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The Famous Nelson Mandela

Locked up in his cell during daylight hours, deprived of music, both these simple pleasures were denied him for decades. With his fellow prisoners, concerts were organised when possible, particularly at Christmas time, where they would sing. Nelson Mandela finds music very uplifting, and takes a keen interest not only in European classical music but also in African choral music and the many talents in South African music. But one voice stands out above all - that of Paul Robeson, whom he describes as our hero. The years in jail reinforced habits that were already entrenched: the disciplined eating regime of an athlete began in the 1940s, as did the early morning exercise. Still today Nelson Mandela is up by 4.30am, irrespective of how late he has worked the previous evening. By 5am he has begun his exercise routine that lasts at least an hour. Breakfast is by 6.30, when the days newspapers are read. The day s work has begun. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years as a political prisoner in South Africa before becoming the country's first black president. Mandela was a leading member of the African National Congress (ANC), which opposed South Africa's white minority government and its policy of racial separation, known as //apartheid//. The government outlawed the ANC in 1960. Mandela was captured and jailed in 1962, and in 1964 he was convicted of treason and sentenced to life in prison. Instead of disappearing from view, Mandela became a prison-bound martyr and worldwide symbol of resistance to racism. South African President F.W. de Klerk finally lifted the ban on the ANC and released Mandela in 1990. Mandela used his stature to help dismantle apartheid and form a new multi-racial democracy, and he and de Klerk shared the Peace Prize in 1993. Mandela was elected the country's president in 1994. He served until 1999, when he was succeeded by his deputy Thabo Mbeki. Mandela's autobiography, //Long Walk to Freedom//, was published in 1994. Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela led the African National Congress, a black liberation group that opposed South Africa’s white minority government and apartheid. Mandela was initially opposed to violence, but after a massacre of unarmed black South Africans in 1962, he began advocating acts of sabotage against the government. In 1962, Mandela began a twenty-seven year stay in prison. Most of his confinement was spent during hard labor at the notorious Robben Island maximum-security prison. During his imprisonment, Mandela became a symbol of the anti-apartheid movement among South Africa’s black population and among the international community that opposed apartheid. Mandela rejected several government offers to allow him to leave prison on the condition that he renounce violence. Mandela was released from prison and instantly became an international celebrity. Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 with F.W. deKlerk, South Africa’s last white president. Their combined efforts ended apartheid and brought about a peaceful transition to nonracial democracy in South Africa. Three years after his release, South Africans of all races were allowed to vote for the first time in a national election. They selected Mandela as their president, giving him 62% of the vote. The same person who was once was a symbol of black resistance in South Africa later eventually because the nation’s first black president. Mandela’s government was praised for its treatment of South Africa’s white minorities. One white South African told our class in 1996 that "[Mandela] has treated us better than we treated him.” In the interviews I conducted over the Internet in the late 1990s, no South African of any race had kind words for apartheid. Mandela's government had its critics. Crime increased during his term, but the violent war between the races ended. Every South African I spoke with said life is better today than it was before Mandela took power. Mandela married for the third time on his 80th birthday in 1998. A year later he retired from the presidency. The 400-year-old prison on Robben Island is now a museum