• La Civiltà Cattolica
  • Newsletters
  • Podcast
  • Contact us
  • Login
  • Register
SUBSCRIBE
LA CIVILTÀ CATTOLICA
Advertisement
  • Home
  • Church Life
    • Faith
    • Mission
    • People
    • Pope Francis
    • Spirituality
  • Church Thought
    • Doctrine
    • Scripture
    • Theology
  • Culture
  • Politics
  • Editions
  • Authors
  • Donate

No products in the cart.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Church Life
    • Faith
    • Mission
    • People
    • Pope Francis
    • Spirituality
  • Church Thought
    • Doctrine
    • Scripture
    • Theology
  • Culture
  • Politics
  • Editions
  • Authors
  • Donate

No products in the cart.

No Result
View All Result
LA CIVILTÀ CATTOLICA
No Result
View All Result
     
Home 1812

Nelson Mandela: His Life and Legacy

Anthony Egan, SJbyAnthony Egan, SJ
November 21, 2018
in 1812, December 2018, Vol. 2 no. 12, Edition, Full Text Article, People, Politics, THE JOURNEY OF THE CHURCH IN CHINA, Trending Article
0
Nelson Mandela: His Life and Legacy
0
SHARES
37
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Introduction

The 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was celebrated on July 18, 2018. Co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (1993) and recipient of numerous honors, Mandela was the first president of post-apartheid democratic South Africa (1994-1999) and has been widely acknowledged as one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th century.

In this article I shall examine his career, leadership style, his faith and some of the posthumous controversies about him, concluding that, despite his many faults, Mandela’s greatness remains. Indeed, I shall suggest that he was above all a public figure who embodied many of the central precepts of Catholic Social Thought.

A brief biography

Since his life has been comprehensively covered in his autobiography[1] and by biographers,[2] and since Mandela’s story is widely known, I shall be brief in summing up his remarkable life.

Born in Mvezo in 1918, near Mthatha, in what is today the Eastern Cape Province, the son of a Thembu chief, after his Xhosa initiation he was given the name Dalibunga (“maker of parliaments”). Although this probably expressed his expected role in the Xhosa community, the name is prescient given his later political career.

Having attended Methodist mission schools and the universities of Fort Hare and Witwatersrand, Mandela completed his legal studies as an articled clerk (a legal assistant) in Johannesburg. As an attorney he formed a legal partnership with his friend Oliver Tambo. Both of them became active members of the Youth League of the African National Congress (ANC), a political movement founded in 1912 to extend political and social rights to black people in South Africa.

From this base in the more politically militant Youth League, which moved the whole ANC in the late 1940s from a policy of conciliation to a politics of nonviolent confrontation with apartheid,[3] Mandela and Tambo became key players in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the Congress of the People process that led to the creation of the Freedom Charter (a “peoples’ constitution”) in 1955.

For their troubles, Mandela, Tambo and 154 other members of the ANC and its sister movements that formed the Congress Alliance were arrested and charged with treason in December 1956. The trial dragged on four years, during which time the ANC was banned (1960), but culminated in acquittals for all the accused in 1961.

In the meantime, following the failure of nonviolent protest in the 1950s to convince the National Party government to even start to move away from apartheid, the ANC decided to move to armed struggle. Mandela, who was among the first to consider this possibility (as far back as the early 1950s), was one of the founding members of Umkhonto weSizwe (“Spear of the Nation”), known by its acronym MK, in 1961.

This article is reserved for paid subscribers. Please subscribe to continue reading this article
Subscribe

Welcome to
La Civiltà Cattolica !
This article is reserved for paid subscribers
Please login or subscribe to continue reading this article
LOGIN
SUBSCRIBE
What is La Civiltà Cattolica?

Tags: African National CongressANCCyril RamaphosaNelson Rolihlahla MandelaRobben IslandTruth and Reconciliation CommissionUmkhonto weSizwe
Previous Post

Building Bridges in Sarajevo: An international conference on Catholic Theological Ethics

Next Post

Embrace the Human

Anthony Egan, SJ

Anthony Egan, SJ

Related Posts

Candida, Other Women and Jesuits in 17th-century China
Biography

Candida, Other Women and Jesuits in 17th-century China

byFederico Lombardi, SJ
March 29, 2023
The famous Mae Klong Railway Market, Samut Songkhram, Thailand.
Church Life

The Real Obstacles to Ecological Transition

byGaël Giraud, SJand1 others
March 27, 2023
Mass in the Shrine of Guadalupe for the opening of the ecclesial Assembly (Photo: Vatican Media).
Church Life

The Latin American Church’s Synodal Conversion: Walking together from blindness to light

byDaniel De Ycaza, SJand1 others
March 24, 2023
What Form Will Future Christianity Take?
Church Life

What Form Will Future Christianity Take?

byJosé Frazão Correia, SJ
March 22, 2023
Photo by Adrià Crehuet Cano on Unsplash
Church Life

Sport for All: The Holy See and the ‘signs of the times’ in the world of sport

byPatrick Kelly, SJ
March 20, 2023
Next Post
Embrace the Human

Embrace the Human

Subscription Offers

Premium Content

Beethoven

Beethoven: “To play without passion is inexcusable”

July 30, 2020
Cosmopolitics: Global common goods and new international institutions

Cosmopolitics: Global common goods and new international institutions

July 27, 2021
“Today the Church needs to grow in discernment:” Pope Francis meets with Polish Jesuits

“Today the Church needs to grow in discernment:” Pope Francis meets with Polish Jesuits

December 11, 2018

Browse by Category

BEATUS POPULUS CUIUS DOMINUS DEUS EIUS

The most respected digital Catholic journal from Rome. A must-read on all the present issues alive in the Church. Discover top Church scholars interpreting the history, politics, culture, science and art in the light of the Christian faith.

Categories

  Editions
  Church Thought
  Authors
  Church 
 
  Culture
  Perspective Series
  Politics & Socitey

 

About Us

   Contact Us
   La Civiltà Cattolica  
   China Forum
   Feedback
   Terms & Conditions
   Privacy Policy
    Email : [email protected]
My IP Address : 199.16.157.180
Facebook Twitter Instagram

© Union of Catholic Asian News 2023 | All Rights Reserved.
Except for any fair dealing permitted under the Hong Kong Copyright Ordinance, no part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without prior permission.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Church Life
    • Faith
    • Mission
    • People
    • Pope Francis
    • Spirituality
  • Church Thought
    • Doctrine
    • Scripture
    • Theology
  • Culture
  • Politics
  • Editions
  • Authors
  • Donate
SUBSCRIBE

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?
Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
  • Login
  • Sign Up
Forgot Password?
Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.

laciviltacattolica.com uses cookies and similar technologies to optimize the user experience,  analyze site traffic and communicate with subscribers. To read more about how we use cookies and how you can control them click on settings, or click Accept to start browsing our site.

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?
LA CIVILTÀ CATTOLICA
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.