preface
I think everyone has heard the song "Glorious Years", which was written by the beyond band to Mandela, the first black president of South Africa, in 1988, which strongly expressed admiration for Mandela, and the lyrics that I remember vividly are probably the phrase "The meaning of black skin to him is the dedication of a lifetime".
Mandela
It is said that Mandela also found someone to translate the song after learning about it, and after knowing the meaning of the lyrics, he burst into tears.
In fact, for many years, the controversy over Mandela has been very large, some people say that Mandela is the father of South Africa who led South Africa to peace and hope, while others say that Mandela is "discredited", "dragging down" South Africa's economy and destroying South Africa.
Today we will talk about the life of Mandela behind the glorious years.
History of South Africa
South Africa, as the name suggests, is the southernmost tip of Africa, and the earliest indigenous people in South Africa are the Bantu and Koisan peoples.
In the 17th century, the Dutch crossed the sea to Cape Town, South Africa, and established the Lou lan East India Company here, which was also the beginning of South Africa's becoming a Dutch colony.
Later, a large number of French and Germans came to South Africa, forming a white ethnic group called the Boers living in South Africa.
As the white population grew, the Boers and later the British, who traveled to South Africa, drove or enslaved the indigenous population of South Africa to occupy a large amount of land.
Of course, there was a lot of friction between the natives and the Boers during this period, and in the 1770s, the two sides clashed again, and the indigenous people of South Africa were defeated, and this war not only caused the south African natives to lose their land, but also became employees of European farms.
Later, in order to seize a large amount of land and resources, the Boers could only move inland, and two Boer republics were established successively.
At the end of the 19th century, the Boers discovered a large number of diamond mines in the area where they established their republic, and the British learned of this news and demanded that the Boers give some of the distribution of these gold mines to the British.
The Boers were also very strong and unwilling to give such good resources to Britain, and two wars were launched between the two sides, known as the Boer Wars.
Boer War
The first war broke out on December 16, 1880, lasted only a few months, and the second lasted in 1899, which lasted for more than two years, and the British crushed the Boers with absolute numerical and financial superiority.
However, the British still did not completely subdue the Boers, but the two sides reached a consensus, but the British still annexed the Republic created by the Boers.
In 1910, Britain merged the four possessions it controlled: Cape Natal, Telandova and the Oran Free State to form the Union of South Africa.
At that time, there were still white races such as British and Dutch in South Africa, but there were not as many black races as there were, and white African governments had always suppressed black people, promoted racial discrimination, and even implemented a policy of apartheid.
Blacks and whites cannot go to the same school, and blacks cannot appear in public places such as churches and restaurants where whites live, let alone intermarry with whites.
The story of Mandela behind the glory days
And the protagonist of our article, The Father of South Africa, Mandela, was born in such a dark era of extreme inequality between blacks and whites.
Everyone generally has an intuitive impression that the black leader always feels that he was born poor and poor, but in fact, Mandela's grandfather was once the king of the Tempus dynasty in South Africa, and Mandela's father was also a tribal chief at that time.
Therefore, Mandela can be said to be a "prince" born with a golden spoon, but even the status of black people is noble and white people will be discriminated against and oppressed.
Mandela's father was also upright, and he could not stand the oppression and exploitation of the whites, but only confronted the whites for a few words, he was demoted, and the property and land of the Mandela family were recovered, and finally Mandela's father died in poverty.
Mandela was filled with grief over the death of his father, but did not allow himself to fall, and after the death of his father Mandela came to live in Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa.
Because of the black skin color, Mandela even worked in the lower social profession of security guards, but Mandela was not discouraged.
After a few years of working to make ends meet, he was admitted to the law department of the best university in South Africa and became a lawyer thereafter.
Mandela, who became a lawyer, had a smooth life and married a nurse and gave birth to a child, but this good life did not last long.
Mandela became a lawyer because he single-handedly defended and justice his fellow blacks.
But under the brutal and cold laws of the apartheid system at the time, this was simply an unattainable dream, and in 1944, the South African government decided to demolish the black slums in Johannesburg in order to build houses for whites, which meant that thousands of blacks would be displaced.
Mandela initially wanted to pass laws to sanction white African governments, but because Mandela was black, he did not even have the opportunity to fight a lawsuit, and then Mandela called on a large number of black compatriots to march together in the streets to protest.
The move was quickly stopped by the white police, who convicted Mr. Mandela of treason and imprisoned him.
White governments in Africa placed trumped-up charges on Mandela, and although Mandela was acquitted some time later, Mandela's wife flew away with her children.
In a short period of time, Mandela experienced the tragedy of joy and imprisonment, but Mandela still did not give up, he quit his job as a lawyer, turned his eyes to the political field, and also joined the organization of the African National Congress, becoming an important leader of the organization.
Although Mandela has done his best to fight for the interests and political status of his fellow blacks, for more than a decade, the situation of blacks has not improved, but has become more and more deeply involved.
In 1961, South Africa established the Republic of South Africa, and when the Kuomintang came to power in 1984, it intensified its apartheid system, including a bill that "imprisoned" more than 10 million black people in the living area of only 10% of South Africa.
After the law was enacted, the black people in South Africa were indignant, and Mandela took the lead in organizing demonstrations.
On March 21, 1960, more than 5,000 blacks gathered at the gates of these white police stations to protest, and these policemen, in order to maintain law and order, shot at this group of unarmed blacks, 69 blacks died on the spot, and more than 200 blacks were injured, which is the famous "Sharpeville Massacre" in history.
