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Two days after the huge popular jubilation triggered by the victory at the World Cup, let's not forget what really deserves to be celebrated. As the centenary of the "spiritual democrat" Nelson Mandela, and all that symbolizes – for today and tomorrow – the non-violent winner of state racism.
A billion humans have just experienced the final of the World Cup in Russia, and France a remarkable "consecration" sports. We can only rejoice in this rare moment of French popular jubilation and "communion" in the world. But on this day of celebration, let us not forget another opportunity to gather largely, universally: the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela, July 18, 1918. An anniversary of course celebrated primarily in South Africa, including the exceptional presence in Johannesburg of Barack Obama, whose speech last night was presented by his entourage as the most important since his departure from the White House.
And this is only the most notable of the events planned in different countries, in order to honor the memory of the major craftsman of the end of apartheid and the formal democratization of his homeland.
The opportunity to remember that the great man had begun to re-weld this one, then at the edge of the civil war, around the Rugby World Cup in 1995, as reported the famous movie Clint Eastwood "Invictus" (2009). The opportunity, last but not least, to recall what Mandela represented then and what it still represents: personal integrity, total commitment to the service of democratic promise, non-violent resolution of inevitable conflicts, the will of forgiveness and reconciliation, the quest for a less unequal and more fraternal world both nationally and internationally.
This centenary of "Madiba" also takes on a particular luster if we realize that 2018 marks also the 70 e anniversary of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi (30 January 1948) and the 50 e of the assassination of Martin Luther King (4 April 1968). Beyond a simple coincidence of timing, such concomitance invites us to realize how these three "giants" are connected by a common inspiration. By the same total dedication to the humanist ideals, inseparably democratic, ethical and spiritual, which made them heroes – more, icons -, for their respective communities as for the genre human being as a whole. Was Gandhi not a common cardinal reference to the two black leaders, Mandela having also modeled – after his release from prison – on the non-violent fight of Pastor King against racial segregation?
The French come from to share an intense moment of joy and pride, whose national, and therefore political significance, does not escape anyone. Especially given the diversity of origins of the Blues, which makes it a real "rainbow team" … But precisely, should not we wonder about the meaning and consequences of this event, and on what really deserves to be celebrated in common
Mandela, he was able to transcend the sporting victory of his national team, extending the embryo of unity by a unifying political work in the long term. With a real "rainbow nation" on the horizon …
Today, what to make of the success of the Blues? What values, and above all, which truly meaningful, identity and future projects should be promoted for our country, as for Europe and the planet, beyond the unanimous "fervor" of this lowest denominator? common embodied by football? Why is such an individual and collective energy mobilized for a ball game, and not for the real life challenges facing humanity?
In his Johannesburg address last night, Barack Obama delivered "a message of tolerance, inclusion and democracy at a time when Mandela's legacy is being questioned in the world," said his adviser Benjamin Rhodes at New York Times . Yes, at a time when the nationalisms and populisms more or less fundamentalist and identity are imposed everywhere – from Brexit England to League Italy, from Trump's America to Putin's Russia, from Erdogan's Turkey to Orban's Hungary, Moody's India to Xi Jinping's China, it is no longer indispensable and urgent to discover, deepen and especially implement the message of Mandela, Gandhi, Luther King and other "spiritual democrats" such as the Dalai Lama. To know how to work on oneself and all together to embody the humanistic, ethical and democratic transformation we want for our countries and for the Earth.
As these twentieth-century giants have shown, this is By daring to work on our own violence, forgive and seek reconciliation we will build a world of peace.
By correcting injustices from our selfish appetites for consumption and power, we will strive for a democratic and sustainable world of sharing and happy sobriety. It is in recognizing that our roots, cultures and religions all have the same generous and demanding call for genuine individual and collective self-fulfillment that we will transform our identity poisons into universal remedies.
Yes, there is only one the only force that can now save this world threatened by the unleashing of passions leading to ecological bankruptcy and the clash of ignorance, it is a practical and pluralistic wisdom of which these spiritual democrats have paved the way for us. So, please, as the Mandela Foundation from South Africa is hammering home on this anniversary day, "act, inspire change, make every day a Mandela Day"!
Albin Michel
Eric Vinson, Sophie Viguier-Vinson, "Mandela and Gandhi", Albin Michel (2018)
See also The HuffPost :
See also:
• BLOG – 3 big problems that the new president will have to solve for South Africa to get better
• Letter from Nelson Mandela to Winnie: "Do not forget that a saint is a sinner who seeks to improve."
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