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Nelson Mandela's Nobel Peace Prize Lecture

By Nelson Mandela
1993

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) was a South African leader who worked to end apartheid, a system of racial
segregation and discrimination in South Africa from 1948 to 1991. Mandela was later elected as South Africa's
first black president, and he served as president from 1994-1999. In 1993, Mandela and F.W. de Klerk, the last
head of state of South Africa under the apartheid era, received the Nobel Peace Prize jointly for their work
ending apartheid. The following text is Mandela's acceptance speech. As you read, take note of other Nobel
Peace Prize recipients that Mandela references and what this contributes to his speech.

[1] Your Majesty the King,

Your Royal Highness,
Esteemed Members of the Norwegian Nobel
Committee,
Honorable Prime Minister, Madame Gro Harlem
Brundtland, Ministers, Members of Parliament and
Ambassadors, Fellow Laureate, Mr. F.W. de Klerk,
Distinguished Guests,
Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I extend my heartfelt thanks to the Norwegian Nobel

Committee for elevating us to the status of a Nobel
"Nelson Mandela (ANC) Addresses Special Committee
Peace Prize winner.
Against Apartheid" by UNIS Vienna is licensed under CC
BY-NC-ND 2.0.
I would also like to take this opportunity to
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congratulate my compatriot and fellow laureate, State President F.W. de Klerk, on his receipt of this high
honor.

Together, we join two distinguished South Africans, the late Chief Albert Lutuli and His Grace Archbishop
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Desmond Tutu, to whose seminal contributions to the peaceful struggle against the evil system of apartheid
you paid well-deserved tribute by awarding them the Nobel Peace Prize.

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[5] It will not be presumptuous of us if we also add, among our predecessors, the name of another outstanding
Nobel Peace Prize winner, the late Rev Martin Luther King Jr.

He, too, grappled with and died in the effort to make a contribution to the just solution of the same great issues
of the day which we have had to face as South Africans.

1. fellow citizen
2. work that strongly influenced later developments
3. Presumptuous (adjective) overstepping due bounds (as of propriety or courtesy); taking liberties

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We speak here of the challenge of the dichotomies of war and peace, violence and non-violence, racism and
human dignity, oppression and repression and liberty and human rights, poverty and freedom from want.

We stand here today as nothing more than a representative of the millions of our people who dared to rise up
against a social system whose very essence is war, violence, racism, oppression, repression and the
impoverishment of an entire people.

I am also here today as a representative of the millions of people across the globe, the anti-apartheid
movement, the governments and organizations that joined with us, not to fight against South Africa as a
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country or any of its peoples, but to oppose an inhuman system and sue for a speedy end to the apartheid
crime against humanity.

[10] These countless human beings, both inside and outside our country, had the nobility of spirit to stand in the
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path of tyranny and injustice, without seeking selfish gain. They recognized that an injury to one is an injury to
all and therefore acted together in defense of justice and a common human decency.

Because of their courage and persistence for many years, we can, today, even set the dates when all humanity
will join together to celebrate one of the outstanding human victories of our century.

When that moment comes, we shall, together, rejoice in a common victory over racism, apartheid and white
minority rule.

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That triumph will finally bring to a close a history of five hundred years of African colonization that began with
the establishment of the Portuguese empire.

Thus, it will mark a great step forward in history and also serve as a common pledge of the peoples of the world
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to fight racism, wherever it occurs and whatever guise it assumes.

[15] At the southern tip of the continent of Africa, a rich reward in the making, an invaluable gift is in the
preparation for those who suffered in the name of all humanity when they sacrificed everything - for liberty,
peace, human dignity and human fulfillment.

This reward will not be measured in money. Nor can it be reckoned in the collective price of the rare metals and
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precious stones that rest in the bowels of the African soil we tread in the footsteps of our ancestors.

It will and must be measured by the happiness and welfare of the children, at once the most vulnerable citizens
in any society and the greatest of our treasures.

4. a division or contrast between two things that are opposing

5. to appeal formally for something
6. Tyranny (noun) cruel and unfair treatment by a powerful person, group, or government
7. Colonization (noun) the process of settling among and taking control over native people for profit and
power.
8. Guise (noun) an external form, appearance, or manner of presentation, typically concealing the true nature
of something
9. the deep or remote parts within something

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The children must, at last, play in the open veld, no longer tortured by the pangs of hunger or ravaged by
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disease or threatened with the scourge of ignorance, molestation and abuse, and no longer required to
engage in deeds whose gravity exceeds the demands of their tender years.

