Obama warns of 'strange and uncertain times' in Mandela tribute

Yahoo – AFP, Michelle GUMEDE, July 17, 2018

Changing times: Obama warned of the "politics of fear and resentment" in the annual
Nelson Mandela lecture in Johannesburg (AFP Photo/GIANLUIGI GUERCIA)

Johannesburg (AFP) - Former US president Barack Obama on Tuesday used a tribute to Nelson Mandela to warn that the world had plunged into "strange and uncertain times", in what is likely to be seen as a veiled attack on Donald Trump.

Obama made no direct reference to his successor but warned that "politics of fear and resentment" were spreading, driven by leaders who scorned facts and told lies with an "utter loss of shame."

He also blasted climate-change denial, race-based migration policies, unbridled capitalism and "strongman politics" -- stances often cited as the hallmarks of Trump's controversial presidency.

"Given the strange and uncertain times we are in, each day's news cycles brings more head-spinning and disturbing headlines, I thought maybe it would be useful to step back for a moment and get some perspective," Obama said at the start of his speech.

Obama spoke to a crowd of more than 10,000 people at a cricket stadium in Johannesburg in the centrepiece event of celebrations 100 years since Nelson Mandela's birth.

"It is in part because of the failures of governments and powerful elites… that we now see much of the world threatening to return to an older, more dangerous, more brutal way of doing business," Obama said.

On migration, he appeared to take a sharp jab at Trump saying "it is not wrong to insist that national borders matter... but that can't be an excuse for immigration policies based on race or ethnicity or religion."

Banners depicting former US president Barack Obama, right, and other speakers 

who have given the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture (AFP Photo/MARCO LONGARI)

On climate change, he attacked the entrenched scepticism shown by Trump and others American conservatives in the face of scientific evidence.

"You have to believe in facts, without facts there is no basis for cooperation," he said.

"I can't find common ground if someone says climate change is just not happening when almost all the world's scientists tell us it is.

"If you start (by) saying it is an elaborate hoax... where do we start?

And he drew laughter from the crowd with the line: "Politics today seems to reject the very concept of objective truth -- people just make stuff up.

"We see the utter loss of shame among political leaders who are caught in a lie and they just double down and lie some more," he added.

Mandela's birthday

Tuesday's speech came on the eve of "Mandela Day" -- his birthday, which is marked around the world every year on July 18.

Obama has made relatively few public appearances since leaving the White House in 2017, but he has often credited Mandela for being one of the great inspirations in his life.

Mandela, who died in 2013, remains a global icon for his long struggle against white-minority apartheid rule and for his message of peace and reconciliation after being freed following 27 years in prison.

Obama met Mandela only briefly in 2005 but gave a eulogy at his funeral saying Mandela "makes me want to be a better man" and hailing him as "the last great liberator of the 20th century".

Key dates in the life of Nelson Mandela (AFP Photo/Gal ROMA)

Both men were the first black presidents of their countries.

African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mandela's widow Graca Machel were among the guests from Obama's speech -- his highest-profile address since leaving office.

"We need more hope because we are living in difficult times," Nomsa Nkosi, 45, a blind woman in the audience, told AFP.

"Mandela was one of a kind and we need the youngsters to come and see what is meant by motivation."

Before arriving in South Africa, Obama paid a brief visit to Kenya, his father's home country.

Obama will also host a town hall event in Johannesburg on Wednesday for 200 young leaders selected from across Africa to attend a five-day training programme.

Mandela was imprisoned under apartheid rule in 1962 and only freed in 1990, when he went on to lead the African National Congress party to victory in the first multi-race elections in 1994.

Palestinians unveil gift of giant Mandela statue

Yahoo – AFP, April 26, 2016

Palestinian and South African officials pose in front of a giant statue of Nelson
Mandela during its inauguration ceremony in the West Bank city of Ramallah
on April 26, 2016 (AFP Photo/Abbas Momani)

Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinians on Tuesday inaugurated a giant statue of Nelson Mandela donated by the South African city of Johannesburg to their political capital in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The six-metre (20-foot) two-tonne bronze statue was a gift from Johannesburg with which Ramallah is twinned.

Late South African president Nelson Mandela 

opens debate on the Truth And Reconciliation 

Commission (TRC) report in Parliament in Cape 

Town in February, 1999 (AFP Photo/Anna Zieminski)

"I think that Nelson Mandela himself would have been extremely proud of what has been done today," Parks Tau, the mayor of the South African city, told AFP.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas also attended the ceremony at the renamed Nelson Mandela Square in the Al-Tireh district.

