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media type="youtube" key="eTLWA_iXBls" height="315" width="560" align="center" Nelson Mandela:  An Unsettled Innovator  //“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”// –Mandela. Nelson Ma ndela was an innovator of his time because he knew that innovation meant making what does not exist today, exist tomorrow. An innovator does not settle for what is but strives for what can be and is constantly working to get there. He knew that mistakes would be made in trying something new, yet he learned from those mistakes and made them as important as his success. Mandela is a civic hero because he is a true innovator, not in his methods and tactics alone but also in his political ideals for social change.

 Nelson Mandela was born in Transkei, South Africa on July 18th, 1918. Mandela finished his junior certificate in two years and went on to study for his Bachelor of Arts degree at Fort Hare University. Mandela graduated with a Bachelors Degree in 1942 from the University College of Fort Hare in Alice, Eastern Cape. He was an active participant in student protests against white colonial rule of the college institution (Brink 1). In 1852, after several failed attempts, he took the qualifying exam that would allow him to practice as a fully-fledged attorney. He received his law degree in 1989 (Mandela 10). Mandela fled to Johannesburg, South Africa to escape an arranged marriage, where he joined a law firm as an apprentice.  He was exposed to the daily inhumanities of apartheid and this gave Mandela the spark to light the fire of courage that he used to ignite the world. He joined the Youth League of the African National Congress (ANC) and became involved in programs of passive resistance against the laws that forced blacks to wear passes to keep them in a position of permanent submission. He used his respectable demeanor and his wealth of knowledge to harness others support of the resistance. Mandela was on trial for tr  eason between 1956 and 1961 and was acquitted at the end of the trial. He was put in prison in 1962 for involvement with the underground ANC after it had been banned. He and seven others were sentenced to life in prison. Mandela served 20 years in prison and was released in 1990. He became the first democratically elected president of South Africa in 1994.

 Nelson Mandela was an innovator of peace in South Africa. Mandela gained recognition throughout South Africa in his years involved with the ANC. He was seen as an intelligent and caring communicator of peace. He realized th at the current conditions of South Africa were not ripe for a revolution. The black population of South Africa felt overpowered and hopeless. The mass geography of the country limited communication and mobility and the probability of a race war was unrealistic (Brink 1). Mandela capitalized on this information, gathered his many supporters, and organized nonviolent protests. He was actively involved in movements of passive resistance up until being arrested on suspect of violently overthrowing the government with other members of the ANC. The government’s plan was to end all resistance to apartheid. This caused the ANC and other organizations to be shut down. After taken to trial Mandela and others were acquitted. Upon his release Mandela continued to lead the underground ANC. Upon his imprisonment he responded to the inhumanities of prison life with a creative denial of victimhood. Mandela naturally took a role of leadership in prison. He fought for better treatment from the guards and he encouraged others to support him as well as each other. He developed a process of self-education and shared it with others. The prison became a place of learning. Mandela assigned teams and to those teams he assigned instructors of history, politics, philosophy etc. The prisoners were granted better living conditions because of a food strike he and the others organized. He developed ways for the prisoners to communicate with each other by writing on toilet paper, concealing messages in the bottom of food buckets, hiding notes in the dirty dishes for the prison cooks, taping notes to the inside rim of toilet seats and many others. Mandela rejected multiple offers for freedom in exchange for different compromises within his political principles (Mandela 45).

 When Mandela was imprisoned his reputation grew steadily and he became a concrete symbol of resistance and the anti- <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">apartheid movement gathered strength. After two decades in prison and still no change in policies he decided it was time for a new approach. Mandela painstakingly pressured his way into being secretly escorted to the State President’s office to negotiate his release and the transition from apartheid into democracy. On February 2nd, 1990 President F.W. de Klerk lifted the ban off the ANC and called for Mandela’s immediate release. For the next four years Mandela struggled whole-heartedly not only to gain the support of his followers but to patiently and strategically alleviate white fear (Brink 2). He and Klerk jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for their peaceful abolishment of apartheid. His efforts paid off when he became the first democratically elected President of South Africa. During his years he worked hard to administer the conversion from apartheid to democracy. He had a large advocacy for reconciliation, which steadily gained him trust from the white community. Also a passionate advocate for the education and treatment of HIV/AIDS, he became the President of the Global Business Council on HIV/AIDS in 1997 (Mandela Statement). Through his powerful status and excellent reputation Mandela reached out globally and touched the hearts of many through his bona fide devotion to fight HIV/AIDS and his brilliantly sincere campaigns.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> Nelson Mandela was a born civic hero filled with ambition, tenacity, and devotion. //“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he w// //ho conquers that fear.”// –Mandela. Mandela as an innovator held on to the criticisms and passed on the praise. He prided himself just as much in celebrating his success and he did in surmounting blunder. His use of civic engagement was creative and peaceful yet more powerful than anything that anyone had previously seen. Mandela taught the world that standing strong in your beliefs can bring about exceptional social change.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">__Works Cited__ <span style="color: #bdbd1f; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Brink, Andre. "Nelson Mandela - TIME." //TIME.com//. TIME Magazine, 13 <span style="color: #bdbd1f; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> Apr. 1998. Web. 7 Oct. 2011. <span style="color: #bdbd1f; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988171- <span style="color: #bdbd1f; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> 3,00.html>.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Mandela, Nelson. //Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of// <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> //Nelson Mandela//. Little, <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> Brown and Co., Boston, 1994.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"Nelson Mandela - Biography". Nobelprize.org. 7 Oct 2011 [|http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1993/mandela-] [|bio.html]