FIU to host South African ambassador to the U.S.


The South African Ambassador to the United States, the Honorable Ebrahim Rasool, will deliver a lecture April 16 at the Frost Art Museum Café at the Modesto A. Maidique Campus.

The event, scheduled for 2 p.m., is free and open to the public.

“We are delighted to host the current South African Ambassador to the U.S., the Honorable Ebrahim Rasool,” said John Stack, executive director of the School of International and Public Affairs. “This is a wonderful opportunity for our students, faculty and staff, and members of the community to interact with a dignitary from a globally influential nation and to reflect on one of the most deep-rooted forms of enforced racial segregation in human history.”

Ebrahim RasoolRasool’s lecture, titled “Peace-Building & Reconciliation: Gifts to a Troubled World from Mandela’s South Africa” will reflect on the legacy of the former president of South Africa and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela.

Rasool was appointed South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S. in 2010. He has also served as a member of parliament in the National Assembly, special advisor to the state president of the Republic of South Africa, and premier of the Western Cape Province (2004-2008). He has led various governmental agencies, including the departments of Health, Welfare, and Finance and Economic Development.

Rasool has a long history of involvement in the anti-apartheid movement, which has led to time in prison and house arrest. He has been involved in South Africa’s Islamic movement as well as the country’s interfaith movement. During the apartheid era, he worked in faith communities to educate people on the role of faith and religion under conditions of oppression. Rasool founded the World for All Foundation, whose mission is to rethink the intellectual tools available to Muslims and to create cooperative relations between faith, cultures and communities at a global level. In 1998, he received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights.

The lecture is sponsored by the Ruth K. and Shepard Broad Distinguished Lecture Series and co-sponsored by the African and African Diaspora Studies Program in the School of International and Public Affairs.

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