Mandela, who died in 2013, was South Africa's first president after the era of apartheid, a regime of segregation that the Palestinians accuse Israel of also imposing.

He was an ardent supporter of the Palestinian cause and a champion for Middle East peace.

Ramallah several days ago installed huge posters celebrating the South African leader bearing his comment: "We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians".

Ramallah mayor Mussa Hadid said the statue "symbolises the shared suffering" of the South African and Palestinian peoples.

During its journey to the pedestal in the West Bank, the statue was retained by Israeli customs for 30 days, as the Palestinian Authority does not control its own borders.

"Nelson Mandela, who had already spent 28 years in the jails of the apartheid regime in South Africa, was again detained for 30 days by the Israeli authorities," Hadid said.

Tau said Israeli customs had sought duty "equivalent to 10 times the price of the statue", but that this was not paid.

Hadid said the statue sent "a clear message to the Israeli coloniser and occupier -- that we are closer to freedom than you think".

Palestinians unveil gift of giant Mandela statue https://t.co/mmWX3wamJV pic.twitter.com/O7Pql128sw

— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 27, 2016

My plea to the people of Israel: Liberate yourselves by liberating Palestine

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, in an exclusive article for Haaretz, calls for a global boycott of Israel and urges Israelis and Palestinians to look beyond their leaders for a sustainable solution to the crisis in the Holy Land.

Haaretz, By Desmond Tutu, Aug. 14, 2014

A child next to a picture of Nelson Mandela at a pro-Palestinian rally
in Cape Town. August 9, 2014 Photo by AP

The past weeks have witnessed unprecedented action by members of civil society across the world against the injustice of Israel’s disproportionately brutal response to the firing of missiles from Palestine.

If you add together all the people who gathered over the past weekend to demand justice in Israel and Palestine – in Cape Town, Washington, D.C., New York, New Delhi, London, Dublin and Sydney, and all the other cities – this was arguably the largest active outcry by citizens around a single cause ever in the history of the world.

A quarter of a century ago, I participated in some well-attended demonstrations against apartheid. I never imagined we’d see demonstrations of that size again, but last Saturday’s turnout in Cape Town was as big if not bigger. Participants included young and old, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, agnostics, atheists, blacks, whites, reds and greens ... as one would expect from a vibrant, tolerant, multicultural nation.

I asked the crowd to chant with me: “We are opposed to the injustice of the illegal occupation of Palestine. We are opposed to the indiscriminate killing in Gaza. We are opposed to the indignity meted out to Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks. We are opposed to violence perpetrated by all parties. But we are not opposed to Jews.”

Earlier in the week, I called for the suspension of Israel from the International Union of Architects, which was meeting in South Africa.

I appealed to Israeli sisters and brothers present at the conference to actively disassociate themselves and their profession from the design and construction of infrastructure related to perpetuating injustice, including the separation barrier, the security terminals and checkpoints, and the settlements built on occupied Palestinian land.

“I implore you to take this message home: Please turn the tide against violence and hatred by joining the nonviolent movement for justice for all people of the region,” I said.

Over the past few weeks, more than 1.6 million people across the world have signed onto this movement by joining an Avaaz campaign calling on corporations profiting from the Israeli occupation and/or implicated in the abuse and repression of Palestinians to pull out. The campaign specifically targets Dutch pension fund ABP; Barclays Bank; security systems supplier G4S; French transport company Veolia; computer company Hewlett-Packard; and bulldozer supplier Caterpillar.

Last month, 17 EU governments urged their citizens to avoid doing business in or investing in illegal Israeli settlements.

We have also recently witnessed the withdrawal by Dutch pension fund PGGM of tens of millions of euros from Israeli banks; the divestment from G4S by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and the U.S. Presbyterian Church divested an estimated $21 million from HP, Motorola Solutions and Caterpillar.

It is a movement that is gathering pace.

Violence begets violence and hatred, that only begets more violence and hatred.

We South Africans know about violence and hatred. We understand the pain of being the polecat of the world; when it seems nobody understands or is even willing to listen to our perspective. It is where we come from.

