NTDTV Nelson Mandela: Symbol for Freedom

The old castle in the city of Malmö has an exhibition called Mandela. It is about the life of the former South African President Nelson Mandela.

It is the first time this exhibition goes outside Africa.

[Birgitta Petrèn, Head of Education Malmö Museum]:
“I think that museums, especially museums, must go in the front row to pick up issues of today and to make them obvious, and not only to show things that happened a hundred years ago. Because what's happening this morning is history this afternoon.  So we have to be in the frontline to pick up good examples and to show also the bad examples. We have been working with everybody’s right to cultural identity and heritage – and who could represent that better then Mr Nelson Mandela.”

Mandela grew up in South Africa during the apartheid system.

The African majority was depraved of their basic human rights.

During an incident in a town called Sharpeville, the police killed many people protesting the apartheid system. This made Mandela join an armed division of the ANC party.

That decision made him a wanted man. He was captured and sentenced to life in Prison.

[Birgitta Petrèn, Head of Education Malmö Museum]:
“Of course he hasn’t always been doing everything right, but he has... although he has been treated in such a horrible way, he is still an icon for so many of us. To get out after 27 years of prison and still have the spirit and method to work with all his bad experiences and be a role model for so many. If Nelson Mandela can go on with his life and be such a good role model, then all of us must do our best to take after him.”

[Mustafa Ramadhan, PhD student Ireland]
“I think he is a really great man. He believed only in democracy and he tried to create democracy for his country, and I think he has succeeded with that.”

Mandela’s long life in prison during the harsh apartheid system has made him a symbol for freedom.