Monday, December 9, 2013

Activists against Apartheid: Yesterday and Today

             During this past week media sources have been filled with tributes to Nelson Mandela, a modern day slavery activist who just died at the age of 95. A google search about his life brought up several important news sources including CNN which discussed his amazing life, accomplishments, and contributions to ending modern day racial oppression.  CNN, a prominent media outlet discusses how Nelson Mandela was not only South Africa's symbol of the struggle against racial oppression, he was a freedom fighter, prisoner, and provided a moral compass for South Africa. Nelson Mandela was described as a hero for both blacks and whites because he fought against South Africa’s racial segregation policy which was in effect up until 1994.  Despite spending 27 years in prison for fighting for democracy, he managed to become president of South Africa and end the apartheid.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/05/world/africa/nelson-mandela/

 



Nelson Mandela’s actions against racial oppression are similar to the actions of the modern day slavery activists that we learned about in history class.  Both strive to equalize enslaved people around the world in their rights, and treatment.  Nelson Mandela and modern day slavery activists also want to end modern day oppression and are looking to spread awareness for oppressed groups. Modern day slavery activists have created websites to spread awareness such as www.unicefusa.org which works to prevent child slavery.
Anti-slavery activists rally outside Parliament on October 18, 2013 in London, England. Anti-slavery day falls on October 18th every year and provides an opportunity to draw attention to the scale and scope of human trafficking.


Reading on the media source CNN about Nelson Mandela and his acts to end oppression is significant because it reminds us that slavery is still a part of our world today. Many people believe that slavery and oppression is past history. The CNN article discussing Nelson Mandela spreads awareness that this is not true and many slavery activists of today continue to spread awareness of this important issue.

Citations:

First Picture:

“Nelson Mandela.” Photograph. Meltybuzz. 7/18/12. http://www.meltybuzz.fr/nelson-mandela-a-94-ans-la-timeline-facebook-qui-retrace-sa-vie-galerie-315749-963105.html. 12/9/13.

Second Picture:

“Anti-slavery activists rally outside Parliament.” Photograph. Zimbio. 10/17/13. http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/PT7y33Hq2Qv/Anti+Slavery+Activists+March+Outside+Parliament/GszLrA-fMqV. 12/9/13.

 

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3 comments:

  1. kylie bringolaDecember 10, 2013 at 1:28 PM

    Good job Meg! I think that you chose the perfect topic, especially since we just finished the modern slavery unit. I like how you used the information we learned in class to connect to Mandela. You provided great information on him and what he did for the world, and kept your post interesting with good, relevant pictures!
    -Kylie

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  2. UnknownDecember 12, 2013 at 12:36 PM

    I liked how you gave more than one picture to show what Nelson Mandela stood for. I thought it was usful to use a very current and highly talked about topic in the news, and relate it to a topic that we just studied in class. It would have been helpful if you talked about what he did to end slavery.

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  3. Laura RichardsDecember 12, 2013 at 2:40 PM

    Everything that makes a good blog post is present here; an informative title, short paragraphs, and most importantly, inside those paragraphs there is useful information. I enjoyed the briefness of it all, giving the reader enough information but not too much. Before reading this blog post I had no idea there was any kind of racial segregation in South Africa, after enlightening me the post continued to flow very nicely.

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