A glimpse of Madiba
The image is still in our minds…it was February 1990. Television screens across the world were going to show the first pictures of the man who was considered to be the oldest political prisoner in the world. Finally he came out - a willowy figure with a radiant smile - and walked straight to his freedom, regained after 28 years behind bars. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela - also known as Madiba - could start writing a new page in the history of South Africa as a free man. He could also prove that multi-ethnic cohabitation was indeed possible in his country.
The man who inspired Sting to sing his most “engaged” song, the man to whom Mike Tyson sent the boxing gloves he wore when he became world champion, the banished man who inspired Chilean caricaturist Pepe Palomo's most moving cartoon, had become, through universal suffrage, the President of post-apartheid South Africa. He would become a legend and drive forward a reconciliation process considered unthinkable until then. Historic events indeed…much like in 1993, when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Nelson Mandela and former Afrikaner President Frederik Willem de Klerk for their political will and courage. That was yesteryear. Today, hundreds of members of parliament and delegates from around the world are preparing to attend the 118th IPU Assembly in Cape Town to better grasp - among other subject items on the agenda - the experience that was South African reconciliation. They are also secretly hoping to catch a glimpse of the man who will remain for all of posterity “the father of the rainbow nation” on the podium or via video cast. For in the words of the Speaker of the South African National Assembly, Ms. Baleka Mbete, “we regard him not only as ours, but as belonging to the whole world”.
L.B.
The IPU has lost several of its outstanding supporters over the past months. The world organization of parliaments wishes to pay tribute to their commitment and dedication.
MR. RAYMOND FORNI
Former Speaker of the French National Assembly
Mr. Raymond Forni granted us an interview which was published in the very first issue of The World of Parliaments in April 2001. Holder of the fourth highest office of the State, he was elected Speaker of the National Assembly in March 2000 and remained in that post until June 2002. He died on 5 January 2008, losing a brave battle with devastating leukaemia. Mr. Forni was 66 years old. His most beautiful memory as a member of parliament was when the death penalty was abolished, a law for which he served as rapporteur. In 2002, he participated in the Inter-Parliamentary Conference held in Marrakech, organizing on that occasion a meeting between the then Speaker of the Knesset, Mr. Avrahm Burg, and the Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Mr. Ibrahim Abu Al-Naja, along with other Speakers of Parliament in attendance.
MR. SHAYKH ABDULAH BIN HUSAYN AL-AHMAR
Speaker of the Parliament of Yemen
Speaker Al-Ahmar died on 29 December 2007 at the age of 74 after suffering many years from an acute illness.
MR. AMBROISE EDOUARD NOUMAZALAY
President of the Senate, Republic of Congo
Mr. Ambroise Edouard Noumazalay died on 17 November 2007 in Paris (France), where he had been hospitalized owing to poor health.
MR. TOM LANTOS
Member of the United States Congress
The IPU had the privilege of working with Mr. Lantos over the past years in his capacity as Chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, Minority Leader and subsequently Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He was a true internationalist, who believed in the value of dialogue, cooperation and engagement. Congressman Tom Lantos passed away on 12 February 2008, following cancer-related complications.
SIR KENETH BRADSHAW
A former Clerk of the UK House of Commons
Sir Kenneth Bradshaw died on 31 October 2007. He served the UK Parliament for 40 years. But the IPU remembers him more for his outstanding service to the Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments, which he served in a full range of capacities for over 25 years from as early as 1955. Sir Kenneth is the only person to have been both Secretary and President of the ASGP after having also held the position of Vice-President of the Association.