Umkhonto we Sizwe

went on trial for disloyalty. All of the defendants were released in 1961, but in the meantime tensions within the ANC escalated, with a militant group splitting off in 1959 to form the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). The next year, police opened fire on peaceful black protesters in the township of Sharpeville, killing 69 people. As fear, anger and disturbance cleared the country in the massacre’s aftermath, the apartheid government banned both the ANC and the PAC and forced to go underground and wear masks to avoid detection, Mandela decided that the time had come for a more fundamental approach than passive resistance. NELSON MANDELA AND THE ARMED RESISTANCE MOVEMENT In 1961, Nelson Mandela co-founder and became the first leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”), also known as MK, a new armed wing of the ANC. Several years later, during the trial that would put him behind bars for nearly three decades, he described the reasoning for this essential departure from his party’s original doctrine. It would be wrong and unrealistic for African leaders to continue preaching peace and nonviolence at a time when the government met our peaceful demands with force. It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been banned to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle. Under Mandela’s leadership, MK launched a sabotage campaign against the government, which had recently declared South Africa a republic…

argued for the setting up of a military wing within the ANC.” (2012, 2012) “Then in June 1961, the ANC executive considered his proposal on the use of violent tactics and agreed that those members who wished to involve themselves in Mandela's campaign would not be stopped from doing so by the ANC.” (2012, 2012) With that being said it led to the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe. (2012, 201) The next year, Mandela was arrested and sentenced to five years' imprisonment with hard labor. (2012, 2012)…

other cities in South Africa and organizing protests against apartheid policies. Also in 1952, Mandela and Oliver Tambo (1917-1993) opened South Africa’s first black law firm, which provided free or low-cost legal counsel to those affected by apartheid legislation.3 In 1956, Mandela along with 155 other activists arrested for treason. All of them were found not guilty in 1961. The following year, police killed 69 people at a protest in Sharpeville, South Africa. After having to disguise…

This involved the development of the "M-Plan" in 1953, which was the "African National Congress 's blueprint for its underground branches" (Miller 28). This made communication between those working with Mandela much easier and faster. If a member was in trouble, they would alert the others who were a part of the plan and be able to help them. He turned towards violence and created "Umkhonto we sizwe" in 1961, which was a "campaign of sabotage against the government and economic installations…

African Apartheid is a benchmark case for justified violence. During Mandela’s beginning years with the African National Congress, non-violence was endorsed by Mandela between 1940 and 1950. However, in 1960, the Sharpeville Massacre occurred shifting Mandela’s position (McKay, et al., 2009, pp. 265-67). The Military Wing of the African National Congress; Umkhonto We Size (Spear of the People) was created, and the wing soon began sabotaging facilities tied to the South African government.…

Steps to Freedom Nelson Mandela once said, “There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again until we reach the mountain tops of our desires.” (BrainyQuote) Politically an African nationalist and democratic socialist, Nelson Mandela, in his speech, “I Am Prepared to Die,” justifies the wrongful accusations he faced during his law-breaking years to create a racialism free country. Mandela’s purpose is to protect…

Right after the end of his studies as an attorney, he has been involved with the struggle for freedom. To achieve this goal, lots of steps had to be taken, and they were not always successful.He has been an ANC member since the early 1940s, but it is really after the establishment of apartheid that he became more implicated in the struggle. Indeed, in 1949, he participated in massive boycotts and strikes to fight for the freedom. All those actions were non-violent, peace being one of the most…

evidence shows that in his free time he would practice ballroom dancing (styling himself), joined the Fort Hare Dramatic Society, and costarred in a play about Abraham Lincoln (Lamb 15). He really wanted to widen his social horizon. In 1960 he then described himself to the writer Nadine Gordimer. White students at schools had way better and nicer things than the black students. This Evidence shows that the black children who attended school had very few teachers and materials and they and to pay…

“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.” This was a bold statement that Nelson Mandela gave at his trial before being sentenced to life imprisonment in 1963. This quote embodies all things that Nelson…

Rolihlahla Mandela was born to Henry Gadla Mpakhanyiswa and Nonqaphi Nosekeni on 18th of July in 1918. The name Nelson was given to him by his teacher when he was studying at a local Methodist school (Valley, 2013). His father was the head councillor to the king and his mother was the third wife out of the four wives that his father had (Limb, 2008). He had three biological sisters. In 1928, his father died and Mandela was place under the guardian of Jongintaba Dalindyebo, who was the Thembu…