Our Living Black Heroes:
Diane Abbott

Black History month is an opportunity to remember all the black men and women who have contributed in history. But last month I was privileged to meet a living black hero Nelson Mandela, writes Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington

Mandela was in London to attend the unveiling of his statue.  I was honoured to be invited to attend the event. Amongst the other guests were: the prime minister Gordon Brown, the Conservative leader David Cameron and American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson.  It was a moving occasion. Nelson Mandela had first come to London as a young activist nearly fifty years ago in the nineteen sixties. He came with his friend Oliver Tambo. They were to go on to lead the African National Congress, which was the movement which led the black freedom struggle in South Africa. In his autobiography “A Long Walk to Freedom”   Mandela records the following “Oliver (Tambo) and I saw the sights of the city that had once commanded nearly two-thirds of the globe: Westminster Abbey; Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Whilst I gloried in the beauty of these buildings, I was ambivalent about what they represented. When we saw the statue of General Smuts near Westminster Abbey, Oliver and I joked that perhaps someday there would be a statue of us in its stead.” That day came last month.

The ceremony was significant for many reasons. There are hundreds of statues in London. But almost all are of white generals and politicians. Mandela�s statue will only be the fourth statue of a black person in London.�

The unveiling ceremony began with a film of Mandela’s life which was shown on huge screens around Parliament Square. There was footage of the young Mandela and scenes filmed at his trial by the South African government. They also filmed Mandela going back to the prison where the South African authorities held him for 27 years. Then they showed the scenes when Mandela was finally released from prison hand in hand with his beloved wife Winnie.  At the end of this film Mandela himself tottered on to the stage. I and many others were in tears. He seemed very frail and walked with great difficulty. But when he finally got up to speak his voice was surprisingly strong and clear, he read his speech without glasses and he promised to see us all next year for his ninetieth birthday!

The ceremony was significant for many reasons. There are hundreds of statues in London. But almost all are of white generals and politicians. Mandela’s statue will only be the fourth statue of a black person in London. Where the statue has been placed is hugely symbolic. It is in Parliament Square in the shadow of the Houses of parliament and next to statues of British war leader Winston Churchill and the American president Abraham Lincoln.

But there were other reason some of us were moved to tears. The main one was that, for many of us, the struggle against apartheid had been part of our lives for as long as we could remember. There people there, black and white, who had been driven into exile by the white South African regime. There others whose friends and relatives had been imprisoned and murdered. And many others had been foot soldiers in the struggle against apartheid. For years I: went on the marches; took part in pickets of the South African embassy; donated money; boycotted South African produce and companies and went to the campaign meetings. My understanding of the struggle was also deepened by becoming a friend of Adelaide Tambo. She was the wife of the president of the African National Congress Oliver Tambo. She was living in exile in London when I first met her. She was a remarkable woman and she taught me a great deal. So, after all those years of campaigning and struggle, to see a free Nelson Mandela unveiling a statue of himself was really wonderful.

Young people nowadays are very cynical about politics. They cannot be bothered to take part in marches, pickets or demonstrations. They respect Mandela now he is free and an international celebrity, but do not appreciate the years of campaigning that it took to free him. But, without the struggle by black South Africans themselves and the international campaign, the apartheid regime would still be ruling in South Africa and Nelson Mandela would have died in prison.

Nelson Mandela is living proof that some things are worth campaigning for, and that some campaigns do succeed.   

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