MANDELA’S 60TH BIRTHDAY: INTERNATIONAL OBSERVANCE – E.S. Reddy and Mike Terry, Reminiscences by E.S. Reddy, Former Director of UN Centre against Apartheid, and Mike Terry, Former Executive Secretary of British Anti-Apartheid Movement In 1977, the Special Committee sent a small mission to Accra – composed of its officers and representatives of ANC and PAC – to congratulate Ghana on the tenth anniversary of its independence. Mac Maharaj of the ANC and I shared a room in “Job 66.” In the middle of the night, Mac said, “E.S., we must promote the observance of the 60th birthday of Nelson next year.” I was too sleepy and did not pay attention to his suggestion until I returned to New York. It then took me months to confirm the exact date of Mandela’s birth. I was warned by one of his friends [Mary Benson] whom I approached that he cheats about his birthday! As soon as I got confirmation from the ANC in Lusaka, I wrote personal letters to many friends in the anti-apartheid movements and governments, and spoke to ambassadors of a number of friendly countries. The response was far beyond any one’s expectations. About ten thousand telegrams and letters were sent to Mandela in prison and/or to his wife. The AAM organised a large meeting at the Parliament in London. Prime Minister James Callaghan paid tribute to Mandela. The birthday became front-page news. Soon resolutions were adopted in the European Parliament and the United Nations Security Council. They now began to refer to “Nelson Mandela and all other political prisoners.” During the preparations for the observance, I met Oliver Tambo in London and requested endorsement and support by the ANC. He encouraged me to go ahead and suggested that it would be better if the initiative for the observance came from outside rather than from the ANC. (Oliver Tambo was senior to Nelson Mandela in the ANC. After he became President, some of his colleagues had wanted to arrange observance of his birthdays. He opposed any such observance and resisted any awards or honours. He told me that Nelson should be the symbol of the struggle and we should not do anything to detract from that.) In October that year, I met the Foreign Minister of India, Atul Behari Vajpayee, now Prime Minister, at a dinner in New York and introduced Johnny Makatini, the ANC representative, to him. I suggested that India should honour Mandela, perhaps by naming a street in Delhi after him. Mr. Vajpayee was responsive, but it was not the practice in Delhi to name streets after living persons. Soon after, an advisory committee set up by the Indian Government for the International Anti-Apartheid Year (1978-79) suggested the Nehru Award for International Understanding for Mandela and the Government approved. That was the first major international award received by Mandela – and set in motion a series of honours and awards to him all over the world. The AAM in Britain has been most active in promoting such honours. Soon the press began to speak of a “Mandela fever” which gripped Britain. I was in frequent consultation with Mike Terry, executive secretary of AAM, and several initiatives we took in the UN followed his suggestions. For instance, I arranged, after consultation with Mike, for a resolution by the UN General Assembly expressing appreciation to Governments, cities, organisations and institutions which had honoured leaders of the struggle as part of the campaign for the release of political prisoners. [Resolution 36/172-J of 17 December 1981.] That helped spread the “Mandela fever” to other countries. For the special meeting on the Day of Solidarity on October 11, 1980, the Special Committee invited the Right Honourable Michael Kelly, Lord Provost of Glasgow which had given the freedom of the City to Mandela. Mike Terry suggested to me that morning a declaration by mayors for the release of Mandela, to be initiated by Mr. Kelly with the support of the Special Committee. I spoke to the Lord Provost and to the Chairman of the Special Committee (Alhaji Yusuff Maitama-Sule of Nigeria) and they agreed. A declaration circulated by the Lord Provost, with the assistance of the Special Committee and the UN Centre against Apartheid, was signed by 2,264 Mayors from 56 countries by 30 September 1982. In the 1980s, the Free Mandela campaign began to attract millions of people when it was actively promoted by rock singers (starting in Britain) and by the most prominent artists (starting in Paris). It continued until the release of Mandela as a major component of the campaign against apartheid. The AAM in Britain played a key role in the campaign and its observance of Mandela’s 70th birthday in 1988 was perhaps without parallel in history. Reminiscences by Mike Terry One important catalyst to the renewal of the Mandela Campaign was the release of ‘Mac’ Maharaj from Robben Island in December 1976. He had been involved with the AAM at its foundation and appreciated the power of international solidarity. He visited Britain in 1977 and addressed press conferences and fringe meetings at party conferences. We were also able to arrange for him to meet Denis Healy then a Labour Cabinet Minister. Healy had visited Robben Island when in opposition in the early 1970s and ‘Mac’ brought a message for him from Nelson Mandela. ‘Mac’ also brought a personal dimension to the campaign. He had been with the ANC leadership on Robben Island and he seemed determined to ensure that the campaign for the release of Nelson Mandela and his co-prisoners was intensified. Although I did not realise it at the time, it was ‘Mac’ who was primarily responsible for the initiative which was to transform the campaign for the release of Nelson Mandela. This was the idea of marking Mandela’s 60th Birthday. I received a note from Enugu Reddy, who headed the UN Centre against Apartheid, early in 1978 suggesting the idea…. It was fascinating to read in Nelson Mandela’s autobiography at about this time that Walter Sisulu and Ahmed Kathrada were suggesting to Mandela on Robben Island that they should find some way of commemorating