Nelson Mandela and the Fight Against Apartheid

Thesis Statement: Apartheid may have been a horrible era in South African history, but only so because the whites were forced to take action against the outrageous and threatening deeds of the blacks in order to sustain their power.

During the apartheid many opponents arose looking for a way for it to end. apartheid is the segregation of people where people of color were the most affected since the government was happy to give more preference to whites. this created so many cultural conflicts that many people for example Nelson Mandela started to rebel against this. Nelson mandela was a african president, also a activist who was fighting for the rights and integration of black people in a society of racism and a lot segregation by white people to black people. Also another rebel against the apartheid was Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a man who was against the apartheid and also was supporting the “TRC”, or the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was a court-like

“To deny people their right to human rights is to challenge their very humanity. To impose on them a wretched life of hunger and deprivation is to dehumanize them. But such has been the terrible fate of all black persons in our country under the system of apartheid (“In Nelson Mandela’s own words”). Nelson Mandela was a moral compass symbolizing the struggle against racial oppression. Nelson Mandela emerged from prison after twenty-seven years to lead his country to justice. For twenty-seven years he sat in a cell because he believed in a country without apartheid, a country with freedom and human rights. He fought for a country where all people were equal, treated with respect and given equal opportunity. Nelson Mandela looms large in the

These huge happenings both removed the global communist threat and freed people from injustices, which created an illusion that the entire world was listening in on South Africa, expecting a revolutionary change. From the very beginning protesters, especially Nelson Mandela himself, were influenced by Gandhi and his Satyagraha campaign in India as it was in several ways a similar fight. They both took place in countries that had been colonised by Great Britain, they both fought against the discrimination and oppression of the population and were both led by world-renowned leaders that shared fundamental ideas of unity and compassion. However, Gandhi’s philosophy wasn’t something Mandela followed meticulously. One of the major differences between their methods of ruling is that Mandela used violence at times, as it came to a point where he saw it as a necessity. It is important to note that without Gandhi’s fight in India, the protesters in South Africa may never have had motivation enough to see the potential they held, and what a difference they could make by

Putting an end to more than three hundred years of white domination in South Africa and a political and social system riddled with racial discrimination was not an easy feat to accomplish. This course of action was further complicated with the objective to shift the political power from the white minority to the black majority. Even so, the apartheid system ultimately collapsed due to the economic burden the apartheid imposed on the South African economy, the continued resistance that criticized the apartheid, and the end of the communist threat that allowed the South African government to shift their focuses to make extensive political changes.

For years, South Africa’s Afrikaner Nationalist Party was conducting all types of racial attacks that were raising ethical issues. Along with the South African government, they reshaped racial laws and regulations, continuing with violence against blacks. Nonwhites outnumbered whites by about 5 to 1. Violence consisted of the Sharpeville massacre, the Soweto Street death demonstration, and the death of black leader who was in police custody. Through such acts, South Africa’s direct investment rose dramatically.

The national party achieved power in South Africa in 1948 the government, usually comprised on “white people”, and racially segregated the country by a policy under the Apartheid legislation system. With this new policy in place the black South African people were forced to live segregated from the white people and use separate public facilities. There were many attempts to overthrow the Apartheid regime, it persisted to control for almost 50 years.

Throughout history, Racial segregation has been used as a means to power and control, often for a minority, and South Africa was no different in any manner, almost a perfect, textbook case of oppression. Source 1 explains how the Apartheid first began in the 1940’s, developed and used due to economic and political instability. The English and the Dutch controlled South Africa, vying for its fertile lands, people, and its profusion of precious and strategic minerals, leading to Boer War. When South Africa gained its independence from England, there was an internal power struggle for decades until the Afrikaner National Party devised the apartheid, enacting it in 1948 as a means to control the economic and social landscapes that they had lost their grasp on. The Apartheid, however, did not instantly create the

The black South Africans were restricted to faraway homelands of poor-quality land. Education, medical care and other public services were segregated. Nelson Mandela used both peaceful protests and armed resistance to fight against the social injustice of apartheid. He spent three decades of his life including jail times fighting this course.

Apartheid, the strict division between white and colored people, for South Africans has always been a big issue. The man who stopped difficult ways of life for people and communities in South Africa was also their president, Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela was a man who put his life on the line to bring people together. He was involved with organizations that would eventually help to end apartheid throughout his life and lead countless amounts of peaceful acts that put an end to this divide. Mandela was even arrested for what he was trying to accomplish. It was difficult, but once he was released from prison, he finished what he and many others had started, he put a stop to apartheid. Nelson Mandela caused for apartheid to be

South Africa really began to suffer when apartheid was written into the law. Apartheid was first introduced in the 1948 election that the Afrikaner National Party won. The plan was to take the already existing segregation and expand it (Wright, 60). Apartheid was a system that segregated South Africa’s population racially and considered non-whites inferior (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). Apartheid was designed to make it

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities

Imagine being systematically oppressed from the moment you exited the womb. All your civil rights, based on the amount of melanin in your skin. Drinking from the wrong water fountain, could even get you thrown into jail. Coincidently; this was the life, of black South Africans from the moment of Dutch colonization in 1652, to the first true democratic election in 1994. Apartheid, meaning “separateness” in Afrikaans; was legal segregation enforced by The National Party (NP) from 1948 to 1994. It legally imposed preexisting policies of racial discrimination on the Majority of the South African population. The entire basis of the racist policies, was the darker your complexion the less legal rights you had. Presumably this injustice, could have continued much longer if it weren’t for all involved in the fight against the NP, however the man who arguably contributed the most, was Nelson Mandela. He ended an apartheid, with both his philanthropy and political prowess. He united a nation that used to be segregated; which seemed a daunting task at the time, but through the sweat and bloodshed he achieved the impossible. This alone exhibited his heroic characteristics, but to be more precise: both his actions and inactions lead to his success. Furthermore, Mandela was both a strong leader and forgiving at the same-time. Being in the forefront of the abolishment movement, was an extremely risky move during the apartheid. He risked his life for what he believed in, and this personal

I have always thought that Nelson Mandela has been one of the most important people in history. I find it very fascinating that one man could end the Apartheid and that is why I want to find out more about this. South Africa is a country with a past of enforced racism and separation of its multi-racial community. The White Europeans invaded South Africa and started a political system known as 'Apartheid' (meaning 'apartness'). This system severely restricted the rights and lifestyle of the non-White inhabitants of the country forcing them to live separately from the White Europeans. I have chosen to investigate how the Apartheid affected people’s lives, and also how and why the Apartheid system rose and fell in South Africa.

The Apartheid political system was designed in such a way that black people were taught that their cultures were, in fact, incorrect. From when they were born, they were taught of an adapted culture which suited white people. This process of "forced culture" was abuse of socialisation; everything one learns from when they are born which contributes to their personality and personal history. Steve Biko describes that he was purely brought up in separate development, and that his entire life was shaped by it. Depending on one's socialisation, the view of how you view yourself and others around you is formed, this is identity. It can even be said that the identities of the black were stolen from them, because identity means that we are all different, but the Apartheid system took away the uniqueness of the black culture and taught them all to learn and believe the same thing. The way in which the black people of South Africa were socialised, was to make them believe that the only purpose in life was to be a servant to white people. Having this belief form part of their identity, it was never a thought for them to be militant and fight the