London – Nelson Mandela paid tribute to the anti-apartheid struggle Wednesday as Britain unveiled a towering statue in his honor outside the Houses of Parliament, saying it symbolized the sacrifices made by all who fight oppression.
Speaking to thousands of supporters as African hymns echoed from the walls of Westminster Abbey, the 89-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner recalled the many brave men and women who joined the campaign to end apartheid in South Africa.
“The history of the struggle in South Africa is rich with the stories of heroes and heroines, some of them leaders, some of them followers. All of them deserve to be remembered,” Mandela said after Prime Minister Gordon Brown pulled away a rainbow-striped cloth covering the statue. “Though this statue is of one man, it should, in actual fact, symbolize all those who have resisted oppression, especially in my country.”
Mandela came to personify the black majority’s struggle to end apartheid in his country, spending 27 years in jail before being released in 1990. He would eventually negotiate the transition to democratic rule, serving as South Africa’s president until he left office in 1999.
Well-wishers packed London’s Parliament Square to watch Brown unveil the 9-foot bronze statue in a ceremony marked by gospel music, carnival-style dancing and South African anthems. London Mayor Ken Livingstone, U.S. civil- rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson and anti-apartheid activists also attended.
Brown said it was fitting that Mandela, whom he called “the great liberator,” joined statues of Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill in the square.
