Long Journey Of Freedom: Dialectic Of Power And Empire In The Biography Of Nelson Mandela
In The History Of Literature Related To Biographies, We Rarely Find A Work That Transcends Purely Personal Narration To Rise To The Level Of Major Historical Documents That Deconstruct Structures Of Global Power And Expose Mechanisms Of Colonialism And Hegemony. The Book “Long Walk To Freedom” By The South African Leader Nelson Mandela Is Not Merely A Diary Of A Political Prisoner Or Memoirs Of A Leader Who Led His People Toward Liberation, Where The Oppressed Ultimately Rises Not Only To Free Himself From The Chains Of Enslavement, But Also To Free His Oppressor From The Prisons Of Bias And Ideological Blindness. In This In-Depth Journalistic Reading, Which We Will Publish Gradually In Five Consecutive Installments, We Will Dive Into The Depths Of This Great Epic, To Explore How Political Philosophy Intersects With Human Experience, And How The Consciousness Of A Man Born In A Remote Village Became A Global Icon That Challenges The Foundations Of Hegemony And Changes The Course Of Contemporary History.
Nelson Mandela Was Born On The Eighteenth Of July In The Year 1918 In A Small Village Called “Mvezo” Located On The Banks Of The Mbashe River In The Umtata District, The Capital Of Transkei. The Year Of His Birth Carried Great Symbolic Connotations; It Coincided With The End Of The First World War, The Drafting Of New Maps For Global Powers, And The Efforts Of Major Powers To Re-Divide Spheres Of Influence At The Expense Of Vulnerable Peoples. In This Turbulent Global Context, The Child Was Given The Name “Rolihlahla”, Which In The Xhosa Language Literally Means “Pulling The Branch Of A Tree”, But Its Common And Metaphorical Meaning Is “Troublemaker” Or “One Who Stirs Trouble”. This Name Was Not A Mere Passing Coincidence, But Seemed Like A Prophecy For A Man Who Would Shake The Pillars Of The Racist System Established By The British Empire And Inherited By The White Nationalist Regime Later. His Father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, Was A Tribal Chief By Blood And Custom, A Man Characterized By Firmness Of Character And Pride In History And Traditions. However, Even At That Early Time, The Institution Of Tribal Leadership Had Begun To Be Distorted And Diminished Under The Relentless Policies Of The White Government. The History Of Empires Is Always Written Through The Slow Erosion Of Local Sovereignties, And The Village Of Mvezo Was No Exception To This Strict Historical Rule.
The First Features Of The Clash Between Legitimate Indigenous Authority And Imperial Arrogance Are Manifested In The Story Of Mandela’s Father With The British Judge. When The White Judge Summoned The Father To Investigate A Simple Complaint About A Stray Bull, The Response Of The Tribal Chief Was Laden With The Pride Of Centuries Of Sovereignty And History: “I Will Not Come, I Am Still Preparing For Battle”. This Response Was Not Merely Personal Stubbornness Or Ill-Calculated Rebellion, But Was A Foundation For A Principled Position That Denies The Legitimacy Of The Foreign Judge’s Authority And Appeals To Local Custom. The Immediate Result Of This Challenge Was That The Judge Dismissed The Father From His Position Without Any Investigation Or Trial, An Act That Embodies The Absolute Arrogance Of Colonial Power That Pays No Heed To Indigenous Rights Or Laws. The Family Lost Its Wealth And Status, And Was Forced To Move To The Neighboring Village Of “Qunu”. In This Incident, We Clearly See How The Colonial Machine Works To Strip Indigenous People Of Their Land And Authority, But At The Same Time Sows, Without Knowing It, The Seeds Of Rebellion That Will Later Destroy It.
In The Village Of Qunu, Far From Direct Friction With White Authority, The Young Mandela Immersed Himself In A Fertile Pastoral Environment Governed By Ancient Traditions Harmonious With Nature And Its Eternal Laws. Society There Reflected A Holistic Cosmic Harmony That Did Not Know Those Sharp Dualities That Characterize Western Philosophical Thought; Where Religious Life Overlaps With Secular Life, And The Natural With The Metaphysical With Complete Smoothness. As A Small Cattle Herder, Mandela Learned To Fight With Sticks, To Gather Wild Honey, And Lived A Childhood Built On Strict Communal Sharing And Mutual Solidarity. Capitalist Individualism Had Not Yet Made Its Way Into Those Green Plains. He Absorbed From His Mother, Nosekeni Fanny, Stories And Legends That Carry Deep Moral Lessons About Generosity And Virtue And The Consequences Of Arrogance. This Psychological And Cultural Formation Was At The Opposite Pole From The European Centrality That Was Slowly Creeping Toward His Village To Devour Its Identity And History.
The Winds Of Imperial Change Soon Reached Qunu Through Missionary Educational Institutions Which Were Considered The Soft Arm Of Colonialism. Under The Influence Of The Mbekela Family Which Adopted Western Education And Christianity And Considered It A Path To Civilization, Mandela Was Sent To School In A Step That Changed The Course Of His Life. And On The First Day, Cultural Hegemony Reared Its Head When The Teacher Decided To Give Each Child A Purely English Name, So She Gave Him The Name “Nelson”. This Authoritarian Practice Was Not Innocent; Rather It Is A Tool Of Systematic Identity Erasure, Where It Is Implicitly Assumed That African Culture Is Either Non-Existent Or Backward To The Point Of Shame, And That Joining The Ranks Of Western Civilization Requires Wearing The Cloak Of The Colonizer And His Name. Mandela Clearly Recalls That The Education He Received Was A Purely British Education, Which Implants In Tender Minds That British Ideas And Culture And Institutions Are The Highest And Most Sublime Without Dispute, And That There Is No Such Thing As African Culture.
