The speech of Nelson Mandela of Barack Obama in its entirety

Barack Obama became his successor to the Donald Trump presidency in a series of veiled jibes during his most prominent speech since his departure.

The former US president was acclaimed by thousands of people in Johannesburg as he was delivering a speech on the occasion of Nelson Mandela's centennial anniversary, echoing the "strong men's policy" and urging respect for human rights.

million. Obama denounced Trump's policy without mentioning his name on Tuesday.

Read the full speech here:

"Thanks to Mama Graça Machel, members of the Machela family, the Machel family, President Ramaphosa, inspiring new hope in this great country – professor, doctor, distinguished guests, to Mama Sisulu and to the Sisulu family, to the people of South Africa – it 's a singular honor for me to be here with you all to celebrate the birth and the life of all. one of the true giants of history

Let me start with a correction and some confessions.The fix is ​​that I am a very good dancer.I just want to be clear about this.Michael is a little

Confessions First, I was not exactly invited to be here Graça Machel ordered me to be here

Confession number two: I have forgotten my geography and the fact that it is winter in South Africa.I have not brought any e coat and, this morning, I had to send someone to the mall because I wear long leggings. I was born in Hawaii.

Confession Number Three: When my staff told me that I had to give a lecture, I thought about the old teachers choked with bow ties and tweed, and I wondered if that was the case. was a sign of more. the stage of life where I come in, with gray hair and slightly fainting view.

I thought about the fact that my daughters think that all I tell them is a lecture. I was thinking about the American press and the frustration I experienced during my long lectures at press conferences, when my answers were not consistent with two-minute sentences

But given the strange and uncertain times in which we find ourselves … and they are strange, and they are uncertain – with the news cycles of each day bringing more head-spinning and worrisome headlines, I thought that it might be helpful to step back and try to get some perspective. you will allow me, in spite of the slight cold, while I spend much of this conference thinking about where we went, and how we arrived at the present moment, in the hope that it will offer us a road map for where we need to

A hundred years ago, Madiba was born in the village of M – oh, you see, I always get that – I must be right when I am in South Africa. Mvezo – I understood. Honestly, it's because it's so cold that I have glued lips.

Thus, in his autobiography, he describes a happy childhood; he takes care of the cattle, he plays with the other boys, he goes to a school where his teacher gives him the English name Nelson. And as many of you know, he is quoted as saying, "Why did she give me that particular name, I have no idea."

There was no reason to believe that a young black boy at that time could in any case alter the story. After all, South Africa was then less than a decade under British total control. Already, the laws were codified to implement racial segregation and subjugation, the network of laws that one would call apartheid.

Most of Africa, including my father's homeland, was under colonial rule. The dominant European powers, having put an end to a horrific world war just a few months after the birth of Madiba, considered this continent and its inhabitants mainly as a spoils in a fight for the territory and the abundance of natural resources and hand -d work cheap. And the inferiority of the black race, an indifference to the culture, interests and aspirations of the blacks, was acquired.

And such a vision of the world – that certain races, nations, and groups were intrinsically superior. coercion is the primary basis of governance, that the strong necessarily exploit the weak, that wealth is determined primarily by conquest – this world view was barely limited to relations between Europe and Africa or relations between whites and blacks. Whites were happy to exploit other whites whenever they could. And by the way, blacks were often willing to exploit other blacks.

And throughout the world, the majority of people lived at subsistence levels, with no say in the politics or economic forces that determined their lives. Often they were subject to the whims and cruelties of distant rulers. The average person did not see the possibility of advancing from the circumstances of their birth.

Women were almost uniformly subordinated to men. Privilege and status were rigidly linked by caste, color, ethnicity and religion.

And even in my country, even in democracies like the United States, based on the statement that all men are equal, racial segregation and systemic discrimination the law in almost half of the country and the norm in the rest of the country.

It was the world 100 years ago. There are people alive today who were alive in this world. It is therefore difficult to overestimate the remarkable transformations that have taken place since that time.

A second world war, even more terrible than the first, accompanied by a cascade of liberation movements from Africa to Asia, Latin America, the Middle East finally, put an end to colonial rule.

More and more peoples, witnesses of the horrors of totalitarianism, repeated mbadacres of the 20th century, began to embrace a new vision of humanity, a new idea, based not only on the principle of the 39, national self-determination, but also on the principles of democracy and the rule of law and civil rights and the inherent dignity of each individual.

In market economy countries, trade union movements suddenly develop; and health and safety and trade regulations have been instituted; and access to public education has been expanded; Social protection systems have emerged, with the aim of limiting the excesses of capitalism and enhancing its capacity to provide opportunities not only for some but for all.

The result was unparalleled economic growth and middle-clbad growth. And in my own country, the moral force of the civil rights movement has not only overturned Jim Crow's laws, but it has also opened the door for women and historically marginalized groups to reinvent themselves, to make their voices heard, to demand their rights. full citizenship.

