From South Africa to Rwanda, Eritrea to Ghana, our continent has plenty of inspiring examples of liberation movements that fought fiercely against colonial regimes. For the early African nationalists, support for full decolonization was both a moral imperative and a practical necessity.

During the 5th Pan-African Congress held at Manchester, England, in 1945, the struggle against colonialism took shape, leading ultimately to the liberation of Africa from colonial rule. In the years that followed, speeches of leading liberation fighters such as Kwame Nkrumah and Nelson Mandela helped to mobilize the masses and gain world support for independence.

On the next few pages, take a closer look at some of the speeches which left an indelible mark on African history.

Nelson Mandela’s speech at a special meeting of the UN Special Committee against Apartheid in 1990 

It was an expected speech considering the fact that South Africa’s apartheid had finally begun to collapse after decades detaining, torturing and incarcerating Mandela and countless other liberation fighters from the African National Congress (ANC). Here is an excerpt of that memorable speech by the man who would become South Africa’s first indigenous and first post-apartheid president, Nelson Mandela, upon his release:

“It will forever remain an indelible blight on human history that the apartheid crime ever occurred. Future generations will surely ask – what error was made that this system established itself in the wake of the adoption of a Universal Declaration on Human Rights…..

Continue reading on Face2FaceAfrica: Greatest Anti-Colonial Speeches of the Independence Era