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Madiba .......... is gone ........ His long walk to freedom is over ........ The hero of the struggle against apartheid has passed ........ He died the most loved and admired politician in the world ........ He sacrificed so much personally and achieved so much for his people ...... He is deeply loved by them ........ But his legacy is global ......
Through his example he inspired people across the world including President Obama who says learning about Mandela inspired him to undertake his first political steps in joining protests against apartheid ........ I was the same ...... Anti Apartheid activity was my first political activity as a youth ...... I went on to become the official photographer to the Anti Apartheid movement in the UK .......
Mandela has always been important in my family ...... my sister Nancy is married to Feizel a South African who was an ANC youth activist and jailed under the apartheid regime ....... He met Nancy at an Anti Apartheid event when Feizel was exiled in London ...... they went back to South Africa together as soon as Mandela was released ....... They married and have raised their mixed race children in Mandela's Rainbow Nation .......... Like so many ... We in my family love Madiba and will more than miss him ......
Fellow South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu said today....... "Like a most precious diamond honed deep beneath the surface of the earth, the Madiba who emerged from prison in January 1990 was virtually flawless." ...... Tutu also said that Madiba's legacy would live on in South Africa.
'Simple Minds'- 'Mandela Day' ....... I listened to it today ....... I always thought this was a beautiful poignant song made (two years) before his release from prison but it seems prescient again today ......... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8py3MaTT4Q
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"After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended."
Nelson Mandela
Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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