I Am Prepared to Die

“At the outset, I want to say that the suggestion made by the State in its opening that the struggle in South Africa is under the influence of foreigners or communists is wholly incorrect. I have done whatever I did, both as an individual and as a leader of my people, because of my experience in South Africa and my own proudly felt African background, and not because of what any outsider might have said.”

The state attempted to permanently imprison Mandela before, in 1956, through the Suppression of Communism Act. In this instance, Mandela and members of the ANC were accused of plotting to replace the apartheid government with a communist government. From the outset of this trial, Mandela once again addresses the misconception that the government has spread amongst the public, and he asserts his own African political identity.

“I admit immediately that I was one of the persons who helped to form Umkhonto we Sizwe, and that I played a prominent role in its affairs until I was arrested in August 1962.”

Here again, Mandela emphasizes establishing a fact from the outset. In this instance, he takes credit for his role in Umkhonto we Sizwe, rather than denying association or blame. This is because he believes his actions have been righteous and justified.

“Firstly, we believed that as a result of Government policy, violence by the African people had become inevitable, and that unless responsible leadership was given to canalize and control the feelings of our people, there would be outbreaks of terrorism which would produce an intensity of bitterness and hostility between the various races of this country which is not produced even by war.”

Mandela asserts, throughout the speech, that the freedom fighters have had to resort to violence because of the government’s own use of excessive force in the face of peaceful protests. However, Mandela argues that Umkhonto’s violence, unlike that of the government, is deployed to prevent further injuries or death.

“We believe that South Africa belongs to all the people who live in it, and not to one group, be it black or white.”

This quote communicates Mandela’s ideology of racial harmony. Despite the history of violent oppression, Mandela believes that there is a future where Black and white South Africans can peacefully co-exist.

“Each disturbance pointed clearly to the inevitable growth among Africans of the belief that violence was the only way out - it showed that a Government which uses force to maintain its rule teaches the oppressed to use force to oppose it.”

Mandela once again strengthens his point that violence had become inevitable. Importantly, he notes that it is the government itself that spurs this retaliation through its own violence.

“Four forms of violence were possible. There is sabotage, there is guerrilla warfare, there is terrorism, and there is open revolution. We chose to adopt the first method and to exhaust it before taking any other decision.”

As part of justifying his actions, Mandela outlines Umkhonto’s other possibilities and argues that their decision to sabotage buildings had been a humane one. Naming other possible forms of violence is another example of contrast that Mandela has used in his persuasive rhetoric.

“How many more Sharpevilles would there be in the history of our country?”

This is an example of a rhetorical question. During the Sharpeville massacre, 69 Africans were killed by the police. Mandela foresees that there will be many more if they cannot stop the apartheid government.

“I must leave myself free to borrow the best from the West and from the East.”

Mandela rejects the political identity that the government had attempted to place on him. Rather, he argues that his philosophy is inspired by the best elements of both free-market democracies and socialist ideologies.

“South Africa is the richest country in Africa, and could be one of the richest countries in the world. But it is a land of extremes and remarkable contrasts.”

In this statement, Mandela establishes South Africa’s immense wealth before making the point that the distribution of this wealth is extremely unfair. In this section of his speech, he continues to cite contrasting living conditions between Black and white South Africans to illustrate his point.

“The complaint of Africans, however, is not only that they are poor and the whites are rich, but that the laws which are made by the whites are designed to preserve this situation”

This is an ideological challenge on the government’s principles of freedom. Whereas the government frames communism as a threat against freedom, the majority of the country was not afforded basic freedoms in the first place.

“When anything has to be carried or cleaned the white man will look around for an African to do it for him, whether the African is employed by him or not. Because of this sort of attitude, whites tend to regard Africans as a separate breed.”

Mandela raises this point to comment on the inhumane perspective that white South Africans have towards Africans. With this example, he argues that white people do not even view Africans as people like themselves. By drawing on lived experience that would be familiar to many Black South Africans, Mandela increases the authority and impact of his argument.

“I doubt whether there is a single African male in South Africa who has not at some stage had a brush with the police over his pass.”

This statement is another example of Mandela using an everyday experience to comment on the prevalence of apartheid’s oppression. The Pass Laws allowed police to harass and threaten Africans in a way that made any opposition life-threatening.

“Housebreakings and robberies are increasing, despite the fact that the death sentence can now be imposed for such offences. Death sentences cannot cure the festering sore.”

South Africa had become a police state, and its mandate on punishment had become so extreme that even robberies could result in the death sentence. This indicates the government’s lack of respect for human life and how it had few answers outside of violence.