I Told My Cellmates About The Oppression

Unlike Some Politicians, I Can Admit To A Mistake.

When The History Of Our Times Is Written, Will We Be Remembered As The Generation That Turned Our Backs In A Moment Of Global Crisis Or Will It Be Recorded That We Did The Right Thing?

At The Meeting I Argued That The State Had Given Us No Alternative To Violence. I Said It Was Wrong And Immoral To Subject Our People To Armed Attacks By The State Without Offering Them Some Kind Of Alternative. I Mentioned Again That People On Their Own Had Taken Up Arms. Violence Would Begin Whether We Initiated It Or Not. Would It Not Be Better To Guide This Violence Ourselves, According To Principles Where We Saved Lives By Attacking Symbols Of Oppression, And Not People? If We Did Not Take The Lead Now, I Said, We Would Soon Be Latecomers And Followers To A Movement We Did Not Control.

It Was During Those Long And Lonely Years That My Hunger For The Freedom Of My Own People Became A Hunger For The Freedom Of All People, White And Black. I Knew As Well As I Knew Anything That The Oppressor Must Be Liberated Just As Surely As The Oppressed. A Man Who Takes Away Another Man's Freedom Is A Prisoner Of Hatred, He Is Locked Behind The Bars Of Prejudice And Narrow-mindedness. I Am Not Truly Free If I Am Taking Away Someone Else's Freedom, Just As Surely As I Am Not Free When My Freedom Is Taken From Me. The Oppressed And The Oppressor Alike Are Robbed Of Their Humanity.

Good Men And Women Can Be Mobilized To Ensure That South Africa Is United And That The Spirit Of Reconciliation Is Strengthened And That Progress In This Country Takes Place As Fast As It Can.