LIVERPOOL’S role at the heart of the anti-apartheid movement that culminated in Nelson Mandela’s release will be celebrated this week by campaigners marking his 90th birthday.
In 1994, Mandela was granted the Freedom of the City, and this week an open day at Liverpool Town Hall will celebrate the former South African president.
On Tuesday, about 20 stalls will be on display ranging from global charities to local community groups from 10am till 5pm.
People such as Shirley Mashiane-Talbot, who campaigned tirelessly for 35 years for the great man’s release, will attend a celebratory Town Hall dinner.
Lord Mayor Cllr Steve Rotheram will mark the occasion by sending a message to Nelson Mandela.
He told the Daily Post: “It was mooted by members of the community of campaign-ers that we should do some-thing to mark the occasion.
“Mandela is one of the few great heroes left, and he epitomises that rare individual who transcends their own problems to become a real statesman.
“Mrs Mashiane-Talbot is one of the inspirational local campaigners that kept Mandela’s name alive, even in his darkest years in prison.”
Mrs Mashiane-Talbot is modest about her contribution, but explains how vital Liverpool’s part was in the battle against apartheid in South Africa.
The 68-year-old was born in Pretoria and arrived in Liverpool via Oxford in 1969. She said: “I walked into John Moores University and began campaigning against the chancellor Rod Salisbury because he had connections with the then Rhodesia. People like Jon Snow, the broadcaster, were arranging sit-ins at the university’s Senate House and I naturally fell in with them.
“Liverpool then was like home from home because we came here and found racism and exclusion. I remember black people being huddled into police vans.”
Her zeal and determination also found a great deal of support in Liverpool. Liverpool’s dockers and trade unions helped pass messages between the UK and South Africa. Sanctions against South Africa were made effective because of the commitment of traders using the Port of Liverpool.
Mrs Mashiane-Talbot runs though a roll call of local activists whose efforts impacted the international agenda. The names, she says, are too numerous to mention.
For her part, the mother-of-two flew out to be honour-ed by Mandela in 1994 and in return he was granted the Freedom of Liverpool.
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