Nelson Mandela Statue insert by JD Okhai Ojeikere (Dynamic Africa Drum)
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Washington, DC
A statue of former South African president Nelson Mandela was unveiled Saturday at the grounds of the South African Embassy in Washington, D.C., the site where four protestors were arrested in 1984 – an event credited with spurring anti-apartheid sanctions against South Africa.
The 3 meter statue, a replica of the sculpture outside the gates of Drakenstein Correctional Centre in South Africa where Mandela was released after 27 years in apartheid-era jails, is the work of South African artist Jean Doyle, who modeled the sculpture from photographs of Mandela leaving the prison in 1990, his fist is raised triumphantly over his head. Ebrahim Rasool, South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States, noted the statue stands across the street from a statue of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who is also depicted with his hand over his head but with two fingers raised, flashing the V for victory sign. Suggesting the two statues are engaged in a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, Rasool noted that “rock beats scissors.”
A plaque at the base of the statue quotes from Mandela’s address to a joint session of Congress months after his release in 1990.
“The stand you took established… that here we have friends… fighters against racism who feel hurt because we are hurt, who seek our success because they too seek the victory of democracy over tyranny. I speak… of the millions of people throughout this great land who stood up and engaged the apartheid system in struggle. Let us keep our arms locked together so that we form a solid phalanx against racism… Let us ensure that justice triumphs without delay”
Below is the speech delivered by H.E. Ebrahim Rasool
Transcribed by AMIP News
Thank you very much Felicia Mabusa Sato.
Our dear minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and minister Rob Davies, senior officials of the South African government from all departments who are here, chairperson of the African Union Ms Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in the United States of America and all members of the Diplomatic Corps, Congresswoman Maxine Walters and all the members of Congress and Senate at various levels of government and legislatures who honor us with your presence here today, thank you very much for being here.
The Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development Mr. Rajiv Shah, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and members of the US administration who have honored us with your presence here today, Randall Robinson, Peloosi, Mayor Dinkins and all the members who have laid deep footprints around the statue of Nelson Mandela, thank you very much for being with us today. Rev Forbes, Imam Talib Shareef and all the leaders of faith who bless us with your presence, the sponsors who have made this possible from Old Mutual’s first request right to the last donation, thank you very much for realizing this great moment for us. The Deputy Chief of mission Johnny Moloto whose seat waits for him here and he can stop working now and let others do it, thank you very much for leading Team South Africa, the staff at the embassy into making this a truly memorable day and a memorable occasion. (Applause)
The Consul Generals, the Honorary Consuls who have from all the different places in the United States where they represent us with such dignity, such energy and such vision, thank you very much for making this trip to Washington, DC. Dr. Steve Mokone Kalamazoo, Rev Mankikola, Dr. Bilabakazi, all the veterans of the South African Diaspora, thank you very much for your presence here today. Ladies and gentlemen, comrades and friends, welcome, thank you very much for being here.
It was 83 years ago that Mahatma Ghandi marched for 24 days in India to the seaside to extract salt from the sea. In the eyes of the British, this was illegal and he was eventually arrested for it and all others who took salt from the sea because Britain wanted the monopoly on salt. Mahatma Ghandi knew that it was illegal but he certainly knew that it was moral. Thus began India’s march to independence through the birth of Satyagraha.
Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. marched on Washington and shared his dream with the world and with the United States. He dreamt of an America free of racism an segregation replaced by freedom and equality and he dreamed that his children will be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.
Twenty-three years ago, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela took another step in his long walk to freedom out of the prison gates of Victor Verster and as he stepped there after 27 years he started a journey that began to touch our lives in a completely different way and it is that step that we immortalize here today in Washington, DC.
Each one’s journey dramatized simple truths that what is legal isn’t always moral; that judgements are not always equal to justice; that the resolve of the human spirit is more powerful than the might of the empire or the state. Today, in immortalizing that step that Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela took out of prison as he raised his fist in triumph, it was the triumph of him – his spirit over his captors, the people’s triumph over eagle; the triumph of global solidarity over parochialism and selfishness and separateness.
