Nelson Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom Analysis
Long Walk to Violence
The path that lead Nelson Mandela to violence and the effects of his decision
Aside from his loose Communist ties, Nelson Mandela’s use of violence was the only internationally questioned aspect of his struggle for freedom in South Africa. Most modern societies, Americans in particular, view acts of violence as inherently evil. They look to leaders such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King who brought change through nonviolent protest. However, the governments these leaders fought against had rights for citizens and thus the government did not outright murder the protestors. Nelson Mandela performed nonviolent protests for a decade in South Africa while the government violently attacked and killed his protestors. With a government who fights nonviolence with violence, and raises inequality instead of lowering it, Nelson Mandela only saw one solution – armed struggle. His decision brought both condemnation and praise but ultimately brought international attention to the inequality in South Africa. This led to international sanctions against South Africa and eventually forced the white supremacist government to form an equal South Africa. Growing up in small villages of Mvezo and Qunu, Mandela lived a simple egalitarian life and it was not until he moved into Mqhekezweni that he began to see the real world. Mandela said that before coming to Mqhekezweni he “had no thought of money, or class, or fame, or power” (Mandela, 16). Raised under the privileged environment of the Regent, Mandela was able to attend the best schools and only saw parts of the inequality existing in his country. However, it was not until his running away from the Regent to Johannesburg that Mandela was truly able to see the depths of racial oppression in South Africa. None can doubt the steadily increasing repression of nonwhites in South Africa that lead Mandela to the freedom struggle after he arrived in Johannesburg in 1941. One can mark the start of
The path that lead Nelson Mandela to violence and the effects of his decision
Aside from his loose Communist ties, Nelson Mandela’s use of violence was the only internationally questioned aspect of his struggle for freedom in South Africa. Most modern societies, Americans in particular, view acts of violence as inherently evil. They look to leaders such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King who brought change through nonviolent protest. However, the governments these leaders fought against had rights for citizens and thus the government did not outright murder the protestors. Nelson Mandela performed nonviolent protests for a decade in South Africa while the government violently attacked and killed his protestors. With a government who fights nonviolence with violence, and raises inequality instead of lowering it, Nelson Mandela only saw one solution – armed struggle. His decision brought both condemnation and praise but ultimately brought international attention to the inequality in South Africa. This led to international sanctions against South Africa and eventually forced the white supremacist government to form an equal South Africa. Growing up in small villages of Mvezo and Qunu, Mandela lived a simple egalitarian life and it was not until he moved into Mqhekezweni that he began to see the real world. Mandela said that before coming to Mqhekezweni he “had no thought of money, or class, or fame, or power” (Mandela, 16). Raised under the privileged environment of the Regent, Mandela was able to attend the best schools and only saw parts of the inequality existing in his country. However, it was not until his running away from the Regent to Johannesburg that Mandela was truly able to see the depths of racial oppression in South Africa. None can doubt the steadily increasing repression of nonwhites in South Africa that lead Mandela to the freedom struggle after he arrived in Johannesburg in 1941. One can mark the start of
Bibliography: Mandela, Nelson. N.p.: Little, Brown and Company, 1994.