Why Nelson Mandela Was a Better Person Than Gandhi

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born into the Thembu royal family on July 18, 1918. He was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, philanthropist, and politician who served as South Africa’s first black president from 1994 to 1999. Nelson Mandela attended Fort Hare University and the University of Witwatersrand where he studied law. He led and participated in many protests involving anti-apartheid and equality. He was later put in prison for 27 years. Nelson Mandela is better than Gandhi because he helped bring an end to apartheid, which was a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race in South Africa, and has been a global advocate for human rights. In addition, he was the first South African president to ever create a multiethnic government to oversee the country‘s transition.

Mandela also used a simple. but a successful tactic to bring his people closer as one by using the sport of rugby. His influence and faith in South Africa’s rugby team inspired not only his people, but the team itself to work hard and finish strong through the season.  As result, South Africa won the World Cup in 1995. Mandela used nothing, but a simple sport to draw attention to his desire for change not only in his country but for the world as well, in which he succeeded in. People, nowadays know Mandela throughout the world for what he accomplished and how accomplished it; he also influenced others to mirror what he had been trying to preach his whole life. Gandhi is known worldwide as well, but most people knew that he was trying to spread peace but did they know how or why?

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The Story of Becoming a Leader Like Nelson Mandela

To the average person, Nelson Mandela is remembered as a political leader who eventually was president of his homeland of South Africa. However, behind his seemingly ever smiling face, lied a life of struggles and injustice. Before Mandela could become the great leader that he was, he endured numerous trials and tribulations. Mandela was born in 1918, at Mvezo, and into a royal family of the Thembu people of the Xhosa nation. His father was a chief of Mvezo, however his untimely death when Mandela was 9, left Mandela to be greatly influenced by the regent. Growing up as part of a tribe, it greatly affected Mandela’s views which were shaped by custom, ritual and taboo. Mandela was in and out of schools, jobs and homes all throughout his childhood and even into his early adult life. Because of this nomad type of living in his young years, he got to know many different types of people from different tribes, who possible had different social and/or political views. This in turn would shape Mandela’s social and political views, as well as his view on the world. This paper argues that Mandela’s experiences at Healdtown helped to shape his cultural and moral values and his time at Fort Hare helped to shape his political values, all aiding to the development of the great political leader that he one day would become.

When Mandela was about 19 years old, following his rigorous experiences at Clarkebury Mandela enrolled in the Wesleyan College in Fort Beaufort, Healdtown. His time here certainly influenced his cultural view of his own tribe as well as other’s tribes. The first instance occurs when Mandela “made his first Sotho-speaking friend, Zachariah Molete” and he “remembered feeling quite bold having a friend who was not Xhosa” . Mandela never knew that the possibility of making not friendships outside of his own tribe even existed before attending Healdtown. However, by interacting with people outside of his native tribe, Mandela “began to sense his identity as an African, not just a Thembu or even a Xhosa”. These examples show how Mandela’s time at Healdtown led him to broaden his cultural horizons and shape his new cultural views and which in turn would contribute the great political leader he became.

In addition to making a friend outside of his tribe at Healdtown, Mandela also witnessed a black man stand up to Dr. Wellington, a white, important figure in the school, which further developing his cultural views. Reverend Mokitimi, a black man, refused to report to Dr. Wellington of the infraction that occurred between two prefects at the school. Dr. Wellington asked again, however Reverend Mokitimi refused once again to give away any information to him at the time, but he would inform him the next day. Through this Mandela “realized then that …a black man did not have to defer automatically to a white man, however senior he was”. Similarly, to how Mandela would never have considered having a friend across tribe lines, he also would have never considered a black man standing up to a whit man across color lines. Previously, Mandela would have considered all black men to be below white, however through this experience, he understands that it is not necessarily that way. At Healdtown, Mandela witnesses the notion of “double consciousness” as he was a balck man trying to navigate the British style education during this time. He has empowerment and can achieve massive amounts throughout his time there, but he still has restrictions on him due to his color. As Reverend Mokitimi stood up to Dr. Wellington, Mandela’s cultural views were again shaped and molded to aid him in his ideals as a great political leader.

