Summarize the following text: "He is at the epicenter of our time, ours in South Africa, and yours, wherever you are," Nadine Gordimer, the South African writer and Nobel Laureate for Literature, once remarked. The years Mandela spend behind bars made him the world's most celebrated political prisoner and a leader of mythic stature for millions of Black South Africans and other oppressed people far beyond his country's borders. Charged with capital offences in the 1963 Rivonia Trial, his statement from the dock was his political testimony. "During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination." "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities," he told the court. "It is an ideal I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." Friends adored Mandela and fondly called him "Madiba," the clan name by which he was known. People lauded his humanity, kindness and dignity.