‘I am not a violent man, but I am not a pacifist,’ Nelson Mandela once said. ‘When someone chooses to use their fist, I too will use my fist.’
With that, the world-renowned advocate for African independence led ‘uMkhonto weSizwe,’ or ‘Spear of the Nation,’ the armed wing of the African National Congress. Its members carried out various attacks on targets associated with the apartheid regime in present-day South Africa.
In 1962, Mandela was arrested and, a few years later, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. He spent 18 years on Robben Island, continuing to lead the fight for freedom as a 'prisoner of conscience.' Thanks to his remarkable efforts, South Africa was able to negotiate a peaceful end to apartheid. After becoming the country's first Black president, Nelson Mandela continued his work to eradicate inequality.