The Death Of His Father From Lung Disease Formed Another Radical Turning Point In His Life, Cutting The Ropes Of His Calm Childhood. He Moved With His Mother To “The Great Place” In Mqhekezweni, To Live Under The Guardianship Of Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, The Regent Of The Thembu Tribe Throne. This Transition Moved Him From A Simple Rural Life To The Beating Center Of Tribal Authority, Where He Began To Absorb Complex Concepts Of Leadership And Management Of Governance And Administration Of The Subjects’ Affairs. There, He Watched With Great Interest The Tribe Meetings Which Represented A Pure Form Of Consensual Democracy, Where Every Individual, Whatever His Rank Or Social Status, Has The Right To Speak Without Interruption Or Intimidation Until A Complete Consensus Is Reached. This Unique African Political Model Stands As A Strong And Influential Philosophical And Practical Alternative To Modern Western Democracies Which Often Depend On The Dictatorship Of The Majority And Marginalization Of Opposing Voices.
In Mqhekezweni, The Historical And Political Awareness Of Mandela Was Formed Thanks To The Tales Of The Elders, Especially The Old Chief Joyi Who Narrated The Glories And Heroisms Of African Tribes Before The Coming Of The White Man With His Deadly Firearms. Joyi Narrated Bitterly How The Xhosa And Zulu And Pondo Tribes Lived As Brothers In Harmony Until The Greedy Colonizer Came Who Stole The Land And Tore Apart Bonds To Serve His Expansionist Ambitions. This Alternative Historical Narrative Was A Strong Intellectual Antidote Against The False Colonial Narrative Taught In Missionary Schools. Also The Circumcision Ceremony At The Age Of Sixteen, Which Is The Sacred Rite Of Passage To Manhood In His Society, Was Another Decisive Station; While Mandela Was Proud Of His New Name “Dalibonga”, Chief Meligqili Delivered A Fiery And Surprising Speech That Tore Apart The Illusion Of Claimed Manhood Under Colonialism, Affirming To The Shocked Attendees That They Were Merely Slaves And Tenants In The Land Of Their Ancestors, And That The Energies Of These Healthy Youths Would Inevitably Be Wasted In The Dark Mines Of The White Man. Although The Young Mandela Rejected These Harsh Words At The Time Because They Contradicted His Childhood Dreams, They Formed The First And Solid Seed Of Revolutionary Awareness Which Would Later Crystallize In A Bitter Dialectical Conflict With The Existing Fascist System.
Mandela Then Moved To Continue His Education And Refine His Knowledge At Clarkebury Boarding Institute, Which Was At That Time The Highest Educational Institution For Africans In The Entire Thembu District. In This Prestigious Institute, Which Was Built On Lands Donated By The Great King Ngubengcuka, The Young Mandela Collided With A Harsh Truth That His Royal Lineage Did Not Grant Him Any Exceptional Privileges Or Special Appreciation Among His Peers And Colleagues. This Was A Positive Shock And A Harsh Lesson That Taught Him The Importance Of Proving Self Through Personal Merit And Diligent Work Instead Of Relying On The Comfortable Legacy Of Ancestors. Under The Administration Of Reverend Harris, Who Ruled The Institute With An Iron Fist And A Quasi-Military System, Mandela Realized That Power Can Be Exercised With Justice And Strictness At The Same Time To Serve A Higher Goal. However, One Cannot Ignore The Fact That These Educational Institutions Were Specifically Designed To Produce What Was Known As “Black Englishmen”, A Generation Of Africans Indoctrinated With The Culture Of The Colonizer To Serve The Empire Faithfully, And To Absolute Submission To The Superiority Of The White Man As An Indisputable Scientific Truth.
By The Year 1937, And At The Age Of Nineteen, Mandela Headed To Expand His Horizons At Healdtown College In Fort Beaufort, Which Was Considered The Largest African School South Of The Equator In Its Entirety. In Healdtown, The Imperial Influence Was Manifested In Its Ugliest Ideological Form Through The College Principal, Dr. Arthur Wellington, Who Always Boasted Loudly That He Was A Descendant Of The Great Duke Of Wellington Who Crushed The French Leader Napoleon At The Battle Of Waterloo, Claiming Arrogantly That This Historic Victory Saved European Civilization From Collapse, And Saved Africans Consequently From The Clutches Of Backwardness. This Arrogant Discourse Aimed Systematically To Entrench The Inferiority Of The African Mind And Its Eternal Subordination To The Great British Empire. But, From The Womb Of This Psychological And Intellectual Oppression, The Features Of Bold Rebellion Began To Take Shape. In Healdtown, Mandela Met For The First Time African Teachers Who Broke The Barrier Of Fear And Hegemony, Such As Reverend Mokitimi Who Confronted The Arrogance Of Dr. Wellington With Rare Courage And Unprecedented Parity Never Known By Students Before. These Daily Incidents Were Qualitative Breaches In The Solid Wall Of White Hegemony, Where They Proved To The Young Mandela Beyond Any Doubt That The Educated And Competent Black Man Is Not Obliged To Bow And Submit Before Any White Man Merely Because Of The Color Of His Skin.
In This Precise And Sensitive Age Stage Of Psychological And Political Formation, That Complex Dialectic Between The Colonizer’s Attempt To Shape The Minds Of The Colonized According To Its Own Molds That Serve Its Interests, And The Dawn Of Critical Awareness Among The Oppressed Elite Which Begins Intelligently To Use The Colonizer’s Own Tools – Such As Academic Education, And The English Language, And Institutional Political Thought – To Dismantle Its Imperial Structure From Within, Is Clearly Embodied Before Us. The Biography Of Nelson Mandela In These First Foundational Chapters Is Not Limited To Being Merely A Story Of An African Child Who Struggled Fiercely To Obtain Education Under Harsh Conditions, But Goes Beyond That To Become A Living Anthropological And Political Document That Accurately Records How The Traditional Social And Economic Structures Of African Tribes Were Destroyed, And How They Were Gradually And Deliberately Replaced By A Hateful Apartheid System That Subjects The Rural Man To The Wheels Of Fierce Capitalist Production In Deep Gold Mines. Thus, Mandela’s Long And Arduous Journey Toward Freedom Required As A First And Inevitable Step A Mental And Intellectual Liberation From The Chains Of Cultural Dependency That Had Shackled His People For Long And Dark Decades.
