Nelson Mandela

Penso che in questi giorni sia davvero doveroso spendere alcune parole su Nelson Mandela.

NELSON MANDELA

He was born in 1918. He did not come from a middle class family, he belonged to a tribe in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. His real name was Rolihlahla Dalibhunga, but when he went to school his teachers gave him the English name "Nelson Mandela" and they taught him about the superiority of the British. As an adult he worked as a lawyer and he campaigned against apartheid in particular in South Africa (http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segregazione_razziale).

Mandela was vice-president of a political party called ANC (The National African Congress). That party adopted a policy of peaceful resistance to apartheid, similar to the policies of Martin Luther King and Gandhi. Nevertheless there was a lot of violence towards black people.

In 1960 his party became illegal but Nelson Mandela didn't stop his activities and he was arrested. During his trial he explained that he wanted a democratic and free society in which all the people could “live together in harmony and with equal opportunities”. He also said that he was prepared to die for that ideal, but he lost the case and in 1964 he was sentenced to life prison. The violence continued and in 1967 the international community reacted to the events imposing sanctions to South Africa.

In 1980 Oliver Tambo, another lawyer who had worked with Mandela at the beginning of his campaign against apartheid, started an international campaign to free him. In 1990 the President of South Africa, FW de Klerk, lifted the ban on the ANC and freed Mandela after 26 years in prison. The president and Mandela continued to meet and discuss and in 1993 they were both awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The next year for the first time in South Africa's history, all races voted in democratic elections and Mr Mandela was elected president.

Nelson Mandela is an international symbol of the fight for human rights.

Mandela's key dates

• 1918 - Born in the Eastern Cape
• 1943 - Joined African National Congress
• 1956 - Charged with high treason, but charges dropped
• 1962 - Arrested, convicted of sabotage, sentenced to five years in prison
• 1964 - Charged again, sentenced to life
• 1990 - Freed from prison
• 1993 - Wins Nobel Peace Prize
• 1994 - Elected first black president
• 1999 - Steps down as leader
• 2001 - Diagnosed with prostate cancer
• 2004 - Retires from public life
• 2005 - Announces his son has died of an HIV/Aids-related illness
• 2007 - Forms The Elders group
• 2010 - Appears at closing ceremony of World Cup