A wise man once said: "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Therefore, this article will hopefully enable some change.
H
ave I ever mentioned that I'm not much a writer? I obviously fathered a couple of articles recently and I certainly know that most of them aren't great. Some might be fun to read or at least the website presented might be new and interesting to a couple of our dear readers. Anyways, this one here is not supposed to be about my lack of talent nor about the unfortunate low number of visitors on this website. This article is concerning a much greater issue, a much more interesting matter, one of the most important figures of modern history - Madiba.
There is a statue in London - Madiba facing the future.
"What? Who? I never heard of that guy!" I can literally hear the cries of disbelieve and confusion. Calm down folks. Just keep on reading for a couple of lines and you will surely recognize some well known names and dates. At least, I really hope so. If not you may certainly post your doubts and anger in the comment section of this article (see how I desperately try to make you interact?).
Alright, where did I loose my point - oh, yes - Madiba (which is actually only a honorary title) is one of the most important people in African history, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, celebrated his 90th birthday just a few days ago (that should give it away actually), has formerly been a lawyer as well as the first black president of his home country South Africa (are there still readers out there who don't know whom I referring to?), spent 27years in prison, successfully abolished apartheid and is nowadays fighting against the growing number of HIV infected children in Africa. Not only is the last sentence one of the longest in world history, it also pretty much sums up the life of Madiba, Nelson Mandela. The name tells it alreadyBorn July 18, 1918 in a small village close to Mthatha the Transkei capital, South Africa, Nelson originally received the name Rolihlahla Dalibhunga from his father Gadla Henry Mandela. Apparently, Henry Mandela had some kind of soothsaying ability (i.e. he could tell the fait and fortune of his son) because Rolihlahla literally means "to pull on the branches of a tree" but is commonly known as a word for someone who causes trouble. As time went by, Rolihlahla did really cause a lot of noise; however, he was always fighting for justice and equality. When entering a Methodist school at age seven, his teacher gave him a name which was easily pronounced for the British - Nelson, supposedly after Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, who became famous for his participation in the Napoleonic Wars where he won in the glorious Battle of Trafalgar. Again this name was quite fitting considering the coming life of little Nelson.
South Africa has been one of the most segregated countries.
I don't even want to bore anyone with facts about his life that everyone could just look up at Wikipedia or wheresoever. However, there are some important steps in his career that every educated young (wo-)man should have heard about at least once. Since Nelson Mandela is often referred to as one of the most important fighters against apartheid, you will hear his name in the same breath with names like Martin Luther King, Malcom X or Mahatma Ghandi (the latter has also been active in South Africa where he spent some time in exile but that is just an interesting side note as it is a complete coincidence). In contrast to Ghandi, Mandela did not only fight peacefully. Especially in his early years, he pretty much led a guerrilla war against the white supremacists; however, he always tried not to hurt any civilians when planning and carrying out the Spear of the Nation's sabotage attacks. Having been one of the leading personalities in the African National Congress (ANC), he was accused and found guilty of sabotage and treason and therefore sentence to life imprisonment in 1964. Mandela had to suffer from extremely bad conditions on Robben Island where he had to spend 18 of his 27 years in jail. Only 1990, the new State President de Klerk reversed the ban on the ANC and made Mandela's release from prison possible in February. This major step was only accomplished through continuous local and international pressure throughout Mandela's imprisonment. Free Nelson Mandela!
Mandela and de Klerk - together against apartheid
Being a national hero, it only took another couple of years until Rolihlahla became the first black president of South Africa which had not really been a surprise since it had been the first free elections people of all races could take part in. The former trouble maker had battled for equality and the end of racial segregation all his life long but only after his release from prison and the newly empowerment of the ANC he abolished apartheid and democratically reigned the country together with the white de Klerk as his first deputy.
Most notably among the more than 100 awards Mandela has received during his life time is the Nobel Peace Prize he won in 1993 alongside de Klerk "for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa."
Happy Birthday Papa (Mandela is refered to as the Father of the Nation)
Of course, I could keep on writing for another couple of pages, explaining the various international political interferences, pointing out Mandela's battle against AIDS or mentioning his latest comments on the war in Iraq or Robert Mugabe but that would go way to much into detail. The reason for this article was just one thing: to honor a man that made history and to celebrate his life: Happy belated birthday Madiba. Let's hope you had an awesome one - just as awesome as your life's work.
Fotos: Flickr - pantone801, tarotastic, g-hat, World Economic Forum, Christine van der Merwe
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Da der Microsoft Internet Explorer nicht den weltweiten Web-Standards entspricht, wird WOOLING.NET im Internet Explorer bis Version 6 noch fehlerhaft dargestellt. Alle Fehler konnten wir noch nicht beheben. Das betrifft vor allem Textausrichtung, Linien und Abstände. Um WOOLING.NET in voller Schönheit genießen zu können, legen wir euch ans Herz, den Internet Explorer zu aktualisieren oder am besten gleich kostenlos zu 