The Careful Observer Of The History Of The Rise And Fall Of Great Powers In The International Scene Fully Realizes That Mighty Empires Do Not Fall Only Due To Military Defeats In Battlefields, But Actually Collapse And Lose Their Legitimacy When The Oppressed Possess The Ability And Courage To Rewrite Their History And Shape Their Own Narrative That Challenges The Official Narrative. And This Is Exactly What Began To Crystallize And Mature In The Mind Of The Young Nelson Mandela. Through The Ingenious Combination Of Deep Tribal Wisdom Acquired In The Court Of “The Great Place”, And Rigorous And Systematic Western Education In Clarkebury And Healdtown, Mandela Was Steadily Forging The Personality Of A Charismatic Leader Capable Of Confronting The Empire With Its Own Tools, Laying Thus The Solid Foundation Stone For A Huge Liberation Political Project That Will Not Only In The End Free The Oppressed And Marginalized Peoples, But Will Also Free Yesterday’s Executioners From The Illusions Of Their False Racial Superiority And The Shackles Of Their Historical Fear Of The Other.
The Shock Of The Great City And The Formation Of Revolutionary Consciousness
Nelson Mandela Joined The University Of “Fort Hare” In The Late Thirties, Which Was Considered As “Oxford” Or “Harvard” For Africans Throughout The Entire Continent South Of The Equator. This University Represented The Pinnacle Of The Educational Pyramid, And A Factory For The Black Elite Which The Colonial Government Hoped Would Be A Docile And Educated Tool To Serve Its Interests And Manage The Affairs Of Indigenous Populations On Its Behalf. In Fort Hare, Mandela Found Himself Surrounded For The First Time By Youth From Different Tribes And Ethnicities, From Sotho And Zulu And Tswana, And Not Only From Sons Of Xhosa. This Demographic Diversity Was The First Cognitive Shock That Began To Dismantle His Tribal Centrality And Expand His Horizons Toward The Concept Of The Comprehensive “African Nation”. There, He Met Personalities Who Would Later Form The Backbone Of The Liberation Movement, At The Forefront Of Them Oliver Tambo, The Calm And Intelligent Young Man Who Would Become His Closest Comrade In The Long Struggle. However, Fort Hare Was Living A Fundamental Contradiction; While It Taught Its Students The Principles Of Western Democracy And Enlightenment Philosophies, It Was Subject To A Paternalistic White Administration That Dealt With Students As Minors Needing Constant Guidance And Intellectual Guardianship.
This Stark Contradiction Was Manifested In The Incident Of Student Elections Which Formed The First Real Test Of Mandela’s Will And Principles. When Students Boycotted The Elections Of The Representative Council In Protest Against Poor Food And Poor Services And Weak Powers Of The Council, Mandela Found Himself Elected By A Tiny Minority That Did Not Adhere To The Boycott. Instead Of Enjoying The Position And Prestige It Grants, He Made A Courageous Moral Decision To Submit His Resignation, Refusing To Represent A Student Base That Does Not Grant Him The Legitimacy Of The Majority. This Position Angered The University Director, Dr. Kerr, Who Put Mandela Before Two Decisive Choices: Either Comply And Accept The Position, Or Be Expelled From The University. In That Fateful Moment, The Young Mandela Chose To Sacrifice His Guaranteed Academic Future And His Elite Status, Preferring To Adhere To The Principle Of “Consent Of The Governed” Which Represents The Essence Of Democracy. This Was Not Merely A Reckless Student Rebellion, But Was An Early Declaration Of A Political Personality That Refuses To Compromise On Basic Principles, And Realizes That Authority Which Does Not Derive Its Legitimacy From The Consensus Of The Base Is Invalid Authority, Even If It Hides Behind A Respectable Academic Facade.
After Returning To His Village Following This Expulsion, Mandela Faced A Challenge Of Another Kind, A Challenge That Touches His Deep Roots In Tribal Traditions. The Regent Chief Had Decided, According To Inherited Customs That Grant The Head Of The Family The Right To Plan The Future Of Sons, To Marry Mandela And His Son Justice To Girls Previously Chosen, For The Purpose Of Their Stability And Preparation To Assume Leadership Roles In Indigenous Administration. This Arrangement Represented The Natural And Safe Path For Any Aristocratic Young Man At That Time, But For Mandela It Was Like A Soft Prison That Confiscates His Absolute Right To Determine His Destiny. In A Step That Represents A Philosophical Break With The Determinism Of Tribal Fate And A Victory For Free Individual Will, The Two Young Men Decided To Flee Under The Cover Of Darkness Toward The City Of Johannesburg. This Escape Was Not Merely Flight From An Unwanted Traditional Marriage, But Was Flight From A Functional Role Pre-Drawn In A Social System That Had Become Unable To Accommodate New Aspirations; It Was A Declaration Of Beginning The Journey Of Self-Search Outside The Safe Walls Of The Tribe.
Mandela Arrived In Johannesburg, Or “Egoli” (City Of Gold) As Africans Call It, To Collide With A Reality Completely Different From Everything He Knew. The City Was A Huge Metallic Monster That Feeds On The Sweat And Blood Of Black Workers Who Dig Deep In The Earth To Extract Wealth That Builds Skyscrapers For The White Man. In Johannesburg, The Halo Of Respect He Enjoyed As Son Of A Ruling Family Completely Faded; In The Eyes Of Apartheid Police And The White Capitalist System, Mandela Was Nothing More Than Just Another “Black Boy”, A Number In The Records Of Cheap Labor Forces. He Worked For A Brief Period As A Night Guard In One Of The Mines, And There The Infrastructure Of Oppression In Its Ugliest Forms Was Manifested Before Him: Crowded And Closed Residential Compounds, Workers Treated As Replaceable Machines, And An Economic System Designed Specifically To Ensure The African Remains At The Bottom Of The Social And Economic Pyramid Forever. Mandela Then Realized That His Battle Is Not Only For Political Rights, But Is In Its Essence A Struggle Against A Structural Exploitative System That Turns Humans Into Production Tools.
