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What a great speech! My admiration for President Barack Obama
is increasing. In Cairo, Newtown, at the beginning of his second term, on December 10 in Johannesburg ... President
Obama has given real
lessons of politics and humanism, starting the path to the radical changes that the effects of neoliberalism claim loudly throughout the world.
Instead of confrontation with Islam, an
encounter instead of limitless greed
with China, new threshold
of relationships in "Pacific";
and medical care to the poorest Americans; and reduction of war and military investments; and incorporation of millions of immigrants
who were not regularized; and, most of all, instead
of arrogance, closeness...
Here there are some paragraphs of his inspiring speech in homage to Nelson Mandela:
“It is hard to eulogize any man, to capture in words not just the facts
and the dates that make a life, but the essential truth of a person, their
private joys and sorrows; the quiet moments and unique qualities that
illuminate someone's soul. How much harder to do so for a giant of history, who
moved a nation toward justice, and in the process moved billions around the world.
Madiba would emerge as the last great liberator of the 20th century. Like Gandhi, he would lead a resistance movement, a movement that at its
start held little prospect of success. Like Dr. King, he would give potent
voice to the claims of the oppressed, and the moral necessity of racial justice
Emerging from prison, without force of arms, he would -like Abraham Lincoln-
hold his country together when it threatened to break apart.
He was able to gain a prominent place in history through the struggle, perseverance and faith. He has shown us what can be achieved not only in the pages of the history books but in our own lives.
Mandela showed us the power of action; of taking risks on behalf of our
ideals.
"I have fought against white domination and I have fought against
black domination," he said at his 1964 trial. "I've cherished the
ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in
harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for
and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to
die."
Mandela taught us the power of action, but also ideas; the importance of
reason and arguments; the need to study not only those you agree with,
but those who you don’t.
Finally, Mandela understood the ties that bind the human spirit. There
is a word in South Africa -- Ubuntu - that describes his greatest gift: his
recognition that we are all bound together in ways that can be invisible to the
eye; that there is an oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing
ourselves with others, and caring for those around us.
It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailer
as well; to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you; to
teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means
of confronting it with inclusion, generosity and truth. He changed laws, but
also hearts.
But I believe it should also prompt in each of us a time for
self-reflection. With honesty, regardless of our station or circumstance, we
must ask: how well have I applied his lessons in my own life? It is a question
I ask myself as a man and as a President.
For around the world today, we still see children suffering from hunger,
and disease; run-down schools, and few prospects for the future. Around the
world today, men and women are still imprisoned for their political beliefs;
and are still persecuted for what they look like, or how they worship, or who
they love… This is currently happening.
We, too, must act on behalf of justice. We, too, must act on behalf of
peace. There are too many of us who happily embrace Madiba's legacy of racial
reconciliation, but passionately resist even modest reforms that would
challenge chronic poverty and growing inequality. There are too many leaders
who claim solidarity with Madiba's struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate
dissent from their own people. And there are too many of us who stand on the
sidelines, comfortable in complacency or cynicism when our voices must be
heard.
The questions we face today -how to promote equality and justice; to uphold
freedom and human rights; to end conflict and sectarian war- do not have easy
answers. But there were no easy answers in front of that child born during the
First World War. Nelson Mandela reminds us that it always seems impossible
until it is done. South Africa shows us that is true. South Africa shows us we
can change. We can choose to live in a world defined not by our differences,
but by our common hopes. We can choose a world defined not by conflict, but by
peace and justice and opportunity.
But let me say to the young people of Africa, and young people around
the world, you can make his life's work your own”.
And President Obama ended his
speech with a reference to one of the most famous phrases when Madiba was in
prison: “It matters not how
strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my
fate: I am the captain of my soul”.
Thank you Madiba, thank President Obama for
lucidly enhancing the most relevant
aspects of his legacy. On the occasion of this great speech, there have been totally irrelevant multiple
comments, for example related with
selfies made by the cheerful
and inappropriate Danish Prime Minister
... or the unbelievable performance
of a “fake” interpreter for the deaf who had jumped the line
skillfully discrediting security systems
... - and that there are still many, including the media who are supporters, those who prefer that their
lessons go unnoticed.
Mandela was "captain of his soul." Let’s hope his example help us to be captains of our own soul.
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