“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
The quote above is an excerpt from Nelson Mandela’s soon to be published autobiography “Long walk to freedom”. I chose such an inspirational and motivational statement as the introduction to my interview with Madiba – his Xhosa clan name – since I believe he wished to teach us to ‘love each other’ and his legitimacy can be proved by his 27 years of struggles in prison.
Today, sitting here in the living room of his crammed onebedroom house, I am deeply honored for having been
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Me and seven other defendants narrowly escaped the gallows and were instead sentenced to life imprisonment during the so-called Rivonia Trial.
Q. Would you describe for us the conditions you had while being held in brutal Robben Island Prison?
- I was confined to a small cell without a bed or plumbing; I was forced to do hard labor in a quarry; I could write and receive a letter once every six months, and once a year I was allowed to meet with a visitor for 30 minutes. But the worst part was that we were isolated from the rest of the world.
They did not allow us to have any newspapers or radios. The only way we would have access to news about the outside world was through newly-arrived political prisoners. We were even forbidden of keeping watches and clocks.
Q. Did you attempt to make the outside world, particularly the media aware about your harsh conditions? - Due to the heavy censorship on correspondence, it was difficult for prisoners to communicate with the outside world; however, my comrade Ahmed Kathrada and I smuggled out some letters to lawyers in Durban part of a firm called Seedat Pillay and Co. instructing them to
They were treated poorly and had to do a lot of jobs, the black prisoners normally were used to do the more cruel jobs. The prisoners were treated very poor and were given
Convicts that were leased to plantations experienced much of the same conditions they were subjected to during enslavement. “The prisoners ate and slept on the bare ground, without blankets or mattresses, and often without clothes.” They were forced to live in their own filth, bloodied floors and vermin infested quarters. Punishments were usually carried out with lashings, however, they were subjected to “natural punishments” such as exhaustion, pneumonia, heatstroke, dysentery, malaria and frostbite. Convicts were more vulnerable than free workers, and paid a greater price.
The more common penal sanctions were fines, whipping, and the socks. The punishments varied from prison to prison. Some better than others and some worse. At a certain point the punishments become torture. From waterboarding to electrocution, the prisoners were disciplined.
Ultimately, another purpose I decided on this speech is, it 's a powerful motivational speech in my views and is immensely relatable in this cruel society currently. “Love Your Enemies” is one of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s many encouraging speeches. That 's still being delivered in speeches, such as in writing and songs of this era. The theme of loving your enemies has expanded to “Killing those who hurt you with kindness” and “Turning the other cheek”.
Along with being naked in the cold, all the hair on their entire body was shaved. They had to run full speed in the cold wind. Eventually, they were then given prison clothes, most garments did not fit properly.
The worst part of the prison had to be the Dark Cell. The dark Cell was used as a punishment for the prisoners that would disobey orders or just cause trouble. Depending on what the prisoners did determines how long they stay in the dark cell. Many have stayed for days, weeks, and even months. The dark cell was very narrow you can not stand up straight in there because of how narrow it is.
Death March Elie Wiesel stated in his book Night, “There is a long road of suffering ahead of you, but don’t lose courage.” They could not lose courage, they could not lose faith, they could not lose their willpower, it was the only thing that could, and did, keep them going. Being tortured for their faith, what they believed in, and who they were, jews were forced to partake in death marches. Jews would be held in concentration camps, then needing to be relocated for different reasons, would have to participate in miles after miles of running and walking, a death march.
On Sunday, November 29th at 10:39 am, I started the research about my topic. I wasn’t in the best mood, but I had to finish this research and find my answer. The first thing I did was go open up a web browser, Google, and type in, “What did Jewish prisoners work during WWII.” It took me to Wikipedia and there was a section on the page called, “Forced Workers.” It talked about how people were put into labour camps depending on different categories of inmates.
You was not allowed to use ‘I’ or even talk to other certain people. You could not go outside the ‘City’ and you was not even allowed to go into the woods. The main people had to know every place and time you are somewhere. If you did any little thing that was not allowed you was punished majorly. Some of the punishments were a ‘jail’ type thing, even burned alive and even being whipped.
"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. This is an inspirational quote by the famous political leader and the former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela fought against racism going on in South Africa, which is displayed in the 2009 film called “Invictus.” The film begins with Nelson Mandela being released from prison on 11 February 1990, after spending 27 years in jail.
Nelson Mandela 1. The speech is in the plural ‘We’ and not in the first person. This maybe because both he and De Klerk both won the prize or because he accepted on behalf of the nation as De Klerk had his own speech.
12/10/16 Sociology Final Laura Fischer A time line of Nelson Mandela’s Life Over the course of the semester we have had the opportunity to study Nelson Mandela and the impact he has had on the world. In this paper I dug deeper to look at and study his key life experiences from a sociological perspective. Mandela lived a remarkable life because he was willing to suffer. Mandela was fearless. I think we can all learn a lot from Mandela, he once wrote “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Nonviolent resistance and realistic pacifism were more than an intellectual assent, but rather a way of life for Martin Luther King Jr. The profound dedication that King exemplifies is a testament to the power of love in the face injustice. King notes in his work Pilgrimage to Nonviolence, of the process of meticulously surveying the works of other philosophical thinkers in search of something to medicate his religious, and personal dilemma when addressing philosophical perspectives. Ghandi’s nonviolent resistance has made a lasting impact on King, which has made a tremendous influence in African American rights.
In Martin Luther King’s famous speech, King argued for freedom of African Americans by using metaphors to illustrate the serious effects and tolerance of discrimination in society. To motivate the public to take action, King created a scenario on how the Africans were treated amongst their white peers. “ the negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity” Moreover, King used a metaphor to highlight the ignorance of African Americans by representing their isolation as an “island of poverty”. In addition, he represented the white people’s capability of wealth in the perspective of an African American as being “in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity”. In other words, the effects of
“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” - Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela was a human rights activist for South Africa. “Live like you could die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”