[ad_1]
By John J Stremlau, University of the Witwatersrand
Former US President Barack Obama will be aiming high with his annual Nelson Mandela lecture at Johanesburg on July 17. According to his close adviser and former speechwriter Benjamin J. Rhodes, Obama sees this as the most important speech he has delivered since leaving the White House, a speech that will set the tone for his post-presidency.
Ambitious speech, activist and forward-looking than his eloquent remarks at the Mandela Memorial, in December 2013. It's because so much has changed politically for five years. The world is in a much more precarious situation.
Authoritative world indices describe the dangerous trends of democratic decline. The principles of tolerance, inclusiveness and the rule of law, the permanent commitments that define Mandela's life, are being attacked in other countries, from South Africa to the United States to Poland.
And, as Rhodes notes:
tribalism in the world.
So it's a good time for Obama to talk about the lessons of Mandela's life and leadership. The centenary of Mandela's birth gives an opportunity for someone from Obama to raise awareness of Mandela's enduring relevance in the endless struggle to support democracies.
Building on Mandela's legacy, Obama can help the world better understand the nature of threats. all democratic experiences. This includes the correction and prevention of corruption and abuse of power.
A new book on state capture, published by the Johannesburg Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa, provides ample evidence of threats to countries. It includes country studies from South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Madagascar, as well as chapters on state capture in post-communist European countries and the United States.
The diversity of case studies reveals a common danger. private gain. Dictators can do it at will. Those who are democratically elected face obstacles. They must overturn democratic norms and oust state institutions while obscuring their real goals, often exploiting populist fears and resentments.
Mandela, who survived apartheid to create a legitimate constitutional democracy where no one is above the law. the rights consecrated for all, embodies the values that are the only reliable protections against the subversion of the democratic project by the capture of the state.
Endangered Democracies
Justice Albie Sachs, One of the First Constitutional Judges of the Country, Comments on the Pre-Book:
The South African Constitution Was Not Just about Perfection . It forced us to protect ourselves against corruption. We had to guard against ourselves.
As a democracy in transition, South Africa has proved vulnerable to "state capture". But a more powerful combination of a free press and constitutionally constituted independent institutions, including the Office of the Prosecutor and the Independent Electoral Commission, has actually been recognized by the Constitutional Court. The ability of election commissions to guarantee free and fair elections in which the party in power could lose its majority, unless corruption can be credibly reduced, may have been the tipping point
that threatens transitions and consolidation in many post-colonial states. The Zimbabwean Electoral Commission violated the law and the electoral process with the protection provided by the courts and the security sector, which had been corrupted and captured by the long-standing oligarchy.
But no democracy is safe, even the United States. This case study provides historical and current examples of how masked oligarchs as patriots and democrats can exploit the fears and resentments of major constituencies to win elections, disarm democratic protections and divert public resources to the privileged
Melanie Meirotti and Grant Masterson, "State Capture in Africa," ask if the concept of state capture as it has been known in South Africa, the United States, and in post-communist countries is also useful in the modern African context. They conclude that it is. But sustainable democracy requires constant efforts. The book ends with the timeless advice of Abraham Lincoln to Americans:
You have a democracy, if you can defend it.
Mandela's service to South Africa illustrates the same spirit. And I will be surprised if this idea is not at the heart of Obama's speech Tuesday
New generation of leaders
Obama will seize the opportunity to motivate a new generation of political leaders. Its main audience will be young people. As the author notes:
Our unifying theory is that the best way to promote inclusive and democratic societies is to empower young people in civil society.
The Obama Foundation will convene 200 young African leaders in Johannesburg the week before. at Obama's address to study and debate the attributes of Mandela's legacy and leadership. Chosen from 10,000 applicants, they represent a vital regional element in the more general purpose of the foundation to help develop future leaders among millennials – those aged 24 to 40 years old. They must be ready to support democracies in the midst of the growing unrest created by uncontrolled migration, epidemics, famine, state failures and climate change.
One of the attributes of Mandela Obama's leadership in 2013 will be worth repeating:
sharing with us his doubts and fears; his miscalculations with his victories. "I'm not a saint," he said, "unless you think of a saint as a sinner who continues to try." And that's why we learned so much from him, and why we can still learn from him.
Recipe for Resilience
Obama emphasized in his commemorative remarks of 2013:
Mandela taught us the power of action, but he also taught us the power of ideas; the importance of reason and arguments; the need to study not only those with whom you agree, but also those with whom you do not agree … Mandela [also] has demonstrated that the action and ideas were not enough. No matter how good, they must be chiseled into law and institutions. He was practical, testing his beliefs against the hard surface of circumstances and history.
We can expect Obama to come up with practical ways to do this and support our democracies, baduring that Mandela will inspire Democrats of all ages. var FBIsLoaded = false;
window .__ FBAppId = & # 39; 100369188719 & quot ;;
// Load the SDK asynchronously
(function (d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName (s) [0];
if (d.getElementById (id)) returns;
js = d.createElement (s); js.id = id;
js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js";
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore (js, fjs);
} (document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));
[ad_2]
Source link
