"Our people demand democracy," Nelson Mandela to the US Joint Congress June 26, 1990

Nelson Mandela became the third private citizen to ever address a joint US Congress. He had just been released from jail April of that year.

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Mr. Speaker,

Mr. President;

Esteemed Members of the United States Congress;

Your Excellencies, Ambassadors and Members of the Diplomatic Corps;

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a fact of the human condition that each shall, like a meteor, a mere brief passing moment in time and space, flit across the human stage and pass out of existence. Even the golden lads and lasses, as much as the chimney sweepers, come, and tomorrow are no more. After them all, they leave the people, enduring, multiplying, permanent, except to the extent that the same humanity might abuse its own genius to immolate life itself.

And so we have come to Washington in the District of Columbia, and into these hallowed chambers of the United States Congress, not as pretenders to greatness, but as a particle of a people whom we know to be noble

The Girl Who Silenced the World for Five Minutes Severn Cullis-Suzuki

Severn Cullis-Suzuki brought the Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro on June 3-14, 1992 toa dead still. She together with friends raised money by themselves and attended the summit, and this was her speech in Rio.

Hello, I'm Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. - The Environmental Children's Organisation. We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds trying to make a difference: Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We raised all the money ourselves to come five thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future.

Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come. I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard. I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have nowhere left to go.

I am afraid to go out in the sun now because

Nelson Mandela Inauguration Speech as First Black President of Post-Apartheid South Africa

On May 9, 1994, after being elected President of SouthAfrica, the first Black president of post-apartheid president. Nelson Mandela spoke to millions of people within SA and around the world. Below is the address

Mr. Master of Ceremonies,
Your Excellencies,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
My Fellow South Africans:

Today we are entering a new era for our country and its people. Today we celebrate not the victory of a party, but a victory for all the people of South Africa.

Our country has arrived at a decision. Among all the parties that contested the elections, the overwhelming majority of South Africans have mandated the African National Congress to lead our country into the future. The South Africa we have struggled for, in which all our people, be they African, Colored, Indian or White, regard themselves as citizens of one nation is at hand.

Perhaps it was history that ordained that it be here, at the Cape of Good Hope that we should lay the foundation stone of our new nation. For it was here at this Cape, over three centuries ago, that there began the fateful convergence of the peoples of Africa, Europe and Asia on these shores.

It was to this peninsula that the patriots, among them many princes and scholars, of Indonesia were dragged in chains. It was on the sandy plains of this peninsula that first battles of the epic wars of resistance were fought.

When we look out across Table Bay, the horizon is dominated by Robben Island, whose infamy as a dungeon built to stifle the spirit of freedom is as old as colonialism in South Africa. For three centuries that island was seen as a place to which outcasts can be banished. The names of those who were incarcerated on Robben Island is a roll call of resistance fighters and democrats spanning over three centuries. If indeed this is a Cape of Good Hope, that hope owes much to the spirit of that legion of fighters and others of their calibre.

We have fought for a democratic constitution since the 1880s. Ours has been a quest for a constitution freely adopted by the people of South Africa, reflecting their wishes and their aspirations. The struggle for democracy has never been a matter pursued by one race, class, religious community or gender among South Africans. In honoring those who fought to see this day arrive, we honor the best sons and daughters of all our people. We can count amongst them Africans, Coloreds, Whites, Indians, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Jews - all of them united by a common vision of a better life for the people of this country.

It was that vision that inspired us in 1923 when we adopted the first ever Bill of Rights in this country. That same vision spurred us to put forward the African Claims in 1946. It is also the founding principle of the Freedom Charter we adopted as policy in 1955, which in its very first lines, places before South Africa an inclusive basis for citizenship.

In 1980s the African National Congress was still setting the pace, being the first major political formation in South Africa to commit itself firmly to a Bill of Rights, which we published in November 1990. These milestones give concrete expression to what South Africa can become. They speak of a constitutional, democratic, political order in which, regardless of color, gender, religion, political opinion or sexual orientation, the law will provide for the equal protection of all citizens.

They project a democracy in which the government, whomever that government may be, will be bound by a higher set of rules, embodied in a constitution, and will not be able govern the country as it pleases.