In The Midst Of This Urban Loss, The Most Important Encounter That Completely Changed The Course Of Mandela’s Life Happened; His Meeting With Walter Sisulu. Sisulu Was A Self-Made Man, Who Did Not Enjoy A High University Education, But Possessed An Extraordinary Political Insight, And A Deep Understanding Of Mechanisms Of Organized Work In The Street. Sisulu Saw In The Young Mandela, With His Culture And Tall Stature And Innate Charisma, A Future Leader Capable Of Making A Difference. Thanks To Sisulu, Mandela Got A Job As A Clerk Under Training In A Law Office Owned By A White Jewish Lawyer Named Lazar Sidelsky. This Step Was A Major Breakthrough, As It Was Very Rare At That Time For White Law Offices To Accept Training Black Youths. In This Office, Mandela Was Exposed To An Unprecedented Intellectual And Ideological Cross-Fertilization. He Met White And Indian Communists Who Treated Him With Complete Parity And Genuine Respect Beyond Color Barriers. Although Mandela Initially Held Deep Reservations Toward Communism Because Of His Aristocratic And Religious Background, He Gradually Began To Realize That These Leftists Were In That Era The Only Category Of Whites Willing To Share Africans Their Struggle And Share With Them Risks In The Front Trenches.
Parallel To His Slow Professional Rise, Mandela’s Daily Life In The Poor Suburb Of “Alexandra” Represented A Real Melting Pot For His Social Awareness. He Lived In A Narrow Room Of Tin And Mud, Without Electricity Or Running Water, Walking Long Miles Daily To Save The Price Of A Bus Ticket, And Studying Law By The Dim Light Of Candles. In Alexandra, Mandela Experienced The Humiliation Of The Hateful “Pass Laws”, Which Forced Every Black African To Carry An Identification Document That Determines His Permitted Places Of Presence, And Exposes Him To Humiliating Arrest By Any Policeman At Any Moment If He Forgot To Carry It Or Was Present In “White Areas” Without Prior Permission. This Harsh Life, Which Stripped Him Of All His Previous Privileges, Made Him Organically And Psychologically Merge With The Suffering Of The Crushed Masses, So He No Longer Looked At Politics As An Intellectual Luxury Or Salon Discussions, But As A Matter Of Life Or Death, As An Inevitable Necessity To Restore Daily Wasted Human Dignity On The Sidewalks Of The City.
The Alexandra Bus Boycott In 1943 Formed A Practical Turning Point In His Path From A Sympathetic Observer To An Active And Field Activist. When Transport Companies Decided To Raise Ticket Prices Unjustly, Tens Of Thousands Of Suburb Residents Decided To Boycott Buses And Walk On Foot For Distances Up To Twenty Miles Daily To Reach Their Work In Johannesburg And Return From It. Mandela Walked With These Huge Crowds, Not As A Leader Directing Them, But As One Of Them, Breathing Their Dust And Feeling Their Fatigue. In Those Silent And Majestic Marathon Marches, Mandela Discovered The Power Of Organized Collective Action. He Realized That Law Alone, With All Its Loopholes And Texts, Is Unable To Demolish A System Built On Structural Injustice Unless It Is Supported By The Power Of Organized Masses On The Ground. This Field Experience Was The Spark That Lit His Real Political Awareness, Preparing Him For The Next And More Dangerous Step: Abandoning The Idea Of Individual Salvation Through Practicing Law And Class Advancement, And Embracing The Idea Of Collective Salvation Through Joining The Most Important Political Movement In The History Of The Country.
Thus, In The Harsh Streets Of Johannesburg And Under The Weight Of Institutional Discrimination, The “Rural Aristocrat” Nelson Mandela Who Dreamed Of A Respectable Job And A Stable Marriage Died, To Be Born From The Womb Of Suffering The “Revolutionary Political Struggler” Nelson Mandela. This Stage Of His Long Career Confirms To Us That Historical Leadership Is Not Inherited Through Blood Alone, But Is Made In The Furnace Of Direct Experience Of Oppression, And Through The Ability To Transform Individual Anger From Personal Injustices Into A Strategic Vision To Liberate An Entire Nation. And With This Psychological And Political Maturity, The Stage Was Set For Mandela’s Entry Into The Ranks Of The African National Congress Party, And Contribution To Establishing The Youth League Which Would Turn The Scales And Change The Strategy Of Resistance From Appeasement And Timid Demands To Mass Radical Action And Direct Confrontation With The White Repression Machine.
The Radical Storm And Confrontation With The Solid Apartheid Wall
We Enter The Period Extending Between The Mid-Forties And Fifties Of The Twentieth Century, Which Is The Era That Witnessed The Biggest Transformation In The Nature Of Political Conflict In South Africa. The Confrontation Was No Longer Merely Scattered Protests Or Timid Calls Demanding Improvement Of Living Conditions, But Transformed Into A Comprehensive Ideological And Organizational Battle Against The Apartheid System “Apartheid” Which The White National Party Officially Declared After Coming To Power In 1948. In This Boiling Furnace, Mandela Emerged With His Comrades As A New Radical Force Reshaping The African National Congress Party, And Moving Resistance From Traditional Elitism To The Open Mass Space, Where Direct Confrontation With The State Military Machine Became Inevitable.
