Madiba A to Z The Many Faces of Nelson Mandela

by SCHECHTER, DANNY

• ISBN13: 9781609805579
• ISBN10: 1609805577
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-11-26
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press

Summary

From the makers of the major motion picture Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, a completely unique biography and thematic telling of the story of Nelson Mandela.  This book, which provided key source material for the film, is an unexpurgated collection of the views and opinions of South Africa's first Black president, and it draws on Danny Schechter’s forty-year relationship with "Madiba," as Nelson Mandela is known in his native South Africa.  

Each chapter of this unique portrait corresponds to a letter of the alphabet, and the letters cover major and minor, unexpected and fascinating themes in Mandela’s life and his impact on others: Athlete, Bully, Comrade, Forgiveness, Indigenous, Jailed, Militant, and President, to name a few. The book quotes liberally from Mandela himself, his ex-wives and other family members, global leaders, Mandela's cellmates and guards on Robben Island, the team behind Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, former president F. W. de Klerk, members of the South African Police, and his comrades including his successor Thabo Mbeki. 
 
Madiba A to Z reveals sides of Nelson Mandela that are not often discussed and angles of the anti-apartheid movement that most choose to brush under the table in order to focus on the happy-ending version of the story. As Schechter reports in the book, according to Mandela's successor as president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, “the fundamental problems of South Africa, poverty, inequality, have remained unchanged since 1994.” This is partly because, as Schechter writes, “six months before the 1994 elections, when South Africa was being governed jointly by the ANC and the National Party under a Transitional Executive Council (TEC), there were secret negotiations about the economic future.”
 
There are many rarely spoken of revelations in Madiba A to Z, a book about Mandela’s brilliance, his courage, his tremendous impact in saving his country and its people of all races, but one that also shows how far South Africa still has to go.

Author Biography

Formerly a Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard, DANNY SCHECHTER made waves in the mainstream and alternative media for more than 30 years. Called the "alternative Walter Cronkite," he witnessed and participated in the history-making events of our age, from the founding of the Yippies in 1967, to Nelson Mandela's triumphant presidential election in 1994, for which Schechter was designated the exclusive filmmaker, to the Media and Democracy Congress of 1996, which he helped organize, to his most recent television production, Rights & Wrongs, which aired weekly on over 150 PBS and cable outlets nationwide. His many TV specials and films include Beyond Life: Timothy Leary Lives (1997), Countdown to Freedom: Ten Days that Changed South Africa (1994), narrated by James Earl Jones and Alfre Woodard, Sarajevo Ground Zero (1993), Mandela in America (1990), and The Making of Sun City (1990). For eight years a producer at ABC's 20/20, where he won two National News Emmys, Schechter reported from 45 countries and lectured at many schools and universities. He was co-founder and executive producer at Globalvision, a New York-based television and film company where he produced the award-winning series South Africa Now and co-produced Right & Wrongs: Human Rights Television with Charlayne Hunter-Gault. Schechter passed away in 2015.

Table of Contents

Athlete
Physical discipline. Boxer, tennis player. His admiration for athletes.
 
Bully: “Wild Branches”
Early days and “wild branches”—conflicts with ANC leaders. Lessons learned.
 
Comrade
How “comradeship” helped him and his fellow prisoners cope with their long years of incarceration.
 
Diplomat
His role in fashioning a diplomatic compromise and avoiding a race war.
 
Eloquent
Life as a lawyer. Written statements, letters, and speeches that inspired millions.
 
Forgiveness
Empathy for Afrikaners, and faith in peace and reconciliation.
 
Global
An international outlook. Global travel and the ability to galvanize support worldwide.

 
Humble
Origins and an austere lifestyle. Making his own bed. Interest in the lives of ordinary people.

 
Indigenous
Xhosa traditions, and the abiding interest in and connection to people of all races and ethnic identities.

 
Jailed
Prison years. How he coped, how he led.
 
Kafkaesque
The treason and Rivonia Trials. Prison regulations and his responses to them.
How the law was used to legalize inhumanity.
 
Love and Loss
His search for love, his flirtatiousness, marriages, love of Winnie, love of children, of family. The measure of the price he paid with his years in prison away from them all.

 
Militant
From his days in the ANC Youth League to launching Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the ANC.
 
Negotiator
Dealings with internal conflicts and external threats. Outreach to whites and other minorities.

 
Onward
His philosophy and commitment to creating a new future for his country. His optimism and concern for peace in Africa and the world.

 
President
How he was elected and his term in office.
 
Questions
The questions people around the world ask most frequently about Nelson Mandela.

 
Recognition
The world recognizes and honors Madiba, but what does he think of this adulation? How does Madiba see and recognize himself?
 
Stalwart
Standing up for his beliefs. Fighting for the poor and those afflicted with AIDS.
 
Terrorist
He helped push a nonviolent movement into armed struggle. Was he a terrorist?
 
Unknown
There are many sides to Mandela that many do not know. 
 
Voices Raised up in Song
The power of music and praise poetry in the Mandela story, seen through the eyes of two of his favorite artists.

 
Waiting
Millions waited years for Mandela’s release after twenty-seven and a half years of incarceration.
The wait continued, even on the day he left prison.

 
X Factor
The role of external pressure in winning South African’s liberation and the need, even now, for rebirth away from the old ways.

 
Youth
Youth made the revolution, and Mandela began as a youth leader.
 
Zuid-Afrika to .za
As it becomes clearer that enormous challenges remain, the country evolves from the Zuid-Afrika of Dutch origin to its Internet domain .za—and beyond.