Blog by Mark Adams, Head of Funding Development at Scottish Refugee Council.
Nelson Mandela is a modern icon – the embodiment of a moral courage, integrity and decency that is unsurpassed.
As a student I campaigned in the UK to end apartheid in South Africa. We danced to the anthem ‘Free Nelson Mandela’. We boycotted Barclays and we denounced Margaret Thatcher, who continued to label Mandela as a ‘terrorist’.
I studied alongside ANC and SWAPO students who were learning the skills to run the new South Africa.
As an adult I lived and worked in Africa, including South Africa at a time when Mandela remained in prison.
Unifying force
Throughout Africa, Nelson Mandela – ‘Madiba’ – is seen as representing what is best about the continent: A unifying force helping to take South Africa forward from its colonial and racist past, and showing that Africa – far from the ‘basket case’ that it is often taken for in the developed world – can represent the best of us, and play a leading role in the world.
And, closer to home, that Africans do not need to accept the poor governance and leadership that they often suffer – that there is a higher standard they can expect.
Made Africa proud
The South Africa that Nelson Mandela helped to bring into being – the democratic, multi-racial, economic power house of the continent – has continued to make Africa proud.
The football World Cup in South Africa was another step forward – proving the nay-sayers wrong and demonstrating that Africa can successfully deliver a global event.
The patron
At times the world of ‘apartheid South Africa’ seems like a distant memory. So much has changed since then. Remembering Nelson Mandela reminds me not just of Mandela but the many people known and unknown, who struggled alongside him to create a better, fairer and more just South Africa.
Nelson Mandela agreed to become a Patron of the Scottish Refugee Council, and I want to believe that he saw in our work an echo of his own struggle for human rights for all.
Continues to inspire
The world is changing rapidly.
And Africa is increasingly taking its place on the world stage – not as a victim, but as a partner.
Nelson Mandela played a key role in laying the foundations for this transition, giving people around the world a leader they could believe in.
His passing brings great sorrow to his family, his friends, his contemporaries, his country, and the world.
But the example that he set for us and the ideals he encouraged us to believe in and fight for, will endure and continue to inspire us for a long time to come.
We ask you: what did Nelson Mandela mean to you?