These Radical Transformations Began With The Creation Of The “Youth League” Affiliated With The African National Congress Party In 1944, Which Is The Step Led By Bright Young Minds Such As Anton Lembede, And Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, And Nelson Mandela. The Mother Party At That Time Was Governed By Leaders From The Traditional Conservative Elite Which Depended On Methods Of Submitting Diplomatic Petitions And Polite Plea Letters To The White Colonial Authorities, A Method That Proved Absolute Inability In The Face Of Methodical Encroachment Of Settler Colonialism. Anton Lembede Entered, With His Strict “African Nationalism” Philosophy, Like An Intellectual Storm That Removed Lethargy; He Put Forward A Vision That Africans Are The Original Owners Of The Land, And That Their Cause Is Not Merely A Demand For Civil Equality Within A Colonial System, But Is A Cause Of National Liberation And Restoration Of Dignity And Complete Sovereignty Over National Soil. Although Mandela Initially Held Reservations About Some Extreme Ideas Of Lembede About Excluding Other Groups From The Conflict, He Fully Adopted The Essence Of This Radicalism That Calls For Abandoning The Language Of Begging And Adopting The Method Of Strike Civil Disobedience And Mass Boycott.
The Year 1948 Formed A Dark And Bloody Chapter In The History Of The Country; As The Ruling National Party Won The Elections In Which African Participation Is Prohibited, To Immediately Begin Implementing The Ideology Of “Apartheid” As An Official And Structural Philosophy Of The State. Apartheid Was Not Merely A Passing Racial Bias, But Was A Comprehensive Social And Economic And Legal Engineering Aiming At Complete Separation Between Races, While Keeping The Black Majority In A State Of Complete Submission And Codified Slavery To Serve The White Minority. Unjust Laws Divided The Population, And Laws Were Legislated That Prohibit Marriage Between Races, And Impose Separation In Housing And Education And Public Facilities, And Confiscate Fertile Lands To Give To Whites While Millions Of Africans Are Crammed Into Poor And Barren Enclaves Called “Bantustans”. Before This Sweeping Fascist Attack, Mandela And His Comrades In The Youth League Realized That Old Tools Of Politics Were No Longer Useful At All, And That What Was Required Is Formulating A New Revolutionary Action Program That Imposes A Different Reality On The Ground.
This Historic Response Was Embodied In The “Program Of Action” Of 1949, Which The Youth Imposed On The Leadership Of The African National Congress Party, Transforming The Party From An Association For Demanding Rights Into A Fighting Mass Liberation Movement. The Program Adopted Methods Of Civil Disobedience, And General Strikes, And Large Demonstrations, And Abstention From Work. And In The Year 1952, The “Defiance Campaign” Came To Be The First Wide Field Test Of This New Strategy, Where Nelson Mandela Was Appointed General Leader Of The Campaign And Head Of Volunteering. The Campaign Depended On Leading Thousands Of Volunteers From All Races To Break Apartheid Laws Publicly And Peacefully; They Entered Facilities Designated For Whites Only, And Moved Without Pass Documents, And Broke Curfew, Then Presented Themselves For Arrest With Bare Chests And Smiles That Defy Oppression. The Campaign Succeeded In Transforming Prisons Into Platforms For Freedom, And Led To A Huge Leap In Membership Of The African National Congress Party From A Few Thousands To More Than One Hundred Thousand Active Members, Proving To Apartheid Leaders That The African Giant Had Awakened From Its Slumber And Will Not Return To Burrows Again.
During These Years Full Of Risks, Mandela Was Fighting Another Battle On The Professional And Social Front; He Established With His Lifetime Companion Oliver Tambo The First Law Office Run By Black Africans In The History Of South Africa, In The Heart Of Johannesburg. This Office Became A Refuge Where Hundreds Of Africans Daily Poured With Their Pains And Injustices; Workers Who Were Beaten And Assaulted By Their Employers, And Mothers Expelled From Their Homes Due To Housing Laws, And Youth Arrested Merely For Forgetting Pass Document. In White Halls And Courts, Mandela The Lawyer Practiced Another Form Of Resistance; Wearing His Elegant Suit, And Speaking In The Language Of Strict Law, And Dismantling Allegations Of White Witnesses And Police With Complete Confidence And Competence. The Sight Of A Black Man Standing With Complete Parity Before A White Judge And Defeating His Thorny Allegations Had A Huge Psychological Impact On The Crushed Masses, Where That Scene Broke The Myth Of White Racial Superiority In The Minds Of Simple People And Planted In Their Souls Seeds Of Self-Confidence And Future.
The Brutal Authorities Would Not Remain Silent About This Growing Rise Of Mandela; So They Began Imposing Banning Orders And Security Siege On Him Starting In 1952, And He Was Prevented From Speaking In Public Meetings, And His Movement Was Restricted Within The Borders Of Johannesburg, And He Was Forced To Officially Resign From His Leadership Positions In The Party. But Mandela, With His Organizational Genius, Invented The “M-Plan” (Mandela Plan), Which Is A Strategy Depending On Dividing The Party Organization Into Small Secret Cells At The Level Of Streets And Neighborhoods, So That Political And Awareness Work Continues Underground And In A Flexible Manner Even If Senior Leaders Are Arrested Or Official Headquarters Are Closed. This Plan Proved That The Liberation Idea When It Finds Its Way To The Minds Of The Masses, Deprives The Strongest Security And Intelligence Apparatuses Of The Ability To Strangle It Or Eliminate It.
The Struggle Cohesion Reached Its Peak In 1955 When The “Congress Of The People” Convened In Kliptown, Where Representatives Of All Sects And Races From Africans, And Indians, And Coloureds, And Progressive Whites Met, To Formulate A Historic Document Called “Freedom Charter”. The Charter Declared With Complete Courageous Frankness That “South Africa Belongs To All Who Live In It, Black And White”, Laying A Vision For Building A Non-Racial Democratic Society Based On Social Justice And Redistribution Of Wealth And Equality Before The Law. Although Mandela Was Subject To Banning Orders And Prevented From Public Attendance, He Watched The Historic Meeting Disguised Among The Gatherings. The Government Responded To The Charter With Severe Brutality, And Arrested In December 1956 One Hundred And Fifty-Six Leaders From Different Currents, And Mandela Was At The Forefront Of Them, And Directing The Charge Of “High Treason” Which Its Punishment Reaches Execution, Trying Thus To Cut The Head Of The National Movement With One Decisive Blow.