Democracy is based on the majority principle. This is especially true in a country such as ours where the vast majority have been systematically denied their rights. At the same time, democracy also requires that the rights of political and other minorities be safeguarded.

In the political order we have established there will regular, open and free elections, at all levels of government - central, provincial and municipal. There shall also be a social order which respects completely the culture, language and religious rights of all sections of our society and the fundamental rights of the individual.

The task at hand on will not be easy. But you have mandated us to change South Africa from a country in which the majority lived with little hope, to one in which they can live and work with dignity, with a sense of self-esteem and confidence in the future. The cornerstone of building a better life of opportunity, freedom and prosperity is the Reconstruction and Development Program.

This needs unity of purpose. It needs in action. It requires us all to work together to bring an end to division, an end to suspicion and build a nation united in our diversity.

The people of South Africa have spoken in these elections. They want change! And change is what they will get. Our plan is to create jobs, promote peace and reconciliation, and to guarantee freedom for all South Africans. We will tackle the widespread poverty so pervasive among the majority of our people. By encouraging investors and the democratic state to support job creating projects in which manufacturing will play a central role we will try to change our country from a net exporter of raw materials to one that exports finished products through beneficiation.

The government will devise policies that encourage and reward productive enterprise among the disadvantaged communities - African, Colored and Indian. By easing credit conditions we can assist them to make inroads into the productive and manufacturing spheres and breakout of the small-scale distribution to which they are presently confined.

To raise our country and its people from the morass of racism and apartheid will require determination and effort. As a government, the ANC will create a legal framework that will assist, rather than impede, the awesome task of reconstruction and development of our battered society.

While we are and shall remain fully committed to the spirit of a government of national unity, we are determined to initiate and bring about the change that our mandate from the people demands.

We place our vision of a new constitutional order for South Africa on the table not as conquerors, prescribing to the conquered. We speak as fellow citizens to heal the wounds of the past with the intent of constructing a new order based on justice for all.

This is the challenge that faces all South Africans today, and it is one to which I am certain we will all rise.

Robert F Kennedy on the death of Martin Luther King April 4 1968

Robert F Kennedy gave this solemn but also hopeful speech after Martin Luther King's assasination

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Ladies and Gentlemen - I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening. Because...

I have some very sad news for all of you, and I think sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice

"Tear Down This Wall" Ronald Reagan June 12th 1987

On June 12th 1987, at Brandenburg Gate of the Berlin Wall. President Ronald Reagan challenged Soviet Union Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to ring down Berlin Wall. This was the wall that separated democratic West Germany from communist East Germany. Two years, November, 1989, the wall was "technically" demolished. The laws that governed its use were revoked.

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Chancellor Kohl, Governing Mayor Diepgen, ladies and gentlemen: Twenty-four years ago, President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, speaking to the people of this city and the world at the City Hall. Well, since then two other presidents have come, each in his turn, to Berlin. And today I, myself, make my second visit to your city.

We come to Berlin, we American presidents, because it's our duty to speak, in this place, of freedom. But I must confess, we're drawn here by other things as well: by the feeling of history in this city, more than 500 years older than our own nation; by the beauty of the Grunewald and the Tiergarten; most of all, by your courage and determination. Perhaps the composer Paul Lincke understood something about American presidents. You see, like so many presidents before me, I come here today because wherever I go, whatever I do: Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin. [I still have a suitcase in Berlin.]

Our gathering today is being broadcast

Nelson Mandela : The cause I am ready to defend ... I am Prepared to Die-. April 20 1964

On April 20 1964, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela commonly Nelson Mandela stood before a South African Court, accused of opposing the White Apartheid government and inciting Africans to do the same. He was being charged with treason. Given the brutality of the Apartheid regime, and having been  a lawyer, Mandela knew that the sentence would most likely be death by hanging. He gave his famous "I am prepared to Die" speech and on the sentencing day, 11th June 1964, Nelson Mandela received a life sentence. He ended up staying in Jail for 27 Years  and on his release  became the first Black President of a racially integrated South Africa.

....an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

Nelson Mandela     

I am the First Accused.

