By Tom Geoghegan
BBC News Magazine
Nelson
Mandela was often described as the "world's elder statesman", a father
figure tackling global problems. His moral authority made him, in some
people's eyes, a successor to Gandhi. Who might play a similar role now?
Lockerbie, Burundi, DR Congo, Lesotho, Indonesia,
Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, Stephen Lawrence murder, HIV awareness and
World Cup football.
The list of subjects addressed in some way by Nelson Mandela is long and varied.
In some disputes, like Burundi's long-running conflict, he
was a mediator. On other intractable issues, like the stigma of HIV, he
was the campaigner and bereaved father who tried to address prejudice.
Not all his contributions were successful or universally
welcomed. He opposed intervention in Kosovo in 1999 and often strongly
criticised US foreign policy, while his warm relations with Colonel
Gaddafi and President Suharto raised eyebrows. Many thought he spoke out
too late about the HIV crisis.
But even his critics would concede that he became a figure with unequalled status on the global stage.
"It seems to me that uniquely he negotiated his
transformation from prisoner of conscience and iconic human rights
leader to practical political leader who became in every single way the
father of modern South Africa and then transformed again into elder
statesman," says Simon Marks, global affairs correspondent at Feature
Story News based in Washington.
He had unquestioned legitimacy, someone that a very broad
array of people looked up to, including pop singers and supermodels,
says Marks.
Continue reading the main story
Mandela on...
- Lockerbie: Mediated between Libya and UK on transfer of suspects
- Middle East: Criticised Israel for 'narrow interests'
- Lesotho: Ordered troops into country
- DR Congo: Arranged key summit that led to peace accord
- Kashmir: Urged India-Pakistan talks
- Burundi: Closely involved in peace process
- Indonesia: Visited East Timor politician in prison in Jakarta
- Stephen Lawrence: Demanded urgency from police, two weeks after killing
Mandela had the capacity to
operate as an honest broker in situations where others might not have
been able to, says Christopher Alden of the London School of Economics,
who points to Indonesia as an example. In 1997, Mandela's two-hour visit
to the imprisoned East Timorese politician Gusmao in Jakarta, against
Suharto's wishes, paved the way for a referendum and Gusmao's release
two years later.
"He accrued a moral authority that transcended the ordinary politics that guide the worst conduct of political actors."
The unique feature of Mandela is that he was someone whose
moral stature was truly worldwide, says Alden - a reflection of the
globalised nature of the anti-apartheid struggle by the 1980s.
There have been other elder statesmen and women in recent
years, he says, but they are generally figures whose activities are
focused on internal politics or they are asked to act on behalf of a
state.
"Jimmy Carter has been 'deployed' to North Korea to hold
discussions on sensitive issues and has played an important role in
democratisation efforts in Africa through the monitoring/training of
elections but these are more functional - he lacks the emotive power
that Mandela generates.
"Blair's involvement in the Middle East was an attempt, I
suppose, at this - and to burnish his post-Iraq reputation - but notably
a failure."
Mandela's organisation, The Elders, drew together some of the world's leading statesmen and women
Possibly Mandela's most noteworthy intervention came early in
2005, following the death of his son, Makgatho. With the Aids epidemic
still a taboo subject in parts of Africa, Mandela urged South Africans
to be more open about the illness.
Biographer David James Smith believes Mandela's personality
was a key factor in his rise to international father figure - a quality
few can match.
"There was a purity about Mandela, a simplicity about him
like a farm boy looking after sheep, although he was capable of
achieving things in immensely complex situations.
"He talked to commoners and kings in the same way. Everyone
loves that he remembered names and took time to talk to everyone. He had
all those great human qualities that people admire."
Continue reading the main story
The Elders
Formed by Mandela in 2007, it's an independent group of leaders working for peace
- Martti Ahtisaari
- Kofi Annan (chairman)
- Ela Bhatt
- Lakhdar Brahimi
- Gro Harlem Brundtland
- Fernando H Cardoso
- Jimmy Carter
- Hina Jilani
- Graca Machel
- Mary Robinson
- Ernesto Zedillo
- Desmond Tutu (honorary)
You could go anywhere in the
world and show his face and people would know his name, says Smith, and
there's not anyone alive now who you could say that for.
"I can't think of anyone else who will set the same example.
Aung San Suu Kyi embodies some of the values that he had but you can't
say that she would be recognised in the same way."
The Burmese prisoner turned politician is a really
interesting character, says Marks. "Could she become that person? Maybe,
except we don't yet know how the political story will turn out. She has
this amazing moral authority because of her experience as a prisoner of
conscience but now playing an active political role and there are a lot
of things putting her in a tough position.
"And when you take a leadership role you inevitably rub
people up the wrong way. Therefore it's not axiomatic that she fills
those shoes, once the brutal world of politics has finished with her."
Gandhi, Mandela and Suu Kyi were all political prisoners and
this personal sacrifice is an important part of the role, says Marks,
but there are other prisoners of conscience, in places like China and
North Korea, who are not household names.
"They might at some point emerge as the agent of change in
these countries. It requires a combination of personal sacrifice and -
cynical though it is to say so - personal sacrifice at the right moment,
because when the right moment is there politically, and you can
capitalise on it as a result of personal sacrifice, you have more of a
chance to effect change."
But it may be that these extraordinary figures only emerge
from time to time, says Marks. In the age of social media, it is perhaps
more difficult to establish a long-term reputation because judgments
are cast so quickly.
On his 89th birthday, Mandela formed The Elders, a group of
leading world figures, to offer their expertise and guidance to -
according to their website - "tackle some of the world's toughest
problems".
"It remains to be seen whether an organisation of senior
statesmen and women will be able to do what an individual like this
has," says Alden. "It is a one-in-a-generation person. It may work but
it's a novel experiment.
"Humankind needs this kind of person. Without them, the
possibility of descending into brutish conflict we are capable of is
accentuated. Hopefully there's cometh the hour, cometh the man or woman.
But I scan the horizon and I don't see anyone of his ilk."
Picture: Samsung
(Photo: AP / Leslie Mazoch)