The High Treason Trial Continued For More Than Four Full Years, And The Hall Turned Into An Arena Of Open Ideological Conflict Between Two Visions Of The World: The Vision Of Apartheid Based On Race And Control, And The Vision Of The National Movement Based On Dignity And Comprehensive Humanity. Mandela And His Comrades Used The Trial As A Media And Political Platform To Expose The Crimes Of The Regime Before Local And International Public Opinion. Despite Restraint And Constant Threat Of Execution, The Accused Showed Legendary Steadfastness And High Moral Spirit That Confused The Public Prosecution, Until The Trial Ended In 1961 With Acquittal Of All Accused For Lack Of Proof Of Seeking To Change The System By Violence In That Stage. However, This Result Did Not Mean Safety Of The Road; Rather It Was Merely The Calm That Precedes The Raging Storm That Will Change The Rules Of The Political Game In South Africa Forever.
Mandela Emerged From The Trial To Find A Country Boiling On The Embers Of Anger, Especially After The Terrible “Sharpeville” Massacre In 1960 In Which White Police Fired On A Peaceful Demonstration Demanding Abolition Of Pass Laws, Resulting In The Death Of Dozens Of Unarmed Citizens And The Fall Of Hundreds Of Wounded. The Government Banned The African National Congress Party And Imposed A State Of Emergency, To Close Thus All Windows And Paths Available For Legitimate Peaceful Political Work. Here, Mandela Stood At A Decisive Crossroads In His Life And In The History Of An Entire Nation: Does He Continue In The Peaceful Approach Which The State Answers With Bullets And Killing, Or Move To The Stage Of Armed Struggle To Confront Colonial Violence With Counter Revolutionary Violence? The Historic Decision Was Courageous And Harsh, Where Mandela Realized That Peacefulness When It Becomes A Means For Surrender Is No Longer A Virtue, And That The Time Has Come To Break The White State’s Monopoly On Weapons, Preparing The Country To Enter A Completely New Stage Known As The Stage Of “Secret Resistance And The Military Wing”.
The Revolution And The Rivonia Trial Facing The Gallows
We Arrive At The Historic Decisive Moment In Which The Political Thought Of Freedom Intersected With The Choice Of Arms, Where The Racist Authorities Closed All Windows And Peaceful Outlets Before Popular Demands, And Replaced Diplomacy With The Language Of Brutality And Bullets. The Transformation Toward Armed Struggle Was Not For Mandela And His Comrades A Primary Ideological Choice Or A Desire To Shed Blood, But Was A Last Refuge Imposed By The Military Machine Of The Apartheid System By Force, After Insistence On Absolute Peacefulness In The Face Of A Brutal Killing Machine Became A Political Suicide And Free Surrender. And In This Furnace, “The Black Pimpernel” Was Born, And Mandela Moved Disguised Like A Specter Between Regions Of The Continent To Formulate The Strategy Of Comprehensive Confrontation, Before Falling Into The Trap To Stand With Complete Brave Steadfastness Before Judges Of Oppression Putting His Entire Life On The Stake Of Execution.
After The Sad Sharpeville Massacre In 1960 And Banning Of The African National Congress Party, Political Death Hovered Over South Africa, And The Colonial State Seemed As If It Had Decided The Conflict With Iron And Blood And Intimidation. In This Dark Moment, The Leadership Of The Party Decided To Assign A Difficult Historic Mission To Mandela, Which Is To Completely Disappear From Sight And Move To Underground Secret Work. The Elegant Lawyer Accustomed To Court Corridors Transformed Into A Disguised Fugitive Wearing The Attire Of Workers And Drivers And Servants, And Moving Between Farms And Poor Neighborhoods Under Supervision Of Security Apparatuses That Exhausted All Their Powers To Arrest Him. The Press Gave Him The Nickname “The Black Pimpernel”, For His Superb Skill In Dodging Ambushes And Intelligence Apparatuses And Avoiding Spy Networks. Disguise For Him Was Not Merely A Trick For Individual Survival, But Was A Vital Means To Reorganize Frustrated Popular Bases, And Plant Hope Again In Souls, And Confirm To The Masses That Its Leadership Is Still Alive And Active And Working Among Its Ranks.
This Secret March Was Crowned With The Most Difficult Historic Decision In 1961: Establishing The Military Wing Of The African National Congress Party Known As “Umkhonto We Sizwe” Or (Spear Of The Nation). Mandela Was Appointed Supreme Commander Of This New Armed Organization, To Write Himself Its First Founding Statement In Which He Addressed His People And The World Frankly That The Time Has Come To Confront Aggression; Because The Government Understands Only The Language Of Force. However, Mandela, With His Strict Moral And Philosophical Sense, Rejected The Option Of Random Guerrilla War Or Terror Directed Against Unarmed Civilians, And Chose The Strategy Of “Organized Sabotage” As A First And Rational Step. The Plan Was To Target Vital And Economic Installations Belonging To The State, Such As Electricity Lines And Railway Stations And Government Buildings, Aiming To Paralyze The Material Capability Of The Regime And Force Foreign Investors To Withdraw Their Money, Without Shedding Human Blood, Leaving The Door Of Negotiation Open If The White Regime Became Reasonable And Realized The Cost Of Oppressing The People.
In Early 1962, Mandela Secretly Left The Country Without A Passport In An Epic And Risky Journey Across The African Continent Reaching Europe, Aiming To Bring Financial And Military And Political Support For “Spear Of The Nation”. Mandela Visited A Large Number Of Newly Independent African Countries, Such As Ethiopia And Algeria And Egypt And Ghana And Morocco, Where He Was Received With The Reception Of Conquerors And Met Great Leaders Such As Gamal Abdel Nasser And Ahmed Ben Bella And Emperor Of Ethiopia Haile Selassie. In Algeria, Which Had Just Emerged From A Fierce Liberation War Against French Colonialism, Mandela Received Intensive Lessons In Military Art And Guerrilla Warfare And Revolutionary Strategies At The Hands Of Leaders Of The National Liberation Front. There He Realized That Military Force Is Nothing But A Mere Extension Of Politics, And That Weapons Have No Value If They Do Not Serve A Clear National Goal And Framed By A Conscious Liberation Ideology. He Also Underwent Intensive Field Military Training On Use Of Weapons And Explosives Tactics In Ethiopia, In Preparation For Establishing A Real African Liberation Army.
