Robben Island

More Than an Island, A Beacon for Justice 

 

I live near Alcatraz Island, which was first famous for being a prison. Robben Island is famous for who was imprisoned here.

Nelson Mandela was found guilty or treason and conspiracy against the South African government. He received a life sentence and sent here. But how can you commit treason against a country that is based on apartheid and the subjection of the majority? When the affirmation of human rights is defined as treason, it makes treason honorable,

it is almost a cliche that you can imprison a person but how do imprison a country? Killing Biko did not work, as Peter Gabriel sang, the flame just grew higher. Imprisoning Mandela did not work. People throughout the world took up the chant,”Free Nelson Mandela.”

As Sweet Honey in the Rock sang, “We have not seen Mandela, this man. Has he succeeded? (Asimbonang’ umandela thina lo muntu lo). Robben Island could not hold him. Yes, he succeeded. 

He became more powerful than apartheid just by being in a cell. In 1993, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for peacefully destroying the apartheid theid regime. He became the first Black president of South Africa. The island became a world heritage site because of him.  We visited the earthcache to pay our respect to him and the struggle for freedom.

The country still has economic and social issues to solve. I am aware of both the problems and the hope. We were warned against making a wrong turn on our way to the Cape or the airport.  Shortly after we visited, someone did that and did not survive.  But we drove from Durban through Kruger National Park and ended up in Johannesburg at rush hour.  We will never forget the beauty of the country and its people.

My Log

We had planned to come here as part of the first thing we did in South Africa, to pay our respects and give our thanks to those who were imprisoned here. They taught us much about both resistance and reconciliation. The struggle was one for the long haul, formed by people who had nowhere else to go, joined by these throughout the world who held up banners to free Mandela or organized divesture and other actions. Mandela was at its core, and after his release he showed us how to rise above even the bitterest memories.

Unfortunately the tickets we had bought for a 3 pm ferry were canceled so we had to scramble to get here for the first trip at 9 am the next day. We had already made arrangements at that time for a car hire to go to the Cape and was not sure how we could manage the logistics if the island tour since the car rental opened too late and closed too early. Thanks to the people who met us early, and  the guide who took us to the entrance after she saw us looking lost in the parking garage, we made it on time.

 

 

Through my work, I have been inside a number of prisons and at first glance this one seemed almost simple – the banality of evil. There were even penguins nearby. I might have expected to see more wire and more towers. But where could anyone go?  the conditions behind the buildings were extraordinary and those who overcame them were even more extraordinary. It was about more than Mandela. We owed the former political prisoner who guided us far more than a tip.

The stories of the islands history, from the Leper cemetery or the early escape attempts, to Mandela’s cell, were both inspiring and sad. That kind of ambiguity extended throughout the island tour — as much as the coastline and penguins were fun to see, we were told that the penguin population was disappearing.

 

 

The Island is truly part of the world’s heritage and there is much to learn from it. “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika.” God Bless South Africa.

 

 

09/03/2018