The president of the Union of Arab Chambers underlined the need for reskilling the workforce to counter job losses due to automation
"You have to believe in facts. Without facts there's no basis for cooperation. If I say this is a podium and you say this is an elephant, it's going to be hard for us to cooperate," he said.
"I can't find common ground if somebody says that climate change just isn't happening, when almost all the world's scientists tell us it is. I don't know where to start talking to you about this. If you say it's an elaborate hoax, where do we start?"
He said politics today often reject the concept of objective truth. "People just make stuff up. We see it in the growth of state sponsored propaganda, internet fabrications, the blurring of lines between news and entertainment, the utter loss of shame among political leaders...," he said, to laughter in the crowd.
"But in the strange and uncertain times that we are in -- with each day's news cycles bringing more head-spinning and disturbing headlines -- I thought maybe it would be useful to step back for a moment and try to get some perspective," Obama added.
He warned that the press was under attack, that censorship and state control of media is on the rise and that social media was being used to promote hate, propaganda and conspiracy theories.
"So, on Madiba's 100 birthday, we now stand at a crossroads," he said, using a clan name of affection for Mandela.
He said that there was a choice between two visions of humanity's future that the world must choose between.
"Let me tell you what I believe. I believe in Nelson Mandela's vision, I believe in a vision shared by (Mahatma) Gandhi and (Martin Luther) King (Jr), and Abraham Lincoln," he said.
He talked about equality and justice and freedom and multi-racial democracy built on the premise that all people were created equal and were endowed with certain inalienable rights.
Obama's speech at the 16th annual Nelson Mandela Lecture, is one of his highest-profile appearances and his first return to Africa since he left office in 2017.
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