I hold a Bachelor's Degree in Arts and practised as an attorney in Johannesburg for a number of years in partnership with Oliver Tambo. I am a convicted prisoner serving five years for leaving the country without a permit and for inciting people to go on strike at the end of May 1961.

At the outset, I want to say that the suggestion made by the State in its opening that the struggle in South Africa is under the influence of foreigners or communists is wholly incorrect. I have done whatever I did, both as an individual and as a leader of my people, because of my experience in South Africa and my own proudly

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

On the 12th June 2005, Stanford University held 114th Commencement Ceremony. The guest who delivered the address had never graduated from school but had helped found the the number-one Global Tech Company-Apple Inc. Steven Paul Jobs or Steve Jobs used simple analogies of his life to eloquently bring out the truth about life's choices. He inspired, Informed and Indulged his audience with a real human story.

Today I want to tell you three Stories from my life. Thats it. No Big Deal. Just Three Stories.

Steve Jobs

Video of the Commencement address.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose

“I Have a Dream” Speec Martin Luther King

On the 28th of Aug, 1963, Martin Luther Kind stood before a crowd of over 250,ooo civil rights supporters to deliver the most  famous speech of the 20th Century. His words sowed like dense air, they left heavy hearts, determined spirits and remorseful aggressors. This speech was the climax of Dr Kings National Place. 

“I Have a Dream” Speech

Martin Luther King, Jr.             

Washington, DC

August 28, 1963

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. 

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves, who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later,the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. They were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed to the “Unalienable Rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” 

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. 

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.  Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be

Winston Churchill to Joint US Congress 26th Dec 1941

On a Cold Day, December 26th 1941, nineteen days after the Japans had Bombed Pearl Harbor, and eighteen days since the Empire of Japan had declared war against USA. Winston Churchill Addressed A Joint Session Of US Congress and left the congressmen yapping like excited boys who had just won a football Match. His Charisma and his great sense of humour filled the House with optmism and the country with Energy. With this speech the British-US alliance was sealed and in the new vision for the West to always fight for "freedom and Democracy" was hatched.

Here is Churchill

I feel greatly honoured that you should have invited me to enter the United States Senate Chamber and address the representatives of both branches of Congress. The fact that my American forebears have for so many generations played their part in the life of the United States, and that here I am, an Englishman, welcomed in your midst, makes this experience one of the most moving and thrilling in my life, which is already long and has not been entirely uneventful. I wish indeed that my mother, whose memory I cherish across the vale of years, could have been here to see. By the way, I cannot help reflecting that if my father had been American and

Barrack Obama 2004 DNC Speech Boston MA , July 27, 2004

On Tue night, the 27th of July 2004, a young aspiring senator from the great state of Illinois  Barack Obama took to the stage to deliver the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston MA. This was the event that saw the Democratic Candidate Se, John Kerry (MA) accept his nomination for the president of USA. The Speech that Obama gave left every voice husky and every eye wet. This was the speech that catapulted Obama into National and International Limelight and it decided his future in American Politics.

...Thank you.  Thank you Dick Durbin.  You make us all proud.  On behalf of the great state of Illinois, crossroads of a nation, land of Lincoln, let me express my deepest gratitude for the privilege of addressing this convention.  Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let’s face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely.  My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya.  He grew up herding goats, went to school in a tin-roof shack.  His father, my grandfather, was a

Why Can I Trust the Bible?, Part 1

Message Outline. 

(You can listen to the whole sermon in this LINK)

Why Can I Trust The Bible?

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, 

correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be 

thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Psalm 147:3 (NCV)

1

“The Word of the Lord is right and true.”

Psalm 33:4 (NIV)

2

“Every word of God is flawless.”

Proverbs 30:5 (NIV) 

“The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace 

of clay and purified seven times!” 

Psalm 12:6 (NIV) 

“All of your commands can be trusted.” 

Psalm 119:86 (NCV)

I can TrusTThe bIbLe because...

3

“No prophecy ever originated from humans. Instead, it was given

by the Holy Spirit as humans spoke under God’s direction.”

2 Peter 1:21 (GW) 

“But this is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in