Dear friends,
I last met with Nelson Mandela, together with my fellow Elders, three
years ago in Johannesburg. This week we returned to South Africa to say farewell
to our founder, dear friend and guiding voice.
Many of you have offered moving tributes to
Madiba’s courage and humanity, describing how he has influenced and inspired
you. I hope you will continue to share your thoughts and messages
with us.
For me, his most important lesson was that he never sought power for the
sake of power. Time and again, he invested his authority in strong, democratic
institutions that would actually outlast any individual leader. Even founding
The Elders was an expression of his belief in an idea that was larger than
himself.
I believe that we can honour him best not by
searching for ‘the new Mandela’, but by realising our own potential – as men,
as women, as citizens – to build the just, equal societies that he fought for.
Best wishes,
Kofi Annan
What does Nelson Mandela mean to me?
The
world indeed celebrates the Madiba! But never should we forget that Nelson
Mandela was a radical youth in fighting apartheid.
He
inspired the his country’s young population to fight for equal rights and
justice; evident in the 1976 Soweto uprising – the iconic image of a dying
13-year old Hector Pieterson being carried by another student while his sister
ran next to them, symbolizes resistance to oppression.
Don’t
sit aloof in the face of injustice! That is what Mandela taught me!!!
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