On July 18, 1918, exactly 100 years ago, Nelson Mandela was born - one of the most famous political figures of the twentieth century, a Nobel laureate, whose name in our country and throughout the world is strongly associated with the struggle against apartheid. In Soviet times, Mandela was viewed as a hero of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist resistance, however, even after the collapse of the USSR, the attitude towards Mandela was purely positive - not only from the leftist public, but also from the West. Only now such an unambiguous outlook on life and struggle of this truly outstanding and in many ways worthy person has been rethought. Like most politicians, Mandela cannot be viewed only in a positive or negative way.
For a native of Black Africa, from the South African Kosa people, Nelson Mandela has really achieved a lot, becoming a global figure. The Mandela family came from the Tembu clan of the Kosa people living in the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape. The great-grandfather of the future Nobel laureate was a traditional Tembu leader, and his grandfather, whose name was Mandela, gave rise to the surname. Nelson Gadl's father Henry Mandela was the head of the village of Mfezo, where in 1918 the hero of our article appeared. Gadl Mandela had four wives who bore him thirteen children - nine daughters and four sons. From the third wife of Nongapi, a boy was born, named Rolihlahla - "Tearing off the branches of a tree." He grew up a smart guy and therefore he was the first of the children of Gadl Mandela to be sent to school. There Rolihlahla got the English name Nelson.
At that time, the British tried to Europeanize the local traditional elites, so the children of chiefs and elites, the offspring of noble families, were admitted to schools at Christian missions, and then continued their studies in colleges. Mandela was no exception. He attended Methodist Elementary School, then Clarkbury Boarding Institute, and Fort Beaufort Methodist College. After graduating in 1939, Nelson was enrolled at Fort Hare University, at the time the only institution in the country where black Africans could pursue higher education. But Mandela, already at the end of his first year, began to speak out in opposition to the university leadership, and then left his studies, quarreled with his guardian and went to Johannesburg, where he worked as a watchman, a clerk in a law firm.
Then, having reconciled with his guardian, Mandela continued his education by correspondence and in 1942 received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of South Africa. He entered the Faculty of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand, but never received his degree. In 1943, he became closely involved in opposition activities and began to take part in various protests. Mandela became a member of the African National Congress (ANC), the country's main anti-colonial party, founded back in 1912. In 1948, Mandela became secretary of the more radical ANC Youth League, and in 1950 he became national president of the ANC Youth League.
At this time, Mandela had not yet decided to go over to organizing armed resistance to the colonialists, but advocated actions of civil disobedience following the example of the followers of Mahatma Gandhi in India. Mandela's position became radicalized after his arrest in 1956, and although he was later acquitted, his views on political struggle became much more revolutionary. Of course, the evolution of Mandela's views was also influenced by the rise of anti-colonial movements around the world - the war in Indochina, the national liberation struggle in Algeria, the emergence of the first independent states of Tropical Africa, protests against segregation in the United States.
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On the other hand, since the early 1960s. The Soviet Union also stepped up support for a number of African national liberation movements operating in the Portuguese colonies and in the south of the continent. Contacts were also established with the African National Congress, since some of the prominent figures of the ANC were also members of the South African Communist Party. Nelson Mandela was also very close to the South African communists at that time, who formed an influential group in the leadership of the anti-colonial movement.
In 1961, on the initiative of a number of leaders of the ANC and SACP, among whom was Mandela, a military-political organization "Umkonto ve Sizwe" was created, whose name in translation from the Zulu language meant "Spear of the nation." The formal reason for the creation of the "Spear of the Nation", which became the armed wing of the ANC, was the brutal reprisal of the police against a peaceful demonstration in the village of Sharpeville - on March 21, 1960, 69 people were killed there.
However, there was a much more serious reason - in 1961, the Union of South Africa, which was the dominion of the British Empire, became the Republic of South Africa. This gave the dark-skinned fighters against colonialism hope for radical changes in the political life of the country and in the situation of the African population. But the Soviet Union, interested in expanding its influence on the African continent, began to actively support all national liberation movements in southern Africa - in Angola, Mozambique, South-West Africa (Namibia), Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and, accordingly, in South Africa … Practically from the first years of its existence, the armed wing of the ANC began to receive a wide variety of assistance from the Soviet Union. Hundreds of South African rebels studied at Soviet military schools, primarily at the 165th Training Center for the training of foreign military personnel. The USSR did not forget about the training of civilian personnel from among the supporters of the ANC, since the purpose of the organization was to transfer power into the hands of Africans, and this required future leaders, engineers, and doctors.
The South African police began a real hunt for Nelson Mandela, who had been on the run since 1961. Ultimately, he was caught with the help of US CIA agents, who informed the South African authorities of the whereabouts of the ANC leader. On October 25, 1962, Mandela was sentenced to 5 years in prison for organizing a strike and illegally crossing the state border. Perhaps Mandela would have been released in five years, or even earlier, but on July 11, 1963, South African police seized several ANC leaders on a farm in Rivonia (a suburb of Johannesburg) and found Mandela's diaries. They, in particular, contained plans for sabotage against objects of the energy infrastructure of South Africa. This was strong evidence that the ANC leaders were guilty of a serious crime. On June 12, 1964, all those responsible, including Mandela, were sentenced to life in prison.
