaceful resistance against apartheid. The apartheid was the policy of racial segregation set by the white ethnic group government of South Africa in teh postwar period. It was in force untill 1990. During a peaceful protest at Sharpeville in 1960 the police opened fire and killed 69 people. After that the ANC became illegal but Mandela didn’t stop his activities.  He was arrested and charged with attempting to overthrow the government. As a lawyer, Mandela defended himself. During his trial he said: “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all people live togheter in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal which I am prepared to die.” He lost the case. In 1964 he was senteced to life in prison. The violence related to apartheid continued. In 1967  many countries in the world imposed sanctions on South Africa and in 1980 an internetional campaign was started to free Nelson Mandela. In 1990 the president of South Africa Frederick Willemde Klerk freed Mandela after 27 years in prison. The ANC and the white National Party opened a discussion concerning a new multi-racial democracy for South Africa. Although the violence didn’t stop, Mandela and de Klerk  continued to meet and discuss and in December 1993, the two men were both awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In May 1994 for the first time in South Africa, a black person was elected president: Nelson Mandela. One of his famous phrases is:

“Peace is not a dream. It can become reality, but to protect it you must be able to dream.”

Nelson Mandela was a rugby’s follower, in fact he made South African team to fight discrimination.