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Ex-US President Barack Obama is to deliver his highest speech since his departure, urging people around the world to respect human rights and other values at risk in a speech delivered at the Occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela.
Without speaking directly to his successor, President Donald Trump, Obama's speech in South Africa is expected to counter many of Trump's policies, rallying people to keep alive the ideas Mandela has worked for, including including democracy, diversity and good education for all.
About 14,000 people gathered at a cricket stadium in Johannesburg for the speech, which will be broadcast online. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mandela Graca Machel's widow presented Obama for the annual Nelson Mandela conference. "Just by standing on the stage in Nelson Mandela's honor, Obama delivers an eloquent reprimand to Trump," said John Stremlau, professor of international relations at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, who said Mandela's life is "under attack" in the United States and elsewhere.
"Yesterday we had Trump and Putin together, now we see the opposing team – Obama and Mandela."
This is Obama's first visit to Africa since he left office in early 2017. He stopped earlier this week in Kenya, where he visited the venue rural birth of his late father.
million. Obama's speech should highlight how the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, jailed for 27 years, continued his campaign against what appeared to be insurmountable obstacles to ending apartheid, the hard south system. -African white minority.
Mandela, who was released from prison in 1990 and became the first black president of South Africa four years later, pbaded away in 2013, leaving a powerful legacy of reconciliation and diversity as well 39, resistance to economic and other inequalities.
million. Obama avoided public comment on Mr Trump, whose administration overthrew or attacked the notable achievements of his predecessor. The United States under Trump withdrew from the 2015 Paris climate agreement and the Iranian nuclear deal by attempting to undermine the Affordable Care Act or "Obamacare".
Instead of commenting on politics, Obama's speech and admiration for Mandela, which the first black American president saw as a mentor.
When Mr. Obama was an American senator, he was photographed with Mandela. After Mr. Obama became president, he sent a copy of the photo to Mandela, who kept it in his office. Mr. Obama also made a point of visiting Mandela's cell and made a moving eulogy at Mandela's memorial service in 2013, claiming that the life of the South African leader had inspired him.
Many South Africans see Obama as a successor to Mandela because of his revolutionary role and support for racial equality in the United States and around the world.
Moses Moyo, a 32-year-old Uber driver, was among the thousands lining up for Obama's speech. "I think he'll talk about how Mandela changed the system here in South Africa, how he ended apartheid and gave hope to the poor and encouraged the Education, "he said. Many people in South Africa are discouraged by corruption, he added, as the ruling African National Congress struggles to maintain the legacy that Mandela and others have established.
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