NELSON MANDELA

ÁNGEL ALBERTO DE LOS RÍOS NAVARRO – 4ªC

WHY IS MANDELA CONSIDERED A HERO OF THE
20TH CENTURY?
In 1948, a group of radical nationalists came to the government of
South Africa that brought with them a regime of racial segregation in
which the supremacy of the white man prevailed. Mandela, far from
succumbing to the racist absolutism of the government, organized a
rebellion of non-violent civil disobedience from within the ANC. After
10 years of untiring struggle against apartheid, the ruling leaders
wanted to put an end to the ANC resistance and illegalize the party,
leading Mandela and the other activists to organize an armed struggle
from the underground. On August 5, 1962, Nelson Mandela was
arrested for conspiracy against the government (among other crimes)
and would spend the next 27 years in jail.
WHAT IS APARTHEID?
It is a political and social system developed in the
Republic of South Africa and other South African
states, based on the segregation or separation of the
population for racial or ethnic reasons and
discriminatory treatment of the black population.
HOW DID THE INTERNATIONAL EMBARGO AFFECT
SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICS?
South Africa introduced apartheid in 1948, as a systematic extension of pre-existing
racial discrimination in the country. Initially the regime implemented an offensive
foreign policy trying to consolidate South African hegemony over Southern Africa.[1]
These attempts had clearly failed by the late 1970s. As a result of racism and foreign
interventionism the country became increasingly isolated internationally until
apartheid was ended and racial equality introduced in 1993.
WHY WAS MANDELA AWARDED THE NOBEL PEACE
PRIZE?
After his release on February 11, 1990, Mandela worked together
with the then president of South Africa, Frederik Willem de Klerk,
leading his party in the negotiations to achieve a multiracial democracy
in South Africa, which was achieved in 1994, with the first democratic
elections by universal suffrage. For their joint work, both Nelson
Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk received the 1993 Nobel Peace
Prize.
WHAT WERE MANDELA’S ACHIEVEMENTS?
• Sculpture by Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg.
• Mandela has received around 50 honorary doctorates from different universities
around the world. Along with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, in addition to Khan Abdul
Ghaffar Khan, he has been the only foreigner to have been distinguished with Bharat
Ratna, the most prestigious civil prize in India.
• Arthur Ashe Award (2009)
• Ambassador of Conscience, awarded by Amnesty International (2006)
• Keys of the City (2004)
• Nobel Peace Prize in 1993
• Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize
• Order of Canada
• Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation (1992)
• Order of Saint John
• Presidential Medal of Freedom (2002)
• Order of Merit of the United Kingdom (1995)
• Isithwalandwe (1992)
• Bharat Ratna (1990)
• Lenin of Peace Award (1962)
• Simón Bolívar International Award (1983)
• National Peace Prize (1995)
• Sakharov Prize (1988)
• Sculpture at the Palace of Westminster, London (2007)
• Order of Merit of FIFA
• Doctor Honoris Causa for 6 universities of the Laureate International Universities
network, the European University of Madrid, the Andrés Bello University of Chile, the
Walden University (United States), the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences, the
University of Bilgi (Istanbul) and the University of the Americas, of Ecuador.