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The popularity of leaders like Mandela was an invitation to counter-attack by the government. Mandela was banned from speaking, from attending gatherings, from leaving Johannesburg, from belonging to any organization.

— Oliver Tambo

Sentiment: NEGATIVE

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✓Similar Perspectives

Nelson Mandela sat in a South African prison for 27 years. He was nonviolent. He negotiated his way out of jail. His honor and suffering of 27 years in a South African prison is really ultimately what brought about the freedom of South Africa. That is nonviolence.

— Coretta Scott King

The relationship between me and President Mandela right at the beginning was not a very well-established relationship. It was based on two meetings.

— F. W. de Klerk

Mandela's heroism is the heroism of a man who suffered so badly for what he thought of as freedom. And yet when he had the upper hand he has this incredible self-control and these incredible leadership qualities.

— Bono

In South Africa, we could not have achieved our freedom and just peace without the help of people around the world, who through the use of non-violent means, such as boycotts and divestment, encouraged their governments and other corporate actors to reverse decades-long support for the Apartheid regime.

— Desmond Tutu

For those who may not know, it was the CBC that put in place the legislation that put sanctions against South Africa to end apartheid, and that took Mandela off the terrorist list.

— Marcia Fudge

Mandela was true to himself, to his people and his principles. He sacrificed everything because he was prepared to be true to his ideals. You can relate to him whether you come from Manchester or Soweto.

— Justin Chadwick

✗Opposing Perspectives

Nelson Mandela went to jail believing in violence, and 27 years later he and his colleagues had slowly and carefully honed the skills, the incredible skills, that they needed to turn one of the most vicious governments the world has known into a democracy. And they did it in a total devotion to non-violence.

— Scilla Elworthy

When I first met Mandela, we did not discuss anything of substance; we just felt each other out. He spent a long time expressing his admiration for the Boer generals and how ingenious they were during the Anglo-Boer war.

— F. W. de Klerk

Unsurprisingly, Nelson Mandela had and still has many detractors.

— Henry Rollins

Nelson Mandela just died, so that says so much because it's a tremendously powerful and great man who was very sensitive. Loved all people, forgave his enemies, and showed the world how to stand up and do it the right way.

— Jim Brown