This morning (early evening in South Africa) Former U.S. President Barack Obama opened the 100th year celebration of Nelson Mandela’s birth with a powerful lecture on equality.
An estimated 14,000 people gathered in the cold at Cricket Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa to listen to him speak. “And millions of South Africans will be watching you today,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said to Obama.
Mandela is known for being “the epitome of civil action” after 27 years as a prisoner for attempting to end apartheid in Africa.
This year will be the 16th year South Africa gathers to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s legacy as their first black president and to honor him for his many years of activism. Mandela died in 2013 from a prolonged respiratory infection.
Here’s what you need to know about Obama’s speech:
1. Obama Says it Was Mandela Who Encouraged Him to Shift His Priorities as a College Student
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlVltlZBuBQ/?tagged=barackobama
Obama opened by mentioning it was Mandela, among a few others, who inspired him to change his mindset on leadership as a young adult.
In his early years of college, Obama submerged himself in books by African American writers like James Baldwin, W E B Du Bois and Malcolm X, “but it was the campaign for equality thousands of miles away in South Africa that first spurred Obama, then aged 19, into action,” The Guardian reported.
During his sophomore year at Occidental College in Los Angeles, a young Obama called other students into action, by saying, “there’s a struggle going on. It’s happening an ocean away, but it is a struggle that touches each and every one of us.”
Now, post-presidency, he reflects on Mandela’s wisdom, “He stepped away from power once he felt his job was complete.”
2. Obama Calls Out The World’s Elites
“The same couple dozen people control the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of humanity,” said Obama.
He continued by stating that “in every country, just about, the disproportionate economic club of those at the top has provided individuals with wildly disproportionate influence on their country’s political life and on its media; on what policies are pursued and whose interests end up being ignored.”
He reminded us that the powerful are still mostly white and male and that though more and more leaders are sincere about their philanthropy, their private lives remain insulated. “Some call Mandela their hero. Some even consider me as an honorary member of the club,” Obama said.
“I get invited to these fancy things. They’ll fly me out, but what’s nevertheless true is that their business dealings are detached from their lives that they have detached from their nation-state.”
“Shifting profits, shutting down factories, paying bribes and paying workers less are just rational responses,” he continued.
Obama went on to say that the challenges of globalization first came from the left but that then it was the billionaires on the right who forced populist movements “funded by reducing government restrains on their business interests.”
He reminded us that in the 2008 financial crisis, the reckless behaviour of financial elites resulted in years of hardship for most of the world. “The global economy has now returned to healthy growth…but politics of fear are beginning to appear.”
Obama went off script at one point: “there is only so much you can eat, only so many nice trips you can take. How about ‘let me look at that child out there who has nothing to eat or no shoes for his feet. Let me pay more in taxes. I can afford it.'”
“Ambition, impact and influence is saying ‘how can I give more and more and more to help more people instead of just myself.'”
3. Obama Tells Crowd to Look Around at The Strong Man Politics That Are Ascending
“Our elections are being undermined by those in power,” said Obama. “Everything that gives democracy meaning is being undermined.” He went on to proclaim that those in power are undermining our institutions and that centric to far-right parties in the West is protectionism and closed borders, but also “barely hidden racial nationalism.”
“The free press is under attack and censorship of the media is on the rise,” said Obama. He reminded us that social media, though a tool for solidarity, is now promoting more hatred and conspiracy theories.
“We now stand at a crossroad. There are two very different visions for humanity competing; two different narratives about who we are and how we should be.”
Obama probed the crowd with this question: “how do we respond?”
“I believe in Nelson Mandela’s vision. I believe in the vision shared by Gandhi and King and Abraham Lincoln. I believe in a vision of equality, justice and freedom and multi-racial democracy built on the premise that all people are created equal. With that vision we can achieve more peace and more cooperation,” said Obama. (This being the most viral quote from today’s speech.)
4. Obama Urges Us to “Fight Harder to Reduce Inequality And Promote Lasting Economic Opportunity For All People”
“Human beings don’t live on bread alone but they need bread,” said Obama. He went on to explain how societies that tolerate vast difference in wealth grow slowly and ultimately lead to massive unrest.
“When economic power is concentrated in the hands of a few, political power follows and eats at our democracy.” He then quoted Nelson Mandela directly by saying, “where globalization means that the rich now have new means to empower themselves at the cost of the poor and the weaker than we have the responsibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.”
5. Obama Says We Seem to Have Forgotten That “Each Individual Has Inherit Dignity And Worth”
“Some principals really are universal,” said Barack Obama, “this being the most import of them all.”
He went on to say that it’s been more than a quarter of a century since Mandela walked out of prison, yet we are still lecturing on how to treat each other with care and respect. “I thought we would have figured this out by now,” said Obama.
“There’s been a drift into reactionary politics. We have to be on the lookout and fight against people who seek to elevate themselves by putting others down.” Obama mentioned elections, specifically in Africa where leaders are imprisoning their opposition and receiving 90% of the vote.
“Government exists to serve the individual and not the other way around,” he said. “It is the only form of government that strengthens democracy.”
Obama encouraged us to focus more on grassroots movements.
“Power truly comes from the bottom up, if we realize it.”