Sir, – US President Barack Obama’s eulogy in Johannesburg demonstrated all the skills and gifts of oratory that we have come to expect from the man.
However by daring to publicly shake hands with Cuban President Raul Castro, Obama did more than simply honour Madiba with words, but showed he truly understood the significance of the great man’s approach to life.
Mandela himself insisted, and showed by his own example, that the most effective way to overcome your enemy is by extending to him the hand of friendship. Could there have been a more fitting place for this historic handshake to have happened than at his memorial send-off? – Yours, etc,
DARIUS BARTLETT,
College View,
Midleton, Co Cork.
A chara, – Vincent Browne (Opinion, December 11th) correctly quotes static inequality figures to illustrate some of South Africa’s persistent problems. However, he need only look at the neighbouring catastrophes, from Angola to Zimbabwe, to see the scale of Mandela’s achievement. – Is mise,
GLENN CAHILL,
Willbrook Park,
Rathfarnham, Dublin 14.
Sir, – “Mandela’s legacy a challenge for leaders, says Gilmore” (Home News, December 10th). We still have apartheid in Ireland where traveller citizens are segregated and denied the rights of other citizens. Mandela in the Dáil in 1990 cautioned those in attendance and the general citizenship by his words: “We should not mistake the promise of change for change itself”. We have not heard or listened or reflected on these words. The changes required in our State will take real courage and risk for all to face the challenge and create a society with values in which all citizens have equal access and rights. –Yours, etc,
HUGH McDERMOTT,
The Rise,
Glasnevin,
Dublin 9.