( Dedicated to sweet Jane, who I was fortunate to encountert down the cellar bar Cardigan/Aberteifi June 21 2009 )
Summer has arrived, the Sun's ray's blaze down
Under influence, releases nostalgic feeling,
Memories of dear departed soul now in afterlife
Marvellous star releasing beautiful light,
Essence of warmth, full of grace and power
Releasing thoughts in the here and now.
Sunrise passing, entering new cycle,
Onwards crossing over new threshold,
Love reigns supreme over the earth
Sharing celebration of renewal, fertility and life,
The wheel turning and time moving on
In changing seasons rainbowas colors weaving
Clinging on to hope, everlasting and clear
End of day listening to music, I still feel magic.
Following yesterday's post highlighting refugee week,https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/refugee-week-19-25-june-2017.html today is World Refugee Day which honors the strength and resilience of refugees ,as well as their contributions to societies that welcome them. World Refugee Day has been marked on 20 June, ever since the UN General Assembly, on 4 December 2000, adopted resolution 55/76 where it noted that 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and that the Organization of African Unity (OAU) had agreed to have International Refugee Day coincide with Africa Refugee Day on 20 June.
The annual commemoration is marked by a variety of events in over 100 countries, involving government officials, aid workers, celebrities, civilians and the forcibly displaced themselves. Never before have the immediate needs of vulnerable children and their families been so great. Some 20 million refugees half of whom are children, have been forced to flee violence, poverty and persecution from places such as Syria, Somalia, South Sudan and Central African Republic taking perilous sea voyages over the Mediterranean. According to the International Organisation for Migration, over 20,000 migrants have died in their attempts to reach or stay in Europe since 2000, and according to the United Nations, only one per cent have been resettled. It is imperative that they should be given help, protection and long term solutions.
Together, we should be creating an outpouring of compassion and show individual refugees that they are welcome here. but the persecution of refugees continues, whipped up by forces of racism spreading fear and misinformation about security and terrorism. The EU Referendum campaign has recently sadly contributed to this, unleashing some of the most heinious manifestations of racism we have seen in generations. Those on the far right across Europe are eager to use the crisis to further scapegoat immigrants.
It is worth remembering that there are 65.6 million displaced people around the world – that’s more than the population of the UK. As continuing tragedy unfolds, some of the countries most able to help are shutting their gates to people seeking asylum. Borders are closing, pushbacks are increasing, and hostility is rising. Avenues for legitimate escape are fading away. Since the beginnings of civilization, we have treated refugees as deserving of our protection. Whatever our differences, we have to recognise our fundamental human obligation to shelter those fleeing from war and persecution. It is time to stop hiding behind misleading words. Richer nations must acknowledge refugees for the victims they are, fleeing from wars they were unable to prevent or stop. History has shown that doing the right thing for victims of war and persecution engenders goodwill and prosperity for generations. And it fosters stability in the long run.
The world needs to renew its commitment now to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its principles that made us strong. To offer safe harbor, both in our own countries and in the epicentres of the crises, and to help refugees restore their lives. In a world where violence has forced hundreds of families to flee each day.
The the UN Refugee Agency believes now is the time to show world leaders that the global public stands with refugees, it has set up the #WithRefugees petition, entreating world leaders to ensure every refugee child gets an education, every refugee family has somewhere safe to live and every refugee can work or learn new skills to support their families. You can sign the petition here.
Several charities work to support the rehabilitation of refugees, including Oxfam, and Refugee Action; all of which you can donate to. and it will launch its
Those who leave everything behind for the purpose of living in peace need our support and solidarity. Today and tomorrow we must continue to stand up for refugees. We must remember that arms trade helps exacerbate the crisis, plus poverty and inequality, war and conflict, we need to build bridges not more obstacles and borders. Refugees have suffered unimaginable loss, and yet they are filled with the strength to triumph over adversity. The refugee crisis is a human crisis. Their story is our story. We are all human,and together, we can build a better world.We all have an important role in ensuring that refugees have the support they need. When we work together, we can help even more people feel safe from conflict, stay healthy and forge ahead to a better, stronger future.
