Obama takes aim at 'strongman politics' in Mandela address

Without ever mentioning President Donald Trump by name, former U.S. president Barack Obama on Tuesday took aim at "strongman politics" in his highest profile speech since leaving office, using an event honouring Nelson Mandela in South Africa to urge people to respect human rights and other values now under threat.

Obama's speech to a cheering crowd of thousands countered many of Trump's policies, rallying people around the world to keep alive the ideas that Mandela worked for including democracy, diversity and tolerance.

Obama was speaking at the 16th annual Nelson Mandela Lecture ahead of Mandela Day on Wednesday, the anniversary of his birth in 1918.

Obama opened by calling today's times "strange and uncertain." He said"each day's news cycle is bringing more head spinningand disturbing headlines." These days "we see much of the worldthreatening to return to a more dangerous, more brutalway of doingbusiness," he said.

Hetargeted politicians pushing "politics of fear, resentment,retrenchment," saying they are on the move "at a pace unimaginablejust a few years ago."

He attacked "strongman politics," saying"those in powerseek to undermine every institution ... that gives democracymeaning."

He spokefor equality in all forms, saying that "I would have thought we had figured that out by now," and warned that countries that engage in xenophobia "eventually ... find themselves consumed by civil war."

And he noted the "utter loss of shame among political leaders when they're caught in a lie and they just double down and lie some more," warning that the denial of facts such as that of climate change could be the undoing of democracy.

But he told the audience that "we've been through darkertimes. We've been through lower valleys," and he closed with a callto action: "I say if people can learn to hate, they can be taughtto love."

He received a standing ovation from thecrowd of about 14,000 gathered at a cricket stadium.

SouthAfrican President Cyril Ramaphosa andGraca Machel, widow of theanti-apartheid leader,introducedObama for thelecture.

'Eloquent rebuke'

"Just by standing on the stage honouring Nelson Mandela, Obamais delivering an eloquent rebuke to Trump," said John Stremlau, professor of international relations at Witwatersrand University inJohannesburg, who called the timing auspicious as the commitmentsthat defined the life of Mandela affectionately called Madiba by South Africans are "under assault" in the U.S. andelsewhere.

"Yesterday we had Trump and [Russian President] Putin standing together. Now we areseeing the opposing team: Obama and Mandela,"Stremlausaid.

This is Obama's first visit to Africa since leaving office inearly 2017. He stopped earlier this week in Kenya, where he visitedthe rural birthplace of his late father.

Obama's speech highlighted how Nobel Peace Prizewinner Mandela, who was imprisoned for 27 years, kept up his campaignagainst what appeared to be insurmountable odds to end apartheid,South Africa's harsh system of white minority rule.

Mandela, who was released from prison in 1990 and became SouthAfrica's first black president four years later, died in 2013,leaving a powerful legacy of reconciliation and diversity along witha resistance to inequality, economic and otherwise.

Groundbreaking role

Obama has shied away from public comment on Trump, whose administration has reversed or attacked what he would consider notable achievements of his presidency. The U.S. under Trump has withdrawn from the 2015 Parisclimate agreement and the Iran nuclear deal while trying to undercutthe Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare."

Instead of commenting on politics, Obama's speech was drawing onbroader themes and his admiration for Mandela, whom America's firstblack president saw as a mentor.

When Obama was a U.S. senator, he had his picture taken with Mandela. After Obama became president, he sent a copy of the photo to Mandela, who kept it in his office. Obama also made a point ofvisiting Mandela's prison cell, and gave a moving eulogy at Mandela'smemorial service in 2013, saying the South African leader's life hadinspired him.

Many South Africans view Obama as a successor to Mandela becauseof his groundbreaking role and his support for racial equality inthe U.S. and around the world.