Lead Story
1990
Nelson Mandela
released from prison
Nelson Mandela, leader of
the movement to end South African apartheid, is released from prison after 27
years on February 11, 1990.
In 1944, Mandela, a
lawyer, joined the African National Congress (ANC), the oldest black political
organization in South Africa, where he became a leader of Johannesburg’s youth
wing of the ANC. In 1952, he became deputy national president of the ANC,
advocating nonviolent resistance to apartheid–South Africa’s institutionalized
system of white supremacy and racial segregation. However, after the massacre
of peaceful black demonstrators at Sharpeville in 1960, Nelson helped organize
a paramilitary branch of the ANC to engage in guerrilla warfare against the
white minority government.
In 1961, he was arrested
for treason, and although acquitted he was arrested again in 1962 for illegally
leaving the country. Convicted and sentenced to five years at Robben Island
Prison, he was put on trial again in 1964 on charges of sabotage. In June 1964,
he was convicted along with several other ANC leaders and sentenced to life in
prison.
Mandela spent the first
18 of his 27 years in jail at the brutal Robben Island Prison. Confined to a
small cell without a bed or plumbing, he was forced to do hard labor in a
quarry. He could write and receive a letter once every six months, and once a
year he was allowed to meet with a visitor for 30 minutes. However, Mandela’s
resolve remained unbroken, and while remaining the symbolic leader of the
anti-apartheid movement, he led a movement of civil disobedience at the prison
that coerced South African officials into drastically improving conditions on
Robben Island. He was later moved to another location, where he lived under
house arrest.
In 1989, F.W. de Klerk
became South African president and set about dismantling apartheid. De Klerk
lifted the ban on the ANC, suspended executions, and in February 1990 ordered
the release of Nelson Mandela.
Mandela subsequently led
the ANC in its negotiations with the minority government for an end to
apartheid and the establishment of a multiracial government. In 1993, Mandela
and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. One year later, the
ANC won an electoral majority in the country’s first free elections, and
Mandela was elected South Africa’s president.
Mandela retired from
politics in 1999, but remained a global advocate for peace and social justice
until his death in December 2013.
COURTESY: HISTORY.com
No comments:
Post a Comment