Syria Today.com : "One month, two speeches and lessons from South Africa"

July 2009

One month, two speeches and lessons from South Africa

On June 4, US President Barack Obama delivered his highly-anticipated address to the Muslim world from the Great Hall of Cairo University. Syria, like the rest of the region, listened intently. As our main politics article reveals, along with opinion taken from the streets of Damascus the response from Syria has been measured.

Most liked what they heard; they just wanted to hear a whole lot more. Details matter, as does the lack of them. No doubt the new US ambassador to Syria will be able to fill in the blanks when he or she moves back into the ambassador’s Damascus residence.

Not lacking in details was the address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Bar-Ilan University – the same institution which former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin attended. Netanyahu’s “recognition” of Palestine rings hollow; clearly he’s not interested in a sovereign Palestinian state, which means he’s not interested in peace. The challenges facing Obama are enormous.

For those who think they will be impossible to surmount, turn to page 55 and read our interview with key anti-apartheid activist Mathews Phosa, now the treasurer general of the African National Congress (ANC). Here is a man who was raised under a brutal and morally bankrupt regime, a man who was forced to flee his homeland under the threat of death, a man who took up arms and also put them down again to help negotiate the end of apartheid. Catching up with Phosa during a business trip to Damascus last month, we asked him what makes a good negotiator. His reply was simple: don’t humiliate your opponent. Wise words indeed.



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