It is serving this long march towards freedom and justice and equal opportunity that Nelson Mandela has dedicated his life to.

At first, his struggle was peculiar to this place, to his homeland – a fight to end apartheid. , a fight to ensure sustainable political, social and economic equality for its non-white citizens deprived of their rights.

But by his sacrifice and unshakeable conduct and, perhaps most importantly, by his moral example, Mandela and the movement he directed to signify something greater. He came to embody the universal aspirations of the dispossessed people all over the world, their hopes of a better life, the possibility of a moral transformation in the conduct of human affairs.

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Madiba's light shone so brightly, even from that narrow cell of Robben Island, that in the late 1970s it could inspire a young student on the other side of the world to reconsider its own priorities, could make me think about the small role that I could play in flexing the bow of the world towards justice.

And when later, as a law student, I saw Madiba emerge from prison a few months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, I felt the same wave of Hope that has pbaded through the hearts of the whole world.

Do you remember that feeling? It seemed that the forces of progress were moving, that they were inexorable. Every step that he has made, you have felt that it was the moment when the old structures of violence and repression and the old hatreds that had so long delayed people's lives confined the human spirit – everything that collapsed before our eyes.

Madiba guided this nation through meticulous negotiation, reconciliation, its first fair and free elections; As we all witnessed the grace and generosity with which he embraced the ancient enemies, the wisdom of moving away from power once he felt that his work was complete, we understood that we did not understand only the subjugated, the oppressed. to be freed from the chains of the past. The subjugator was offered a gift, giving him a chance to see in a new way, giving him a chance to participate in the building work of a better world.

And during the last decades of the 20th century, the progressive, democratic vision that Nelson Mandela represented in many ways defined the terms of international political debate.

This does not mean that vision has always been victorious, but it has defined terms, parameters; he guided our thinking about the meaning of progress, and he continued to move the world forward.

Yes, there were still tragedies – bloody civil wars from the Balkans in the Congo. Despite the fact that ethnic and sectarian struggles always broke out with a heartbreaking regularity, despite all this due to the continued nuclear relaxation, a peaceful and prosperous Japan, a unified Europe rooted in the world. NATO and the entry of China into the world trading system – all this significantly reduced the prospect of war between the world's great powers

From Europe to the Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, dictatorships have begun to make way for democracies.

Respect for human rights and the rule of law, enumerated in a United Nations declaration, became the guiding standard for the majority of nations, even in places where reality was far from the norm. # 39; ideal. . Even when these human rights were violated, those who violated human rights were on the defensive.

And with these geopolitical changes, there have been radical economic changes. The introduction of market-based principles, in which previously closed economies and the forces of global integration fueled by new technologies, have suddenly unleashed entrepreneurial talents to those who had been relegated to the periphery of the world. the global economy, which did not count. Suddenly, they counted. They had some power. they had the opportunity to do business.

Then came scientific breakthroughs and new infrastructures and the reduction of armed conflicts. And suddenly, one billion people have been lifted out of poverty, and once hungry nations have been able to feed themselves and infant mortality rates have fallen.

And meanwhile, the spread of the internet has allowed people to connect across the oceans. cultures and continents were instantly badembled, and potentially, all the knowledge of the world could be in the hands of a small child, even in the most remote village.

This is what happened in the course of a few decades. And all this progress is real. It was vast and deep, and everything happened in what – by the standards of human history – was nothing but a blink of an eye. ;eye.

And now a whole generation has grown up in a world that by most measures has become increasingly free and healthier, richer and less violent, and more tolerant throughout their lives.

This should make us optimistic. But while we can not deny the real progress our world has made since Madiba put an end to these measures, we must also recognize all the ways in which the international order has broken its promise.

it is partly because of the failures of governments and powerful elites to squarely address the flaws and contradictions of this international order that we now see a large part of the world threatening to return to an older way , more dangerous, more brutal

We must therefore begin by admitting that, whatever the laws that exist, whatever the beautiful statements that have been made in constitutions, what good words have been uttered in recent decades at international conferences or in United Nations halls. the previous structures of privilege and power and injustice and exploitation have never completely disappeared. They have never been completely dislodged.

Caste differences still have an impact on the life chances of the inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent. Ethnic and religious differences always determine who gets opportunities from Central Europe to the Gulf. It is an obvious fact that racial discrimination still exists in the United States and South Africa.

And it is also a fact that the accumulated disadvantages of the years of institutionalized oppression have created gaping disparities in income, wealth and poverty. education, health, personal security, access to credit.

Women and girls around the world continue to be stuck in positions of power and authority. They continue to be prevented from having a basic education. They are disproportionately victims of violence and abuse. They are always less paid than men to do the same job.

Economic opportunities, despite the magnificence of the global economy, all the skyscrapers that have transformed the landscape in the world, entire neighborhoods, entire cities, whole regions, entire nations have been bypbaded.