We also know the benefits that dialogue between our leaders eventually brought us; when organizations labeled “terrorist” were unbanned and their leaders, including Nelson Mandela, were released from imprisonment, banishment and exile.

We know that when our leaders began to speak to each other, the rationale for the violence that had wracked our society dissipated and disappeared. Acts of terrorism perpetrated after the talks began – such as attacks on a church and a pub – were almost universally condemned, and the party held responsible snubbed at the ballot box.

The exhilaration that followed our voting together for the first time was not the preserve of black South Africans alone. The real triumph of our peaceful settlement was that all felt included. And later, when we unveiled a constitution so tolerant, compassionate and inclusive that it would make God proud, we all felt liberated.

Of course, it helped that we had a cadre of extraordinary leaders.

But what ultimately forced these leaders together around the negotiating table was the cocktail of persuasive, nonviolent tools that had been developed to isolate South Africa, economically, academically, culturally and psychologically.

At a certain point – the tipping point – the then-government realized that the cost of attempting to preserve apartheid outweighed the benefits.

The withdrawal of trade with South Africa by multinational corporations with a conscience in the 1980s was ultimately one of the key levers that brought the apartheid state – bloodlessly – to its knees. Those corporations understood that by contributing to South Africa’s economy, they were contributing to the retention of an unjust status quo.

Those who continue to do business with Israel, who contribute to a sense of “normalcy” in Israeli society, are doing the people of Israel and Palestine a disservice. They are contributing to the perpetuation of a profoundly unjust status quo.

Those who contribute to Israel’s temporary isolation are saying that Israelis and Palestinians are equally entitled to dignity and peace.

Ultimately, events in Gaza over the past month or so are going to test who believes in the worth of human beings.

It is becoming more and more clear that politicians and diplomats are failing to come up with answers, and that responsibility for brokering a sustainable solution to the crisis in the Holy Land rests with civil society and the people of Israel and Palestine themselves.

Besides the recent devastation of Gaza, decent human beings everywhere – including many in Israel – are profoundly disturbed by the daily violations of human dignity and freedom of movement Palestinians are subjected to at checkpoints and roadblocks. And Israel’s policies of illegal occupation and the construction of buffer-zone settlements on occupied land compound the difficulty of achieving an agreementsettlement in the future that is acceptable for all.

The State of Israel is behaving as if there is no tomorrow. Its people will not live the peaceful and secure lives they crave – and are entitled to – as long as their leaders perpetuate conditions that sustain the conflict.

I have condemned those in Palestine responsible for firing missiles and rockets at Israel. They are fanning the flames of hatred. I am opposed to all manifestations of violence.

But we must be very clear that the people of Palestine have every right to struggle for their dignity and freedom. It is a struggle that has the support of many around the world.

No human-made problems are intractable when humans put their heads together with the earnest desire to overcome them. No peace is impossible when people are determined to achieve it.

Peace requires the people of Israel and Palestine to recognize the human being in themselves and each other; to understand their interdependence.

Missiles, bombs and crude invective are not part of the solution. There is no military solution.

The solution is more likely to come from that nonviolent toolbox we developed in South Africa in the 1980s, to persuade the government of the necessity of altering its policies.

The reason these tools – boycott, sanctions and divestment – ultimately proved effective was because they had a critical mass of support, both inside and outside the country. The kind of support we have witnessed across the world in recent weeks, in respect of Palestine.

My plea to the people of Israel is to see beyond the moment, to see beyond the anger at feeling perpetually under siege, to see a world in which Israel and Palestine can coexist – a world in which mutual dignity and respect reign.

It requires a mind-set shift. A mind-set shift that recognizes that attempting to perpetuate the current status quo is to damn future generations to violence and insecurity. A mind-set shift that stops regarding legitimate criticism of a state’s policies as an attack on Judaism. A mind-set shift that begins at home and ripples out across communities and nations and regions – to the Diaspora scattered across the world we share. The only world we share.

People united in pursuit of a righteous cause are unstoppable. God does not interfere in the affairs of people, hoping we will grow and learn through resolving our difficulties and differences ourselves. But God is not asleep. The Jewish scriptures tell us that God is biased on the side of the weak, the dispossessed, the widow, the orphan, the alien who set slaves free on an exodus to a Promised Land. It was the prophet Amos who said we should let righteousness flow like a river.

Goodness prevails in the end. The pursuit of freedom for the people of Palestine from humiliation and persecution by the policies of Israel is a righteous cause. It is a cause that the people of Israel should support.

