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How Nelson Mandela Was Truly A 'Radical Change Agent'

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How Nelson Mandela Was Truly A 'Radical Change Agent'

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By Gethin Gledhill

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Background Information About Nelson Mandela

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Background Information About Nelson Mandela

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Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on the 7th of July 1918 in Mvezo, South Africa. He was part of the Xhosa culture which is the second largest in South Africa. They are known well for their peacefulness and mainly live in the southern part of South Africa. Mandela's first name wasn't his given name as that was Rolihlahla which means "pulling the branch off the tree" or "troublemaker". His English name Nelson was given to him by his schoolteacher which happened frequently to black South Africans around that time. Mandela was very well educated as he went to missionary and Methodist schools as well as two different universities, the University of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand, where he studied law and became famous for standing up to racial discrimination. He was rebellious in school for boycotting specific policies in his university and later leaving to avoid an arranged marriage. After Mandela left university, he joined the ANC (African National Congress) and co-founded the ANCYL (African National Congress Youth League), where he climbed up the ranks to become the leader of the ANC's Transvaal branch. The ANC committed themselves to overthrow the National Party, and it's White Only' government and its racial segregation against Black people. He gained most of his fame from his involvement in the 1952 Defiance campaign, and the 1955 Congress of the people, eventually being prosecuted in 1956 for treason after being arrested several times for seditious activities. He was influenced by Marxism and secretly joined the banned SACP (South African Communist Party). At first, he was committed to non-violent protests, and eventually, he founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in 1961 with the SACP and led a sabotage campaign against the government. He was arrested and charged with life imprisonment for planning to overthrow the government.

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Nelson Mandela's work encouraged a more open-minded view rather than a close-minded and controlled view because he made people look at his people in another way, like ordinary people rather than different and undeveloped. He was very smart, and he helped his race to become widely accepted in society instead of separated and treated like animals. He was the first black and democratically appointed South African president. He challenged what was going on in his world by rebelling and pushing change to make his world better. He had a good education which helped him towards becoming a strong leader and change agent. He took many personal risks, one of which was going to prison multiple times for trying to make people aware of what was happening in his country. He was almost entirely peaceful and protested discrimination against Black people. The MK sabotaged military installations, telephone lines and power plants at night, to put the most pressure on the government. Mandela stated that they only sabotaged at night so that there would be the minimum number of casualties as possible, to get the best outcome in the most positive way. He was very controversial, and he was classed as a 'communist terrorist' by people trying to knock him down. He offended many white politicians as well as people with his messages of equality, which impacted him because he was held back by many people who wanted to keep white power.

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How His Worldview Was Different To Others Around Him

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How His Worldview Was Different To Others Around Him

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Nelson Mandela's worldview was very similar to any other Christian such as himself, peace and equality. The worldview that people against him had was not the same in any way. They were very much not for equality in the same way that Nelson Mandela was, they wanted equality for White people and to treat Black people the same as they always had, poorly. Mandela wanted equality for all and he wanted peace between all races, not just White people. He was guided by his parents who were devoted Christians, although they were illiterate, they were very supportive of him and sent him to a Methodist school to give him a better education than they had. He was very peaceful throughout his entire life, and the White-only government he was against was mistreating Black people very severely, and Mandela, as well as other people in his following, were fed up with the terrible worldview and ideology that they had. He was influenced by his religion as well as the sights he had seen as well as experienced throughout his life, to make a change so that people in the future didn't have to go through the horrible discrimination that he and others had to go through.

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What Have I Found Most Inspiring About Him

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What Have I Found Most Inspiring About Him

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Nelson Mandela has inspired me because he wasn't afraid of sacrificing his reputation, and everything he loved for the greater good, and I don't know if I would ever be as strong as him to be able to change something that big and help that many people. He has challenged my worldview by opening my eyes to how recently Black people, as well as other races, have been getting treated like animals and showing me how badly people were getting discriminated and outcast because of the colour of their skin.

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Un.org. (2020). Nelson Mandela's Life & His Statements Speaking Out For Justice. [online] Available at: https://www.un.org/en/events/mandeladay/legacy.shtml [Accessed 2 Mar. 2020].

Project, B. (2020). 10 Facts About Nelson Mandela's Childhood | The Borgen Project. [online] The Borgen Project. Available at: https://borgenproject.org/10-facts-about-nelson-mandelas-childhood/ [Accessed 3 Mar. 2020].

En.wikipedia.org. (2020). Nelson Mandela. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela [Accessed 2 Mar. 2020].

Project, B. (2020). Nelson Mandela's Childhood | The Borgen Project. [online] The Borgen Project. Available at: https://borgenproject.org/nelson-mandelas-childhood/ [Accessed 28 Feb. 2020].

Christiantoday.com. (2020). Nelson Mandela and his faith. [online] Available at: https://www.christiantoday.com/article/nelson.mandela.and.his.faith/34956.htm [Accessed 2 Mar. 2020].