19 July 2018 12:01 am
What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead– Nelson Mandela
The above quote was on the invitation that the South African mission here sent to media requesting them to join the centenary birth celebration of Nelson Mandela that was held yesterday at the Independence Square.
It was quite coincidental that the centenary observations in Sri Lanka coincided with the tour of the South African cricket team and their presence at the event no doubt added more colour to the occasion. Despite the rout at the First Test match with a record low, the South African team members had been seen cheerfully mingling with the gathering at the event to commemorate the leader for whom their country is best known.
The world still clearly recalls the presence of the Father of Reconciliation till a few years back with the world leaders scrambling to shake hands with him. As such to think that the day of his centenary birthday has dawned this soon is not an idea that every one of us can reconcile with. However it has come. Mandela lived a good 95 years to set one of the best examples of a human life in modern history and the world cannot thank enough for their good fortune of seeing a leader of his calibre in their life time.
In a world where political leaders clamber up shamelessly to seize power for power’s sake Mandela’s lone example has made him almost a political saint, a type of a leader some think the world may not see once again. Another may say that perhaps there would not be a need for a Mandela model again with the availability of enough and more laws against racial discrimination.
However signs are there that this may not to be the case.
The effects of climate change, growing food shortages and global economic instability are gradually making the people go back to their roots. The fight for limited resources has seen re-emergence xenophobia in the United States and Europe where the white supremacists are gaining ground once again deafening the moderate voice.
“The politics of fear and resentment and retrenchment began to appear. And that kind of politics is now on the move. It’s on the move at a pace that would have seemed unimaginable just a few years ago,” Barack Obama has said delivering the centenary oration of Nelson Mandela in South African capital Johannesburg.The first African-American president of the United States, whose election many of us thought heralded a new era in the story of the United States, certainly has reasons to worry. Donald Trump has turned the progress of the US, in terms of racial reconciliation, upside down. “I am not being alarmist. I’m simply stating the facts. Look around — strongman politics are ascendant, suddenly, whereby elections and some pretence of democracy are maintained, the form of it, where those in powers seek to undermine every institution or norm that gives democracy meaning” Obama said in a direct reference to President Donald Trump at the event which had an audience of nearly 15,000 people.
Reminding the composition of the FIFA champions, the multi-coloured French team, Obama said”Just look at the French football team. Not all of those folks looked like Gauls to me, but they are French - they are French.”Underscoring the point that a society where equality is ensured can draw talent and strength from all to make a better society he had declared that racism still exists in the United States as well as South Africa.
Surely it’s a “long walk” before we see the world that Nelson Mandela envisioned.