The “Black Pimpernel” Returned To South Africa With His Plans Tightened, And Warning His Comrades Of Underestimating The Enemy, But Fates Were Hiding A Harsh And Human Drama. On The Fifth Of August In The Year 1962, And During His Return From A Secret Meeting With Party Leadership In Durban While He Was Moving In A Car Under A Pseudonym And Personality Of A Driver, Mandela Fell Into A Tight Ambush Prepared By Police Near The City Of Howick, After Leaking Accurate Intelligence Information About His Movements. Mandela Was Arrested, And Sentenced In The Beginning To Five Years Imprisonment On Charges Of Leaving The Country Illegally And Inciting Strike. However, The Racist Authorities Were Not Satisfied With This Much, As They In 1963 Combed And Raided The Secret Headquarters Of The Leadership Of “Spear Of The Nation” In The Farm Of “Rivonia” Near Johannesburg, And Found There Top Secret Documents, And Maps, And Plans For Comprehensive Military Confrontation Bearing The Signature Of Mandela And His Comrades.
Mandela Was Transferred From His Prison To Appear Again Before The Court In July 1963, In What Was Historically Known As “Rivonia Trial”, Which Included Beside Him An Elite Of Most Prominent Struggle Leaders Such As Walter Sisulu, And Ahmed Kathrada, And Denis Goldberg, And Others. The Charges Directed To Them This Time Were Conspiring To Overthrow The Government By Force And Planning Guerrilla War, Which Are Charges That Strict Apartheid Laws Stipulate The Punishment Of Death By Hanging Till Death To Punish Its Perpetrators. The Unjust Government Sought To Portray Mandela And His Comrades Before The World As A Group Of Terrorists And Saboteurs And Mercenaries Loyal To Communism, Trying Thus To Strip Moral And Political Legitimacy From Their Just Cause. But Mandela Seized The Opportunity To Turn Magic Against The Magician, Transforming The Gloomy Courtroom Into A Global Historic Platform To Try The Racist Regime Itself And Expose Its Brutality Before Human Conscience.
On The Twentieth Of April In The Year 1964, Nelson Mandela Stood In The Dock To Present His Famous Defense Statement Which Lasted Four Full Hours, Which Is Considered One Of The Greatest Political And Moral Speeches In The History Of Modern Humanity. Mandela Did Not Defend Himself In A Justifying Legal Style, And Did Not Deny Facts Or Beg For Mercy From The White Judge, But Admitted Courageously With Full Responsibility For Establishing “Spear Of The Nation” And Planning Armed Operations, Explaining The Detailed Moral And Political Reasons That Pushed The Party To Take This Harsh Choice After Closing All Doors Of Peaceful Struggle. Mandela Reviewed In His Speech The Pains Of His Homeland, And The Extreme Poverty And Humiliation In Which Africans Live, And The Exclusivist Superiority Of Whites With Wealth And Dignity, Affirming That His Struggle Is Not Stemming From Hatred For Whites But From Pure Love For Freedom And Human Equality.
Mandela Concluded His Immortal Speech With Words That Shook The Pillars Of The Hall And Made The World’s Eyes Stare, Cutting Silence By Saying: “I Have Dedicated My Life To Serving This 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 See Achieved. But If Needs Be, It Is An Ideal For Which I Am Prepared To Die”. This Powerful Conclusion Was Not Merely Verbal Rhetoric, But Was A Real And Conscious Readiness To Ascend The Execution Platform With Head Raised. And On The Twelfth Of June 1964, The Judge Announced The Verdict: Life Imprisonment Instead Of Execution, Fearing That Mandela Would Turn Into A Martyr Inspiring Mass Revolution. Thus The Page Of Freedom In Mandela’s Life Was Folded To Begin The Stage Of Strict Isolation In The Desolate Robben Island, Where The White Nationalist Regime Thought It Buried Mandela Alive In A Narrow Cell, Not Realizing That High Walls Would Make Of Him A Global Legend That Shakes The Pillars Of The System From The Heart Of Its Darkness.
The Legend Of Robben Island And The Breaking Of The Shackle To Historic Victory
We Arrive At The Final Epic Chapter Which Summarizes One Of The Greatest Challenges In Modern Political History. It Is The Stage Of Transformation From The Darkness Of Harsh Isolated Prison In “Robben Island” To The Corridors Of Complex Negotiations, And Then The Historic Coronation With The Presidency Of South Africa As The First Black Democratic President Of The Country. The Judges Of Apartheid When They Issued Their Verdict Of Life Imprisonment In The Rivonia Trial In 1964 Thought They Buried Mandela And His Comrades In Oblivion, And That Once The Cell Door Is Closed On A Rocky Isolated Island In The Heart Of The Ocean, Revolutionary Thought Will Die And The Mass Giant Will Be Extinguished. But Experience Proved That Prison Was Nothing But A University That Refined The Spirit Of The Leader, And A Factory For Strategic Planning That Dismantled The Structure Of Apartheid From Within Its Darkness.