In front of this distinguished audience, we commit the new South Africa to the relentless pursuit of the
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purposes defined in the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children.

[20] The reward of which we have spoken will and must also be measured by the happiness and welfare of the
mothers and fathers of these children, who must walk the earth without fear of being robbed, killed for political
or material profit, or spat upon because they are beggars.

They too must be relieved of the heavy burden of despair which they carry in their hearts, born of hunger,
homelessness and unemployment.

The value of that gift to all who have suffered will and must be measured by the happiness and welfare of all
the people of our country, who will have torn down the inhuman walls that divide them.

These great masses will have turned their backs on the grave insult to human dignity which described some as
masters and others as servants, and transformed each into a predator whose survival depended on the
destruction of the other.

The value of our shared reward will and must be measured by the joyful peace which will triumph, because the
common humanity that bonds both black and white into one human race, will have said to each one of us that
we shall all live like the children of paradise.

[25] Thus shall we live, because we will have created a society which recognizes that all people are born equal, with
each entitled in equal measure to life, liberty, prosperity, human rights and good governance.

Such a society should never allow again that there should be prisoners of conscience nor that any person's
human right should be violated.

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Neither should it ever happen that once more the avenues to peaceful change are blocked by usurpers who
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seek to take power away from the people, in pursuit of their own, ignoble purposes.

In relation to these matters, we appeal to those who govern Burma that they release our fellow Nobel Peace
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Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, and engage her and those she represents in serious dialogue, for the
benefit of all the people of Burma.

10. the open grasslands in Southern Africa

11. Scourge (noun) a thing that causes great trouble or suffering
12. This declaration was agreed to at the World Summit for Children on September 30th, 1990, and established
goals to promote the well-being of children.
13. a person who takes a position of power by force
14. Ignoble (adjective) not honorable in character or purpose
15. Aung San Suu Kyi is a pro-democracy, Burmese politician who spent more than 15 years in detention, most
of which was under house arrest.

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We pray that those who have the power to do so will, without further delay, permit that she uses her talents
and energies for the greater good of the people of her country and humanity as a whole.

[30] Far from the rough and tumble of the politics of our own country. I would like to take this opportunity to join
the Norwegian Nobel Committee and pay tribute to my joint laureate. Mr. F.W. de Klerk.

He had the courage to admit that a terrible wrong had been done to our country and people through the
imposition of the system of apartheid.

He had the foresight to understand and accept that all the people of South Africa must through negotiations
and as equal participants in the process, together determine what they want to make of their future.

But there are still some within our country who wrongly believe they can make a contribution to the cause of
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justice and peace by clinging to the shibboleths that have been proved to spell nothing but disaster.

It remains our hope that these, too, will be blessed with sufficient reason to realize that history will not be
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denied and that the new society cannot be created by reproducing the repugnant past, however refined or
enticingly repackaged.

[35] We would also like to take advantage of this occasion to pay tribute to the many formations of the democratic
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movement of our country, including the members of our Patriotic Front, who have themselves played a
central role in bringing our country as close to the democratic transformation as it is today.

We are happy that many representatives of these formations, including people who have served or are serving
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in the "homeland" structures, came with us to Oslo. They too must share the accolade which the Nobel Peace
Prize confers.

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We live with the hope that as she battles to remake herself, South Africa, will be like a microcosm of the new
world that is striving to be born.

This must be a world of democracy and respect for human rights, a world freed from the horrors of poverty,
hunger, deprivation and ignorance, relieved of the threat and the scourge of civil wars and external aggression
and unburdened of the great tragedy of millions forced to become refugees.

The processes in which South Africa and Southern Africa as a whole are engaged, beckon and urge us all that
we take this tide at the flood and make of this region as a living example of what all people of conscience would
like the world to be.

[40] We do not believe that this Nobel Peace Prize is intended as a commendation for matters that have happened

16. a custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a particular group of people

17. Repugnant (adjective) extremely distasteful; unacceptable
18. an alliance between parties who opposed apartheid in South Africa
19. an award or privilege granted as a special honor
20. Microcosm (noun) something (such as a place or event) that is seen as a small version of something larger

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and passed.

We hear the voices which say that it is an appeal from all those, throughout the universe, who sought an end to
the system of apartheid.

We understand their call, that we devote what remains of our lives to the use of our country's unique and
painful experience to demonstrate, in practice, that the normal condition for human existence is democracy,
justice, peace, non-racism, non-sexism, prosperity for everybody, a healthy environment and equality and
solidarity among the peoples.