Refugee Week takes place every year across the world in the week around World Refugee Day on the 20 June. In the UK, Refugee Week is a nationwide programme of arts, cultural and educational events that celebrate the positive contribution of refugees and rich diversity that they bring to the UK, and encourages a better understanding between communities.
Refugee Week started in 1998 as a direct reaction to hostility in the media and society in general towards refugees and asylum seekers, to try and look beyond the stereotypical ‘refugee’ label and work to counter this negative climate, defending the importance of sanctuary and the benefits it can bring to both refugees and host communities.
Fearmongers talk up the threat of terrorism, but most of the people risking their lives to get to Europe are fleeing the horrors of war in Syria; the brutality of insurgent groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia; or the repression of the Eritrean or Iranian governments. Demagogues thunder that asylum seekers just want to steal jobs or bleed the welfare system dry, but almost everyone acknowledges that the EU needs labor migration, and study after study shows that immigration brings net benefits to societies over the long-term.
The aims of Refugee Week are: 1. To encourage a diverse range of events to be held throughout the UK, which facilitate positive encounters between refugees and the general public in order to encourage greater understanding and overcome hostility. 2.To showcase the talent and expertise that refugees bring with them to the UK.
To explore new and creative ways of addressing the relevant issues and reach beyond the refugee sector. 3.To provide information which educates and raises awareness of the reality of refugee experiences
The ultimate aim is to create better understanding between different communities and to encourage successful integration, enabling refugees to live in safety and continue making a valuable contribution.
Refugees are a real, current and terrible problem that we have in our world and possibly one that will get worse as war continues to devastate and uproot people, for instance since the conflict in Syria began more than six years ago, over 4.8m Syrians have fled from their country because of violence, conflict, and a complete collapse of Syria’s economy and infrastructure. Then there are those who have to leaven low lying islands of the world as a consequence of climate change, and people fleeing for their lives as a consequence of famine, violation of human rights, physical, political or religious persecution.
Many refugees and asylum seekers face severe difficulties once they arrive in the UK. Unable to work or support themselves, many struggle for basics such as food and shelter. Some of the key issues they encounter are the possibility of detention, living in destitution and contending with negative stereotypes.Most of those who are granted asylum are given leave to remain for only five years, making it difficult for them to make decisions about their future, including finding work and making definite plans for their life in the UK while it remains unsafe for them to return to the country they escaped from. As fellow humans we have a responsibility to respond to their specific needs in times of crisis. Many of these asylum seekers come to us as a last resort, having exhausted all alternatives, with nowhere else to turn. We should also remember all those suffering abuse in detention centres and those facing repatriation despite the dangers that they face.
Refugee Week is an umbrella festival, with events held by a wide range of arts, voluntary, faith and refugee community organisations, schools, student groups and more. Past events have included arts festivals, exhibitions, film screenings, theatre and dance performances, concerts, football tournaments and public talks, as well as creative and educational activities in schools.
Through Refugee Week the aim is to provide an important opportunity for asylum seekers and refugees to be seen, listened to and valued. We must continue to offer our love , solidarity, tolerance, warm welcome and friendship to refugees who daily have to struggle, many of whom left feeling traumatised and marginalised. Refugees are ordinary people to whom extraordinary and often very horrible things have happened. Refugee Week is an opportunity to celebrate that. Find out more about Refugee Week here :- http://refugeeweek.org.uk/refugee-week-2017/
It is nearly summertime, but it's increasingly getting very bitter.
Theresa May not capable of shaping society for the better
Getting daily free food and accommodation and so much more,
Just adds insult to injury to those already feeling sour
Victims of Grenfell Tower fire, without food, no roof over head
Feeling abandoned a community mourns for their dead. .
The Queen, managed to walk the streets, for some this was noble
Had at least made the effort to leave her palace of gold,
After many poorer people had died in raging inferno
Maybe she found time to witness the cracks of division,
The feelings of despair and rage as the Prime Minister hid
Streams of rage currently growing stronger until she is rid.
There are almost 20,000 Ghost homes sitting empty in London.
Many left on the streets feeling the heavy weight of burden,
And the Crown Jewels value means nothing at all to those lost
Nor the CEO's receiving millions as a reward for cutting costs
While fire resistant cladding is 24 pounds per square metre
Money still keeps getting wasted on those that don't deserve it.
