Tag Archives: apartheid

Call For Entries: The International Nelson Mandela Poetry Tribute

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Nelson Mandela, quote, quotes, death

Credit: Wikipedia Commons

To mourn his death and celebrate his life, Poetry Zone have opened the International Nelson Mandela Poetry Tribute, as a fitting way to gather poetic tributes from around the world in an online collection – accessible to all. They welcome all contributions and would appreciate your support in alerting people to this global poetry initiative.

Nelson Mandela was a man to whom poetry and the poetry of words mattered. There’s the legend of his reading of Invictus to his fellow prisoners on Robben Island, but in every speech Mandela worked language to leverage its impact. He may not have formally published poetry, but Mandela was a poet.

On his death, the US State Department issued a poem by Maya Angelou in memory of Nelson Mandela and there have been earlier tributes by Thabo Mbeki and Tupac Shakur. At his memorial on Tuesday his Grandchildren showed the power of poetry, rousing the crowd with short electric stabs in a call and response tribute to Mandela’s modesty and power.

For the many people who write poetry around the world, an opportunity now exists to contribute their own poetry; to write a poetic tribute on the passing of a great historical figure. Sorrow, Gratitude, Appreciation, Love, Respect… You don’t need to be a poet laureate to take part – and it’s not a competition. It’s about personal responses. What did Nelson Mandela mean to you? How did his message affect the world? What do you feel on learning of his death? What are your personal memories and reflections? Did he inspire you? Maybe you took part, in any small way, to help end apartheid. Or you played an important role… How do you think his legacy will endure?

Nelson Mandela was a global figure who brought a message of reconciliation rather than retribution, despite his own suffering and the nature of the apartheid regime which he’d opposed. It was this that made Nelson Mandela a true inspiration to millions around the world, a man who was prepared to lay down his own life to affect the change needed to rectify the glaring abomination of apartheid.

It is free to post poems at www.PoetryZoo.com, or simply email poems to Mandela@poetryzoo.com and they will be included in the anthology .

As the world reacts, we are glad to be able to provide a fitting international tribute in poetry to Nelson Mandela: Madiba, Tata.

Nelson Mandela Dies Aged 95: His Greatest Quotes

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Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Nelson Mandela was an eloquent, humble man who led South Africa from apartheid to democracy. An inspirational figure who fought for democracy, human rights and peace, here Frost pays tribute to him with his greatest quotes. Rest In Peace Mandela.

“One day I will be the first black president of South Africa.” In 1952

“Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity.”

“I can’t help it if the ladies take note of me; I am not going to protest.”

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”

“Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.”

“Only free men can negotiate; prisoners cannot enter into contracts.”

“Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world.” On oppression in South Africa.

“I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I, and you, the people, are not free. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.”

“Those who conduct themselves with morality, integrity and consistency need not fear the forces of inhumanity and cruelty.”

“In South Africa, to be poor and black was normal, to be poor and white was a tragedy.”

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. I felt fear myself more times than I can remember, but I hid it behind a mask of boldness. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”

“I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.”

“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

“I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.”

“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. 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.”

“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 before we reach the mountain tops of our desires.”
– 21 September 1953. Presidential address to ANC conference.

“I have never regarded any man as my superior, either in my life outside or inside prison.”

“If I had my time over I would do the same again. So would any man who dares call himself a man.”

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

“The struggle is my life. I will continue fighting for freedom until the end of my days.”

“Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.”

“Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.” In a letter to his wife, Winnie Mandela.

“It would be very egotistical of me to say how I would like to be remembered. I’d leave that entirely to South Africans. I would just like a simple stone on which is written ‘Mandela’.”

“Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.”

“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”

“Between the anvil of united mass action and the hammer of the armed struggle we shall crush apartheid and white minority racist rule.”

“It always seems impossible until its done.”

“There will be life after Mandela. On my last day I want to know that those who remain behind will say: ‘The man who lies here has done his duty for his country and his people.'”