Key individuals: Nelson Mandela
- Mandela, born into Thembu royalty in 1918, attended Fort Hare University but was expelled for participating in a protest, he moved to Johannesburg, met Walter Sisulu, and began legal studies while becoming increasingly politicized.
- He joined the ANC in 1944, co-founded the Youth League, and pushed for the radical Programme of Action in opposition to the ANC's older, more passive leadership style.
Self review
- Re check the Defiance Campaign section, because the programme of action was the basis for that protest.
Political Career
- Mandela led the Defiance Campaign as national volunteer-in-chief, organizing mass civil disobedience and rising to national prominence, during this time, he also co-founded South Africa’s first Black law firm with Oliver Tambo.
- Originally an Africanist skeptical of communism, Mandela later embraced broader alliances with groups like the SACP, promoting non-racial unity through initiatives like the Congress of the People and the Freedom Charter.
- This withdrawal from Africanism gained Mandela criticism towards the African National Congress (ANC) for working with white, Indian, and colored groups. The critics felt this approach compromised the African struggle.
- In the face of the shortcomings of the results of the Defiance Campaign, Mandela drafted the underground-focused M Plan, and remained active in campaigns against apartheid laws such as Bantu Education and forced removals like those in Sophiatown.
Note
- What is Africanism?
- Africanism refers to a political and ideological movement that centers African identity, self-determination, and unity as the core of liberation.
- It emerged as a reaction to both colonialism and the multi-racial approach of some anti-apartheid movements.
- It supports the idea of “Africa for Africans” stressing that South Africa belongs primarily to its indigenous African people, not to white settlers, nor to colonial or external influences.
- Africanism promoted African history, languages, values, and identity, aiming to undo the psychological damage of white supremacy.
Note
- "M-Plan" was a secret organizational strategy developed by the ANCin the early 1950s.
- The "M" in M-Plan stands for Mandela, as it is widely believed that Nelson Mandela played a central role in developing and promoting it.
- The aim was to prepare the ANC for underground and decentralized operation in the event of a government ban.
- Instead of a centralized leadership structure, the ANC would be organized into small units or “cells” (of about 10 people) at the neighborhood level.
- This would be useful to withstand police crackdowns and ensure continued mobilization.
- Messages and instructions would be passed down from national leadership to regional, then to local cells. This method was influenced by guerrilla-style movements.
ANC Criticisms
- One of the criticisms that the ANC faced since the get go was that it was not fully integrated into the grassroot level.
- The M plan looked to bring the ANC closer to ordinary people, organizing them at street and block levels.
- ANC members were encouraged to live among the people and understand their daily struggles to better organize resistance.
- During the Treason Trial (1956-1961), Mandela was a leading defendant in the lengthy trial, emerging as the ANC’s dominant figure, especially while Luthuli was sidelined by bans.
- The Sharpeville massacre made Mandela change his outlook on the fight against apartheid, and like many he started to advocate for armed resistance and helped form Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), becoming its first commander-in-chief.
- Mandela became known as the "Black Pimpernel" for evading police, Mandela secretly traveled across Africa for training and support, returning to South Africa before being arrested in 1962 after the Liliesleaf Farm raid.
- During the Rivonia Trial of 1963-4, Mandela and others were sentenced to life in prison, ending a defining phase of anti-apartheid activism.
Note
- The nickname “The Black Pimpernel” was inspired by the fictional Scarlet Pimpernel.
- The Scarlet Pimpernel is a fictional character created by Baroness Emma Orczy in her 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel.
- He is an English aristocrat named Sir Percy Blakeney, who leads a double life: by day, he appears to be a shallow, foolish nobleman, but in secret, he is a daring and cunning hero who rescues French aristocrats from execution during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror.
- The Scarlet Pimpernel had the ability to evade police capture, same as Mandela, despite a nationwide manhunt and increasing security surveillance.
- After the ANC was banned after the Sharpeville Massacre, Mandela went underground and secretly traveled across South Africa (often in disguise as a chauffeur, gardener, or fieldworker) to organize resistance and set up Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the ANC’s armed wing.
- During this phase, Mandela left South Africa illegally to meet African leaders, secure support for the liberation struggle, and receive guerrilla training in Algeria.
- This marks a shift from peaceful protest to armed resistance against apartheid.
Historiography
- Mandela became a symbol of resistance against injustice.
- After 27 years in jail, he was released in 1990 after the fall of apartheid, and eventually became the first non white president of South Africa in fully democratic and non racial elections in 1994.
- Why did he become a figure with such symbolic power?
- According to historians like Mary Benson's Perspective, he acquired this heroic aura very early into the resistance against apartheid.
- She emphasizes Mandela’s moral leadership in the Defiance Campaign (1952).
- She sees Mandela’s voluntary arrest and public defiance of unjust apartheid laws as acts of exceptional courage, helping to define him as a principled leader early on.
- According to Benson, Mandela’s early stand during nonviolent resistance made him a moral beacon for both South Africans and the international community, long before his imprisonment.
- For Tom Lodge and other historians, there is a turning point post-Sharpeville
- Lodge believes Mandela only truly became an icon after 1960, when the ANC moved to armed struggle and he became the elusive “Black Pimpernel” and MK leader.
- He emphasizes that Mandela’s speech from the dock during the Rivonia Trial in 1964, where he declared his willingness to die for democracy, was pivotal in solidifying his mythic status in the liberation movement.
