Thread by @StefSimanowitz

1/. “To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects & enhances the freedom of others” (#Mandela)

#OTD 33 years ago, Nelson Mandela stepped out of Victor Verster prison
after 27 years behind bars in South Africa
aljazeera.com/amp/opinions/2…

2/. On that day, no one knew what Mandela looked like let alone what kind of man he had become

Some activists feared that he might have ’gone soft’

Others - reared on a daily diet of fear & propaganda - feared Mandela would be an angry & vengeful figure

3/. In his first speech a few hours after his release, Mandela was statesman-like & dignified

But it was clear he had not ‘gone soft’

He saluted uMkhonto we Sizwe & said:

“The factors which necessitated the armed struggle still exist today. We have no option but to continue"

4/. Nowadays Mandela is revered: celebrated as the embodiment of gentle courage, forgiveness, compassion

And he was all these things

But he was also a man of fire & steel

A true freedom fighter

A man who took arms against a system of racism & injustice

5/. It took more than 4 years from the time Mandela stepped out of prison until the election that would end 350 years of racial domination

The birth pangs of that new South Africa were tense & blood-soaked

There were powerful forces keen to derail progress toward majority rule

6/. “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness & hatred behind, I’d still be in prison”

“Forgiveness liberates the soul, it removes fear. That’s why it’s such a powerful weapon”
#Mandela

7/. “When Nelson Mandela walked out of prison, it was also us who were set free” @CyrilRamaphosa said outside the prison gates #OTD 8 years ago

Breyten Breytenbach wrote at the time:

“Perhaps there is now a little more sense to our dark passage on Earth”
newsweek.com/remembering-ma…