He
was born on July 18th 1918 in South Africa and he studied
law. He became a leader
with the creation of
the
league of the youth. He created
the first firm of black
lawyers
of South Africa
1944 :
Nelson Mandela, influenced by Walter Sisulu, joined
the
African National Congress to fight
against
the political domination, because
he
was conscious of segregations racial. He
participated
to
non-violent
struggle
against the apartheid laws,
introduced
by the National Party
government
from 1948. He led
campaigns
peacefully until the
Sharpville
Massacre.
Sharpville
Massacre: On march 21st 1960, Black
people
demonstrated peacefully aigainst the « pass » The
police opened fire : there were 69 deaths and 178
wounded.
The
gouvernment forbade ANC further to this
drama
but mandela continued his fight in secret.
On
12 July 1963 he was arrested
by
the South African Police on indication by The
CIA, and was sentenced sentenced to life
imprisonment at the Rivonia Trial. Therefore,
he became a symbol of the struggle
for racial equality and has a
growing
international
support.
After
twenty-seven years of
imprisonment,
Mandelawas
released February 11, 1990
In
1993 he received with Frederik de Klerk,
the
Nobel Peace Prize for ending together the apartheid
regime and laid the
foundations for a new democratic South
Africa.
In
1994 Nelson Mandela became the first
black
president of South Afique.
He
tried to set up a politics of reconciliation between black and white
people. In
1999 he was replaced by Thabo
Mbeki.