As a people's need for justice grows bigger and bigger
And the scent of anger keeps blowing through our streets,
We are connected by faultlines of separation and inequality
Certain lives are still considered more important than others,
As smoke drifts, lets not forget the crimes of greed and selfishness
remember the victims, harmed by the crime of recklessness.
The future will look back in anger and deep everlasting shame
Until there is justice and those responsible are apportioned blame,
This tragedy will not be forgotten and nothing will ever be enough
For those that are daily caught up by the effects and anxiety of poverty,
Revealing the wealth disparity that crawls through our days
Let the healing begin, time now to abandon division.
In response to the Grenfell Tower fire, here is a song called "Palaces of Gold" written by Leon Rosselson, which was actually written about the Aberfan disaster of 1966, in which a school full of children and teachers was engulfed by the collapse of a spoil tip, killing 144 and devastating the village.
But the Grenfell Tower disaster, like Aberfan before it, will long live now in the collective memory; let us hope that we can all continue to learn from these tragedies, so that something similar never happens again, and that the living conditions of all, are improved in the future.
In both cases public anger was equally valid and necessary, after all Aberfan should not have happened, as neither should have Grenfell, especially after years of negligence had been pointed out, equally representative of the failure and duty of care of those apparently in charge of us. Natural waves of anger always helps and sustains both campaigners and victims as they are forced to wade through layers of bureaucracy and red tape that are discovered in the aftermath of tragic events like these mentioned. This is what makes us human in the wake of so much darkness. Lets continue to mourn the dead, but fight like hell for the living.
AMNEST RHYNGWLADOL GRWP ABERTEIFI A GOGLEDD PENFRO CARDIGAN AND NORTH PEMBS. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL GROUP’S ANNUAL AMNESTEA
Cardigan and North Pembrokeshire Amnesty International Group are asking people to drink tea and eat cake for human rights at our annual AMNESTEA event on Sunday, 18th June from 2.00 to 5.00pm at Merlin's Lair, Capel Iwan SA38 9LS. This year it is on the weekend of the GREAT GET TOGETHER, when tens of thousands of get-togethers will be held in memory of Jo Cox, the MP who was murdered last year outside her constituency office. Her widower, Brendan, wants the event to reflect her “dynamism and joy at life and to highlight the issues she cared about so deeply – from the plight of innocent civilians in Syria to the despair caused by loneliness and social isolation in the UK. Come along and relax to live music by L'Attitude, enjoy the garden, look for plants on the plant stall, peruse the bookstall and jewellery stall, see the outdoor model railway and hit some balls on the (very) mini golf range. Indoors if wet, outdoors if dry, everyone welcome, parking next door at Beacon Stoves. Always a wonderful time, the weather is supposed to be good this year. Everyone welcome - Croeso i pawb! All proceeds to Amnesty International's work for human rights
Akala interview on the Grenfell Tower Fire. A disaster because of Capitalism. Austerity is a matter of life and death that leads to tragic events like this.
At least 30 people have died police have revealed. At least 70 people , including children and entire families have been reported missing following the devastating fire. An investigation led by a senior detective from Scotland Yard's homicide and major crime command is under way with calls for "corporate manslaughter" arrests to be made.
The political dimension to the Grenfell Tower catastrophe became apparent on Wednesday as the government came under scrutiny over a failure to commission a review of fire safety regulations following a past inquest, which had raised questions about existing rules, spending cuts and mismanagement may also have contributed to the deadly fire, it has been claimed while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn questioned whether cuts to local funding contributed to the tragedy.
“If you deny local authorities the funding they need then there is a price paid by a lack of safety facilities across the country. I think there needs to be some very searching questions as quickly as possible in the aftermath of the fire,” he told LBC Radio on Wednesday.
Residents who witnessed the blaze as it began spoke of how cladding, added to the building in a recent ‘refurbishment’, appeared to be highly flammable, “catching up like a matchstick” according to one. Another observer referred to the “shoddy plastic things” on the exterior of the tower that “set up alight”. Reports suggest this cladding was added to appease luxury property developers.