his 60th birthday. When we received Reddy’s note suggesting the idea of marking Mandela’s 60th Birthday in Britain and internationally, we seized on the idea immediately. It appeared to provide an excellent opportunity to focus attention in Britain and across the world on Nelson Mandela and the cause of all South Africa’s political prisoners. A few months earlier, on 21st March, had seen the beginning of a UN-designated International Anti-Apartheid Year – a UN anti-apartheid initiative which the British government for once had supported… To promote the UN-designated Year, a Co-ordinating Committee had been set up in Britain. Although based at the AAM offices in Charlotte Street, it involved a much wider range of organisations than were normally associated with the AAM and was funded by a small grant from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The climate was, therefore, much more receptive for an initiative on Mandela than it had been at any time since I had been involved with AAM We wanted a focus for the campaign which would reach out to the widest constituency. Mary Benson had taken a photograph of Nelson Mandela outside Westminster Abbey during his visit to London in 1962… Mary readily agreed to us using this photo and so we had large number of blown-up birthdays cards, smaller postcards and thousands of leaflets – all featuring Nelson Mandela and Westminster Abbey. The idea was to get as many of these cards as possible sent to Nelson Mandela on Robben Island with birthday greetings. We were obviously after prominent signatories in the hope that this could attract publicity for the campaign and for Nelson Mandela. Joan Lestor, one of the AAM Vice-Presidents, was on the Labour Party NEC and she offered to pass it around one of their meetings. As Labour was in Government, many of the NEC were Cabinet Ministers and Joan triumphantly contacted Charlotte Street to tell us that several Cabinet Ministers had signed. We had not decided what to do with all these cards, but as the birthday approached we had the idea of trying to send them to Robben Island by delivering them at South Africa House. This was sure to attract some media attention, we thought. So on 18th July, Barbara Castle, Bob Hughes and Joan Lestor arrived outside South Africa House. But their attempts to deliver the cards were thwarted. This was before their high-tech security entrance was installed, and the doors were shut closed and the Embassy was effectively closed for the rest of the day. I suspect that the card is still somewhere in the AAM archives. Joan was not one to take such treatment – all three MPs were former government ministers and Barbara had been in the Cabinet. So back at the House of Commons, during Prime Minister’s Question Time, Joan protested at the behaviour of South Africa House and James Callaghan took the opportunity to send greetings to Nelson Mandela. And all this was recorded in Hansard. This represented a real breakthrough in the campaign. Incidentally, I found myself seated next to James – now Lord Callaghan – at the inauguration of Nelson Mandela in May 1994 – some 16 years later. The AAM had worked closely with the UN on this campaign; so on the same evening – July 18th – we held a meeting with the Special Committee against Apartheid at the House of Commons. Over 300 people crowded into the Grand Committee Room for the meeting which was addressed by the Chairman of the UN Special Committee, Ambassador Harriman from Nigeria. It was a very distinguished gathering and somewhere in the AAM Archives there should also be a record of those who attended. The atmosphere was wonderful as Canon Collins and Mary Benson both spoke of their own reminiscences of Mandela and the other Rivonia Trialists and called for a really effective campaign for Mandela’s release. IDAF also made an important contribution to the campaign by publishing a pamphlet containing many of Mandela’s key speeches. Much of the credit for this campaign must rest with Enuga Reddy. Not only did he encourage the AAM and other anti-apartheid movements to mark Mandela’s 60th Birthday, but he was also able to arrange a small grant for the publicity material we produced. In those days, especially, the AAM was nearly always broke and it would have been very difficult to mount an effective campaign without such funds. This support for our work won him few friends within the UN…. Nor did the Foreign Offices of the British and many other western governments appreciate the relationships which existed between many of the Anti-Apartheid Movements and the UN Special Committee. A few years later, the Secretary-General decided at exceptionally short notice not to renew his contract for which no rational explanation has ever been forthcoming. And to this day, Mr Reddy has difficulty obtaining a visa to visit the UK. The events to mark Nelson Mandela’s 60th Birthday were truly a turning point. Although they failed to make national headlines, some 50,000 copies of a leaflet were distributed across the country and support had been forthcoming from a range of organisations, not least the Prime Minister. Mr Reddy estimates that some 10,000 telegrammes and letters were sent either to Nelson Mandela or his wife for his birthday. Although this may now seem to be a relatively small number given the almost universal popularity of Nelson Mandela, at the time it seemed a massive response. All this meant that there was now a popular base for the campaign in Britain and indeed internationally. Moreover it was clear that in the right circumstances it would have the potential to capture the public’s imagination. In particular, it meant we were well placed to respond when, from within South Africa, a nation-wide campaign was launched for the release of Nelson Mandela following the independence elections in Zimbabwe in February 1980. … Note: Further details of the campaign for the release of Mandela can be found at sahistory.org.za
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 10:05:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015