In addition to Mandela’s cultural views being shaped at Healdtown, his moral values were also put to the test. In his second year at the school Mandela was appointed a prefect by Reverend Mokitimi and Dr. Wellington. He had many responsibilities, but one specifically tested his moral values. He was assigned night duty and caught another prefect urinating in the bushes. Such behaviors were to be reported immediately, however instead of following the strict rules at Healdtown, Mandela did not report one of his own kind and he “simply tore up his list and charged no one”. Despite this being a minor event, it still demonstrates how Mandela would stick up for those of his own kind and not turn on them, showing loyalty. This instance shaped and even reinforced Mandela’s moral values, which helped him when becoming a major political leader.

During Mandela’s time at Fort Hare, there were many clear events that shaped his political viewpoints and strength. However, arguably the most defining and controversial moment in his time there was the student government election and the events surrounding it. Mandela was appointed for highest student organization at the school, the Student Representative Council. However, during the election time, many students believed that their voices were not heard. “The students unanimously felt that the diet at Fort Hare was unsatisfactory and that the powers of the SRC needed to be increased…”. To change the issue that they were facing, the majority of the student body decided to boycott the upcoming election and Mandela also boycotted. Even though the majority of the students boycotted, approximately 25 students still voted in the Student Representative Council election. Mandela was elected with six other students all of whom wrote a letter of resignation to the principal, Dr. Kerr. Dr. Kerr accepted their resignation, and arranged for another election, this time however with all students voting at the dining hall during dinner. Mandela was once again elected, with the original five others. Despite the other five finding it acceptable to accept their Student Representative Council positions, Mandela did not and this resigned again. However, the principal told him that he either had to accept his position on the Student Representative Council or he would be forced to leave Fort Hare. Mandela had to make another moral decision, similar to the one made at Healdtown, and once again decides to stand up for what he believes in, thus leaving Fort Hare and its education behind. When describing this event in his autobiography, Mandela states that he “simply could not compromise. Something inside me simply would not let me. I resented his absolute power over my fate”. By not giving in and standing up for what he believed in, Mandela

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Biography of Nelson Mandela essay

In the beginning Nelson Mandela was thought to be somewhat of a pragmatist by some people. I believe that he was a man with a heart and a purpose for all of us to see not just South Africa. Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in Transkei, South Africa. He was the son of Chief Henry Mandela of Tembu Tribe. It was not until Mandela was a young man and went to Johannesburg that he experienced racism the separation between whites in blacks in South Africa this was the very thing that sparked an outrage in him.

He could not believe that people where treating people this way he felt that something had to change, Mandela felt very confident and strong about this. But Mandela became angry and stubborn at times because of the way things were he was not used to this way of living. He made the decision to in roll into the University of Witwatersrand and became a lawyer. Mandela was an aggressive an dynamic lawyer he fought against the very own laws of apartheid he new that justice was blind, when he would watch judges turn the their heads to what was wrong and let whites walk free and convict blacks.

He knew that this was not justice Mandela even wrote, “Law is nothing but organized force used by the ruling class to shape the social order in a way favourable to itself. ” It was already conflicting enough being of color and having to carry a “pass “ which was required for blacks to identify their race and area of the country. It was not permitted for blacks to travel or leave to another region with out it. Ultimately Mandela would become a member of the ANC a organization that was form in 1912 it started out as a nonviolent organization influenced by Mahatma Gandhi.

Nelson Mandela became a dominant figure in the South African liberation movement he struggled in achieving freedom and equal rights even while he was thrown into jail for trying overthrow the government. After serving years behind bars this never stopped him Mr. Nelson Mandela achieved that goal by helping to end apartheid in the early 1990’s, he also became the first black president in South Africa and was able to negotiate a new constitution. This is truly having a core principle.

