Nelson Mandela - Life On The Job

Nelson Rohilhlahla Mandela
18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013

South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

Nelson Mandela - African Freedom Fighter Nelson Mandela President

"A Xhosa born to the Thembu royal family, Mandela attended the Fort Hare University and the University of Witwatersrand, where he studied law.

Living in Johannesburg, he became involved in anti-colonial politics, joining the African National Congress (ANC) and becoming a founding member of its Youth League.

Narrated version of the Life and Times of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

After the South African National Party came to power in 1948, he rose to prominence in the ANC's 1952 Defiance Campaign, was appointed superintendent of the organisation's Transvaal chapter and presided over the 1955 Congress of the People.

Working as a lawyer, he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and, with the ANC leadership, was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the Treason Trial from 1956 to 1961. Influenced by Marxism, he secretly joined the South African Communist Party (SACP) and sat on its Central Committee. Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the SACP he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in 1961, leading a sabotage campaign against the apartheid government. In 1962, he was arrested, convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the state, and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial.

Mandela served over 27 years in prison, initially on Robben Island, and later in Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison. An international campaign lobbied for his release.

He was released in 1990, during a time of escalating civil strife. Mandela joined negotiations with President F. W. de Klerk to abolish apartheid and establish multiracial elections in 1994, in which he led the ANC to victory and became South Africa's first black president.

He published his autobiography in 1995. During his tenure in the Government of National Unity he invited several other political parties to join the cabinet. As agreed to during the negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa, he promulgated a new constitution. He also created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses. While continuing the former government's liberal economic policy, his administration also introduced measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty, and expand healthcare services. Internationally, he acted as mediator between Libya and the United Kingdom in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial, and oversaw military intervention in Lesotho.

He declined to run for a second term, and was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki. Mandela became an elder statesman, focusing on charitable work in combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life. Denounced as a communist terrorist by critics, he nevertheless gained international acclaim for his activism, having received more than 250 honours, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Soviet Order of Lenin and the Bharat Ratna. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Xhosa clan name, Madiba, or as Tata ("Father"); he is often described as "the father of the nation".

AI Overview

Nelson Mandela was defined by his extraordinary resilience, profound forgiveness, and unwavering commitment to equality and reconciliation. As a transformative leader, he demonstrated humility, immense patience, and the ability to unite a divided nation, embodying courage, moral integrity, and a dedication to peace rather than revenge.

Key Characteristics and Leadership Traits:

Resilience and Endurance: He spent 27 years in prison, maintaining his convictions without giving up hope or his mission.
Forgiveness and Magnanimity: Mandela famously let go of bitterness, choosing to forgive his oppressors to heal the nation and avoid revenge.
Visionary Leadership: He focused on a long-term goal of a non-racial "Rainbow Nation," advocating for equality and social justice.
Humility and Self-Awareness: He recognized the need for personal growth and did not seek self-glory, often focusing on changing himself rather than just others.
Courage: He defined courage not as the absence of fear, but as the triumph over it, acting in spite of dangers.
Compelling Communication: He was a charismatic leader capable of persuading opponents and inspiring the masses.
Reconciler and Mediator: He bridged massive societal divides, focusing on reconciling with opponents rather than crushing them.
Integrity: He was deeply principled, putting the needs of the country before his own.

Mandela's ability to evolve from a revolutionary into a unifying leader transformed him into a worldwide symbol of justice.

Links:

BBC: Primary History: Nelson Mandela	BBC - The Last Great Liberator?
Nelson Mandela Foundation Biography:	Frontline: The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela Nobel Prize
History: Nelson Mandela	Bio.com
BBC: Apartheid (a range of resources)	BBC News June 2013
Wikipedia	Life in Apartheid-Era South Africa
Articles from The Conversation Nelson Mandela

YouTube: Remembering South African Leader Nelson Mandela

YouTube: President Obama: Nelson Mandela "belongs to the ages"

Did You Know?

In the winter of 1964, Nelson Mandela arrived on Robben Island where he would spend 18 of his 27 prison years.

Map of placement of Robben Island

Robben Island (Afrikaans: Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 km west of the coast of Bloubergstrand off Cape Town.
(Source: Robben Island)

Confined to a small cell, the floor his bed, a bucket for a toilet, he was forced to do hard labor in a quarry.

He was allowed one visitor a year for 30 minutes. He could write and receive one letter every six months.

Nelson Mandela sewing on Robben Island

1966: Mandela sews prison clothes in the yard of Robben Island prison
(Source: 20 years since Mandela walked free)

But Robben Island became the crucible which transformed him.

Prison Cell Robben Island

Nelson Mandela's prison cell
(Source)

Through his intelligence, charm and dignified defiance, Mandela eventually bent even the most brutal prison officials to his will, assumed leadership over his jailed comrades and became the master of his own prison.

He emerged from it the mature leader who would fight and win the great political battles that would create a new democratic South Africa.
(Source: Frontline)

Racism - What does it feel like?

Primary Middle Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Intercultural Understanding

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy

Teachers: Instructions

1. You are to watch the Blue Eye Brown Eye Lesson by Jane Elliot for students in Year 3.

A Class Divided (full documentary) | FRONTLINE 53 mins
https://youtu.be/1mcCLm_LwpE

2. You are to tell your class that you are conducting an experiment - the Brown Eye, Blue Eye experiment. They are to have full knowledge and agree to be part of this experiment.

3. In your role as Jane Elliot, you are to discriminate against one set of eye colour for all the lesson. (All day if feasible). Get your students after the lesson to write down how they felt.

4. Reverse the experiment getting the other eye colour to be dominant for the lesson (or day if possible). Get your students to write down how they felt.

5. Get your students to think about what they are going to do to change their attitudes to others who are different. What are their specific actions going to be? Get your students to list them. Check up on how they are going after a day, a week, a month, a term, a semester, a year. Has it made a difference to your students attitudes and actions? What have you observed?

6. Link this experiment up to Apartheid in South Africa.

Option

If you don't have your students all day, a variation on this experiment is to have a morning tea for the class. In this case, layout wonderful food for 3 students and the rest have access to only boiled rice.

Link this to the world's wealth for the few.

Student Instructions

1. You will be divided in your class into two groups - either people having blue eyes or people having brown eyes.

2. During the lesson or day, you will be discriminated against.

3. You are to note down how you feel about this discrimination.

4. On a further day, you will reverse roles. Note down how you now feel.

5. Write down your changes in attitude (if there are any) and any actions you wish to undertake.

6. Nelson Mandela went to prison as a result of his fight for equality.

What cause would you fight for?

Write a TV News piece showing your passion for any injustice you have encountered or know to exist.

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