No Easy Walk to Freedom

Chapter 14 is Mandela’s defense in the trial that opened in October 1962 after his arrest and indictment on charges of “inciting African workers to strike; and leaving South Africa without a valid travel document” (105). In his opening statements to the judge, Mandela articulates his belief that the trial is not actually a case against himself alone, but rather a “a trial of the aspirations of the African people” (105). He challenges the right of the court to hear his case on the basis that it will not be a fair and proper trial and that he has no moral or legal obligation to obey laws made by a parliament in which he has no representation. 

Regarding the first grounds for recusal, Mandela asserts that the trial is inherently unjust because of the all-white judiciary. He cites the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on equal protection before the law, which he finds wholly absent from the South African judicial system. On the second grounds, he posits that the authority of any government derives from the will of the people. Given that Mandela has no parliamentary representation, he finds himself neither morally nor legally bound to follow the laws that the government passes.