.*The tale of Grenfell Tower is a tale of two Kensingtons. It is the story of how scores of people were left to perish in what is being described as a block riddled with fire and safety problems and disrepair, just meters away from some of the wealthiest streets in the country. ” * [HuffPost]
We cannot reasonably give in to pleas not to ‘politicise’ what occurred, for it was nothing if not fundamentally ‘political’. For example, residents of the property had repeatedly told the local council, controlled by Tories , that living conditions inside the building were ‘dangerous’ and that it was not up to standard as far as fire safety was concerned, but of course being poor people and people of colour their suspicions were simply not listened to. It has led to massive public anger at the landlords, the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), who were warned repeatedly by tenants that Grenfell Tower was an accident waiting to happen. The Grenfell Action Group raised concerns about the fact that there was only one entrance and exit to the building complex, and in the event of a fire the fire brigade “could only gain access to the entrance to the building by climbing four flights of narrow stairs.” More than this, they also complained that “the fire escape exit on the walkway level” had been sealed. Grenfell will be seen to represent the inequality that is sweeping through our country at this moment in time. There is growing anger, people are demanding answers. Prime Minister Theresa May has been criticised for not showing enough humanity or compassion.
Theresa May's decision to carry out a public inquiry into the Grenfell tragedy ensures that the government has control over any uncomfortable revelations about the negligence and poor planning of the Grenfell estate by the Tory-run Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.
By choosing a PUBLIC INQUIRY the government protects itself as well as those who should be held accountable. It also blocks any possibility of an INQUEST from taking place: the necessary process that would unearth the true causes of the fire for the public interest.
Prevent the government from whitewashing the truth and from keeping the UK's planning and regulation laws in the dark ages any longer. Stand with the residents of Grenfell as well as the residents of the UK's 4,000 other tower blocks and make sure this does not happen again.
My thoughts are with the victims this awful disaster. Donate to the crowdfunder to help the families of the Grenfell tower tragedy. Justice now, rehouse the survivors, prosecute those responsible.
The Sun newspaper, which by the way is an insult to journalism are offering to post free copies of their scum tabloid though your letterbox. All under the guise of free listings of games for the European Football Championship. Most considerate post workers will refuse to send it as a mark of respect for all the damage and pain it has already unleashed. It is and always has been a disgraceful paper, releasing daily a tissue of lies. Divisive daily torrents of hate. There commentary on the recent Grenfell tower fire disaster has been pretty dodgy, fulfilling their role for the establishment with innappropriate reportage of a tragedy which many people are viewing as a serious crime, who never ask questions about the disgusting disregard for the lives and safety of ordinary people.And lets not forget what they wrote about Hillsborough. “The Truth.Some fans picked pockets of victims,Some fans urinated on the brave cops Some fans beat up PC giving kiss of life.” just four days after their loved ones had died, four days after they had narrowly escaped death themselves, Liverpool supporters were confronted with those headlines. People actually believed those headlines. Lets not forget when 96 people had their lives crushed out of them.
They simply have a disgraceful hidden agenda to every story. Daily releasing a pious debasing rhetoric that is simply offensive and unacceptable to the order of the Murdoch empire, that controls the flow of media to almost half the planet. Releasing abuse to benefit claimants, refugees, the disabled, transphobic, homophobic, islamophobic, that never shows any tolerance, decency or fairness, with a dirty right wing bias. It truly is gutter press of the lowest common denominator which offers no value at all to society. The Scum for a long time for me has been simply unforgiveable. There is no excuse for buying or reading The Sun. None whatsoever. The rag is like a swamp that needs draining. Fortunately I know enough people that do not want this paper, even for free. .
Let's send them a message.
If you receive a free copy of The Sun through your letter box please take the time wrap it in paper.
Masking tape the ends and to send it freepost to.....
Head Office Postal Address
News UK & Ireland Ltd... 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF United Kingdom Don't bother paying for the postage. They can take care of that shit at the other end. Please share
There's a dangerous squatter in the house
With a lust for power, playing with our lives,
In league with dark forces, even dodgier friends
Hope will try to stop her, driving us round the bends,
Spreading insecurity, contradictory policy
Getting into bed with DUP monstrosity,
She's like a bad joke wearing thin
Really irritating getting under skin,
Who said the naughtiest thing she'd ever done
Through fields of wheat as a child she once run,
Would be endearing if she had not spread misery
Pushed so many of us into grinding poverty,
This profiteer of capital and shares for personal gain
As she tears up her manifesto, she really has no shame,
Soon we'll feel a warm glow when she's gone
As time keeps the pressure on her to jog on,
Her policies of instability creating to much pessimism
At least we can thank her for bringing back socialism.
