Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations
- Foreword by Ahmed M. Kathrada
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction: Prison as a Source of Politics
- 2 Politics and Prison: A Background
- 3 Resistance For Survival
- 4 Resistance Beyond Survival
- 5 Prisoner Politics and Organization on Robben Island
- 6 Debates and Disagreements
- 7 Influencing South African Politics
- 8 Political Imprisonment and the State
- 9 Theorizing Islander Resistance
- 10 Beyond Robben Island: Comparisons and Conclusion
- Appendix I Diagrams of Robben Island Prison
- Appendix II Methodological Notes on Oral and Archival Sources
- Appendix III Capsule Biographies of Interview Respondents
- Select Bibliography
- Index
1 - Introduction: Prison as a Source of Politics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations
- Foreword by Ahmed M. Kathrada
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction: Prison as a Source of Politics
- 2 Politics and Prison: A Background
- 3 Resistance For Survival
- 4 Resistance Beyond Survival
- 5 Prisoner Politics and Organization on Robben Island
- 6 Debates and Disagreements
- 7 Influencing South African Politics
- 8 Political Imprisonment and the State
- 9 Theorizing Islander Resistance
- 10 Beyond Robben Island: Comparisons and Conclusion
- Appendix I Diagrams of Robben Island Prison
- Appendix II Methodological Notes on Oral and Archival Sources
- Appendix III Capsule Biographies of Interview Respondents
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
If they had spread us right around the country, things would be taking a different turn now … They thought we were so much poison we had to be kept and contained in one bottle, and that worked wonders … It was one of the biggest gifts we ever got, that both liberation movements could have had. I think the minute we were put together, our survival was on the cards, we had to survive. It was not by any means axiomatic to begin with, but with time it was clear that we were going to be victors, which I think we have emerged being.
On the eve of Nelson Mandela's inauguration as South Africa's first democratic president, a daily Johannesburg-area newspaper commemorated the event with the headline, “From Prisoner to President.” Two years later, in 1996, the pivotal place of prison in President Mandela's own life, as well as in the country's history more generally, was recognized by placing, in the parliamentary buildings, a full-size replica of Mandela's Robben Island cell, where he lived for eighteen of his twenty-seven years in prison. Mandela and South Africa are not, however, unique in the role prison played in the political development of nation and individual; rather, they point to the role of prison in the political processes of many people and struggles.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Robben Island and Prisoner Resistance to Apartheid , pp. 1 - 13Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003