Nelson Mandela famously said that South Africans would not feel free until Palestinians were free.

He might have added that the liberation of Palestine will liberate Israel, too.

Related Article:

"The Evolution of Belief" - July 26, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (>26 Min - reference to the current conflicts in the Middle East)

Desmond Tutu plea for 'assisted dying' before historic Lords debate

Archbishop calls for 'mind shift' on right to die and condemns as 'disgraceful' the treatment of the dying Nelson Mandela

The Guardian, The Observer, David Smith and Daniel Boffey, Saturday 12 July 2014

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was speaking ahead of a debate in the House on Lords
on Lord Falconer's assisted dying bill. Photograph: News Pictures/Rex Features

Desmond Tutu, one of the world's most eminent religious leaders, has made an extraordinary intervention in the debate over assisted death, by backing the right of the terminally ill to end their lives in dignity.

Writing in the Observer, the 82-year-old retired Anglican archbishop, revered as the "moral conscience" of South Africa, says that laws that prevent people being helped to end their lives are an affront to those affected and their families.

He also condemns as "disgraceful" the treatment of his old friend Nelson Mandela, who was kept alive through numerous painful hospitalisations and forced to endure a photo stunt with politicians shortly before his death at 95.

Tutu, who calls for a "mind shift" in the right to die debate, writes: "I have been fortunate to spend my life working for dignity for the living. Now I wish to apply my mind to the issue of dignity for the dying. I revere the sanctity of life – but not at any cost."

Tutu's intervention comes at the start of a momentous week in the assisted dying debate. On Friday, the House of Lords will witness one of the most significant moments in its recent history when peers debate an assisted dying bill proposed by the former lord chancellor, Lord Falconer. A record number of peers – 110 so far – have registered to speak.

On Saturday the former archbishop of Canterbury Lord (George) Carey spoke out in favour of the bill. But in an article in the Times, Justin Welby, the current archbishop and head of the Church of England, reaffirmed the church's traditional hostility to any move that would endanger the principle of the sanctity of life. In a sign of the debate that has now been unleashed within the Anglican communion, the bishop of Carlisle, the Right Rev James Newcome, called for a royal commission to examine the "important issue" at length.

Falconer's proposed legislation would make it legal for a doctor to hand over a lethal medication to a terminally ill patient who is believed to have less than six months to live.

Tutu notes that Falconer's bill will be debated on Mandela Day, which would have been the 96th birthday of South Africa's first black president. He calls for his own country to follow Britain's lead in examining a change in the law.

"On Mandela Day we will be thinking of a great man," he writes. "On the same day, on 18 July 2014 in London, the House of Lords will be holding a second hearing on Lord Falconer's bill on assisted dying. Oregon, Washington, Quebec, Holland, Switzerland have already taken this step. South Africa has a hard-won constitution that we are proud of that should provide a basis to guide changes to be made on the legal status of end-of-life wishes to support the dignity of the dying."

Speaking to the Observer, Falconer, who said he was now confident that his bill would live on in parliament beyond Friday's debate, claimed that the intervention by Tutu illustrated that religious faith should be no obstacle to supporting a change in the law. He said: "I am really glad that someone of his stature is taking part in this important debate. It is a debate in which countries look to other countries for guidance. For someone of Archbishop Tutu's stature, understanding and human experience to speak out is really welcome. He is an Anglican bishop who has shown his moral strength to the world better than anybody. I very much hope that it will indicate that religion is not a bar to supporting this bill."

A London rabbi, Jonathan Romain, speaking on behalf of 60 religious leaders in support of the Falconer proposals, said he believed that backing the bill was the "religious response" to a situation where medical progress allowed people to live on in a physical and mental state that many felt was intolerable. He said: "I see no sanctity in suffering, nothing holy about agony."

Jane Nicklinson, widow of the campaigner Tony Nicklinson, a sufferer of locked-in syndrome who fought for the right to be helped to die in the UK, said she believed public opinion was now in favour of change, adding: "I hope that it is true among those that matter – the decision-makers."

Falconer's proposals are being fiercely opposed by key figures such as Welby, and campaigners for the rights of disabled people. Richard Hawkes, chief executive of the disability charity Scope, said he feared the bill would put some people under pressure to end their lives. He said: "Why is it that when people who are not disabled want to commit suicide, we try to talk them out of it, but when a disabled person wants to commit suicide, we focus on how we can make that possible?"

