The Warders and Me Nelson Mandela
In any prisoners life is not the minister of justice, not the commissioner1 of prisons, not even the head of prison, but the warder in ones 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 comrades 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 governments 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
我一直力图对我所在的牢房的狱吏维持和气；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些人，甚至是大家的敌人：大家相信所有些人，即便是在监狱服役的狱吏，也是能改造的，而且大家要力争改变他们。
总之，大家与狱吏间相互同等对待。如若有人关心大家，大家也知恩图报。并不是所有些狱吏都是妖魔鬼怪。大家从刚开始就发现他们中一些人奉行公平原则。然而，与狱吏交好也非易如反掌之事，由于他们大都觉得对黑人表示好感是不合常理的。既然能有对大家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交流。可没人想做这件事。
在矿场有一名狱吏好仿佛对大家特别有敌意。这非常的麻烦，由于在矿场大家要进行讨论，而不准大家交谈的狱吏就成了个很大的障碍。我请一位伙伴向这家伙套近乎以便能让他不来打断大家的谈话。这个狱吏非常粗鲁，不过非常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。尽管我了解这不合我伙伴的脾气，可我还是点头让他照办了。
几天后，当大家正在棚子下吃午饭时，这个狱吏也走过来。他比大家多一个三明治，他将它扔在大家附近的草地上说：拿去。这就是他表示友谊的方法。
这使大家感到进退两难。一方面，他象对待畜牲那样可以向大家泼泔水，我感觉拿那块三明治会有损大家的尊严。而其次，大家饥肠辘辘，完全拒绝这种表示会使大家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。
这个方案见效了，这个狱吏对大家不再防备了。他甚至开始问大家有关非国大的问题。通常来讲，假如一个人在监狱工作他或许会被政府的宣传攻势所洗脑。他会觉得大家是些恐怖主义者与要把白人扔进海里去的共产党。可当大家心平气和地对他讲解说大家是反种族主义者，大家渴望平等，怀有重分财富的想法，他挠挠头说：仿佛比南非国民党讲的有道理得多。
