A letter from Poets and Writers Worldwide to Nelson Mandela honoring his struggle for human rights and freedom

Poets and writers Worldwide wish to celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela as one of the greatest champions for human rights in the history of humanity . Mr. Mandela dedicated his life to organizing millions of people to create justice out of South African Apartheid. His road was to educate himself in an era of ultimate prejudice and recognize that justice could and should be done, no matter how great the obstacles. He faced unending physical violence, arrests, sham trials, imprisonment in disease-ridden prisons, and encouraged and inspired world leaders and ordinary citizens to bring truth and justice to the South African people.

Mr. Mandela is a supreme inspiration for those in the world who face accusations of treason and criminality because they expose the truth and work to set people free. He tirelessly confronted biased legal systems, media, and the ruling class, and defeated them by inspiring the hearts and minds of millions around the world. We express our greatest respect and honor to him, promise to reflect his inspiring message in our work, and pass it down from generation to generation.

Signatures with names, positions and countries

• Robert Maier, author, educator, filmmaker (USA)
• Kamran Mir Hazar, poet, journalist and webmaster (Norway/ Hazaristan)
• Gertrude Fester, educator, writer and poet (South Africa/Rwanda)
• Emdee David,- Writer, Producer and Director- Africa Entertainment Network (Nigeria)
• Fernando Rendon, poet, director of International Poetry Festival of Medellin, Alternative Nobel Prize 2006 (Colombia)
• Canéla A. Jaramillo, Ph.D. Publisher, editor, and author (USA)
• Santiago B. Villafania, poet (Philippines)
• Basir Ahang, human rights activist, poet and journalist (Italy)
• Gabriel Rosenstock, poet, translator (Éire/ Ireland)
• Arabella Salaverry -writer, poet and actress (Costa Rica)
• Kjell H. Mære, author (Norway)
• Hemant Divate, poet, editor, publisher and translator (Mumbai/ India)
• Jacobo Rauskin, poet (Paraguay)
• Jüri Talvet, poet, (Estonia)
• William Pérez Vega, poeta y educador (Puerto Rico)
• Luz Helena Cordero Villamizar, poet (Colombia)
• Michael Augustin, poet and broadcaster (Germany)
• Bengt Berg, poet (Sweden)
• Ulrich Schreiber, director of the International Literature Festival Berlin (Germany)
• Aju Mukhopadhyay, Poet, essayist, feature and fiction writer (India)
• Ioana Trica, poet and translator (Rumania)
• Siki Dlanga, writer and poet (South Africa)
• Maruja Vieira, poet and member of colombian and spanish academies (Colombia)
• Angelina Llongueras, poet, Barcelona (nowadays a member of the Revolutionary Poets Brigade in San Francisco, US)
• Eugene Skeef FRSA, poet; educator; composer (South Africa/UK)
• K. Satchidanandan, ooet (India)
• Werewere-Liking Gnepo, poet (Cameroon)
• Gilma de los Ríos, journalist and poet (Colombia)
• Fahredin Shehu, poet, author, painter- Prishtina (Kosovo)
• Jack Hirschman is a poet, translator and painted, member of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America (LRNA), the Revolutionary Poets Brigade (RPB) and the World Poetry Movement (WPM) ( USA)
• Agneta Falk, poet (Sweden)
• Tamer öncül Poet (Cyprus)
• Tânia Tomé, Singer, poet and economist (Mozambique)
• Janak Sapkota, poet (Nepal)
• Noria Adel, visual artist, photographer and poet (Algeria)
• Thór Stefánsson, Poet (Iceland)
• Gemino H. Abad, poet (Philippines)
• Zelma White; educator, preacher; poet (Montserrat BWI)
• Dileep Jhaveri, poet and playwright (India)
• Erkut Tokman, poet, actor and translator (Turkey)
• K. Ramesh, Educator, Poet, (India)
• Vicente Rodríguez Nietzsche, poet (Puerto Rico)
• Thomas Rain Crowe, poet & publisher of New Native Press, Tuckasegee, North Carolina (USA)
• Jared Angira, poet (Kenya)
• Yiorgos Chouliaras, poet & essayist (Greece)
• Merlie M. Alunan, poet, essayist, teacher of literature (Philippines)
• Mbizo Chirasha.International Perfomances Poet,Writer,Literary/Creative Projects Specialist ( Zimbabwe)
• Stefaan van den Bremt, poet and honorary chairman of PEN FLANDERS (Flanders, Belgium)
• Louis Esterhuizen, poet (South Africa)
• Bina Sarkar Ellias, poet, editor, designer, publisher, (India)
• Akwasi Aidoo, poet (USA)
• Yolanda Pantin, poet (Venezuela)
• Nana Nestoros, poet (Greece)
• Vyacheslav Kupriyanov, poet (Russia)
• Irena Matijašević, Poet (Croatia)
• Howard A. Fergus, University Professor, writer and poet (Montserrat , West Indies)
• Chiqui Vicioso Sánchez, poet (Dominican Republic)
• Navkirat Sodhi, poet (India)
• Howard Fergus, poet (Montserrat, West Indies)
• Dorothy Payne, poet, artist, international educator (USA)
• Jan Erik Vold, poet (Norway)
• Nguyen Quang Thieu, poet (Vietnam)
• Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo, Poet and Playwright (Kenya)
• Mark Lipman, poet and activist (USA)
• Andrea Garbin, poet (Italy)
• Simón Zavala Guzmán, poet, essayist and jurist (Ecuador)
• Lucy Cristina Chau, poet (Panama)
• Mona Bentzen, visual artist, video art curator and documentary filmmaker (Norway)
• Ershad Mazumder poet (Bangladesh)
• Laura Hernández Muñoz, poet, writer, essayist and President of the Association of Children´s Literature of Mexico. (México)
• Althea Romeo-Mark, poet (Antigua)
• Reza Baraheni, poet, novelist and literary critic (Iran)
• Raphael Urweider, writer and musician (Switzerland)
• Hanan Awwad, poet (Palestina)
• Demosthenes Davvetas poet, artist & professor of Philosophy of Art (France / Greece)