Mandela: an Epitome of Equality, Dignity and Peace

 

Nelson Mandela International Day 2022 / 18 July / Article

Mandela: an Epitome of Equality, Dignity and Peace

 Dr M. D. Thomas


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

‘Nelson Mandela International Day’ is being celebrated on the 18th day of July. It is also called ‘Mandela Day’. It is his birthday and the celebration is definitely an honour paid to him. The day was officially declared by the United Nations in November 2009. The first Mandela Day was celebrated officially on 18 July 2010, in New York, while some groups began celebrating it in 2009 itself.

  

Mandela Day is not a public holiday, but a day to appreciate the legacy of Nelson Mandela. The day is a global call to action that celebrates the idea that ‘each individual has the power to transform the world, well, the ability to make an impact’. The UN resolution acknowledges his contribution to the struggle for democracy internationally and to the promotion of a culture of peace throughout the world.

 

Mandela day is recognition of his values and his dedication to the service of humanity. The areas of his commitment includes ‘conflict resolution, race relations, promotion and protection of human rights, reconciliation, gender equality and the rights of children and other vulnerable groups, the fight against poverty, the promotion of social justice’, etc.

 

Nelson Mandela was born in a village called Mvezo in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. He fought for social justice for 67 years. Mandela was jailed for leading the liberation movement against apartheid. He was referred to in the jail by the inmate number 46664. He was in the jail for 27 years, paying the prize for freedom and dignity.

 

Nelson Mandela was a legend, indeed so. He was the President of South Africa, well, the first democratically elected President of the free South Africa. Bringing people together around the world to fight poverty and promote peace, reconciliation and cultural diversity would be a fitting regard paid to him. 

 

The first global celebration of Mandela Day was his 91st birthday. Nelson Mandela Foundation organized on the day a series of educational, art exhibit, fund-raising and volunteer events leading up to a concert at Radio City Music Hall.  The UN General Assembly established Nelson Mandela Prize in 2014, a five-yearly award that recognizes the achievements of those who dedicated their lives to the service of humanity.

 

Nelson Mandela was a human rights lawyer, a prisoner of conscience and an international peacemaker. He won over the apartheid regime of South Africa. The Parliament Luminary had revolutionary ideas about freedom, “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 legacy of Nelson Mandela is the monumental achievements that changed the 20th century and shaped the 21st. His tall values, firm determination and deep commitment to human rights, freedom and justice are a perennial source of inspiration for one and all. Mandela advocated for the rightful dignity and equality of every living person and encouraged engagement and solidarity across all borders.

Nelson Mandela was a man of absolute determination and deep commitment to justice, human rights and fundamental freedoms. He was known for his profound belief in the equality and dignity of every woman and man. He engaged with people across all lines and divisions, in view of dialogue and solidarity.

 

Mandela was a great statesman, a stern advocate of equality and the founding father of peace in South Africa. In other words, he is a powerful symbol of the power of resisting oppression, of justice over inequality, of dignity over humiliation and of forgiveness over hatred. He was a great humanist as well.

 

Nelson Mandela was a Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO. He was the 1991 Laureate of the UNESCO Peace Prize, as well. Empowering all women and men with equal rights and dignity, along with promoting dialogue and solidarity for justice and lasting peace, was the mission of UNESCO. In fact, the legacy of Mandela matched that of UNESCO. 

 

In his legendary speech delivered at the Rivonia Trial in South Africa in 1964, Nelson Mandela said “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”.

 

Audrey Azoulay, Director General of UNESCO, on the occasion of Nelson Mandela International Day, stated “His mission as an anti-apartheid revolutionary was establishing equality and freedom for all women, men and children. He stood for the fundamental rights of all human beings, regardless of gender, nationality or race. This is also the very ideal for which Nelson Mandela was jailed for 27 years. Despite his imprisonment, Nelson Mandela continued to believe in these ideals, and upon his release, continued to put them into practice’’.