However, in his article for the Observer, Tutu says that he has been moved by the case of a 28-year-old South African, Craig Schonegevel, who suffered from neurofibromatosis and felt forced to end his life by swallowing 12 sleeping pills and tying two plastic bags around his head with elastic bands because doctors could not help him.

Tutu writes: "Some say that palliative care, including the giving of sedation to ensure freedom from pain, should be enough for the journeying towards an easeful death. Some people opine that with good palliative care there is no need for assisted dying, no need for people to request to be legally given a lethal dose of medication. That was not the case for Craig Schonegevel. Others assert their right to autonomy and consciousness – why exit in the fog of sedation when there's the alternative of being alert and truly present with loved ones?"

He also discloses that he has now had a conversation with his family about his own death. "I have come to realise that I do not want my life to be prolonged artificially," he writes. "I think when you need machines to help you breathe then you have to ask questions about the quality of life being experienced and about the way money is being spent. This may be hard for some people to consider.

"But why is a life that is ending being prolonged? Why is money being spent in this way? It could be better spent on a mother giving birth to a baby, or an organ transplant needed by a young person. Money should be spent on those that are at the beginning or in full flow of their life. Of course, these are my personal opinions and not of my church."

There was bitter controversy in South Africa in April last year when President Jacob Zuma and other African National Congress politicians visited Mandela at his home with a TV crew. The statesman looked weak, rheumy-eyed and uncomprehending. Mandela's family and personal assistant condemned the publicity stunt as exploitative and in poor taste. Tutu echoes that view. "What was done to Madiba was disgraceful," he writes. "There was that occasion when Madiba was televised with political leaders, President Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa. You could see that Madiba was not fully there. He did not speak. He was not connecting. My friend was no longer himself. It was an affront to Madiba's dignity."

"People should die a decent death," he continues. "For me that means having had the conversations with those I have crossed with in life and being at peace. It means being able to say goodbye to loved ones – if possible, at home."

He adds: "I can see I would probably incline towards the quality of life argument, whereas others will be more comfortable with palliative care. Yes, I think a lot of people would be upset if I said I wanted assisted dying. I would say I wouldn't mind, actually."

Tutu, who chaired South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and admitted he was "angry with God" during apartheid, has never been afraid to take unpopular positions or stir debate. Mandela once said of him: "Sometimes strident, often tender, never afraid and seldom without humour, Desmond Tutu's voice will always be the voice of the voiceless."

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Belgian law on euthanasia for children, with no age limit, will be first in world

Europe split on right-to-die regulations

French panel recommends legalising assisted suicide

Euthanasia declaration should be renewed regularly
Nine myths about euthanasia in the Netherlands


 "Current" Events –  Apr 10, 2005 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"... The Ethics of Life

You, as a Human Being, are designed to appreciate and love life. But you put it in a box. You think you live once. You say, life is precious; make it count; keep it going at all costs; make it work. And the underlying thought is that because you only go around one time, all the purpose is wrapped up in one lifetime. Well, I'm going to give you something to think about, something that happened just recently that tens of millions of people all over earth who have the western news media know of.

It was all about one woman's life, and you know who I'm talking about. I'm talking about Terri [Terri Schiavo]. And I'm going to talk about Terri because, you know, she's here [speaking of the real Terri]! And I'm going to give you a perspective about Terri that perhaps you hadn't thought about before, and as I do it, she's going to watch.

It's very metaphysical, you know? This perspective is one from my side of the veil. Terri leaned into the wind of birth many years ago, just as you did. I was there, too. There were potentials laying in front of her - a track that she could take if she wished. There was no predestination, only predispositions of energy that laid before her: the parents she would have (which she had selected), the man she might meet or marry, the accident waiting to happen. All of these things were in her "potential track," and she could have chosen not to go there.

But like so many of you, she looked at it and examined it. These were the times we spoke to her and said, "Dear one, you're going into another Human lifetime that has a potential that's awesome - grander than most Humans on the planet will ever experience. You'll get to present something to tens of millions of people. You'll make them think about life. You'll change the legal system of your country. You'll awaken peoples' awareness to situations that need to be addressed with respect to morality, integrity, and even intuition. Will you do it?"

