Mandela at 90

30Jun08

It was undoubtedly one of the most memorable experiences I have ever had, on Friday 27 June, to be standing in London’s Hyde Park, amidst a crowd of some 46,000 genuinely friendly people, in the presence of a living legend. 

While I couldn’t quite agree with the over-enthusiastic compere of the Nelson Mandela 90th birthday concert who described him as “the greatest human being who has ever lived”, there was no doubting the “great waves of love”, as Stephen Fry observed, that flowed from everyone in the park towards the enormous stage as the frail, nearly-nonagenarian slowly crossed to the podium to address the crowd. (Yes, that is Will Smith behind him, who pretty much stole the show until Mr Mandela joined the proceedings).

The concert, which featured stalwarts of this kind of event – Queen, Simple Minds, Annie Lennox – as well as some notable newcomers and outstanding African acts, was raising money for Mr Mandela’s HIV/Aids charity 46664, named after the prison number he was given during his 27 years imprisonment.

“Many years ago, there was a historic concert which called for our freedom,” said Mr Mandela. “Your voices carried across the water and inspired us in our prison cells far away. Tonight, we can stand before you free.

“But, even as we celebrate, let us remind ourselves that our work is far from complete. Where there is poverty and sickness including Aids, where human beings are oppressed, there is more work to be done. Our work is for freedom for all.

“Friends and those watching all around the world, please continue supporting our 46664 campaign. We say tonight after nearly 90 years of life, it’s time for new hands to lift the burdens. It’s in your hands now. I thank you.”

One of those new hands who, like Mr Mandela, knows what it means to lift the burden, is the Sudanese rapper Emmanuel Jal , one of the concert’s outstanding performers. At the age of seven, Jal, along with thousands of other children, was taken from Sudan to Ethiopia to learn to read and write. As time passed he discovered that he had been brought there to be trained as a child soldier. Jal spoke of the horrors he had witnessed – “You don’t know what hunger is until you are contemplating that the only food you might get is the body of your fallen comrade”. He paid tribute to a British aid worker Emma McCune who had rescued him after such unimaginable experiences and smuggled him into Kenya, before tragically dying herself a year later in a car accident. At the age of 20, Jal discovered his musical talents as a method of therapy and is now poised to be an outstanding artist – “someone with the potential of a young Bob Marley,” as Peter Gabriel put it as he introduced him to the Hyde Park audience.

What the lives and examples of Nelson Mandela and Emmanuel Jal brought to this event was a visible sense of profound humility before the possibilities of human nobility. Even the multi-]millionaire superstars present – including Gabriel and Lennox – eschewed performing for once, to convey a message – a message of humanity, of tolerance and magnanimity – all qualities that make Nelson Mandela, one of the most outstanding human beings of our time.

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Tags: Emmanuel Jal, Mandela, Will Smith