Nelson Mandela
Born in 1918 into the Royal Family of the Thembu Tribe in British occupied South Africa in 1918, Nelson Mandela entered a part of the world where he was considered the inferior and despised simply for the color of his skin.
He grew up in British occupied South Africa. Racial discrimination in South Africa had existed since its formation. But during Mandela’s youth it escalated when the Afrikaner National Party implemented an ‘apartheid.’
Apartheid — a term derived from the Afrikaans word for ‘apartness’ — became the dark reality surrounding the lives of South African people. It was a policy which allowed for lawful segregation using racial divides. But this was only the beginning. After the apartheid was passed into law in the 1940s, hundreds of laws were made to segregate the minority white population from the majority colored population.
These laws of segregation prevented equal opportunities for basic human rights to people of color. Everything was decided for them — where they could live, work, and go to school. Around 3.5 million colored people were forcibly removed from their lands, dumped into reservations called ‘bantus’, and plunged into poverty with no way out. This criminal racist system became ever more militarized and murderous, which compelled Nelson Mandela to fight.
During this time, Nelson Mandela, a powerful member of the African National Congress (ANC), began to play an important role in black Africans’ struggle for freedom. He radicalized more and more and took on an ideology of civil disobedience as a way to defy the discriminatory laws. The ANC soon adopted his stance and began to intentionally defy the apartheid laws.
Due to this, Mandela was arrested for treason and the struggles between blacks and the police reached a brutal height at the Sharpeville Massacre where 69 black people were killed. After this, Mandela realized he had to fight fire with fire. He formed a militant group of freedom fighters and after their attacks he was arrested and jailed for 27 long years.
Due to his abusive imprisonment, Mandela not only became a national hero for South Africans but a hero and symbol of resistance to the world. The ANC used him as a symbol of all the political prisoners. The apartheid regime noticed his fame and made him special offers — which he naturally declined. But his star had risen and inspired people in South Africa and an uprising began for his release.
When he was offered release in exchange for stopping his movement, he refused — instead demanding that all political prisoners be released. When his request was denied, he stood fast and suffered even more time in prison. When the US placed sanctions on South Africa, the government realized this was no longer sustainable; they relented and released all political prisoners – including Nelson Mandela.
The nation was on the verge of civil war, and Nelson Mandela stepped in to negotiate an end to apartheid helping prevent it. He sincerely believed in a South Africa that existed for all races. In 1993 Mandela and South Africa’s president agreed on the nation’s first democratic election — an act for which they both received the Nobel Peace Prize. The outcome of the 1994 election was celebrated all over the world. The ANC had won with a staggering 62% — and Nelson Mandela became the president of the very nation that had tried to destroy him.
In our first novel, Adam escapes a different kind of oppressive rule — but one that has some parallels to what the African people faced. AI-controlled robots in his homeland had captured humans and ruled over them in similar ways to the apartheid. All human life was controlled and structured, which stamped out any chance for basic human liberties.
After Adam escapes from this oppression, he builds a new life in liberty and the responsibilities that come with freedom. But he never forgets where he came from — nor the scourges humans in his homeland were still facing.
In our second novel, ‘Homeland Rescued', Adam returns to Novana back to take the leadership role in leading them to freedom. Just as Mandela did in South Africa.
Today, oppressive rule continues to exist in far too many places in our world. We must all stand against such evil. Especially the tyranny of ‘free things’ and enslavement to the state. Humans are created for freedom to pursue their own dreams and purpose. Let us pray that humankind will slowly but surely continue to progress toward that day when all will be free.
