The first interview of Nelson Mandela
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPofm50MHW8
Before talking about this video I think it is necessary to consider the political climate of the time. The population registration Act divided the population of South Africa into three groups: black, white and colored. Each group had its territory. For black population the homelands were established, so a black, being citizen of this homeland, lost the citizenship of South Africa with the fundamental human rights, as franchise for example, liberties and others. There was a pass system to enter on the territory of white population.
The video is the first interview of Nelson Mandela arranged in a hiding place in underground. It was after a struggle organized by 10000 of Africans two days before the South Africa was announced a republic. At the moment Nelson Mandela was a leader of this struggle and of the policy of non-cooperation, which was the policy against the present government and essentially for security of franchise.
During the interview we could notice, that the journalist, asking about education of Africans wanted to say, that Europeans came to develop this country and Africans could not do the same. But how could Africans be well-educated, if the statistic showed, for example, that annual expenditure on education per pupil (black/white) counted $45/$696 and teacher/pupil ratio was 1/22 and 1/60. The similar situation was with the health care, security, etc. Of course, we know that all this was financed by the government not by the Africans, but we also know that this government colonized South Africa in its interests, which are abundant raw materials, especially gold and diamonds.
The last questions of the interview concern the nature of black population’s reaction, which is a politic of non-violence. Many people thought that it was useless, but Nelson Mandela had violence as the last resort. That’s why this person was not only a revolutionary leader in the fight, but at the first time a peacemaker. He made some ideological statements, which would be recognized only many years on.
Gulmira KULPEISSOVA