[Quartz] Johannesburg - Barack Obama could have been appearing on a pop-star’s stage. Yet the message he delivered in the annual Nelson Mandela lecture was far more somber than the setting.The elite class whose rise has been fueled by their outsized share of global riches, he said in very direct terms, needs to take care of those left behind.
"For all the magnificence of the global economy, all the shining skyscrapers that have transformed the landscape around the world, entire communities, entire neighborhoods, entire cities, entire regions have been bypassed," Obama declared. "For far too many people, the more things have changed, the more things stay the same."
A crowd of 15,000 had given the former US president a standing ovation as he walked on, and again when he took to the podium. Some even chanted his 2008 campaign slogan, "Yes we can!"
Previous speakers at for the Mandela lecture have included high-profile names like Bill Clinton, Mo Ibrahim and Bill Gates, yet it was the first time that the lecture was held in a stadium. Visitors to the Wanderers cricket stadium in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs dressed up for the occasion. To reward them for braving the South African winter, the Nelson Mandela foundation handed out blankets in the open-air venue.