It’s a long time since I read Nelson Mandela’s ‘Long Walk to Freedom’. So it was interesting to go to the film this evening. It was dramatic and effective – but there were so many stories which weren’t told. Archbishop Tutu was reduced to a passing newsreel clip. And there was really nothing about Mandela’s remarkable ability to build the respect of his jailers on Robbin Island.
But it remains a remarkable piece of history – remarkable because of the way in which Mandela tested the power of forgiveness as a core value of political progress. My two visits to South Africa left an indelible impression on me. There was a sort of grace in the air – people making space for one another across old enmities – which was utterly unlike Northern Ireland