The Warders and Me — Nelson Mandela

In any prisoner’s life is not the minister of justice, not the commissioner¹ of prisons, not even the head of prison, but the warder in one’s section. If you are cold and want an extra blanket, you might petition the minister of justice, but you will get no response. If you go to the commissioner of prisons, he will say, “Sorry, it is against regulations.” The head of prison will way, “If I give you an extra blanket, I must give one to everyone.” But if you approach the warder in your corridor, and you a re on good terms with him, he will simply go to the stockroom and fetch a blanket.

I always tried to be decent to the warders in my section; hostility² was self-defeating. There was no point in having a permanent enemy among the warders. It was ANC policy to try to educate all people, even our enemies: we believed that all men, even prison service warders, were capable of change, and we did our utmost to try to sway them.

In general we treated the warders as they treated us. If a man was considerate, we were considerate in return. Not all of our warders were ogres. We noticed right from the start that there were some among them who believed in fairness. Yet, being friendly with warders was not an easy proposition, for they generally found the idea of being courteous³ to a black man abhorrent⁴. Because it was useful to have warders who were well disposed toward us, I often asked certain men to make overtures⁵ to selected warders. No one liked to take on such a job.

We had one warder at the quarry⁶ who seemed particularly hostile to us. This was troublesome, for at the quarry we would hold discussions among ourselves, and a warder who did not permit us to talk was a great hindrance⁷. I asked a certain comrade to befriend this fellow so that he would not interrupt our talks. The warder was quite crude, but he soon began to relax a bit around this one prisoner. One day, the warder asked this comrade for his jacket so that he could lay it on the grass and sit on it. Even though I knew it went against the comrade’s grain, I nodded to him to do it.

A few days later, we were having our lunch under the shed when this warder wandered over. The warder had an extra sandwich, and he threw it on the grass near us and said, “Here.” That was his way of showing friendship.

This presented us with a dilemma⁸. On the one hand, he was treating us as animals to whom he could toss a bit of slop, and I felt it would undermine our dignity to take the sandwich. On the other hand, we were hungry, and to reject the gesture altogether would humiliate⁹ the warder we were trying to befriend. I could see that the comrade who had befriended the warder wanted the sandwich, and I nodded for him to take it.

The strategy worked, for this warder became less wary¹⁰ around us. He even began to ask questions about the ANC. By definition , if a man worked for the prison service he was probably brainwashed by the government’s propaganda. He would have believed that we were terrorists and Communists who wanted to drive the white man into the sea. But as we quietly explained to him our nonracialism, our desire for equal rights, and our plans for the redistribution of wealth, he scratched his head and said, “It makes more bloody¹¹ sense than the Nats.”

Having sympathetic warders facilitated one of our most vital tasks on Robben Island: communication. We regarded it as our duty to stay in touch with our men in F and G, which was where the general prisoners were kept. As politicians, we were just as intent on fortifying¹² our organization in prison as we had been outside. Communication was essential if we were to coordinate¹³ our protests and complaints. Because of the greater numbers of prisoners coming and going in the general section, the men in F and G tended to have more recent information about not only what was happening in the movement, but about our friends and families·······

  在每个囚犯的牢狱生活中，占有一席之地的并非司法部长、监狱总长、甚至是监狱长，而是各牢房的狱吏。如果你觉得冷并想多要条毯子，可能会想到向司法部长申请，可结果会是渺无音讯。要是你去找监狱总长，他可能会说：“抱歉，这不符合规定。”监狱长会说：“我要是多给你一条，就得多给每个人一条。”可如果你去找走廊里的狱吏，而且你跟他相处得不错的话，他就会迳直到库房拿一条给你。

我始终力图对我所在的牢房的狱吏保持和气；含有敌意是自找没趣。在狱吏中树敌是毫无道理的。非洲人国民大会（非国大）的政策就是去教育所有的人，甚至是我们的敌人：我们相信所有的人，即使是在监狱服役的狱吏，也是能改造的，而且我们要力争改变他们。

总之，我们与狱吏间相互同等对待。如若有人关心我们，我们也知恩图报。并非所有的狱吏都是妖魔鬼怪。我们从一开始就发现他们中一些人奉行公平原则。然而，与狱吏交好也非轻而易举之事，因为他们大都认为对黑人表示好感是不合常理的。既然能有对我们示以好感的狱吏是件益事，因此我常想请人去和意中的狱吏沟通。可没人愿意做这件事。

在矿场有一名狱吏好好像对我们特别有敌意。这很麻烦，因为在矿场我们要进行讨论，而不准我们交谈的狱吏就成了个极大的障碍。我请一位伙伴向这家伙套近乎以便能让他不来打断我们的谈话。这个狱吏很粗鲁，不过很快他就对我的这位狱友缓和了一些。一天，这个狱吏向我这个伙伴要他身上的夹克，他要把它铺在草地上好坐在上面。尽管我知道这不合我伙伴的脾气，可我还是点头让他照办了。

几天后，当我们正在棚子下吃午饭时，这个狱吏也走过来。他比我们多一个三明治，他将它扔在我们附近的草地上说：“拿去。”这就是他表示友谊的方式。

这使我们感到进退两难。一方面，他象对待畜牲那样可以向我们泼泔水，我觉得拿那块三明治会有损我们的尊严。而另一方面，我们饥肠辘辘，完全拒绝这种表示会使我们正尽力去亲近的狱吏感到羞辱。我看得出那个已与狱吏亲近了些的伙伴想要那个三明治，于是我向他点头应允。

这个策略见效了，这个狱吏对我们不再提防了。他甚至开始问我们有关非国大的问题。一般来说，如果一个人在监狱工作他可能会被政府的宣传攻势所洗脑。他会认为我们是些恐怖主义者以及要把白人扔进海里去的共产党。可当我们心平气和地对他解释说我们是反种族主义者，我们渴望平等，怀有重分财富的想法，他挠挠头说：“好像比南非国民党讲的有道理得多。”