| |
KF5JRV > TODAY 11.02.19 13:29l 51 Lines 2528 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 31066_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Feb 11
Path: IZ3LSV<IK6ZDE<VE2PKT<N3HYM<NS2B<KF5JRV
Sent: 190211/1222Z 31066@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
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.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