 

Besides, in honour of the 27 years Nelson Mandela spent in the prison, the UN General Assembly revised and adopted United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and declared it ‘Nelson Mandela Rules’.

Well friends, being born in to this world has a specific purpose. It is for making a difference in the families, communities, nations and the society. Changing the world for the better is the responsibility of everyone. Everyone has the ability to make change possible, too. The whole world, India in special, has much to learn from Nelson Mandela, definitely so. Mandela day is a fitting occasion for taking inspiration and facilitating change, yes, change for making a more inclusive and harmonious society.   

 

On the occasion of ‘Nelson Mandela International Day 2022’, inspiration requires being taken from the great world luminary Nelson Mandela, in view of committing ourselves to equality, dignity, freedom and peace and thus contribute to making the world a better place to live in, for one and all.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The author is Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi, and has been committed to cross-cultural perspectives, cross-scriptural values, constitutional values, interfaith relations, communal harmony, national integration and social wellbeing, for the past over 40 years. He contributes to the above cause through lectures, articles, video messages, conferences, social interactions, views at TV channels, and the like.

He could be viewed, listened to and contacted at the following portals – websites ‘www.mdthomas.in’ (p), ‘https://mdthomas.academia.edu’ (p), ‘https://drmdthomas.blogspot.com’(p) and ‘www.ihpsindia.org’ (o); social media ‘https://www.youtube.com/InstituteofHarmonyandPeaceStudies’ (o), ‘https://twitter.com/mdthomas53’ (p), ‘https://www.facebook.com/mdthomas53’ (p); email ‘mdthomas53@gmail.com’ (p) and telephone 9810535378 (p).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Published in ‘The Secular Citizen’ (Weekly Magazine), Mumbai, Vol. 31, Issue No.30, p.10-11 – on 25-31 July 2022

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Greed for Wealth leads to Corruption

  Greed for Wealth leads to Corruption Dr M. D. Thomas ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Supreme Court of India has come out with a landmark verdict on the most pressing problem of the country, in the following words “un-satiated greed for wealth has facilitated corruption to develop, like cancer, and the constitutional courts owe a duty to the people of the country to show zero tolerance to corruption and come down heavily against the perpetrators of the crime”. The marker ruling was given on 03 March 2023, by a bench of Justices comprising of S. Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta, who set aside an order of the Chhattisgarh High Court, which had quashed the FIR registered against the former principal secretary of the state, Aman Singh, along with his wife, for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets. In spite of the fact that the Constitution in its preamble promises social j...
Read more

Religion is like Cholesterol!

    Religion is like Cholesterol! Dr M. D. Thomas ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cholesterol is a class of organic modules called ‘lipids’. It is a ‘waxy and fat-like substance that is found in all the cells of the body’. The body requires cholesterol to make the cells healthy with vitamins, hormones and other digestive elements. They are vital to the existence of the body. But, the level of cholesterol has to be sustained, preventing it from being high or low, in consideration of good health. Cholesterol is a double-sided reality. There is good cholesterol and bad cholesterol, alike. ‘Good cholesterol’ is high density lipoprotein (HDL) and ‘bad cholesterol’ is low density lipoprotein (LDL). Good cholesterol is good because HDL carries cholesterol to the liver, where it can be removed from the bloodstream before it builds up in the arteries. Bad cholesterol takes cholesterol directly to the a...
Read more

Good Family Makes a Good Society

  International Day of Families 2023 / 15 May / Article Good Family Makes a Good Society   Fr Dr M. D. Thomas Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 15 th day of May is observed, world over, as ‘International Day of Families’. This is also called ‘International Family Day’ or ‘World Family Day’. This day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 with a resolution. The celebration kicked off in 1994, as well. The ‘International day of Families’ highlights the importance of family for the humans across the globe. F amilies include people, societies and cultures around the world, and therefore, communities, nations and the global society, too. The day is scheduled for promoting awareness of issues relating to families and to increase knowledge of the social, economic, demographic and cultural processes affecting families....
Read more