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AN OPEN LETTER TO THE NELSON MANDELA FOUNDATION.

 

THE MEDIA REVIEW NETWORK CALLS ON THE NELSON MANDELA FOUNDATION TO WITHDRAW ITS INVITATION TO EX-PRESIDENT BARAK OBAMA.

 

The Media Review Network has failed to reconcile the Presidency of Barack Obama with the principles of democracy, freedom and liberty which our former and late President Nelson Mandela fought and died for.

The invitation to Former President Obama to address the Annual Nelson Mandela Foundation on July 17, leaves us bewildered and baffled.

By the end of his first term in office as President of the US, the uniqueness of the first African-American president had substantially faded. There was widespread cynicism and distrust about his attempts to use his family history to claim some special affinity for our continent.

Obama pursued the same predatory and criminal policies that provoked international anger and hatred under his predecessor George W. Bush. His own presidency was even more deeply mired in international criminality than that of Bush, from drone assassinations to the massive NSA spying on the people of the US and the world and the manhunt being mounted against Edward Snowden for exposing this crime. His stated theme of promoting “democracy” in Africa was absurd and hypocritical.

The Media Review Network echoes the sentiments of all democratic and freedom-loving South Africans when we urge the Nelson Mandela Foundation to immediately withdraw the invitation to Barak Obama. His presence will be a pitiable reflection at such an august occasion and certainly not befitting the stature and grandeur of our former late President Nelson Mandela.

 

Ibrahim Vawda

Media Review Network

Johannesburg

South Africa.

 

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