Star Walker of the Month March, 2007
Nelson Mandela
  www.thestarwalkers.com

A Few Awards Bestowed Upon Nelson Mandela
Mandela has received many South African, foreign and international honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, the Order of Merit and the Order of St. John from Queen Elizabeth II and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from George W. Bush. In July 2004, the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, bestowed its highest honour on Mandela by granting him the freedom of the city at a ceremony in Orlando, Soweto.
In 1998, in Canada, 45,000 school children greeted him with adulation at a speaking engagement in the SkyDome in the city of Toronto.

In 2001, he was the first living person to be made an honorary Canadian citizen (the only previous recipient, Raoul Wallenberg, was awarded honorary citizenship posthumously). Although the government of Canada had hoped that the vote to make Mandela a citizen would be unanimous, this was not possible due to Canadian Alliance MP Rob Anders who stood up in the Canadian House of Commons and claimed Mandela was a former "communist and a terrorist".[19] While in Canada, he was also made an honorary Companion of the Order of Canada, one of the few foreigners to receive Canada's highest honour.

In 1992 he was awarded the Ataturk Peace Award by Turkey. He refused the award citing human rights violations committed by Turkey at the time, but later accepted the award in 1999.[20][21][22]
The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has proposed that a statue of Nelson Mandela will be erected on the north terrace of Trafalgar Square, although thus far he has run into opposition.
In 2006, he received Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience Award.

Movies & Music

• The Simple Minds recorded the song Mandela Day in 1988 to highlight the evils of apartheid in South Africa.

• The Specials recorded the song Free Nelson Mandela in 1984. The song's author, Jerry Dammers, was also instrumental in organizing the 1988 Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at London's Wembley Stadium

• In the final scene of the 1992 movie Malcolm X, Mandela – recently released after 27 years of political imprisonment – appears as a schoolteacher in a Soweto classroom. He recites a portion of one of Malcolm X's most famous speeches, including the following sentence: "We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence..." The final phrase of that sentence is "by any means necessary." Mandela informed director Spike Lee that he could not utter this phrase on camera, stating that the apartheid government would somehow use it against him if he did. Lee understandingly obliged, and the final seconds of the film feature black-and-white footage of the real Malcolm X speaking the words "by any means necessary".

• A summary of Mandela's life story is featured in a recent music video by Nickelback entitled "If Everyone Cared."

• Goodbye Bafana, a feature film that focuses on Mandela's life,  is said to have been in production in 2006.

A Few Other Mandela Facts

• Mandela became the oldest elected President of South Africa when he took office at the age of 75.

• He speaks fluent Afrikaans, a language disliked by many black people because of its roots in colonialism.

• Mandela is known for his fondness of Batik textiles. He is often seen wearing Batik shirts, known as "Madiba shirts", even on formal occasions.

• In 2003, Mandela's death was incorrectly announced by CNN when his pre-written obituary (along with those of several other famous figures) was inadvertently published on CNN's web site due to a fault in password protection.

• As a member of the United States House of Representatives, Dick Cheney voted against a congressional resolution calling for Mandela's release from prison. Years later, Mandela would call Cheney a "dinosaur".[23]

• Mandela spoke in the Olympics "Celebrate Humanity" campaign with the words:

For seventeen days, they are roommates.
For seventeen days, they are soulmates.
And for twenty-two seconds, they are competitors.
Seventeen days as equals. Twenty-two seconds as adversaries.
What a wonderful world that would be.
That's the hope I see in the Olympic Games.

• According to the Time 100, he is one of only four people in history to have shaped both the 20th century and the early 21st. The other three are Bill Gates, Pope John Paul II, and Oprah Winfrey.

• The Nelson Mandela Invitational charity golf tournament, hosted by Gary Player, has raised over 20 million for children’s charities since its inception in 2000.