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Nelson Mandela’s Fight for Freedom

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Reflection on Nelson’s Mandela Biography

Nelson Mandela has earned a place among the world’s greatest leaders of the 20th century by his struggle against oppression and apartheid as well as his leading role in steering his country from minority rule to democracy. He is often ranked together with some world great leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King […]

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Reaction Paper on African Short Stories

Reaction Paper 3: South Africa is one on the most controversial countries in the world. It is located in the southern part, at the bottom of the continent of Africa as its name indicates. The country is known to shelter a diversity of languages and cultures. The country went through many violent events opposing the white minority dominating over all other races. Fortunately, a man named Nelson Mandela will change the course of history and impact Africa and the world in a great way.

The role of this paper will be to reflect on the socio cultural and economic conditions of folks in South Africa by establishing the thread they all seem to have in common, to elaborate on the context that makes these conditions possible and in the end, we will try to suggest some solutions to these problems. In our study of the South Africans folks, we will use three important stories related to South Africa. These stories can be found in the book African Short Stories, edited by Chinua Achebe. Chinua Achebe is regarded as one of the most influential writers in African literature and all over the world.

His trilogy of books about Nigeria and Africa are read all over the world and translated in many languages. He put together a number of stories related to Africa in a little book. These stories for the most part are talking about issues in life and particularly in Africa. The stories that we will use here are therefore related to South Africa. Theses stories are the bridegroom written by Nadine Gordimer, the coffee cart girl written by Ezekiel Mphalele and reflections in a cell put together by Mafika Gwala. All these stories are all reflecting one common thing, the conditions of life of black people in South Africa.

The stories generally reflect the effects that apartheid had on the population of South Africa. It is important to clarify what the word apartheid refers to. Apartheid was a system in which racial segregation was the cornerstone and was encouraged and established by the national government. It is important to note that a minority of white people formed the government and that the people that were racially segregated were people of other “color”, especially the Africans. In the stories presented in the book and on which we are reflecting, you can clearly see that black men and women are struggling.

The neighborhood in which they live are extremely poor, the way they speak English is alarming, and the most important part is that the authors always made sure to display the apparent domination of the white people over the black people. Apartheid was the result of colonization. The minority constituted by white people had control over everything and was abusing that power to serve and maintain its selfish interest. As a result, all other racial groups were forced to live to serve the master, going through unimaginable suffering and pain.

Apartheid was based on four main ideas: firstly, the population was structured in different groups according to their color. Secondly, only the white race was regarded as the civilized race. Thirdly, white interests should prevent before anybody’s interest. Finally, the white people formed a single nation along with the Afrikaans, formula that made them the largest racial group in the country. Apartheid was maintained by a series of repressive laws that were only made possible by the population Registration Act of 1950. That Registration was considered as the bible of apartheid.

IT contained a classification of every person and based on that classification, the best interests of the “dominating minority” could be best served. People from African decent had their citizenship removed and all kinds of atrocities were committed. The white minority made sure that black people stayed non-educated because they knew that education was the road to emancipation. Luckily, one of the most popular world’s leaders, Nelson Mandela, succeeded in restoring black people rights just like Martin Luther king did with the black population here in the United States.

Nelson Mandela, just like Martin Luther King applied a policy of non-violence to bring the apartheid system down. Some possible solutions to racial problems could be the adoption of non-violence doctrine like Gandhi and also education. Education can even be considered as the most important factor because leaders need to have an open spirit to be able to direct the masses. Another solution could be the use of religion to strengthen the mind. Religion can be essential and has always been essential in the black community. It brings peace of mind and strength in the war for justice and equality.

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Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela was born in South Africa in 1918; he served as the South African President from 1994 – 1999. During his life and his presidency he not only endured many negative experiences but he also made numerous positive choices making South Africa a more harmonious country. Nelson Mandela’s personal history serves as […]

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