The death of countless innocent blacks and the cold-blooded cruelty of white people made Mandela realize that the law and street protests could not save black people from the depths of the water, and Mandela decided to solve the problem by force and fight with white people to the end.
In 1961 Mandela also organized a black armed force of the "Spear of the Nation", and Mandela became a radical militant, creating explosions in major cities such as Johannesburg, Durban, and Port Elizabeth.
The white government also hated Mandalay so much that it tried to arrest Mandela many times, and in 1962, Mandalay was arrested again, but this time differently.
The white government initially convicted Mandela of incitement and illegal crossing the border, then felt that the criminal law was too light, and added charges to Mandela for attempting to violently overthrow the government, wanting To spend his entire life in prison.
Robben Island Prison
The white government imprisoned Mandela in Robben Island Prison, which was filled with blacks involved in the political realm, simply political prisoners.
The white government at the time did not dare to kill these black political prisoners casually, but it did not make them feel comfortable.
For example, in the Robben Island prison where Mandela was staying, before Mandela entered, prisoners could only wear shorts in spring, summer, autumn or winter, and if illness caused death, it had nothing to do with the prison side.
After Mandela went in, he organized other prisoners to go on a hunger strike, at first the warden did not take it seriously, but after many days they did not eat, the warden was a little anxious, it turned out that Mandela wanted to go on a hunger strike in exchange for long clothes and trousers, and finally the warden compromised.
But Mandela was also severely punished, after the end of the hunger strike Mandela was imprisoned in the "little black room", which is a terrible thing that ordinary people can hardly imagine, and when Mandela himself recalled the time spent in the confinement room, he was also very painful, both mentally and physically tortured, and even began to wonder whether his choice was correct, whether he should continue to insist on his great dream of pursuing freedom and peace.
In the end, Mandela decided to follow his inner thoughts, from the beginning of the journey to chase his dreams will not give up easily, and Mandela also told himself that he must pay more attention to his body and will definitely get out of prison alive.
In this way, after confinement, Mandela exercised for an hour or two every day to maintain his optimism and strong body.
Not only that, but Mandela later asked the warden to plant a vegetable garden on Robben Island, which would also give them a glimmer of light in the dark.
The warden didn't have a big cloud at first, so Mandela would bring it up whenever he saw the warden, and for five years, the warden fulfilled Mandela's wishes.
In the same way, Mandela was given the power to borrow books from outside the prison, and during his 27 years in prison, Mandela could be said to have read thousands of books.
Mandela did not forget his ideals and goals, and much of what he read was related to the racial system.
Finally, Mandela commented on his past behavior, arguing that it was impossible to solve the apartheid system through violent extremes, which was an immutable principle.
So how can we really help black people? Mandela put forward the idea of "not against white populations, only against racism" and told his fellow black people outside through letters.
At this moment, Mandela was deeply sorry for the extreme violence that had preceded him, knowing that violence could not solve the conflict with whites, but would only intensify, and only nonviolent acts of forgiveness could truly help black people.
In early 1990, under the pressure of international public opinion and the United Nations, the South African government acquitted Mandela, and Mandela finally "escaped" from 27 years of prison and was given new life and freedom.
When Mandela came to get out of prison, a large number of followers, media reporters came to greet him, and Mandalay said this, if I can't leave the resentment and pain there when I walk out of the cell, then I will still stay in prison.
Mandela's broad-mindedness was admirable and worth learning from everyone, not only for us, but also for the people of South Africa at the time.
After Mandalay's release from prison, with the influence of his international status and the support of the masses, he first became the president of the South African National Assembly, and then in 1993, Mandela worked to change the Constitution of the South African government, and both black and white people should enjoy equal rights and status.
In 1994, South Africa held its first race-neutral referendum elections, and Mandela became South Africa's first black president.
This was the life of Mandela, the father of South Africa, and after becoming president, Mandela was also committed to the idea of "eliminating racial discrimination, not white people".
So why do some people think that Mandela "dragged down" South Africa's economy, and is this true?
Since the 1960s, South Africa's economic growth rate has been very fast, and in the 1970s, South Africa's GDP was also the first in Africa, and in the 1980s, South Africa's GDP ranked among the top 30 in the world.
After Mandela became the president of South Africa, many white and white companies fled South Africa, in the old Chinese saying, it is a typical "thief with a weak heart", and the escape also took away a lot of materials, technology and funds.
When the white South African government implemented the apartheid system, blacks could not learn technology and knowledge, and now that white people have fled South Africa, black people are unable to solve employment problems, resulting in economic downturn and higher unemployment.
It is also worth mentioning that in 1991 the white President of the South African Government himself announced that he would destroy all nuclear bombs in South Africa, which had to be done under enormous international pressure.
epilogue
From my personal point of view, I think Mandela, the father of South Africa, was a very great political figure who spent his life fighting for the rights and status of black people.
Although Mandela initially wanted to solve the problem with extreme violence, after 27 years in prison, Mandela not only repented of himself, but also was willing to forgive the brutal behavior of whites, and called on his fellow blacks to let go of their obsessions.
For Mandela, he did not hate white people, and even in "Mandela's Autobiography" he often mentioned some of the governing ideas of white people, etc. Mandela only hated racism.
In conclusion, I would like to say that South Africa's first president, Mandela, was a great leader, but at the same time an ordinary man, and Mandela's contribution to the rights and governance of South Africa was indelible.