Hello and

I'm welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avergan.

This day and actually it is February 11th 1990 I want to make clear because it's a big moment to state

So we're we're talking about February 11th 1990 Nelson Mandela is released from prison 27 years after he was first jailed for his efforts to fight against South African apartheid.

We'll get into the conditions under which he suffered while in prison and how the government tried to suppress any

information about him from coming out which of course famously did not work

Mandela was a global cause celebrity symbol of the oppression in South Africa and the fight for freedom. Within hours of his release

he was on stage addressing thousands. His first words in public after 27 years were comrades and fellow South Africans I greet you all in the

name of peace, democracy, and freedom.

So let's talk about the moment that Mandela is released and the pressure campaign that led to it.

Here as always, Nicole Hammer of Vanderbilt and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley.

Hello there.

Hello Jody.

Hey there.

Let's start in one of the silliest places but one of the things that I think we should mention and I think it's come up on this show a couple times before but do you know about the so-called Mandela effect?

Oh, actually, like I've heard that phrase a million times, but I

could not tell you off my head. The Mandela effect is a psychological phenomenon in

which people sort of en masse invent details about a story and it's not like oh you know I

I misheard this thing and I personally have this thing but it's this kind of effect where it's like you sort of

realize that everyone has a similar and very precise and so often very sort of esoteric like misremembering.

So a classic one, well it's called the Mandela effect, which so it's named after this, but you know another classic one is like everyone thinks that it's

...