The world contains many thousands of political prisoners but in the last 50 years only one of them, Nelson Mandela, has turned his imprisonment into a tool to create political change and national liberty.
He accomplished this by intelligence, guile, patience, tolerance for his enemies — and a display of such majestic dignity he commanded the sympathy of the world, even the grudging sympathy of the white South Africans from whom he won power.
To a harsh, cold world he brought a strange and refreshing sweetness. News from Africa was almost always bad, just as it is today, but news involving him always carried a grace note of hope. His gift to everyone was an unquenchable optimism, maintained in the face of appalling conditions. That, and quiet good humour.
He was not the innocent social democrat many of us would have liked him to be. He tolerated the Communist connections of colleagues in the African National Congress (ANC) and at certain times saw serious virtue in Communism. Nor was he a Gandhi. He conspired in acts of violent sabotage when he saw no other way. But at the crucial moment, he knew what to do.
In 1962, after many years of organizing his fellow blacks to oppose apartheid, he was charged with inciting workers to strike. At that moment, age 54, he saw his responsibility and the shape of his future. He realized his strength was symbolic, as the personal embodiment of the moral opposition to racism. He declined to call witnesses in his defence and turned his plea of mitigation into an eloquent political speech.
As he recalled three decades later, “In a way I had never quite comprehended before, I realized the role I could play in court. I was the symbol of justice in the court of the oppressor, the representative of the great ideals of freedom, fairness and democracy in a society that dishonoured those virtues. I realized then and there that I could carry on the fight even in the fortress of the enemy.”He was not the innocent social democrat many of us would have liked him to be. He tolerated the Communist connections of colleagues in the African National Congress (ANC) and at certain times saw serious virtue in Communism. Nor was he a Gandhi. He conspired in acts of violent sabotage when he saw no other way. But at the crucial moment, he knew what to do.
In 1962, after many years of organizing his fellow blacks to oppose apartheid, he was charged with inciting workers to strike. At that moment, age 54, he saw his responsibility and the shape of his future. He realized his strength was symbolic, as the personal embodiment of the moral opposition to racism. He declined to call witnesses in his defence and turned his plea of mitigation into an eloquent political speech.
As he recalled three decades later, “In a way I had never quite comprehended before, I realized the role I could play in court. I was the symbol of justice in the court of the oppressor, the representative of the great ideals of freedom, fairness and democracy in a society that dishonoured those virtues. I realized then and there that I could carry on the fight even in the fortress of the enemy.”
He was sentenced to five years in prison. While there he learned police had found a cache of ANC plans at a hideout in Rivonia, a suburb of Johannesburg. Mr. Mandela was implicated, and was now to go on trial for his life, charged with sabotage and planning to overthrow the government by violence.
This time, his statement to the court drew even more attention — “During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
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