On June 12, 1964, Nelson Mandela received a life sentence for committing sabotage against South Africa’s racist apartheid government, avoiding a possible death sentence.
His political career had started in 1944 when he joined the African National Congress (ANC), an organization dedicated to protesting the South African government's policy of apartheid, and racist segregation. and he participated in the resistance against the then government¹s apartheid policy.. Apartheid cruelly and forcibly separated people, and had a fearsome state apparatus to punish those who fought against it. Racist laws were created to enforce a racially separate and unequal social order. The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, for instance, imposed segregation on all public facilities, including post offices, beaches, stadiums, parks, toilets, and cemeteries, and buses and trains as well.
The Defiance Campaign in 1952 was the first large-scale, multi-racial political mobilization against apartheid laws under a common leadership – by the African National Congress, South African Indian Congress, and the Coloured People’s Congress. More than 8,000 trained volunteers went to jail for 'defying unjust laws.’ Volunteers were jailed for failing to carry passes, violating curfew, and entering locations and public facilities designated for one race only.
In early 1953, the Government imposed stiff penalties for protesting against discriminatory laws, including heavy fines and prison sentences of up to five years. It then enacted the Public Safety Act, allowing for the declaration of a State of Emergency to override existing laws and oversight by courts. Although the Defiance Campaign did not achieve its goals, it demonstrated large-scale and growing opposition to apartheid. Furthermore, the use of non-violent civil disobedience was part of an important international tradition, from the passive resistance campaigns started by Gandhi in South Africa continuing to the independence movement in India two decades before, to sit-ins and other non-violent protests in the United States civil rights movement .Mandela was arrested in 1956 on treason charges, but was acquitted.
The ANC was banned by the government in 1960, following the Sharpeville massacre. In 1961, the ANC executive approved Mandela's idea of using violent tactics and encouraged members who wished to involve themselves in Mandela's campaign. Shortly after this,Nelson Mandela founded with others Umkhonto we Sizwe , the armed wing of the ANC, ( abbreviated as MK, meaning "Spear of the Nation" ) believing that non-violent measures would not be successful, and was named its leader. Beginning on Dec. 16, 1961, with Mandela as its commander in chief, they launched bombing attacks on government targets and made plans for guerilla warfare.
Mandela was forced underground “adopting a number of disguises—sometimes a labourer, other times as a chauffeur. The press dubbed him ‘the Black Pimpernel’ because of his ability to evade police.”
Mandela was subsequently arrested on Aug. 5, 1962, and sentenced to five years in prison for inciting a workers’ strike in 1961. A year later, in July 1963, the government launched a raid on the Lilliesleaf farm in Rivonia, which had been used as an ANC hideout. It arrested 19 ANC leaders and discovered documents describing MK’s plans for attacks and guerilla warfare.
The government charged 11 ANC leaders, including Mandela, with crimes under the 1962 Sabotage Act. At the Rivonia Trial, Mandela chose not to take the witness stand, instead making a long statement from the dock on April 20, 1964. In it, he explained the history and motives on the ANC and MK, admitting to many of the charges against him and defending his use of violence.
He concluded, “ "I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the whites. During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
Mandela was found guilty on four charges of sabotage on June 11.His co-accused included: Walter Sisulu, Dennis Goldberg, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Elias Mosoaledi, Andrew Mlangeni - all ANC officials and Ahmed Kathrada, the former leader of the South African Indian Congress. Lawyer for the defendants, Harold Hansen QC said: "These accused represent the struggle of their people for equal rights. Their views represent the struggle of the African people for the attainment of equal rights for all races in this country."
The following day, he and seven of his co-defendents were sentenced to life imprisonment avoiding the death sentence. Mandela and the other six non-white defendants were sent to the prison on Robben Island, a former leper colony located off the coast of Cape Town. Nelson Mandela and his comrades were effectively jailed for leading the liberation movement against apartheid , a system of white rule which they considered evil.,and for their stance on the human right to live in freedom and end oppression to black South Africans..
