On July 18, South Africa’s former president Nelson Mandela turned 91, and across the world, people celebrated his life and legacy during the first ever “Mandela Day.” The Nelson Mandela Foundation, along with Mandela’s other charities and initiatives, have proposed making Mandela’s birthday an annual celebration of his ideals and vision. Mandela and his supporters hope that Mandela day, which he describes as “not a holiday, but a day dedicated to service,” will be a global call to action to show that each individual has the power to influence the world.

After championing the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, Mandela spent 27 years in jail as prisoner #46664, which is now the name of his anti-HIV/AIDS charity. He was released in 1990 and elected president of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1991, before being elected the first ever black president of South Africa in 1994. In 1999, after just one term as president, Mandela stepped down. However, his work would not end there, Mandela went on to set up three foundations in his name, The Nelson Mandela Foundation, The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, and the Mandela-Rhodes Foundation, which promotes exceptional leadership capacity in Africa. In 2002, Mandela also launched the earlier mentioned 46664 Campaign, a South-African based, independent, non-profit entity owned by the Nelson Mandela Foundation which aims to raise awareness and inspire individual and collective action in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Mandela has also made considerable efforts to inspire youth. Through 46664, Mandela found entertainment to be a powerful engagement tool and now, the 46664 Campaign sponsors global events that use sports, music, and celebrities to connect with youth and inspire community outreach campaigns. He also launched the African National Congress Youth League with two other ANC members in 1944.

Last Saturday, Mandela day was celebrated in numerous cities across the globe, from New York to Cape Town. In Radio City Music Hall in New York, international artists and celebrities, including Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and Morgan Freeman, gathered to pay tribute to the global activist. Mandela was unable to travel for health reasons, and instead celebrated at his home in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mandela day asked that citizens devote just 67 minutes of their day – to match Mandela’s 67 years of service – to make their “imprint” on the world. “Our hope is to inspire people around the globe to embrace their individual power to make an imprint and help change the world around them for the better,” says the official Mandela Day website, telling citizens that, “We must transform discourse into action. We have work to do.”

-Pooja Gupta

Tomorrow, Nelson Mandela turns 91. To celebrate this occasion, 46664 and the Nelson Mandela Foundation have launched Mandela Day—an “annual celebration of his life and a global call to action for people to recognize their individual power to make an imprint and change the world around them.”

Radio City Music Hall is hosting an event tomorrow night commemorating Mandela Day with artists such as Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, and Aretha Franklin. You can purchase tickets and learn more about the event at www.mandeladay.com.

You can also stream the event on the ONE Blog, via the video feed below. We’ll bring further news and clips as they develop.

-Chris Scott

Former South African President Nelson Mandela congratulated Barack Obama on last night’s victory in the 2008 US presidential election and urged him to lead in the fight against global poverty.

Excerpts below, full piece here:

“Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place,” the anti-apartheid icon wrote to Obama in a letter released by the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

“We note and applaud your commitment to supporting the cause of peace and security around the world. We trust that you will also make it the mission of your Presidency to combat the scourge of poverty and disease everywhere.”

-Chris Scott

After years of silence on the crisis in Zimbabwe, last night former South African leader Nelson Mandela condemned the political violence that is gripping the country and criticized the government of Robert Mugabe.

Edith and I wanted to provide some more information and background about what this means.

Because of his stature both at home and abroad, these words by Mandela carry significant weight. Until now, the former president had kept quiet on the issue to avoid undermining current South African President Thabo Mbeki. However, in the past year Mbeki’s failed strategy of “quiet diplomacy” with Zimbabwe has come under increasing international criticism.

Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU-PF, rejected the criticism early this morning, saying that Mandela’s comments were unacceptable and unfortunate for a man of his stature.

Mandela’s comments join a choir of African voices that many deem too little and too late to have a real impact on Mugabe. In the lead-up to the runoff elections scheduled for tomorrow, pressure has been growing on Zimbabwe’s neighbors to take more forceful action in persuading Mugabe to cancel the election and agree to talk with the opposition. An emergency meeting held yesterday by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was a missed opportunity for key African leaders to take the strong positions needed to influence action. After a five-hour meeting in Swaziland, leaders from Tanzania, Angola and Swaziland called for a poll delay and said that a run off would be illegitimate. This is the strongest position taken by the SADC yet, but they finished their statement by concluding that the people of Zimbabwe could handle their own problems. Mbeki, who was notably absent from the summit, spoke to the meeting host Mswati (Swaziland’s president) at length on the phone, although it is unclear what position he took.

Next week is the African leaders will meet for the annual African Union summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Depending on what happens Friday, this could offer a new opportunity for African leaders to condemn the situation and a chance for the AU to exert its legal power to suspend Zimbabwe’s membership and demand new elections.

-Nora Coghlan and Edith Jibunoh

Last night at a state dinner in London, Nelson Mandela broke his silence and briefly criticized the leadership in Zimbabwe.

From Reuters:

Nelson Mandela uttered just four words criticising Zimbabwe’s leadership, but they were enough to resonate around the world….

In a speech at a dinner late on Wednesday, Mandela highlighted several global crises including poverty, the Middle East, Iraq and Darfur before referring to a “tragic failure of leadership” in Zimbabwe.

While brief, the phrase hit the headlines, with reports saying Mandela had “broken his silence”. He officially retired from politics nine years ago.

You can watch the speech here:

(Mandela is in London to celebrate his 90th birthday and to attend a celebrity-filled concert tomorrow designed to raise awareness and funds for his AIDS/HIV charity. The charity is called “46664″ – which was his prison number when he spent decades behind bars for opposing apartheid in South Africa.)