Berlin´s Wall

20 years ago a country has gotten its freedom by its reunification...

    Credits to Heiko Burkhard

www.lilano.com

Berlin 1989 

They hated the Wall, but what could they do? It was too strong to break through.

They feared the Wall, but didn't that make sense? Many who tried to climb over it were killed.       

They distrusted the Wall, but who wouldn't? Their enemies refused to tear down one brick, no matter how long the peace talks dragged on.

The Wall laughed grimly. "I'm teaching you a good lesson," it boasted. "If you want to build for eternity, don't bother with stones. Hatred, fear, and distrust are so much stronger."
They knew the Wall was right, and they almost gave up. Only one thing stopped them. They remembered who was on the other side. Grandmother, cousin, sister, wife. Beloved faces that yearned to be seen. 

"What's happening?" the Wall asked, trembling. Without knowing what they did, they were looking through the Wall, trying to find their dear ones. 

Silently, from one person to another, love kept up its invisible work.

"Stop it!" the Wall shrieked. "I'm falling apart." 

But it was too late. 

A million hearts had found each other. 

The Wall had fallen before it came down.

~Michael Jackson, excerpt from his book " Dancing The Dream"

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Happy Mandela Day!

Today Mr. Nelson Mandela turns 92. 

The It´s-all-for-LOVE-webteam wishes Mr.Mandela a happy Birthday  with his beloved family around him and happy and healthy years to come. It is said Mandela's greatest pleasure, his most private moment, is watching the sun set with the music of Haendel or Tchaikovsky playing. We wish you many, many sunsets with the music you love. 

To the world Nelson Mandela is much more than the former president of South-Africa.

He became father of the whole nation.

Presidents retire - fathers go on caring.

Researching  the internet for the 5 most famous people in the world you will find different nominations but Nelson Mandela is always one of them. He is one of the most respected people in the world and for countless reasons  a huge hero all of us can learn many lessons from. Mr. Mandela has honorary degrees from more than 50 international universities. He has seen almost everything in his nine decades, from being tortured to becoming president of the country he loves. He retired in 1999 but continued to  help people.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on the 18 July 1918. As student hewas suspended from college for joining in a protest boycott. At the height of the Second World War a group of 60 young Africans, members of the African National Congress, banded together.  Among them was Nelson Mandela. Their intent was transforming the ANC into a mass movement.

Mandela soon impressed by his disciplined work and consistent effort and in 1950 he was elected to the NEC at national conference.

For the second half of the 'fifties, he was one of the accused in the Treason Trial. With Duma Nokwe, he conducted the defence. 

When the ANC was banned after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, he went 1961 underground to lead a campaign for a new national convention. 

Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the ANC, was formed that year. In 1962 Mandela left the country for military training in Algeria and to arrange training for other MK members. 

On his return he was arrested for leaving the country illegally and for incitement to strike. He conducted his own defence. He was convicted and jailed for five years in November 1962. While serving his sentence, he was charged, in the Rivonia trial, with sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Nelson Mandela's statement from the dock
at the opening of the defence case in the Rivonia Trial
Pretoria Supreme Court, 20 April 1964 ends with these words:

"I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

click here to read the complete statement 

In prison, where he spent 27 years as a political prisoner before becoming the country's first black president, Mr. Mandela never compromised his political principles and was always a source of strength for the other prisoners.

Sharing the dream of the "Adventure Of  Humanity" (1999)

Happy Mandela Day!

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Mandela day is a call to action to make the world a better place, one small step at a time.

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What will you be doing this year, this month,..this day to make a difference?

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Make every day a Mandela day!

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Follow these Mandela day related links, if so inclined:

o http://www.46664.com/Home.aspx

o http://en.mandeladay.com/Home.aspx 

o http://www.facebook.com/OfficialMandelaDay?ref=mf 

o http://twitter.com/mandeladay 

o http://twitter.com/46664_official 

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45 years ago: Hector Peterson one of the first persons killed in South Africa's liberation struggle

 Photo Credits:CNN.com

"Thirty-four years ago Wednesday, on June 16, 1976, thousands of black school children in Soweto, South Africa, took to the streets to protest the apartheid education system.

It was supposed to be a peaceful protest, but the students were met with police gunfire and at least 23 of them were killed. 

One of the first youths to be killed was 12-year-old Hector Pieterson.

His death was captured in a photograph that came to define South Africa's liberation struggle. [...] "    read more...