Thread by @StefSimanowitz

1/. “As he walked out of prison it was also us who were set free.”

31 years ago, Nelson #Mandela was released after 27 years behind bars.

As Breyten Breytenbach wrote at the time: "Perhaps there is now a little more sense to our dark passage on Earth.” aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/…

2/. “Through his integrity, courage & strength Mandela showed by example what a single individual can achieve, & in so doing he instilled the belief that injustice, whether large or small, can be defeated.”

This is #Mandela’s legacy

Honour it thru action
newsweek.com/remembering-ma…

3/. #Mandela walked out of jail 31 years ago

It took another 4yrs before #SouthAfrica would go to the polls & vote to end 350yrs of racial domination

But the birth pangs of the Rainbow Nation were tense & blood-soaked

At times civil war was a real fear

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1121669592613445633?s=21

4/. No one knew what Mandela looked like let alone who he’d become

Some activists feared that he might have ’gone soft’ whilst some of the white population - reared on a daily diet of anti-ANC propaganda - feared Mandela would be an angry, vengeful figure

5/. “It was a hot day but I stood for 6 hours. The only thing I cared about was laying my eyes on #Mandela,” Olive Petersen

When he finally appeared on the balcony of City Hall the sun was dipping low

As Madiba took out his speech & borrowed Winnie’s glasses, silence descended.

6/. #Mandela began by saluting those who'd made this moment possible

First, the crowd [ROAR]

Then “the ANC" [ROAR]

Then “our president..." [SILENCE]

"...Comrade Oliver Tambo" [ROAR]

He MUST have known that some would've thought he was referring to FW De Klerk

What a joker!

7/. But the most significant moment of #Mandela’s speech was when he salutes the ANC's armed wing, Umkonto We Sizwe (MK)

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

This was not a man who had "gone soft" or "sold out"

8/. "Our struggle has reached a decisive moment. We call on our people to seize this moment so the process toward democracy is rapid & uninterrupted. We've waited too long for our freedom. We can no longer wait. Now is the time to intensify the struggle on all fronts." #Mandela

9/. Nowadays, #Mandela is revered as a dignified statesman - a man who almost came to 'embody' the values of forgiveness, compassion & generosity of spirit

And he was all these things

But beneath all this, he was a freedom fighter

A man of fire & steel.

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1259907428377866241

10/. Nelson ‘Madiba’ Mandela

“You try to smooth him
To sandblast him
To take away his Malcolm X
You try to hide his anger from view
You say that Mandela wasn't about race
You say he wasn't about politics
You say he was about nothing but one love"
@Okwonga

11/. “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”

Mandela died in 2013

In 2020 Andrew Mlangeni & Denis Goldberg, the last Rivonia triallists, died

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1341795565068279811

12/. Mandela & others who sacrificed so much so that South Africa could be free, had an integrity & humility of a type seldom seen among career politicians & leaders today

Whilst we will not see their like again, their legacy should be to make us all expect more of our leaders.

13/. Watching #Mandela’s face here👆reminds me what he told a friend: “I should be jumping for joy but I just feel a stillness. There is so much responsibility. So much to do”

But for me, on that heady day in 1994, it felt we really could change the world
amnesty.org/en/latest/news…