Professor Jeremy Waldron letter to the Guardian on the Mandela memorial

A letter by Jeremy Waldron was printed in the Guardian (11 December) on the welcome lack of spin evident in the handling of Nelson Mandelas memorial service.

Jeremy wrote:

It was refreshing to hear the boos and jeers that greeted President Zuma atNelson Mandelas memorial (Report, 11 December). They may or may not have been justified, but there is something refreshing about an event even a solemn event that was open to unruly speech of this kind. In Britain or America those greeting a head of government in this way would have been peremptorily removed from the event. Political choreography, backed up by exaggerated concerns about security, has become one of the greatest threats to free speech in western democracies, as the event-planners and the spin-masters insist on having everything go their way.

The full letter, and others on the same topic can be read here: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/11/wlecom-lack-of-spin-mandela