Today, we also reconnect the United States … in the United States, Mahatma Ghandi’s statue just further down the road, Martin Luther King’s memorial on the Mall and today we add Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela here outside the South African Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue. (Applause)
We close a golden triangle of leaders – leaders who do what is right, not always what is popular; who lead by example, not by dictat who unite people around vision, not mobilize them around fears; who give them hope and not despair at the most pressing times in the history of the world.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is revered because he never saw himself as an individual but part of the great relay race of leaders and people who hand the baton from one to the other adding their special strengths but never unmindful of what has been laid before them and unmindful of who will come after them. Nelson Mandela is revered never as a saint because he battled his soul and therefore he was able to battle evil in the world. Nelson Mandela, despite what many people may say, is revered never because he performed miracles but asserted that what happened in South Africa can happen anywhere else in the world whether in the intractable problems of the Middle East, what happened in South Africa can happen there. In the ongoing troubles of North Africa, it can happen there. In the challenges of Asia, it can happen there. In the challenges of the Caribbean, of Central America, of southern America, even in the United States, what happened in South Africa is relatable everywhere else in the world. (Applause)
As I look at who we have gathered here around the statue I feel humbled to represent a country that produced great leaders including Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela in a country representing them in the United States of America where people like you from all walks of life hold South Africa in a special place in your heart, admire our example, and see in us a partner for good. Whether it is a partner in the fight against HIV and AIDS through PEPFAR, whether it is a partner in the fight against poverty through the African Growth and Opportunities Act, whether it is in the fight against youth unemployment through the new programs like Young African Leaders Initiative, fighting against the energy deficit in initiatives such as Power Africa.
This partnership is born out of the sacrifices made by people like yourself and many others who were arrested there where Madiba stands today. Those in Boston who sat in in Chase Manhattan Bank to get them to divest; those of the Long Shoreman workers who refused to unload the ship for 11 days until that ship had to turn around; those authors in Hollywood and all over who refused millions of dollars to play in Sun City or in anywhere else in South Africa; this tribute of Nelson Mandela is as much a tribute to you because when Nelson Mandela addressed Congress on the 24th of June, 1990, in the 101st Joint Sitting of Congress, this is what Nelson Mandela said and I quote him ” .. the stand you took established that here in the United States we are friends, fighters against racism who feel hurt because we are hurt, who seek our success because they too seek victory of democracy over tyranny. I speak of the millions of people throughout this great land who stood up and engaged the Apartheid System in struggle. Let us keep our arms locked together so that we form a solid phalanx against racism. Let us ensure that justice triumphs without delay.” That vision of Nelson Mandela must continue.
Today we also celebrate the exorcism of this building. We exorcise this building where Apartheid was justified for so many decades. We exorcise attempts (applause) we exorcise attempts from this building to buy constructive engagement and to invest in it. We exorcise from this building where racism that sought to legitimize itself from the segregation that you too suffered. But in a true South African spirit our exorcism is not destructive – it is a cleansing, it is a healing, it is the ability to combine the best of the old with the best of the new.
The classical architecture of the old will now come and join with the post modern architecture of the new that now holds it together, retaining the recognizable form but infusing a profound new content into this building, strengthening old foundations but placing at the service of a new set of inclusive aspirations. What you see here is the realization of a vision – a vision dreamt of my Ambassador Sonn, thought through by Ambassador Sheila Sisulu, brought to life … brought to life by Ambassador Barbara Masekela, carried forward by Ambassador Nhlapo, implemented by Johnny Moloto.
May this building and this statue always symbolize the ultimate triumph of the human spirit over adversity, the superiority of morality over legality, the resilience of principled unity over technical difference, the victory of soft power over military might. May it symbolize our endeavors to make the world a better and more equal place. May it symbolize a world that is always safe for difference. This is a tribute to Nelson Mandela. It is a tribute to the people of South Africa and it is a tribute to the millions of Americans that you represent here today.
Thank you very much for being with us. (Applause)
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