Task B
The long walk to freedom was challenging in many ways. The desperate and frightening every-day of the Africans lead to not only conflicts between the blacks and the white people. Eventually it emerged conflicts between the black people as well, which lead to civil wars. The disagreements of how to achieve a free and democratic South Africa lead to distinctions between the people, and between Nelson – and Winnie Mandela as well.
It is well known that Nelson Mandela was a peaceful man, who believed that the best way to achieve freedom was by fighting in a non-violent way. In the beginning of their marriage, Nelson- and Winnie Mandela, seemed to have had the same views on how to achieve their goal. Even though Winnie wasn’t particularly interested or enthusiastic about politics, Nelson encouraged her to be involved in it. Sadly, Mandela wasn’t able to control the entire black community. Even though the majority was on his side, some people wanted to fight fire with fire. As it turned out, in the end, Winnie was one of these people.
In the fight between the black- and the white people a lot of temper and horror was developed, especially in the black districts. The oppression of the black community created strong feelings among them, and as the humans we are some people believed that the best way to demonstrate was by using violence. Nelson Mandela and his wife turned out to have had a very different political opinion. She believed in “us” versus “them”, which later turned into a more egocentric “I”. He, on the other hand, believed in a vision of “we”. In the end, Winnie Mandela’s, vision had huge consequences, and a lot of people died due to her decisions.
I believe that some of the reasons for the differences between Winnie- and Nelson Mandela might have been that Nelson Mandela was distant from their house and their children a lot. Both when he was on missions, but mostly during his stay on Robben Island. While he was in prison Winnie had several visits from the police, where they rummaged her house. I believe that Winnie developed an other, and a more extreme, type of hate for the government and the white people, than what Nelson did. While he was away in prison a lot of damage happened, but he wasn’t there to experience it. This might have had an affection of him, because he wasn’t able to see any photos or videos of the scene. This might have been a good thing, because when he eventually was released from prison he hadn’t lost his ground view. He was able to turn around his people, and continue his fight in a non violent- way.
On the other hand, I think that when you are present in a battle this terrible you see things in perspective. I can imagine that it wasn’t easy for anyone to see friends and family laying dead on the streets, and feeling like they could have done more to prevent it. To fight tanks, guns and power with words and boycotts doesn’t seem very effective. Winnie, among others, probably felt like she was giving away her freedom, and so she wanted to make her people stronger. This was by using violence and oppose every case Nelson Mandela stood for initially.
– Emma
emmaburan99 