On the notorious Robben Island, Mandela lived in a tiny cell, received meager rations and performed hard labor in a lime quarry.Mandela’s prisoner number was 46664, the prisoners were never referred to by their names, but rather by their numbers .In South Africa at the time It was forbidden to quote him or publish his photo, yet he and other jailed members of his banned African National Congress were able to smuggle out messages of guidance to the anti-apartheid movement. Meanwhile outside thousands died in the decades-long struggle against apartheid, which deprived the black majority of the vote, the right to choose where to live and other basic freedoms. Yet Robben Island would became the crucible which transformed him,through his intelligence, charm and dignified defiance, Mandela eventually bent even the most brutal prison officials to his will, assumed leadership over his jailed comrades and became the master of his own prison. He would be come a symbol of hope and defiance not only in South Africa but across the world.
In the 1980s, exiled ANC leader Oliver Tambo, Mandela’s former law partner, led an international movement to free Mandela. Many countries imposed sanctions on South Africa for its apartheid policies. Conservative Prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who Mandela thankfully outlived, denounced Mandela’s ANC as a “typical terrorist organization”.
David Cameron a later Conservative leader and PM himself accepted an all expenses paid trip to South Africa while Nelson Mandela was still in prison while he was a researcher for the Conservative Research Department , which was funded by an firm that lobbied against the imposition of sanctions against the regime. I remember to when I was at college Conservative party members, who would proudly flaunt there ' Hang Nelson Mandela' badges. When the Tory's were displaying which side of human rights they were on, the future labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn was at the time a prominent anti apartheid activist ,a staunch opponent of the Apartheid regime and who was out on the streets marching and prepared to get arrested for the end of apartheid in South Africa and calling for the release of Nelson Mandela.
I along with many others at the time joined the anti apartheid movement, pressuring our Governments for his release, and for the end of apartheid, calling for sanctions against what for many of us saw at the time was a fascist state.The apartheid government, was denounced globally for its campaign of beatings, assassinations and other violent attacks on opponents and its oppressive treatment of its people. United Nations resolutions began to call for the release of "Nelson Mandela and all other political prisoners." By the mid-1980s South Africa was becoming increasingly isolated, with the UN supporting sporting and cultural sanctions and many western companies spurred to withdraw from the country by the efforts of anti-apartheid campaigners.
In 1980 a new campaign for Mandela’s release was initiated inside South Africa by the Sunday Post newspaper. In the 1980s Mandela received an avalanche of honours from all over the world, especially in Britain. In 1981 Glasgow City Council was the first of nine British local authorities to make Mandela a freeman of their city. Streets, gardens and buildings were named in Mandela’s honour. Over 20,000 mayors from cities on every continent signed a declaration calling for his release. And how can I forget the seminal song "Free Nelson Mandela" which was released in 1984 by the Coventry band the Special AKA, which became a focal rallying call. Free Nelson Mandela - Special AKA
In 1985, President PW Botha offered to release him, who had been moved to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town, on the condition that he renounced violence. Mandela defiantly refused, saying, “Prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Only free men can negotiate.” The Anti Apartheid Movement launched the ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign at a concert in Wembley Stadium in 1988. Rock stars played to a capacity audience and the concert was broadcast by the BBC to over 60 countries.
Though not entirely without controversy.In Britain, members of the ruling Conservative Party proposed a motion in parliament criticising the BBC for carrying an event that “gave publicity to a movement that encourages the African National Congress in its terrorist activities”. Next day 25 freedom marchers set off from Glasgow for London, where they arrived on the eve of Mandela’s birthday. A quarter of a million people gathered in Hyde Park to hear Bishop Desmond Tutu call for Mandela’s release. On 18 July a special service was held in St James’s Piccadilly and thousands of cards were delivered to South Africa House.F.W. de Klerk became president in 1989 and began to dismantle the policies of apartheid and release the ANC prisoners. On Feb. 12, 1990, Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years in prison.
