Former President Obama denounces Trump without using his name

(Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com) — Former President Barack Obama spoke at the centennial celebration in Johannesburg, South Africa, of Nelson Mandela’s birth by denouncing President Donald Trump without mentioning his name.

A day after Trump met in Helsinki, Finland, with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Obama criticized strongmen politics.

“The politics of fear, resentment is on the move at a pace unimaginable just few years ago,” Obama told thousands at Wanderers Stadium. The audience gave him a standing ovation.

He added that the free press and other values are under threat. Obama noted that there is a loss of shame when political leaders are caught in lies and they double down and lie some more.

Mandela, South Africa’s first Black president, was elected to office in 1994. He was born July 18, 1918. He was 95 when he died in 2013.

Obama praised Mandela’s style of leadership and encouraged the youth to emulate it.

“Every generation has the opportunity to remake the world,” Obama said, speaking directly to the youth in the audience. “Mandela said, ‘Young people are capable, when aroused, of bringing down the towers of oppression and raising the banners of freedom.’ Now is a good time to be aroused. Now is a good time to be fired up.”

He continued, “And, for those of us who care about the legacy that we honor here today – about equality and dignity and democracy and solidarity and kindness, those of us who remain young at heart, if not in body – we have an obligation to help our youth succeed. Some of you know, here in South Africa, my Foundation is convening over the last few days, two hundred young people from across this continent who are doing the hard work of making change in their communities; who reflect Madiba’s values, who are poised to lead the way.”

This article originally published in the July 23, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.