Nelson Mandela, now listed only as "inmate # 46664," was placed in a maximum-security prison on Robben Island, 12 kilometers from the Cape of Good Hope. Since the 17th century, the island has been used as the site of a convict prison, first by the Dutch and then by the British. For eighteen years, from 1964 to 1982, Nelson Mandela spent in solitary confinement in a prison on Robben Island, working in the harshest conditions at the local limestone quarry and receiving a scanty portion of food. But even in such conditions that would break even hardened criminals, Nelson Mandela did not despair, did not renounce his convictions and did not degrade. He managed to study in absentia at the University of London, his popularity has increased many times not only among black residents of South Africa, but throughout the world. The release of Mandela was demanded in the Soviet Union and in Europe, he was admired by both the communists and the liberals.
In March 1982, Nelson Mandela and several other ANC leaders were transferred from Robben Island to Polsmur Prison. This decision of the authorities was conditioned by the changes taking place in world and African politics. By 1982, a number of yesterday's colonies in the south of the African continent managed to gain independence. In 1975 Mozambique and Angola became sovereign states, in 1980 Southern Rhodesia gained political independence, renamed Zimbabwe. The supporters of independence in South-West Africa (Namibia), still under the control of the South African troops, acted quite successfully. At about the same time, the paradigm of American-European policy regarding the anti-colonial struggle on the African continent began to change. South Africa's actions met with increasing disapproval in Washington and London,and the revolution in Portugal and the proclamation of an independent Zimbabwe instead of Southern Rhodesia deprived South Africa of its last regional allies. Now South Africa found itself surrounded by unfriendly African countries, which provided comprehensive assistance to the ANC.
In February 1985, South African President Peter Botha appealed to Nelson Mandela with a proposal to release him if the latter abandons terrorist methods of struggle. But Mandela, as one would expect, bluntly rejected this offer, saying that only free people can negotiate, and his organization remains banned in South Africa. Nevertheless, this proposal started the negotiation process. Already in November 1985, Mandela met with representatives of the South African government. The leader of the ANC at that time was being treated in the Cape Town hospital - this fact already indicated that Mandela's detention regime had improved significantly. Although the ANC leader continued to remain behind bars, such meetings became relatively regular.
In 1988, Mandela was transferred to Victor-Verster prison, lifting numerous restrictions on visits by supporters, lawyers and journalists. The world was changing rapidly and the South African government could not help but react. Moreover, Nelson Mandela's “patrons” were also replaced at the same time. Soviet Union by the end of the 1980s. began to curtail aid to anti-colonial movements, and the United States and Western Europe, on the contrary, decided to seize the initiative and establish contacts with African politicians, including those who were previously oriented towards the USSR.
On February 11, 1990, Nelson Mandela was released. This event was broadcast live by leading TV channels around the world. A new page began in the life of Mandela and a new era in the history of South Africa. In fact, the liberation of Mandela marked the end of the centuries-old era of European colonial rule in the south of the African continent. In 1993, Nelson Mandela became a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which also spoke of his recognition by the Western elites.
In April 1994, the South African regime was forced to hold the first democratic elections with the participation of the entire population of the country. As you might expect, the African National Congress won, and Nelson Mandela was elected President of the Republic of South Africa, becoming the first black person in this post. Mandela remained president of the country until 1999. Nelson Mandela died in 2013, at the age of 95, not having lived only five years before the centenary.
However, the rise to power of the African National Congress did not bring the people of South Africa the long-awaited true justice. Power was in the hands of the black elite - ANC veterans and representatives of their clan groups. Having turned into the most ordinary African country with tribalism, corruption, violence, South Africa is rapidly losing all its former attractive features, all those foundations that once provided it with the first place in terms of economic development on the continent.
The country began "apartheid vice versa", resulting not only in discrimination against the white population, but also numerous crimes against Europeans, including robbery, rape, bloody massacres of entire families of Boers, and indeed any "outsiders" - from the British to the Indians. A significant number of white farmers, engineers, skilled workers left South Africa, which inevitably resulted in the growth of personnel shortages in many specialties. Meanwhile, millions of black residents of the country, despite the unleashed campaign of redistribution of the property of white colonists, remain in an extremely unfavorable social position, which is caused by the lack of education, qualifications that allow them to work, and mental characteristics. In South African cities, the crime situation has seriously worsened,now the crime rate in the country is one of the highest in the world.
The republic, rich in natural resources, has always been a tasty morsel for transnational corporations and Western powers. At a certain point, the ruling circles of the West came to the conclusion that it would be easier for them to "work" with yesterday's partisans than with the former leaders of South Africa, the Boers. This is one of the main secrets of changing attitudes towards Mandela and the ANC in the West - yesterday's "terrorist" has turned in a new situation into the main fighter for peace and a Nobel laureate. Although the United States removed the African National Congress from the list of terrorist organizations many years after Mandela was elected President of South Africa.
Ilya Polonsky