He was named president of the ANC. In April he came to London, where he was welcomed at a second Wembley concert. He thanked the people of Britain and said the support he had received from the Anti-Apartheid Movement was ‘a source of real inspiration’. Mandela had become an icon of the freedom struggle. His release unleashed a wave of support for the ANC and heralded the beginning of the negotiations which led to a free and democratic South Africa.and in 1993 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The following year, the ANC emerged victorious in South Africa’s first democratic elections with universal suffrage. Mandela was named the first President of post apartheid South Africa.
He used his position to stand with other oppressed people speaking out on behalf of the Palestinian people expressing his support for a two state solution, while being adamant that Israel must leave the West Bank, Gaza and Syria’s Golan Heights.Speaking at the International Solidarity Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People event in Pretoria in 1997, Mandela declaimed: “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.. Yes, all of us need to do more in supporting the struggle of the people of Palestine for self-determination.” In 1999, he toured the Middle East, visiting Palestine. In Gaza he closely identified the South African struggle for freedom and liberation with the Palestinian struggle: “The histories of our two peoples, Palestinian and South African, correspond in such painful and poignant ways, that I intensely feel myself being at home amongst compatriots … The long-standing fraternal bonds between our two liberation movements are now translating into the relations between two governments.”It is worth pointing out that during apartheid era South Africa, Israel regularly traded arms and security information with the regime.
He also criticised US President George W Bush over Iraq, saying the sole reason for a possible US-led attack would be to gain control of Iraqi oil. The US stance on Iraq is "arrogant" and would cause "a holocaust", he said at the time. He also said UK Prime Minister Tony Blair - who supported Washington over Iraq - was in fact the "US foreign minister",He accused both the US and UK governments of undermining the United Nations. "Why does the United States behave so arrogantly?" Mr Mandela asked. "Their friend Israel has got weapons of mass destruction but because it's their ally they won't ask the United Nations to get rid of them. He also said war "would be devastating not just to Iraq but also to the whole of the Middle East and to other countries of the world". . "They just want the oil," Mr Mandela went on. "We must expose this as much as possible."
Nelson Mandela not only used his voice to protest against injustices at home, but attacked injustices across the world too.
In 2002 Mandela reiterated his opposition to acts of terror, and reminded readers of how appalled he had been by the barbarism of the 9/11 attacks, but argued that those responsible for bringing down the Twin Towers must be “apprehended and brought to trial without inflicting suffering on innocent people”.
On December 5, 2013, the world was shocked and saddened by the transition of Tata Madiba Rohlihahla Mandela at the age of 95. Although Madiba had been ill for many months and his condition required round-the-clock medical attention, his passing was nonetheless a great loss to the people of South Africa, the African continent, and indeed to the world.
Mandela was eulogized by people throughout the world. Inside South Africa an extended period of mourning was declared and the former African National Congress (ANC) leader and first president of a non-racial South African state was given a state funeral.
Memorial services were held throughout South Africa. Millions poured into streets and stadiums around the country to sing the praises of their leader who had spent twenty seven years in prison for his believe that the African people should be liberated from national oppression and economic exploitation. A true revolutionary never dies, for anyone who risks his own life for the oppressed and the poor, will live as long as there are hopeless people in this world. A man who was willing to die for his cause, who spent 27 years in jail for his beliefs and refused to leave until better conditions for his country were met. He made his enemies respect him because of his bravery and loyalty, and didn’t prosecute the same people who abused him when he had the power to do so. Instead, he forgave them. Though his status was larger than life he lived humbly as a citizen in the country he loved. His example taught us the importance of forgiveness and the true meaning of representing the people with honor and loyalty. He showed us that one person’s actions can have an extraordinary effect on this world, and our world today surely needs more like Mandela!
Nelson Mandela's spirit could never die, and his light will never fade. His sacrifice, courage and philosophy will be an example for anyone who wants to impact the world in a positive way.Nelson Mandela Day which is marked every year on July 16th, the day of Mandela's birthday not only celebrates Nelson Mandela’s life, but it is also a global call to action for people to recognize their ability to have a positive effect on others around them. It marks Nelson Mandela’s contribution to peace through his active involvement in resolving conflicts, promoting human rights, international democracy and reconciliation, and in addressing racial issues.
