The centenary of Mandela – LANACION.COM.CO



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Óscar Alvis Pinzón

Nelson Mandela, first black president of South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize, great South African leader who managed to end apartheid (racial segregation) in his country. Cape Town, in 1990, and yet, came out to talk about reconciliation. On July 18, he celebrated his centenary.

The British journalist John Carlin is the author of "The Human Factor", a book that tells the miracle accomplished by Mandela: the union of blacks and whites after centuries of hate. Let's try to summarize the facets of this great man: Mandela's key was his charisma. What he has accomplished, no more and no less, is that a whole country has changed his mind. It allowed the black population to give up the vindictive impulse and opt for reconciliation and convinced the whites to leave their ancestral fears to a black government. And not only that: it has reached the point that most whites have accepted as their leader.

He had clear goals and knew how to reach them. It was prepared. He learns the language of the enemy, reads the history of the Afrikaans (white descendants of the Dutch) to know them better, and seeks common ground with the black population. He conveyed consistency between his speech and what he did. He already had the potential, but he polished it in the 27 years he was in jail; In any case, there are two mandelas: the one who entered prison and the one who left. In prison, he had time to think about the limits of the possible and prepared not to remain in rhetoric, which can satisfy pride but not achieve results. There he became a pragmatic leader. He had a talent for captivating people: his smile. It may seem trivial, but a smile expresses a lot about the personality, and Mandela's smile is a 1000-volt smile, it lights up a room.

The importance of Mandela will last over time. It will be a magnificent example to follow; the weapons he used to achieve his ends were persuasion, forgiveness and reconciliation. Mandela has changed the fate of a country and the perception of a continent and the whole world through its exercise of commitment and dignity, which undoubtedly make it one of the biggest figures of contemporary history. His example must prevail to put an end to all the exclusions, all the inequalities, all the injustices that are committed to undermine humanity. Mandela, an apostle of freedom who has won fame and immortality. A brave man who, for example, taught forgiveness.

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