hello students and welcome to today's
session today we are going to deal with
unit 2 nelson mandela long walk to
freedom. Long walk to freedom is the
autobiography of former South African
president Nelson Mandela it deals with
racial inequality, political protests and
the unyielding will for freedom Nelson
Mandela served in prison for almost 30
years for the abolition of apartheid
that is the racial discrimination on the
basis of the skin color white ruled over
the blacks just because of their fair
skin after abolishing apartheid he
became to be known as the father of the
nation in South Africa just like Mahatma
Gandhi in India
the prescribed chapter is only an
extract from his autobiography and it
mainly expresses what he felt on the day
of his swearing-in ceremony. The chapter
begins on the 10th of May 1994 the day
when Nelson Mandela officially became
the president of South Africa. Now let us
here besieged by means to be
surrounded closely by dignitaries means
high rank officers so in this paragraph
the beginning that is the 10th of May
came out to be bright and clear and why
is it say so it is because Nelson
Mandela along with his followers were
able to abolish apartheid era. from this
paragraph we can understand that the new
democratic government formed in South
African soil even got the support from
the respective leaders of other
countries and high rank officials and
Nelson Mandela says that this
inauguration ceremony might be the
largest gathering of international
people on the soil of South Africa maybe
before this event no such gathering had
happened in South Africa the ceremonies
took place in the lovely sandstone
amphitheater formed by the Union
Buildings in Pretoria for decades this
had been the seat of white supremacy and
now it was the site of a rainbow
gathering of different colors and
nations for the installation of South
Africa's first democratic non-racial
government here amphitheater means a
building without a roof with many rows
of seats rising in steps decade means a
period of ten years supremacy means the
state of being superior in power in this
paragraph it says that the swearing-in
ceremony took place in the amphitheater
formed by the union building in
Pretoria. now Pretoria is the
administrative capital of South Africa
and he says that for a long period of
time this amphitheater was a place
where White's ruled and only White's
were allowed inside - but today this
place is filled with people from many
places and people of different colors
which he compares to a rainbow it may be
representing a mixture of different
beautiful colors and he says that this
Rainbow Gathering is the first stepping
stone of South Africa's first democratic
non-racial government that is for the
first time the leader of South Africa is
selected
by all the people of South Africa
irrespective of their color creed etc
and for the first time they were given
the freedom to select their own leader.
so here podium means a small
platform on which a person may stand to
be seen by an audience devote means
give most of a person's time to an
activity
assembled the means people gathered
together in one place for a common
purpose. Now let's see what the paragraph
means; you may have noticed the
mentioning of autumn season in the first
line but may is the month of summer for
us! you see, South Africa lies in the
southern hemisphere so there May is the
season of autumn and as we all know it
is the season where the leaves fall from
the tree
so we can derive two conclusion first
maybe Mandela is actually talking about
the season or maybe Mandela by
mentioning autumn suggests that the old
Leaves of white supremacy fell on this
day and this day paves the path for a
new beginning. On that day he was
accompanied by his daughter Zenani and
on the stage before Mandela Mr. de Klerk
and Tambo Mbeki were sworn in as the
second and first deputy president
of South Africa respectively when it was
time for Mandela to take the oath he
pledged to follow the rules and
regulations set by the constitution of
South Africa and he pledged that he will
work for the betterment of his country
and its people, so  as you may understood
this was a very big deal for the people
of South Africa now let's move to the
next paragraph. the following video is
the pledge taken by Mandela on 10th of
May 1994.
here confer means
give now let's see what this paragraph
means so he says being present on that
day at the amphitheatre is like giving
hope and glory to the newly achieved
freedom from racial discrimination here
the extraordinary human disaster is the
apartheid-era which is purely man-made
and he believes that as people who
overcame this disaster the world will be
proud of their achievement
so here
outlaw means those who break the law
privilege means a special right, dignity
means respect. okay now let's see what
this paragraph means so, not so long ago
people of South Africa were considered
outlaws due to the system of apartheid.
because the rest of the country is
considered apartheid as a inhuman method
and many countries broke their
relationship with South Africa due to
this reason. but on the tenth May all those
broken relationships were re-established
because the leaders of those countries
were also among the guests who have came
to witness the common victory for
justice, peace, and respect for Humanity
and Mandela Thanks all those dignitaries
for their presence in South Africa.
here emancipation means
freedom from restriction, poverty means
the state of being poor, deprivation
means the state of not having one's
rightful benefits, discrimination means
being treated unfavorably. In this
paragraph Mandela states that finally
they have achieved their freedom from
apartheid-era now anyone can be a
part of the government and can even
become the leader of the state like him
and he also takes an oath to free the
people from the continuing bondage of
deprivation poverty suffering and also
from gender discrimination and such
norms in which people are treated
unfavorably
here operation means unjust
treatment of Authority glorious means
worthy of reign means rule .in this
paragraph he praya that never ever
South African soil should witness the
oppression of one by another here he is
referring to the oppression faced by the
blacks from the whites he says that
their achievement of abolishing apartheid
will be known forever as one among
the greatest human achievements he ends
his speech by hoping for a better and
wonderful tomorrow. Now that was a part
of his speech, now let's move to the next
paragraph okay,
here awe means surprise,
spectacular means beautiful in a
dramatic way, array means an impressive
display, troop means soldiers, precision
means accuracy, bedecked means decorated,
not unmindful of means conscious of or
aware of, Chevron means a zigzag pattern
in the shape of a V, trail means series
or chain, so here just after the speech
of Mandela that is the first black
president of South Africa an impressive
arrangement of jets helicopters and
soldier carriers were seen in the sky he
says that display not only showed
perfection but also the military's
respect and obedience towards the newly
formed democratic government the high
commanders whose chests were decorated
with the medals of bravery also saluted
and promised their loyalty then Mandela
reminds himself that the same people who
were saluting him would have arrested
him if they were still under the rule of
whites. Because for whites he was a
criminal who fought for equality. the Air
Show finally ended by the Jets formed
in the shape of V produced a chain of
smoke which resembled the colours of
South African flag that is black red
green blue and gold
here symbolised means be a symbol of,
lyrics means the words of a song,
despised means hated, so in every country
if a national function is going on they
will play the national anthem, like that
Mandela also remembers the playing of
the two national anthems of the country
on that day. one was of the whites and
the other was of the blacks but on that
day neither white nor blacks knew the
exact lyrics of the black's anthem
die stem, which means the call. even then
Mandela was confident that everyone
would soon learn this anthem that they
once hated. and that's it for today -thank
you
