Remembering Mandela

As we know, Nelson Mandela died just over a month ago at the end of 2013. During December we read and heard great platitudes about his life and the huge debt that South Africans and the world owe him for his work in bringing the end of the racist regime of apartheid to South Africa. We have been reminded that he left prison not with words of revenge on the government who imprisoned him for 27 years but with words concerning peace, democracy and freedom for all.

In 1995 South Africa hosted the Rugby World Cup. During apartheid, many countries had sanctions against South Africa that included not allowing sport teams to play there nor to host South African teams playing abroad. For South Africa to host the World Cup, this therefore was a significant event in the world of sport. Rugby had long been regarded as a sport that only white South Africans played and therefore the ‘Springboks’ team for most South Africans was seen as a symbol of the hated regime. However, Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s new president, was instrumental in uniting his country in support of the team and the Springboks, with one black player on the team, went on to win the World Cup in South Africa, with Mandela watching (wearing the green and yellow jersey) and with 43 million South Africans united behind them whatever the colour of their skin. 

Why is the life of Nelson Mandela and this sporting event from 1995 so important for us to remember in school? It reminds us of the extremities of discrimination that Mandela and millions lived through and that we must be vigilant against racism and discrimination in our school. Every school in BC is required to have a Code of Conduct which sets out expectations for student conduct in schools. These Codes must adhere to the BC Human Rights Code which sets out that all forms of discrimination (including publications, signs, emblems or statements)  are prohibited in BC and therefore in schools. There has been recent discussion at NSS about weighing up freedom of speech and expression against what constitutes discrimination and racism. By excluding one group of people from access to education (for example) because of their race, their gender, their sexual orientation, their political allegiances or their religious beliefs, this is discrimination. By allowing language or visual images that suggest that a person is less worthy of respect and regard because of the colour of their skin or their nationality is allowing racism into our school.  

 

As educators our role is to teach this to our young people and a good place to start would be to look at the life of Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013, and try to empathise with what it was like to live under the system of apartheid.