“UBUNTU” is a word in the xhosa language that loosely translates as “I am because you are”. It is a word that expresses the solidarity of all peoples and the duty of the individual for an egalitarian, inclusive and respectful life. A word noted through Nelson Mandela, who, as an anti-apartheid revolutionary, South Africa’s first black president and a tireless philanthropist, remains a symbol of black resistance movements around the world.
In honor of Nelson Mandela Day, which took place on July 18, NEB activists shared their favorite Mandela quotes on social media. From Nigeria to Italy and Canada, Mandela’s words continue to touch and motivate other young people around the world in their current activism. Here are five of the shared maximum appointments and some additional main points about Mandela’s legacy.
Born Rolihlahla Mandela on 18 July 1918 in Mvezo, a village in eastern South Africa, Mandela grew up as a member of the royal circle of relatives at thembu Court. He received Nelson’s call at a Christian baptism on his first day at school. He grew up as a devout Christian, influenced by Xhosa culture and traditions, at a time of harsh segregation policies in South Africa.
In 1948, the national party government passed apartheid laws. They laid the foundation for the government’s policy of institutionalized and legalized segregation and implemented the government’s openly racist discrimination policies. Together with his fellow politicians, Mandela fought against apartheid and all those affected by systematic and oppressed discrimination. In 1952, he presented the Challenge Campaign, a series of nonviolent demonstrations through other people of color, rights that were not easy to equivalent to all South Africans and whose protests were violently suppressed by order of the National Party. For his role in the Defiance campaign, Mandela, along with other activists, received a nine-month suspended sentence.
For his decades of political resistance, Mandela awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. On 27 April 1994, he allowed voting for the first time at the age of 47 in the first public elections. The ANC won a majority of votes and Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first black and democratically elected president. He founded the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate human rights violations committed under apartheid and enacted national programmes to reform the government itself, social formula, and housing and housing conditions.
In 1999, after a term, Mandela resigned as planned. He then spent the rest of his life as an activist, that is, in the fight against AIDS, and remained concerned as a philanthropist until his death in 2013.
Today, Mandela is a symbol of resistance and a source of inspiration, and is an example of how a user can reposition the global. We are very pleased that ONE activists around the world are social media to remind others of Mandela’s legacy and take his movements and words seriously. After all, “it is in your hands to make our world a better position for all.”
To learn more about Nelson Mandela’s legacy, see the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which continues Mandela’s work. To learn more important points about her life, we present Mandela’s biography “Long March to Freedom” and the accompanying documentation.
Would you like to be more informed about activism and socio-political school work, or even be part of the movement? Learn more about ONE’s Young Ambassadors in Europe program and ONE’s Africa Champions Programme.
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