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Moved by that appeal and inspired by the eminence you have thrust upon us, we undertake that we too will
do what we can to contribute to the renewal of our world so that none should, in future, be described as the
"wretched of the earth".

Let it never be said by future generations that indifference, cynicism or selfishness made us fail to live up to the
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ideals of humanism which the Nobel Peace Prize encapsulates.

[45] Let the strivings of us all, prove Martin Luther King Jr. to have been correct, when he said that humanity can no
longer be tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war.

Let the efforts of us all, prove that he was not a mere dreamer when he spoke of the beauty of genuine
brotherhood and peace being more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.

Let a new age dawn!

Thank you.

"Nelson Mandela's Nobel Peace Prize Lecture" by Nelson Mandela. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation (1993). Used
with permission, all rights reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, this content is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license

21. Eminence (noun) recognized superiority within a particular sphere

22. a system of beliefs that emphasizes human potential and common human needs

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Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.

1. PART A: Which of the following identifies Nelson Mandela's main claim in the text?
A. South Africa has finally achieved the epitome of equality and peace, and the country
will thrive in the future.
B. Apartheid is ending in South Africa, and this provides a vision for other people are who
are committed to ending inequality globally.
C. Apartheid will never truly end in South Africa, but that doesn't mean that citizens and
leaders should stop fighting it.
D. The true crime in South Africa has not been apartheid, but the violence against women
and children.

2. PART B: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A?
A. "Thus, it will mark a great step forward in history and also serve as a common pledge
of the peoples of the world to fight racism, wherever it occurs and whatever guise it
assumes." (Paragraph 14)
B. "It will and must be measured by the happiness and welfare of the children, at once
the most vulnerable citizens in any society and the greatest of our treasures."
(Paragraph 17)
C. "But there are still some within our country who wrongly believe they can make a
contribution to the cause of justice and peace by clinging to the shibboleths that have
been proved to spell nothing but disaster." (Paragraph 33)
D. "We do not believe that this Nobel Peace Prize is intended as a commendation for
matters that have happened and passed." (Paragraph 40)

3. PART A: Which of the following best describes what Mandela attempts to achieve with his speech?
A. He uses the platform to further inform people on white minority rule in other
countries.
B. He uses the opportunity to shed light on new issues plaguing South Africa.
C. He uses the platform to call for other acts of peace throughout the world.
D. He uses the opportunity to describe the superior accomplishments of Nobel Peace
Prize recipients before him.

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4. PART B: Which quote from the text best supports the answer to Part A?
A. "It will not be presumptuous of us if we also add, among our predecessors, the name
of another outstanding Nobel Peace Prize winner, the late Rev Martin Luther King Jr."
(Paragraph 5)
B. "Neither should it ever happen that once more the avenues to peaceful change are
blocked by usurpers who seek to take power away from the people, in pursuit of their
own, ignoble purposes." (Paragraph 27)
C. "It remains our hope that these, too, will be blessed with sufficient reason to realize
that history will not be denied and that the new society cannot be created by
reproducing the repugnant past, however refined or enticingly repackaged."
(Paragraph 34)
D. "We do not believe that this Nobel Peace Prize is intended as a commendation for
matters that have happened and passed." (Paragraph 40)

5. PART A: What is the "reward" that Mandela references in paragraph 15?

A. the Nobel Peace Prize he has won
B. the end of wide-spread suffering
C. the material goods of South Africa
D. the end of racism

6. PART B: Which section from the text best supports the answer to Part A?
A. "Thus, it will mark a great step forward in history and also serve as a common pledge
of the peoples of the world to fight racism," (Paragraph 14)
B. "an invaluable gift is in the preparation for those who suffered in the name of all
humanity when they sacrificed everything" (Paragraph 15)
C. "the rare metals and precious stones that rest in the bowels of the African soil we tread
in the footsteps of our ancestors." (Paragraph 16)
D. "It will and must be measured by the happiness and welfare of the children, at once
the most vulnerable citizens in any society and the greatest of our treasures."
(Paragraph 17)

7. Why does Mandela reference other Nobel Peace Prize recipients and how does this contribute to
the power of his speech?

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Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share
your original ideas in a class discussion.

1. In the context of the text, how do people create change? How might Mandela's speech contribute
to future change? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or
history in your answer.

2. In the context of the text, how can we achieve peace? Cite evidence from this text, your own
experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.

3. What is Nelson Mandela's legacy? How does being named a Nobel Laureate influence a person's
legacy?