“In his demand of solidarity from himself and from each of us, Mandela becomes more than a man, more than a messiah: he becomes a mirror. When we hear his refusal to abandon those with whom he shared common cause, do we recognize ourselves?”

Zohran Mamdani
Mayor of New York City
July 15, 2026

July 20, 2026 — Last week, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivered a thoughtful speech about the achievements of Nelson Mandela, his legacy, and, most importantly, what he can still teach us today. I encourage everyone to read the speech, but I would like to emphasize a few points that lie at the very core of my own beliefs. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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First, let us not forget the extraordinary hypocrisy of the Western establishment. Among those who honour Mandela today, the vast majority either opposed him or remained silent during his decades of imprisonment.

Following Mandela’s death, the Conservatives in the United Kingdom described him as a “true global hero.”

Yet Margaret Thatcher’s government moved heaven and earth to oppose sanctions against the apartheid regime, to oppose Mandela’s political party (the African National Congress), and to resist calls for his release.

Nor was the French political establishment any better, having placed its economic and strategic interests — including nuclear interests in the region — ahead of the struggle against apartheid.

Mamdani is among the few who have the courage to remind us that the United States has often spoken with two voices — one of ideals, and another of political convenience.

The same American political establishment that now venerates Mandela kept him on U.S. terrorism watch lists until 2008, when he was already 90 years old.

Mamdani gradually arrives at an inescapable conclusion:

“Justice is not measured by where we stand after history has issued its verdict. It is measured by where we stand when the verdict is still being rendered.”

In a far less eloquent way, it is precisely what I tried to express last Saturday. One day, I believe, everyone will understand that the Lockerbie verdict cannot withstand careful scrutiny. What truly matters is where we choose to stand today.

Jury selection in the forthcoming trial is expected to begin at the end of August 2026. No decision has yet been made on what evidence will be admitted or excluded.

History’s verdict is not written in advance. It is shaped by those who have the courage to seek the truth before it becomes fashionable to do so.

About Lockerbie

P.S. In her memoirs, The Downing Street Years (1993, pp. 448–449), British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wrote:

“[Operation El Dorado Canyon] turned out to be a more decisive blow against Libyan-sponsored terrorism than I could ever have imagined. … There were revenge killings of British hostages organized by Libya, which I bitterly regretted. But the much-vaunted Libyan counter-attack did not and could not take place … There was a marked decline in Libyan-sponsored terrorism in succeeding years.”

Published two years after the November 1991 indictment of Fhimah and Megrahi, Thatcher’s memoirs is entirely inconsistent with the claim that Libya was responsible for the Lockerbie tragedy.

Did you know?

On July 24, 2018, the UK National Archives released files from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Office, predominantly covering the year 1993. One Lockerbie file, however, covering the period 1992–93, remained withheld.

Two years earlier, on November 2, 2016, the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) decided to withhold all Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) reports relating to the Lockerbie disaster, covering the period from January 1, 1990, to December 31, 1992, until at least 2026, and possibly indefinitely.

Why would the UK Government decide to withhold these technical reports if they contained nothing of significance?

I believe that, if ever released, these reports will show that AAIB investigators knew there was no evidence of a bomb having exploded aboard Pan Am Flight 103, and that they had identified the true cause of the disaster: the known structural weakness affecting the first design of the Boeing 747, near the infamous Section 41.

REFERENCES

Zohran Mamdani, Inaugural Nelson Mandela Global Leadership Forum, The Town Hall, New York City, 15 July 2026. Published by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, 16 July 2026.

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“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

James Baldwin

As Much Truth
As One Can Bear
January 14, 1962