And I remember what she said. The grand angel who stood before me, who you now call Terri, smiled broadly and said, "I'm ready for that." And some of you cry in your sorrow and say "Why is this Human dead? How could such a thing be tolerated? Why would such a thing happen? Life is so precious." And I ask you this, as Terri looks on in her joy, would you take this away from her? Would you take that away from humanity, what she showed and did that resulted directly in her passing?

Start thinking of these things, perhaps differently. We've told you before that there are even those Human Beings who come in with a predisposition of suicide! What a horrible thought, you might say. "Kryon, could that even be appropriate?" And we say this: More than appropriate, it's by design! "But why should that be?" You might say. "What a horrible dishonorable death." And if that's your reaction, you're placing the whole grand picture in your own little Human box.

When you start examining it spiritually, without Human bias, you start to see that around a suicide there's this energy that develops. It's all about the family. Is there shame? Is there drama? Does it kick the family in the pants so that perhaps they might study things they never did - or perhaps they might they even look within themselves for spirituality? Blessed is the one that comes in with these tasks [like suicide]. There are so many of them who do. For these are the grease of personal change within families, and provide a gift that is grand!

You see, Spirit looks at these things differently. The curtain goes up, it goes down. You come and you go and there are profound lessons, some of which are taught harshly, by those who teach them through their own deaths.

"Well, what is it Kryon? Don't dodge the question with a diversion to suicide, for this isn't what Terri did. Is it proper or is it improper to have somebody in this vegetative state put to death by others around her?" Our answer: Exactly which Human are you talking about? You want a blanket answer, don't you? For six and half billion souls and paths, you want one answer for all. Well, you won't get one. For Terri, the answer is a solid yes. It was as it should have been. She came in with this grand opportunity to change the world, and she did it while everyone watched.

There is appropriateness in all things and sometimes you create for yourselves what seems to be inappropriate. Yet later you understand what the gift was within the challenge. Celebrate Terri, and don't think of this as a shameful thing that Humans did to her. Think of it instead as a book that was written for you to look at, one which pushes you to a place to ask, "What should we do about this now, personally? What should our legislatures do about this, if anything? How can we approach these things more humanely and with more honor? Is our culture addressing this issue? Are we addressing this issue personally?" Let's put these questions where they belong. It's not about "right to life"; it's about the appropriateness of "this life." Each case is individual, and some are profoundly given for the planet and for those around the individual.

Oh, as all of you came into this planet and leaned into the wind of birth separately, each was unique. Each of you has a different story, a different goal, but all have the same purpose: the elevation of the vibration of the planet. Sometimes it happens to many of you at the same time. We'll get to that before we finish. ..."

"THE THREE WINDS" – Feb 23-24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Humanity, Home - other side of the veil, Wind of Birth - Birth, Wind of Existence - Life, Wind of Transition - Death) - (Text version)

Desmond Tutu warns of 'Nazi' parallel to Uganda anti-gay law

Google – AFP, 24 February 2014

A picture dated August 17, 2012 shows a billboard for a play examining the

subject of homosexuality, in Kampala, Uganda (AFP/File, Kasamani Isaac)

Cape Town — South African peace icon Desmond Tutu warned on Sunday that Uganda's controversial anti-gay law recalled sinister attempts by the Nazi and apartheid regimes to "legislate against love".

The Anglican cleric said he was "very disheartened" to learn that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni intended to sign a bill that will see homosexuals jailed for life, urging him instead to clamp down on rape, child abuse and the sex trade.

"In South Africa, apartheid police used to rush into bedrooms where whites were suspected of making love to blacks," Tutu said in a statement. "It was demeaning to those whose 'crime' was to love each other, it was demeaning to the policemen ? and it was a blot on our entire society."

Tutu dismissed the arguments of Museveni's science advisors who concluded that homosexuality was a learned, rather than genetically-determined behaviour -- and therefore could be "unlearned".

"The history of people is littered with attempts to legislate against love or marriage across class, caste and race," Tutu argued.

"But there is no scientific basis or genetic rationale for love... There is no scientific justification for prejudice and discrimination, ever. And nor is there any moral justification.

"Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa, among others, attest to these facts."

Uganda's anti-gay bill cruised through parliament in December after its architects agreed to drop an extremely controversial death penalty clause, although the bill still says repeat homosexuals should be jailed for life, and also outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and requires people to denounce gays.

Museveni rallied behind the bill this month despite earlier opposing it.

