Nelson Mandela is different, Nelson Mandela broke the mold. I doubt there will be another like him. Why? The leader of what was at the time of an anti government movement the African National Congress (not a 'black' movement it's membership was multiracial), an organization at the time engaged in armed struggle with the Government of South Africa. An organization who's tactics were condemned by many human rights groups such as Amnesty International (it's land mine campaign for example killed far more poor black civilians than it did South African Security Forces, and that was accused of the torture and summary executions of civilians) the ANC had few friends in the Western World, and was feared by many. Nelson Mandela was jailed for engaging in their armed struggle and emerged prison a man of peace, a true hero of national reconciliation.
The segments of society that opposed the ANC, not just white, but also Asians (coloureds) and even rival black groups (such as the Zulu nationalist Inkatha movement) genuinely feared what would happen if he was released. What type of man would emerge from prison after twenty seven years? A man thirsting for revenge, a bitter vengeful man? Who could blame him if he did, who could blame them for fearing him?
What happened instead was absolutely remarkable. It would be as if George Washington was captured by the British, released after twenty seven years, then stopped the Revolutionary War and asked Britain to stay in the thirteen colonies and share in their wealth. Truly astounding!.
He could have been angry, he should have been angry, he could have easily taken the ANC and others with him down the road of what so many leaders on the African continent had done before and lashed out violently. Taken the mantle of leadership and spun the country into a bloody cycle of revenge. But he didn't. Instead remarkably out those prison gates walked a man of peace, calm and reconciliation. A man that loved his country and all it's people, a man that more importantly knew that South Africa was more than simply an unjust system of government it was a unique society worth protecting, a society that did not deserve one form of repression to be replaced by another.
When eventually taking office as South Africa's first majority rule President, he reached out and made sure that what happened to him did not happen again. That 'not one hair on one head' to paraphrase him, be harmed as a result of his release. It is hard to think another leader in similar circumstances like him anywhere. Too often the release of a jailed opposition leader results in rebellion, and violence, Mandela made sure that did not happen - at least not in his name. The man of 'armed struggle' had become a very badly needed figure of national reconciliation. More than that an inspiration not just to millions in his own country, but millions of others around the world.
As I heard him say once on a TV clip of him visiting the prison on Robben Island where he spent so much time "we must make sure we never do this to others". And he didn't. Instead he went against the odds and pulled off what many thought impossible; a peaceful transition from apartheid to majority rule. Oppression and violence usually breeds violence, Mandela went from oppression and the violent reaction to it, to a man of peace, forgiveness and reconciliation.
Much of the circumstances around Mandela's release also benefited from the changing climate in Eastern Europe and a reform mind South African President in FW de Klerk who knew the apartheid was unsustainable and had the strength to change it. In Europe the Berlin Wall fell, and freedom was seemingly breaking out all over the world. South Africa and Mandela rode that wave too, but like all things around him he made it uniquely his own.
Thinking about the 'might have been's', and 'could have been's' only makes one shake their head in wonder. Everyone expected things to go bad, that blood would flow in the streets, some perhaps at the time would even have been happy if it did, but Mandela wouldn't let it. He loved his country, and he loved it's people too much to allow that.
You cannot compare him to Gandhi or Martin Luther King, as both men began and ended their struggles as men of peace and did so against countries that unlike South Africa had a free press, and who's broad aims had general public support. You cannot compare him to the Philippines' Benigno Aquino, because he too never was a figure in an armed movement. He's not a George Washington or Simon Bolivar either, he is uniquely his own.
Rest in Peace Nelson Mandela, for because of you so many others, black white, Asian and the mix of all of the above that make up the fabric of South Africa are able to also rest in peace in their homes and wake the next day free. There will not likely be another man like him, and what's more than that, what makes Nelson Mandela so special that he himself likely wishes that the world will not need a man like him again. Why? Because we will eventually learn to be secure in ourselves without feeling we need to hurt the security of others.
