While you enjoy the wages of freedom, spare a thought for the millions of people in the world who are not free. Plenty of people live under dictatorships that are far more brutal, vicious and controlling than South Africa ever was, even at the height of apartheid. We have a moral obligation to support the people in those countries, even if it’s only moral support, and even if it means angering their governments. Frankly, there are some governments that I would prefer us to be enemies with: Sudan, Iran, North Korea and Zimbabwe, for example. If we’re friendly with those guys, we’re doing something wrong.

I’d like this country to be an advocate of freedom in the world – not an apologist for oppression. Freedom Day is as a good a day as any to make that argument.