"My plea to President Museveni is to use his country's debate around the Anti-Homosexuality Bill as a catalyst to further strengthen the culture of human rights and justice in Uganda," Tutu said.

He argued that Uganda should step up criminal sanctions against child sexual abusers, rape, sexual violence and commercial sex, "regardless of gender or sexual orientation".

"Tightening such areas of the law would surely provide children and families far more protection than criminalising acts of love between consenting adults."

Annan launches Elders mission to Iran

Google – AFP, 26 (AFP), 26 January 2014

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan gives a press conference in

Abidjan on October 10, 2013 (AFP/File, Sia Kambou)

Tehran — Former UN chief Kofi Annan, head of a group of ex-global leaders known as the Elders, Sunday started a visit aimed at boosting dialogue between Iran and the international community, media reported.

Annan is accompanied by Martti Ahtisaari, a former president of Finland, South Africa's Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu and Mexican ex-president Ernesto Zedillo.

The group, formed in 2007, is made up of 12 global leaders who try "to promote peace, justice and human rights," according to its website.

It said the group will hold private meetings with Iranian officials but did not give further details.

Iranian media reported they would start the three-day trip by visiting the mausoleum of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic republic.

The group sees "recent positive developments as a historic and strategic opportunity to end decades of animosity between Iran and the international community," the website said in statement on Saturday.

But it added "trust will only be built slowly, through continued goodwill and reciprocal action."

During the visit, the Elders "will exchange ideas with the Iranian leadership about peaceful ways of addressing conflict and healing sectarian divisions in the region."

Iran is a staunch supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in its almost three-year-old bloody conflict against rebels.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday that he would host the delegation.

President Hassan Rouhani won last year's presidential election with promises of a diplomatic opening to the West.

Iran and major world powers clinched a historic nuclear deal in November, when Tehran agreed to curb parts of its atomic programme for six months in exchange for modest sanctions relief and a promise by Western powers not to impose new sanctions.

Related Articles:

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In 2013, Iran Got A New President And Maybe A New Direction

Rohani's 'Yes We Can' Moment

Nigeria bans gay marriage

Times Live-Sapa-AFP, 13 januari, 2014

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan.
File photo. Image by: Luc Gnago/Reuters.

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has approved a bill banning gay marriage and same-sex partnerships that sparked international condemnation, his spokesman said on Monday.

"I can confirm that the president has signed the bill into law," Goodluck Jonathan's spokesman Reuben Abati told AFP, without specifying a date but adding that it happened earlier this month.

Abati said Jonathan signed off on the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2013 because it was consistent with the attitudes of most people towards homosexuality in the west African nation.

"More than 90 percent of Nigerians are opposed to same sex marriage. So, the law is in line with our cultural and religious beliefs as a people," he added.

"And I think that this law is made for a people and what (the) government has done is consistent with the preference of its environment."

Amnesty International urged Jonathan to reject the bill, calling it "discriminatory" and warning of "catastrophic" consequences for Nigeria's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Under the terms of the law, anyone who enters into a same-sex marriage or civil union can be sentenced to 14 years in prison while any such partnerships entered into abroad are deemed "void".

It also warns that anyone who registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies and organisations or who directly or indirectly makes a public show of a same-sex relationship will break the law.

Punishment is up to 10 years in prison, it adds.

"Only a marriage contract between a man and a woman shall be recognised as valid in Nigeria," the law states.

Nigeria is a highly religious society, with its 170 million people roughly divided in half between Christians and Muslims, though a significant number are also believed to follow traditional religions.

The anti-gay law follows similar legislation in Uganda that was condemned by US President Barack Obama as "odious" and compared to apartheid by South African peace icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

South Africans look to Qunu as Mandela is buried

Deutsche Welle, 15 December 2013

Mandela was given a traditional Xhosa burial on Sunday (15.12.2013) in his home village of Qunu in South Africa's Eastern Cape. The funeral capped off 10 days of mourning after the freedom icon died at the age of 95.

An atmosphere of calmness and solemnity descended on the village of Qunu, where the final funeral service of South Africa's freedom icon and first democratic president - Nelson Mandela - was held early on Sunday.

In Qunu, thousands of neat little cottages lie alongside elegant brick houses. The locals, dressed in the green, gold and black colors of South Africa and wearing Nelson Mandela t-shirts, were busy trekking along the roads to several viewing points.

