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Nelson Mandela










Still angry after all these years
Mandela at 85
Anthony Sampson, who has known Nelson Mandela for 50 years, pays a birthday tribute to the statesman who wants a quiet life but is still drawn to the public stage, the world icon who, in his old age, has grown angrier and more outspoken than ever.

Comment


The hands of history
David Beresford asks if attempts to make money out of Nelson Mandela's name have gone too far.

Sampson on Mandela: From the Archive


The men who may hang
Anthony Sampson's March 1964 dispatch from the trial for The Observer.

The graduates of Robben Island
The bars of apartheid's most infamous jail could not cage the spirit of its ANC prisoners. Anthony Sampson , who has known Nelson Mandela for 45 years, returned with him to the island that schooled a generation of political leaders.

Mandela's big secret - the habit of truth
What is the secret of Nelson Mandela's lonely strength, which made him so uniquely qualified for the Nobel Peace Prize?

The evil must be forgiven, not forgotten
The reconciliation which Mandela demands is a priceless national asset, but the sins of apartheid cannot be wished away, writes Anthony Sampson, following South Africa's first democratic election.

Mandela: Observer highlights


Mandela's freedom cry rings out again
Few people heard the ANC leader's speech at his trial in 1964 - but none of them forgot it. Now, after 36 years in the vaults, the world can hear a tape of his defiant declaration.
Full transcript of Mandela's Rivonia speech.

How I gave advice on the words that made history his cry
Anthony Sampson, who covered the 1964 trial for The Observer, recalls Mandela's defiant words.

How the lost recordings were recovered
Painstaking work that brought historic speech to life.

Meanwhile on the outside
Anthony Sampson on how world opinion changed while Mandela was in jail.

Resources


'The struggle is my life'
Nelson Mandela timeline.

In his own words
Quotations from Nelson Mandela's best-known speeches and statements.

The Rivonia trial
The background to Mandela's freedom cry.






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