The Island Of “Robben Island” Was Like A Colonial Fortress Specifically Designed To Break The Will Of Political Detainees And Strip Them Of The Lowest Elements Of Human Dignity. Mandela Was Entered Into A Solitary Narrow Cell Not Exceeding A Few Feet In Area, Containing A Thin Straw Mat And A Plastic Bucket For Defecation, And Surrounded By A Cold Cement Wall That Blocks The Outside World From Him. The Prison Administration Imposed A Strict And Racist System Even In Details Of Daily Life; Food Rations And Dress Rules Were Determined Based On Race, Where African Detainees Get The Least Nutritionally Valuable Meals And Short Pants With Little Coverage, Aiming To Entrench The Complex Of Inferiority And Organized Psychological Humiliation. And In The Blazing Lime Quarry Under Scorching Sun Rays, Mandela And His Comrades Were Forced To Dig Rocks Daily For Long Hours, Which Are Forms Of Hard Labor That Caused Him Permanent Damage In His Sight And Lungs.
However, Mandela With His Philosophical Solidity Was Able To Transform Prison Into “University Of Robben Island”. He Realized From The First Day That The Real Battle Inside Prison Is A Battle Of Minds And Wills, And That Victory Begins By Imposing The Prisoner’s Respect On His Jailer. Mandela Led An Organizational Movement Inside Detention, In Which He Established Study Of History, And Languages, And Legal Sciences, And Political Ideologies Among Prisoners. Mandela Learned The Language “Afrikaans” (Language Of Ruling Whites) And Studied The History Of Boer People And Their Religious Doctrine Accurately, That Was Not Surrender Or Dissolution In The Culture Of The Colonizer, But Application Of The Strategic Principle That Says: “To Defeat Your Enemy, You Must First Understand His Mentality And Weak Points”. Thanks To This Deep Understanding, Mandela Gradually Transformed In The Eyes Of Prison Guards And Its Administration From Merely A Dangerous Criminal Into A Majestic Leader To Whom A Thousand Accounts Are Calculated, And Forced Prison Administration After Long Hunger Strikes To Improve Living Conditions And Lift Individual Oppression.
Outside The Prison Walls, Conditions Were Exploding In South Africa And Outside It During The Seventies And Eighties Of The Twentieth Century. The Uprising Of “Soweto” Students In 1976 Charged Blood In The Arteries Of The Liberation Movement, And The International Boycott Movement Against The Racist Regime Escalated, And Economic And Diplomatic And Popular Pressures Around The World Intensified To Demand Release Of Mandela. The Name “Nelson Mandela” Became A Planetary Symbol For Freedom And Justice, And An Inspiring Icon For Oppressed Peoples Everywhere. The Ruling Regime Was Unable To Extinguish The Ember Of Internal Revolution And To Bear Increasing International And Economic Isolation, Which Forced It In The Mid-Eighties To Try To Offer Bargains And Conditional Release Windows To Mandela; Where Prime Minister Botha Offered Immediate Release On One Condition: That Mandela Declare Renunciation Of Armed Struggle And Political Violence.
The Brave And Radical Response Of Mandela Came From His Cell Eloquent And Influential Through A Speech Read By His Daughter Zindzi To The Inflamed Public In Soweto Stadium: “What Freedom Is This That Is Offered To Me While The Association Of My People Is Banned? It Is Not Mandela Who Refuses Conditions, But Apartheid That Must Go. What Freedom Is Offered To Me As Long As I Am Not Free To Express My Opinion? A Prisoner Citizen Cannot Negotiate; Only Free People Have The Right To Negotiate”. This Immortal Position Proved That Mandela Does Not Seek Individual Salvation Or Personal Comfort, But Sees Himself As Merely A True Embodiment Of The Will Of The People And Its Historic Demands That Are Not Subject To Division Or Bargaining.
Mandela Was Later Transferred To “Pollsmoor” Prison Then To “Victor Verster” Prison, Where Secret Channels And Complex Negotiations Began Between Him And Senior Officials In The Apartheid System, And At The Head Of Them Minister Kobie Coetsee And Later President De Klerk. Mandela Waged Difficult Negotiations Under Complex Conditions, Placing Before His Eyes Avoiding A Destructive Racial Civil War That Might Eat Green And Dry, And At The Same Time Not Compromising On The Principle Of Transfer Of Power To The Majority And Ending The Exclusivist Control Of Whites. And On The Eleventh Of February In The Year 1990, And After Twenty-Seven Continuous Years In The Darkness Of Prison, The Doors Of Detention Opened, And Nelson Mandela Came Out With Head Raised Holding The Hand Of His Wife Winnie, To Take His First Step In The Free World Amid Astonishment And Passion Of Millions Around The World.
The Stage After Release Was Not Paved With Roses, But Was Full Of Mines And Threats; As Forces Of The Extreme White Right Tried To Obstruct The Process Of Democratic Transition, And Waves Of Racial Violence And Civil Strife Escalated In Poor Areas. However, The Wise Leadership Of Mandela And His Superb Self-Control Spared The Country The Catastrophe Of Civil Holocaust, Especially After The Assassination Of The Beloved Young Leader Chris Hani In 1993, Where Mandela Directed A Calming Televised Speech To The Entire Nation, With Which He Absorbed The Anger Of The Masses And Forced The Regime To Set An Immediate Date For Holding The First Comprehensive Democratic Elections. And In April 1994, Millions Of Citizens From All Races Headed For The First Time In The History Of The Country To Ballot Boxes, To Elect Nelson Mandela By An Overwhelming Majority As President Of The Republic Of South Africa.
In His Historic Inauguration Ceremony In Pretoria, Mandela Announced The Birth Of “Rainbow Nation”, Affirming That This Beautiful Land Will Never Again Witness Domination Of Man Over Man, And Embodying The Deep Hegelian Dialectic In Its Clearest Form; When He Extended His Hand For Reconciliation With His Former Executioners, Proving That True Freedom Involves Liberating The Victim From The Pains Of Injustice And Liberating The Oppressor At The Same Time From The Shackles Of His Fears And His Racial Greed. The Biography Of “Long Walk To Freedom” Transcended Being Merely Individual Memoirs, To Become An Immortal Human And Political Document, Rewriting The Concept Of Power And Empire, And Inspiring Future Generations That The Struggle Of Peoples For Dignity And Freedom Is A Historical Inevitable Law That No Mightiest Colonial Powers Can Strangle Or Stop Its March.