About 2,000 journalists from around
 the world were in Qunu covering Mandela's
funeral

In Mandela's Eastern Cape province alone, 18 viewing centers were set up for the local people. VIPs and motorcades transported dignitaries from nearby Umtata to the service in a constant flow. Security was very tight.

Journalists were directed to the Nelson Mandela Museum complex, where they were catered to at a massive media center. All the leading television networks - including ARD, CNN, BBC, Skynews and Al Jazeera - and major radio and print outlets were present. The South African Government accredited more than 2,000 television, radio and print journalists to cover Mandela's burial.

Man of the people

Some locals also walked toward the huge marquee where the ceremony was held, before the burial of Mandela took place a short distance away from the main Mandela homestead.

"We are very very, sad today because Madiba has done a lot for us in this village and the country as a whole," said 51-year-old schoolteacher Tahle Mabiyaka. He was one of the hundreds who were walking to a viewing site near the Mandela homestead.

"He built us schools, roads, electricity and a hospital," Mabiyaka said. He said they loved Mandela because he was the country's first Black president. "As youngsters we are so sad because we have lost a father, grandfather that we loved. He fought for our freedom, united people," he added.

Mandela was also remembered by
local children as a caring provider

One of the young people who helped with the catering at the official funeral service was Yonele Samsika, a 22-year-old university student. She's studying accounting and wants to become successful, as Mandela advised.

"He was more than a parent to the children in this area," Samsika said. "He did a lot of things for the people in this rural areas like Qunu … during Christmas when we were still young we would go to his place and he would give us presents and he shake our hands."

Moving words

The official ceremony was a dignified affair, officiated by two high-ranking officials of the ruling ANC: Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Baleka Mbeta, the national chairperson.

They introduced some of the dignitaries who were among the 5,000 family members, government ministers, and international political leaders invited as guests.

Dignitaries included prominent US civil rights activist Reverend Jessie Jackson, Malawi President Joyce Banda - who represented the Southern African Development Community (SADC) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Haile Mariam Desalgen and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.

One of the veterans who paid a glowing tribute to Mandela was a former political comrade, Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years on Robben Island as a fellow political prisoner. The 86-year-old Kathrada became emotional when he described the frail condition Mandela was when he last saw him a few months ago.

Kathrada said Mandela's legacy of bringing all people together must live on. "What do we say to you Madala in these days - the last final moments together before you exit the public stage," he said.

Numerous dignitaries also attended the Qunu funeral

"Your abundant reserves of love, simplicity, honesty, service, humility, care, courage, foresight, patience, tolerance, equality, justice - continually served as a source of enormous strength to many millions of people in South Africa and around the world."

President Jacob Zuma, who represented the Government at the ceremony, also thanked Mandela for leading the way in promoting peace, democracy and justice in South Africa. He said South Africans were now committed to continuing the Mandela legacy.

"Whilst the long walk to freedom has ended, we have to continue building the type of society you worked tirelessly to construct," Zuma said. "We will always remember you as a man of integrity who embodied the values and principles that your organization the ANC promotes."

Impact on Africa

Ethiopean Prime Minister Haile Mariam Desalgen, who represented the African Union, praised Mandela's commitment. He said Mandela had infused a sense of determination into the continent as a whole.

"In the face of atrocities," he said, "Mandela told us that if we remain committed to the ideals of justice, liberation, and above all the sanctity of human dignity, we can ultimately prevail over the

evil no matter how the roads are stepped against us."

Phiri, left, traveled with family members
from afar to pay her last respects

Neo Phiri, a 31-year-old brand manager, traveled more than 800 kilometers to pay her last respects. Phiri told DW in an interview that she would now try to promote Mandela's values in her community, and in South Africa.

"For me as a young person," she said, "as I look to the future of South Africa to be reminded of the sacrifices of this great icon, it makes me really refocus my life," she said. She's been thinking about what impact she wants to make to South Africa and in her community, she added.

Emotional send-off

After the official ceremony at Mandela's homestead, the casket containing his body was driven in great dignity and humility to the gravesite. Soldiers and the air force gave a final salute.

It was an emotional send-off that brought tears to thousands - including to some of the journalists at the media center.

His legacy - it seems - will live on forever. The Nelson Mandela Museum in Qunu is one project that will insure that the life of Mandela remains a constant reminder to the world.