Talk:I Am Prepared to Die

South Africa Mid‑importance

	South Africa portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject South Africa, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of South Africa on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.South AfricaWikipedia:WikiProject South AfricaTemplate:WikiProject South AfricaSouth Africa articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Politics Low‑importance

	Politics portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Politics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of politics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PoliticsWikipedia:WikiProject PoliticsTemplate:WikiProject Politicspolitics articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Law Low‑importance

	Law portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Law, an attempt at providing a comprehensive, standardised, pan-jurisdictional and up-to-date resource for the legal field and the subjects encompassed by it.LawWikipedia:WikiProject LawTemplate:WikiProject Lawlaw articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Freedom of speech Low‑importance

	Freedom of speech portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Freedom of speech, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Freedom of speech on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Freedom of speechWikipedia:WikiProject Freedom of speechTemplate:WikiProject Freedom of speechFreedom of speech articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

It is requested that an image or photograph be included in this article to improve its quality. Please replace this template with a more specific media request template where possible.

Wikipedians in South Africa may be able to help!

The Free Image Search Tool or Openverse Creative Commons Search may be able to locate suitable images on Flickr and other web sites.

Upload

A fact from I Am Prepared to Die appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 9 December 2013 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that against his lawyer's advice, Nelson Mandela ended his defence speech at the Rivonia Trial with the words "I Am Prepared To Die"?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2013/December.

Wikipedia

This article is written in South African English, which has its own spelling conventions (colour, realise, analyse) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

Recommend rethinking title of this article[edit]

I am very glad to see that various editors have run with the idea of an article on this important speech.

It is very lyrical to use this line from the speech for the article's title, but I have to question how practical it is. Certainly if I were searching for information on this speech on the internet (or specifically on Wikipedia), I would type in "Rivonia Speech" as the search term -- that is the title I know it by. The thought of typing in "I am prepared to die" would just never have occurred to me....

So my recommendation is to rename the article "Rivonia Speech". Nandt1 (talk) 00:17, 8 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Several published works refer to the speech with this name, so as long as the other possible search items are redirected I think this title is the correct one.User:Maunus ·ʍaunus·snunɐw· 20:54, 8 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It is easy enough to create a redirect named Rivonia Speech. Helen Online 09:40, 8 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Helen, thanks. I think I can say that I work hard as an editor, but I have not learnt how to do redirects. Could you perhaps handle that? Most grateful if you could take care of it. Nandt1 (talk) 12:27, 8 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It is done already (the Rivonia Speech link is blue not red). I also created a Rivonia Trial Speech redirect. Helen Online 12:37, 8 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

RqImg[edit]

If there's a photo or a court room artist representation of the speech, that would be a good picture to add. -- 65.94.78.9 (talk) 06:26, 9 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I looked but couldn't find one.User:Maunus ·ʍaunus·snunɐw· 06:27, 9 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It is only in recent times that cameras have been allowed in South African courts, and then only under exceptional circumstances. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 08:35, 9 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Speech duration[edit]

This article and others state that Mandela's opening speech lasted four hours. In contrast, the full transcript of the speech linked to in the External links section states; "The court proceedings at the Rivonia Trial were recorded by the State on dictabelt for which there is now no playback equipment. Mandela's statement from the dock was digitised with the assistance of the British Library, and this digital recording is now in the custody of the National Archives of South Africa. This recording was used to transcribe this speech. The speech is approximately 176 minutes long." (Emphasis mine.) nagualdesign (talk) 06:51, 11 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The BBC also says that the speech lasted 3 hours, so I've made changes to this and other articles. nagualdesign (talk) 07:02, 11 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Several reliable sources say 4 hours, but they are witnesses remembering it. The transcription of the recording is probably to be considered more accurate.User:Maunus ·ʍaunus·snunɐw· 13:59, 11 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Were they in fact charged with treason?[edit]

Our text says yes, but other sources say not. I would suggest we aim to follow the official charge sheet -- preferably word-for-word -- rather than supplying our own paraphrases or "interpretations". Would someone know how to access the official document? Citing it would lend the necessary authority. Nandt1 (talk) 23:39, 16 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

They were primarily charged with sabotage and furthering Communism (source). The indictment mentions "violent revolution". There was an earlier treason trial. Helen Online 07:49, 17 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Helpful to get the treason point sorted out and also to have access to the primary sources here. Nandt1 (talk) 20:59, 17 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Was the death penalty sought?[edit]

We offer two different answers. Please see Talk Page for the Rivonia Trial article for details. Nandt1 (talk) 00:24, 19 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion[edit]

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

Rivonia treason trial.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 07:52, 3 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]