The Strength of Solidarity: South Africa, Palestine and the Politics of the Present
Friday, April 19, 2024
5-7 PM (doors open at 4:30 PM) William Doo Auditorium, New College 45 Willcocks Street, Toronto
The African Studies Centre and The Caribbean Studies Centre, University of Toronto, invite you to a panel discussion with speakers Rieaz Shaik, High Commissioner, Republic of South Africa; Professor Atif Kubursi, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Canadian Arab Federation; Dr. Melissa Levin, Jewish Faculty Network.
Moderated by Dr. Nisrin Elamin, Anthropology and African Studies, University of Toronto with opening remarks by Dr. Dickson Eyoh, Interim Principal, New College. ASL provided. Refreshments provided.
The Strength of Solidarity: South Africa, Palestine and the Politics of the Present Event Invite Speakers: or visit: uoft.me/the-strength-of-solidarity
Rieaz Shaik, High Commissioner, Republic of South Africa
Mr Shaik was an anti-apartheid activist, a former student leader, and an active member of African National Congress’s (ANC). He was also a negotiator in the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA), the Multi-Party Talks, and played a significant role in shaping the intelligence dispensation for democratic South Africa. High Commissioner, Rieaz Shaik, known as ‘Moe, has been South Africa’s envoy to Canada, for just over two years. Mr Shaik has a deep knowledge on government policy, negotiations, geopolitical issues, infrastructure finance, the political and working environments of African governments and their institutions. He is the author of “The ANC Spy Bible: Surviving Across Enemy Lines” a memoir published in 2020.
Atif Kubursi, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Canadian Arab Federation
Atif Kubursi is Emeritus Professor of Economics at McMaster University, Canada. He taught economics at Purdue University in Indiana, USA, was Visiting Scholar at Cambridge University, UK, Fellow of the Harvard Institute of Economic and Social Policy at JFK School of Government, and Adjunct Professor with the Faculty of the Environment and Urban Studies at York University. Dr., Kubursi has also served as Senior Development Officer at UNIDO in Vienna Austria, and as the Executive Secretary, and Undersecretary General of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia and Chief of the Economic Analysis Division. He is chair of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Arab Federation.
Dr. Melissa Levin, Jewish Faculty Network
Melissa Levin is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, in the African Studies Centre and New College at the University of Toronto. She has a PhD in Political Science from the U of T, an African Studies MSc from Edinburgh University and an Honours in African Literature from the University of the Witwatersrand. Her research focuses on questions of coloniality, nationalism, state transformation and the politics of memorializtion with a view to understanding political change, institutions and social solidarities. She is currently the co-chair of the human rights cluster and the teaching, training and mentoring cluster of a SSHRC-funded crowd-sourcing democratic innovations platform, Participedia and a board member of Friends of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, a South African foundation focused on deepening democracy and building non-racialism.
