Dear Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee, 

 

I am writing to you to convince you that Nelson Mandela should be awarded a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize, and that he is more deserving than any other of his field and time of this honor. According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who in the preceding year "shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses". Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is more deserving of this prize than any other because he had done more work for the 'fraternity between nations' than any before him. Famous for toppling the apartheid regime, Mr. Mandela was an extraordinary man, with a sense for peace and justice that deserves to be recognized.  

 

Apartheid was opposed by black South Africans from the beginning. The African National Congress, or ANC, initiated a Defiance Campaign in the early 1950s. The goal of this campaign was for Black South Africans to defy apartheid regulations by entering Caucasian areas, using Caucasian amenities, and refusing to carry "passes," which were domestic passports used by the government to restrict Black South Africans' travel inside the country. The government responded by banning the ANC in 1960 and arresting Nelson Mandela, a major ANC activist, in August 1962, who remained in prison for the next twenty-seven years.    

Upon the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1999, the world was ever so ready to accept the 'modern' views that the rest of the world at large as a consensus had been doing since we first understood the concept of unity. After being reinstated, the ANC won 62.5% of the votes in an election on 27 April 1994, with Nelson Mandela leading the charge and for the first time in forty-six years made South Africa free of the apartheid regime.    

 

Mandela considered national reconciliation as the most important mission of his presidency, as he presided over the country's transition from apartheid minority rule to a multicultural democracy. He is famous for promoting a message of forgiveness and equality for all, whether they be black, coloured or otherwise. Mandela attempted to reassure South Africa's Caucasian populace that they were protected and represented in South Africa, having watched other post-colonial African countries suffer as a result of the departure of Caucasian elites.  

 

 

Even though he had been prejudiced against by the Caucasian minority when he came into power, he led by example in making a successful bi-racial government in a show of forgiveness and equality. Despite the fact that the ANC would dominate his Government of National Unity, he attempted to build a broad coalition by appointing de Klerk a white man, as Deputy President. Other Caucasians were appointed to National Party official roles as Ministers of Agriculture, Environment, Minerals and Energy, as well as Buthelezi as Minister of Home Affairs.   

 

As I have said earlier this year at this great man's eulogy: ‘At his core, this was Nelson Mandela’s mission, and its story goes back all the way to his days as a child in that small African village. Ubuntu is the Xhosa idea that there is a oneness to all people. An impenetrable tie that binds us all to one another. A principle stating that conflict amongst people is temporary, only a brief diversion from the natural order of our true nature as human beings: togetherness. Mandela took this belief to heart, and with it shaped the world around him, believing that strength will overcome strife and refusing to be cynical.   

 

Earlier this year at this great man's Eulogy I had said:

 

“Ubuntu, a word that captures Mandela’s greatest gift: His recognition that we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eye; that there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others and caring for those around us. He not only embodied Ubuntu, but he taught millions to find that truth within themselves.”’ - 8-Ways Nelson Mandela Changed the World. (n.d.).   

 

 

This is why I believe that Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is the most deserving of all the applicants you will receive, and I do hope you agree with me on this. 

 

 

Sincerely, Barack Obama,  

Former Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Former President of The United States of America. 

 

 

 

Bibliography:  

- Nelson Mandela (n.d.). In Nobel Prize.org Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1993/mandela/facts/  

- 8-Ways Nelson Mandela Changed the World. (n.d.). In Red.org Retrieved October 6, 2021, from https://www.red.org/reditorial/2018/7/18/8-ways-nelson-mandela-changed-the-world/