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Africa Subsaharan
Bill and Melinda: Let us build a future Nelson Mandela dreamed of
2016-07-19
[TSA] Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates said that obstacles in the path of Africa’s youth needed to be cleared so that they can drive the future of the continent.

Gates was delivering the Nelson Mandela memorial lecture at the University of Pretoria on Sunday night. The theme of the lecture was "living together".
Appears to be plenty of evidence to indicate others have tried a similar theme. Unfortunately however, they've not enjoyed a great deal of success.
Gates said that the elder statesman's life embodied the theme of living together.

"Today South Africans are still striving to live together in the fullest sense, so much closer because Nelson Mandela and many others believed in the promise of one South Africa," he said.

"As a boy I learned about him [Mandela] in school. The first time I got to speak to him in 1994 when he called me to help fund SA's election. I admired him so much and I knew the election was historic so I did what I could to help."

He said on a subsequent trip to Johannesburg, specifically to Soweto, and prompted the founding of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

"Melinda and I had always known that we would give our wealth to philanthropy eventually. The sense of urgency was spurred on by a trip in 1997 when I came to Johannesburg. I spent most of the time in business meetings in the richer part of the city but I also went to Soweto. My visit taught me how much I had to learn outside the world outside the bubble I lived in all my life," he said.

Gates added that Nelson Mandela was concerned about the future and he believed that people could make it better than the past.

"One topic with Nelson Mandela came back to was the power of the youth...that is one reason why I am optimistic about the future of this continent. The youth are special source of dynamism," he said.

"We must clear the obstacles for young people...if we invest in the right things and ensure that the basic needs of Africa’s young people are taken care of, they will have the ability to change the future," he said.

"Let us do everything within our power to help build a future Nelson Mandela dreamed of and a future we can achieve together," Gates added.
Posted by:Besoeker

#14  I bet they'll just go back to their gated community in Montana somewhere when they're done giving the speech.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2016-07-19 18:42  

#13  ...for the Chinese. It's not economic colonialism when they do it.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2016-07-19 16:06  

#12  I respectfully disagree with you all. I have hope for Africa. It has vast natural resources, an increasingly educated population, and enormous human capital. Africans have shown themselves to be skilled at agriculture, medicine, and yes warfare (an important one that). I expect Africa to become increasingly important as the 21st Century goes on.
Posted by: Secret Master   2016-07-19 14:22  

#11  Gates was delivering the Nelson Mandela memorial lecture at the University of Pretoria on Sunday night. The theme of the lecture was "living together".

You first, Billy.

And the future Mandela dreamed of would have included the gulag for the likes of Billy and Mel.
Posted by: charger   2016-07-19 11:41  

#10  Indeed...a fairly clinical diagnosis from Dr. Steve based on centuries of observation.

I recommend we forego a second medical opinion. Time is of the essence.
Posted by: Besoeker   2016-07-19 09:47  

#9  Indeed...a fairly clinical diagnosis from Dr. Steve based on centuries of observation. Alas, the current generation seems to not want to grow up. WWII bomber captains were often in their early 20's. I can't imagine any of today's "children" shouldering that responsibility today--it would interfere with gaming in their Mom's basement where they exist (note I didn't say "live").
Posted by: Warthog   2016-07-19 09:25  

#8  And Steve White scores on a slap shot from the point!!
Posted by: AlanC   2016-07-19 08:37  

#7  Bill Gates will rebuild South Africa the way Bill Clinton rebuilt Haiti...
Posted by: Steve White   2016-07-19 08:27  

#6  ...global warming? maybe not a bad thing.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2016-07-19 07:53  

#5  Bill, ever considered why our ancestors left Africa?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2016-07-19 07:39  

#4  Mandela was a communist. Communism inevitably means mass executions.

Plus where will they find enough tires?
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2016-07-19 05:50  

#3  There will always be some individuals who are driven and work hard because the drive is in them. Maybe 10-15% are like this. For about 70% of the rest, they work and struggle and do something other than eat, screw, and indulge in cheap entertainment....

Now that food has replaced sex in my life, I can’t even get into my own pants.
Posted by: Besoeker   2016-07-19 05:41  

#2  "We must clear the obstacles for young people...if we invest in the right things and ensure that the basic needs of Africa’s young people are taken care of, they will have the ability to change the future," he said.

Wrong.

If you do this, for something like 85% of any given population, you remove any incentive to sacrifice, innovate, work hard, or push their own envelope.

This is the moral rot and death gene of socialism, which is really what Gates is talking about.

There will always be some individuals who are driven and work hard because the drive is in them. Maybe 10-15% are like this. For about 70% of the rest, they work and struggle and do something other than eat, screw, and indulge in cheap entertainment only to prevent starvation. For the remainder, well, they would elect to do nothing even if it resulted in starving.

Since this is the case, you need to craft a society which provides the incentives necessary for that 70%, and takes care of the remainder who would starve. America before the New Deal did a pretty good job of this. Free enterprise plus private charity is the key.

Socialism and throwing money at people so that you don't have to watch them starve and feel bad about yourself is not a real world solution to the human condition.
Posted by: no mo uro   2016-07-19 05:12  

#1  The youth are special source of dynamism

He means they tend to be idiots.
Posted by: SteveS   2016-07-19 01:08  

00:00