The Republic of South Africa is a country
situated in the very south of the African continent. It is formed by a
multi-ethnic society with plenty of cultures, religions and a great variety of
languages, among which 11 as official (with English ranked as the 4th
most used, especially in public and commercial life). This country is well
known for its struggle against racism, mostly during the apartheid system. The
apartheid system contained laws of racial segregation that sought the dominance
of the white minority over the black majority. This generated a contraposition
by the African National Congress and many anti-apartheid activists, among whom
we can find:
NELSON MANDELA
One of the most important South African
figures, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in Mvezo. Member of
a royal family, but only he received formal education. He attended Fort Hare
University, the only black university in South Africa at the time, but he was expelled after a year
due to his political activism. He spent some time working as an apprentice and
later, in 1952, he started the first black legal firm with his friend Oliver
Tambo, called Mandela and Tambo. On August 5th in 1962, he
was arrested, becoming the most famous political prisoner. He got out of prison
in 1990, became president of South Africa in 1994 and started creating the
non-racial country he'd always dreamed of.
ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU
Emeritus Desmond Tutu was born on 7 October
1931 in Klerksdorp. A humanitarian figure of humble origins, he had to abandon
his studies in 1953 because of the Bantu Education Act. He joined the Anglican
Church and and helped in the fight against the apartheid system. He made history
in 1975 for becoming the first Anglican Dean of Johannesburg and again in 1986
when he was appointed Archbishop of Cape Town. He won a Nobel Peace Prize in
1984, but continued fighting against racism and injustice.
NADINE GORDIMER
Born on 20 November 1923, she was a South
African writer and political activist. She came from a white middle-class
family of Jewish origins. She witnessed first-hand the oppressive apartheid
system, against which she fought vehemently. She used this experiences in her
novels, which back then were banned in
South Africa, but widely read around the rest of the world. She won many awards
such as the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991, becoming the first South African
to win this celebrated award. From 1994 onwards, she also became an activist in
the HIV/AIDS movement.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa
- http://www.southafrica.net/za/en/articles/entry/article-southafrica.net-archbishop-desmond-tutu
- http://www.southafrica.net/za/en/articles/entry/article-southafrica.net-nelson-mandela
- http://www.southafrica.net/za/en/articles/entry/article-southafrica.net-nadine-gordimer
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