Barack Obama Returns With A Powerful Speech One Day After The Trump-Putin Summit
Barack Obama speaking in South Africa. Tuesday, July 17, 2018.
As former President Barack Obama began his speech, chants of “Yes we can!” erupted in the audience. At an event in South Africa commemorating what would’ve been Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday, Obama defended democratic values and blasted authoritarianism, nationalism, bigotry and the “politics of fear, resentment and retrenchment” currently surging globally. President Obama also cited these as threats as to the post-World War II order.
“Look around. Strongman politics are ascendant suddenly, whereby elections and some pretense of democracy are maintained, the form of it, but those in power seek to undermine every institution or norm that gives democracy meaning.”
Obama also spoke of the rights that democracies are supposed to uphold.
“I believe in Nelson Mandela’s vision. I believe in a vision shared by Gandhi and King and Abraham Lincoln. I believe in a vision… built on the premise that all people are created equal and they’re endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights.”
This speech came one day after President Donald Trump held a widely panned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin – who interfered in American democracy.
Here’s the full speech:
