Intercultural relationship

Long Walk To Freedom- Nelson Mandela

On 10th May 1994, Nelson Mandela took the oath as South Africa’s first Black President after more than three centuries of White rule. His party had won 252 out of the 400 seats in the first democratic elections in the history of South Africa.

. In his speech, Mandela addressed all dignitaries respectfully and assured his fellow countrymen that his country would never experience similar suppression by one group over another. While vowing as the first black President, he established democracy in the country and said there would be no discrimination of people, irrespective of caste, colour, creed or race. He assured that the government would always treat all the people of the country with due respect and equality.

He strongly believed that no person is born to hate the other person on the basis of skin colour, background or religion. Although people must learn to hate initially, because if they learn to hate, they can be taught to love as well, as love comes more naturally to humans than hate. He also mentioned how a person becomes brave, not because he does not feel afraid, but because he knows how to conquer his fears.

Furthermore, Mandela stated that every man in life has two major obligations. The first one being towards his family i.e, parents, wife and children and the second obligation towards his motherland, countrymen and his community. Everyone is able to fulfil those obligations according to his own interests and inclinations. However, it was difficult to fulfil both these obligations as a black man in a country like South Africa before the democratic wave took over the nation by storm.

According to Mandela, freedom was indivisible for all. But the people of his colour and race were bound in chains of oppression and tyranny. He knew that the oppressor must be liberated just like the oppressed because a person who snatches another’s freedom is also a prisoner of similar oppression. Thus, the oppressor is not free too and feels shackled in the chains of oppression himself.

KEY POINTS

- Freedom is indivisible

-Opressor must be liberated just like the opressed

- No one is born to hate; love comes more natural to human beings.

- Bravery is not the absense of fear, but the triumph over it.