Invictus

Nelson Mandela

Mandela was an anti-[|apartheid] activist, and the leader of [|Umkhonto we Sizwe], the armed wing of the [|African National Congress] (ANC). In 1962 he was arrested and convicted of [|sabotage] and other charges, and sentenced to life in prison. ‘Separate but unequal’ could have been the slogan of South Africa for the apartheid years, which began in 1948 and lasted for nearly 50 years. Mandela, who had been a radical anti-apartheid leader before his imprisonment in 1964,Mandela served 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on [|Robben Island].

Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, Mandela led his party in the negotiations that led to multi-racial democracy in 1994. He was returning to a nation torn apart by apartheid. As president from 1994 to 1999, he frequently gave priority to reconciliation, while introducing policies aimed at combating poverty and inequality in South Africa. He could easily have used his almost god-like standing with black South Africans and the understandable anger anyone would feel after slightly more than a quarter century behind bars to mobilize his people and cause civil war….but he didn’t. In fact, he took a completely different tactic, which would not only be millions of times more efficient, but would help to bring his shattered country together. media type="youtube" key="JyerKFjF2N0" height="175" width="311"



**Invictus ** William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.