Photo: UN
The Struggle is My life, Nelson Mandela
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This Mandela essay was banned by the Apartheid South Africa until 1990 when he was released from prison. It was written in 1961 after he was forced underground months after the Sharpeville Massacre and the banning of the African National Congress.
I am informed that a warrant for my arrest has been issued, and that the police are looking for me. The National Action Council has given full and serious consideration to this question, and has sought the advice of many trusted friends and bodies and they have advised me not to surrender myself. I have accepted this advice, and will not give myself up to a government I do not recognise. Any serious politician will realise that under present-day conditions in this country, to seek for cheap martyrdom by handing myself to the police is naive and criminal. We have an important programme before us and it is important to carry it out very seriously and without delay.
