Geburtstag: 18. Juli 1918
Todesdatum: 5. Dezember 2013
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela [nelsɒn xoˈliɬaɬa manˈdeːla] , in Südafrika häufig mit dem traditionellen Clannamen Madiba bezeichnet, oft auch Tata genannt , Initiationsname Dalibunga, war ein führender südafrikanischer Aktivist und Politiker im Jahrzehnte andauernden Widerstand gegen die Apartheid, sowie von 1994 bis 1999 der erste schwarze Präsident seines Landes.
Ab 1944 hatte er sich im African National Congress engagiert. Aufgrund seiner Aktivitäten gegen die Apartheidspolitik in seiner Heimat musste Mandela von 1963 bis 1990 27 Jahre als politischer Gefangener in Haft verbringen.
Ebenso wie Mahatma Gandhi oder Martin Luther King gilt er als herausragender Vertreter im Freiheitskampf gegen Rassentrennung, Unterdrückung und soziale Ungerechtigkeit. Mandela war der wichtigste Wegbereiter des versöhnlichen Übergangs von der Apartheid zu einem gleichheitsorientierten, demokratischen Staatswesen in Südafrika. 1993 erhielt er deshalb den Friedensnobelpreis. Bereits zu Lebzeiten wurde er für viele Menschen weltweit zum politischen und moralischen Vorbild.
— Nelson Mandela
auf dem Live8-Konzert in Johannesburg, 2. Juli 2005, bbc. co. uk
— Nelson Mandela
"No Easy Walk to Freedom", Rede auf dem ANC-Kongress, 21. September 1953, anc. org. za
— Nelson Mandela
Grußwort am internationalen Tag der Solidarität mit dem Palästinensischen Volk, Pretoria, 4. Dezember 1997,
— Nelson Mandela
Rede während der „Convention for a Democratic South Africa“, 20. Dezember 1991", anc. org. za
— Nelson Mandela
Rede am 10. Mai 1994 in Pretoria, nach seiner Wahl zum ersten schwarzen Präsidenten Südafrikas, anc. org. za
— Nelson Mandela
Antwort auf die Frage, welches nach Aids momentan das größte Problem der Welt sei. Interview im Reader's Digest, April 2005 rd-india. com
— Nelson Mandela
Aufruf nach dem Aufstand in Soweto 1976, veröffentlicht vom ANC am 10. Juni 1980, anc. org. za anc. org. za
— Nelson Mandela
Grußwort am internationalen Tag der Solidarität mit dem Palästinensischen Volk, Pretoria, 4. Dezember 1997 anc. org. za
— Nelson Mandela
bei seiner Vereidigung zum Präsidenten am 10. Mai 1994, dadalos-d. org
— Nelson Mandela
Context: It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.
When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both. Some say that has now been achieved. But I know that that is not the case. The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed. We have not taken the final step of our journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road. For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. The true test of our devotion to freedom is just beginning.
— Nelson Mandela
Context: Your Majesties, Your Highnesses, Distinguished Guests, Comrades and Friends. Today, all of us do, by our presence here, and by our celebrations in other parts of our country and the world, confer glory and hope to newborn liberty. Out of the experience of an extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud.
— Nelson Mandela
Context: I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.
— Nelson Mandela
Context: I am also here today as a representative of the millions of people across the globe, the anti-apartheid movement, the governments and organisations that joined with us, not to fight against South Africa as a country or any of its peoples, but to oppose an inhuman system and sue for a speedy end to the apartheid crime against humanity.
These countless human beings, both inside and outside our country, had the nobility of spirit to stand in the path of tyranny and injustice, without seeking selfish gain. They recognised that an injury to one is an injury to all and therefore acted together in defense of justice and a common human decency.
— Nelson Mandela
Context: His philosophy of Satyagraha is both a personal and a social struggle to realize the Truth, which he identifies as God, the Absolute Morality. He seeks this Truth, not in isolation, self-centeredly, but with the people. He said, "I want to find God, and because I want to find God, I have to find God along with other people. I don't believe I can find God alone. If I did, I would be running to the Himalayas to find God in some cave there. But since I believe that nobody can find God alone, I have to work with people. I have to take them with me. Alone I can't come to Him."
— Nelson Mandela
Context: “Why is it that in this day and age, human beings still butcher one another simply because they dared to belong to different religions, to speak different tongues, or belong to different races? Are human beings inherently evil? What infuses individuals with the ego and ambition to so clamour for power that genocide assumes the mantle of means that justify coveted ends? These are difficult questions, which, if wrongly examined can lead one to lose faith in fellow human beings. And there is where we would go wrong. Firstly, because to lose faith in fellow humans is, as the Archbishop would correctly point out, to lose faith in God and in the purpose of life itself. Secondly, it is erroneous to attribute to the human character a universal trait it does not possess – that of being either inherently evil or inherently humane. I would venture to say that there is something inherently good in all human beings, deriving from, among other things, the attribute of social consciousness that we all possess. And, yes, there is also something inherently bad in all of us, flesh and blood as we are, with the attendant desire to perpetuate and pamper the self. From this premise arises the challenge to order our lives and mould our mores in such a way that the good in all of us takes precedence. In other words, we are not passive and hapless souls waiting for manna or the plague from on high. All of us have a role to play in shaping society.”
At his speech in Moria, on 3 April 1994
African National Congress (ANC Historical Documents Archive). Johannesburg, South Africa.
