NELSON MANDELA
💫💫💫NELSON MANDELA💫💫💫
💫Nelson Mandela was born in South Africa on 18 July 1918. Like Martin Luther King, he believed in equality for black and white people. South Africa had a government system called apartheid. Black people were separated from white people in government, in jobs, in education and in other areas of life.
Nelson joined a political party, the African National Congress, and tried to obtain equality with non-violent protests. In 1962 he was arrested and, in the end, he spent over 27 years in prison. He was released in 1990 when he was 71. After prison, he helped to end apartheid, and in 1994 he became the first black president of South Africa.
One of Nelson Mandela's famous quotes is: 'As I walked out the door toward... my freedom, I knew that if I didn't leave my ….. hatred behind, l'd still be in prison.
💫 Nelson Mandela was an iconic figure of our times. He fought against apartheid, a system of racial segregation in his country, South Africa, and was arrested for treason and sabotage. He spent 27 years in prison, many of them on Robben Island. He won the Nobel Peace Prize 1993 and became the first black president of South Africa. He was a universal hero and inspirational leader.
His real name wasn't Nelson, but Rolihlahla, which means troublemaker' in his native Xhosa language. He got the name Nelson on his first day at school, but many South Africans
always referred to him by his Xhosa clan name, Madiba, to show respect and affection.
He was the first member of his family to go to school.
Mandela was a good student and he was also good at boxing and running. He moved to Johannesburg to study law. With his good friend Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela
set up the first black legal practice in his country in 1952 to represent black South Africans. When he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 for his political activism, many countries stopped trading with South Africa, and sports teams and entertainers boycotted it as part of a global Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM).
As a prisoner on Robben Island, Mandela did hard labour and was often alone in his cell. He communicated with other
prisoners by writing messages on toilet paper and his friend, fellow prisoner Mac Maharak, smuggled his autobiography out of prison. In prison, Mandela
Learned the respect of the prison officers, because he
learnt their Afrikaans language and culture and always behaved with dignity and self-control. Once released, he invited some of them to his inaugural presidential dinner as a sign of forgiveness. He jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize with FW de Klerk in 1993, but he also won over 1,000 other awards and there are many things named after him.
For example a woodpecker, a species of spider, an orchid and even a nuclear particle!
💫 Nelson Mandela was born on the 18** July 1918 in Umtata. His real name was Rolihlahla but when he went to school his teachers called him Nelson.
He enjoyed boxing and running and he was intelligent. He studied hard, he became a lawyer and fought against Apartheid.
In South Africa at that time black people were considered inferior and were very poor. In 1948, the South African government, which had only white members, introduced a system of racial segregation, called apartheid. Black people were considered inferior and couldn't vote or mix with white people. In the 1950s the government forced millions of black people to leave their homes and to move to the black townships where they lived in poverty. White and black people had separate schools, hospitals, beaches, universities and had to travel on separate buses.
In 1952 the African National Congress, a black civil rights organization, began a series of peaceful protests against Apartheid. The reaction of the government was brutal. Mandela was sentenced to nine months of forced labour for his part in this campaign of civil disobedience agaist unjust laws and was accused of treason. On 21st March 1960 the police killed 69 unarmed black people during a demostration in Sharpeville. After the massacre the ANC decided to move from non violent opposition and to use violence for the first time.
Mandela secretly left South Africa, he travelled around Africa and visited England to raise support for the armed struggle. But when he returned to South Africa in July 1962 he was arrested together with his friend Steve Biko. Nelson Mandela was sent to a terrible prison on Robben Island where he spent 18 years while Biko died in 1977 after he was arrested and tortured by the police. In 1976 thousands of black students began a peaceful protest in Soweto, a black township outside Johannesburg, when the Africans, the language spoken by the whites, became obligatory in local schools. In this occasion twenty children were killed by the police outside their school during their peaceful demonstration. Today to remember them the 16th of July is National Youth Day.
An international campaign to free Mandela began and the United Nations introduced economic sanctions against South Africa. A lot of countries stopped trade and refused to send sports teams or actors, singers there. Finally, in 1990 the new president de Clerk declared Apartheid illegal and Mandela became a free man after 27 years in prison. The two men worked together to create a democratic country in South Africa and they won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
In 1994, black people in South Africa voted for the first time and Mandela became the first black president. He wanted to discourage revenge and built a united country where different races could live in peace and harmony. He formed a multiracial government and a rainbow nation. In 1995 Rubgy World Cup was the occasion for Mandela to show to all his people that South Africa was one nation. Rugby was the sport of the whites and the black majority hated the Springbok team and tought that their shirt was the symbol of Apartheid.
Mandela wore that shirt at Ellis Park when South Africa won the Rugby World Cup. The film Invictus, directed by Clint Eastwood tells the story of that event and of the frienship between Mandela (Morgan Freeman) and the captain of the Springboks (Matt Damon).
Mandela wrote a book called " Long walk to freedom" and worked to find solutions to poverty, unemployment and AIDS in South Africa. He died at his home in Johannesburg on 5th December 2013.
💫 Nelson Mandela
Rolinahla Mandela was born on the 18th July 1918 in Umtata. When he started primary school, his teacher gave him the name Nelson, because teachers gave all school children "Christian" names.
In 1944 he joined the African National Congress (ANC), a South African political movement which started a campaign of civil disobedience against unjust laws. He was sentenced to nine months of hard labour for his part in the campaign. In 1956, the government accused Mandela of treason.
On 21th March 1960 police killed 69 unarmed people during a demonstration in Sharpeville. After the massacre the ANC decided to move from non-violent opposition and to use violence for the first time. Mandela secretly left South Africa, he travelled around Africa and visited England to raise support for the armed struggle. When he returned to South Africa in July 1962, the police arrested him and the government sent him to prison. But even in prison he continued to give hope to South Africans.
After 27 years in prison, on Sunday 11th February 1990 Mandela became a free man. In 1993 he won the Nobel Peace Prize and in 1994 he voted for the first time in his life. On 10th May 1994 he became the first democratically elected president of South Africa. He died at his home in Johannesburg on 5th December 2013.
Glossary
disobedience = disubbidienza
unjust = ingiusto
hard labour = lavoro forzato
treason = tradimento
unarmed = disarmato
raise support = raccogliere aiuti
struggle = lotta
💫 The ANC (African National Congress), who wanted equal rights for all citizens, promoted a campaign against Apartheid.
Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo set up South Africa's first black law firm where poor people came to them for help. Mandela admired Gandhi and his peaceful protests in India, but when he became the leader of a secret army, the police arrested him for treason. The government put many anti-Apartheid leaders like Nelson Mandela in prison on Robben Island. He could have only one letter and one visitor every six months and although he had to do hard labour (lavoro forzato), this did not break his spirit. Mandela remained in prison for 27 years and his long sentence made people around the world award (consapevoli) of the situation. in South Africa.
In 1990 Mandela was finally a free man and President F.W. de Klerk began negotiations to end Apartheid. There were democratic elections and on 29th April 1994 the African National Congress won under their leader, Nelson Mandela.
A statue of Nelson Mandela stands in Parliament Square London, because he was a hero to people all over the world.
He died on 5th December 2013 after a long illness. He was 95 and the world mourned" the passing of one of the greatest leaders of our time.
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