Nelson Mandela

(Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela; Mvezo, Transkei, 1918 - Johannesburgo, 2013) Activista y poltico
sudafricano que lider los movimientos contra el apartheid y que, tras una larga lucha y 27
aos de crcel, presidi en 1994 el primer gobierno que pona fin al rgimen racista. El siglo
XX dej dos guerras mundiales, los campos de exterminio y el terror atmico, pero tambin
grandes campeones de la lucha contra la injusticia, como Mahatma Gandhi o Martin Luther
King. El ltimo y ms carismtico de ellos fue Nelson Mandela.
En 1944, Mandela fue uno de los lderes fundadores de la Liga de la Juventud del Congreso,
que llegara a constituir el grupo dominante del Congreso Nacional Africano; su ideologa era
un socialismo africano: nacionalista, antirracista y antiimperialista.

En 1948 lleg al poder en Sudfrica el Partido Nacional, que institucionaliz la segregacin

racial creando el rgimen del apartheid. En realidad, el racismo institucional se remontaba en
Sudfrica al menos a 1911, fecha de una disposicin discriminatoria que prohiba a los negros
ocupar puestos de trabajo cualificados. Numerosas medidas promulgadas en las dcadas
siguientes (treinta y seis en total) haban llevado ya, por poner un solo ejemplo, a la exclusin
de negros y mestizos del censo electoral.
Influencia y legado[editar]

El Puente Nelson Mandela en Johannesburgo.

Al momento de su fallecimiento, Nelson Mandela era considerado el padre de la nacin
sudafricana,367 as como el padre fundador de la democracia,368 y el emancipador de la
nacin, su salvador, su George Washington y su Abraham Lincoln.369 El bigrafo de Mandela,
Anthony Sampson, declar que an en vida el mito se haba desarrollado alrededor de su
persona, y era tan fuerte, que desvaneca la realidad, lo que le convirti en una especie de
santo secular .370 La presidencia de Mandela, transcurrida una dcada, ha sido considerada
como los aos dorados de la esperanza y la armona social.358 Fuera de las fronteras
sudafricanas se gan el respeto mundial por su activismo en contra del apartheid, y por
fomentar la reconciliacin entre las diferentes razas,350 por lo que se le ha valorado como una
autoridad moral que tena mucho afn por la verdad.371

Nelson Mandela
(Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela; Mvezo, Transkei, 1918 - Johannesburg, 2013) Activist and political
South African who led the movement against apartheid and, after a long struggle and 27 years
in prison, presided in 1994 the first government that ended the regime racist. The twentieth
century left two world wars, the death camps and the atomic terror, but also great champions
of the struggle against injustice, as Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King. The last and most
charismatic of them was Nelson Mandela.
In 1944, Mandela was one of the founding leaders of the Youth League Congress, who would
constitute the dominant group of the African National Congress; its ideology was an African
socialism, nationalist, anti-racist and anti-imperialist.

In 1948 he came to power in South Africa the National Party, which institutionalized racial
segregation creating the apartheid regime. In fact, institutional racism in South Africa dated
back at least to 1911, when a discriminatory provision prohibiting blacks occupy skilled jobs.
Numerous measures enacted in the following decades (thirty six in total) had already led, to
give one example, the exclusion of blacks and mestizos the electoral roll.
Influence and legacy [edit]

Nelson Mandela Bridge in Johannesburg.

At the time of his death, Nelson Mandela was considered the "father of the nation" in South
Africa, 367 as well as the "founding father of democracy", 368 and "emancipator of the nation,
their savior, their George Washington and Abraham Lincoln ".369 Mandela's biographer,
Anthony Sampson, said the myth still alive had developed around him, and was" so strong that
vanished reality ", which made him a sort of" secular saint " .370 Mandela's presidency, after a
decade, has been regarded as "the golden years of hope and social harmony" .358 Outside the
South African borders earned worldwide respect for his activism against apartheid, and to
promote reconciliation between different races, so 350 is valued him as a "moral authority"
had much "desire for truth"