This is a unique opportunity to view a film of the inspirational lecture that Nelson Mandela, as President of South Africa, delivered at the invitation of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies during his first visit to Oxford in 1997.

He took as his challenging title, Renewal and Renaissance: Towards a New World Order.  In it, he touches on Islam in South Africa and reflects on the role of religion on the African continent.

The film will be preceded by a discussion about Nelson Mandela, his life and achievements, between Ahmed Kathrada, a senior African National Congress activist and politician, who was imprisoned alongside Mandela for more than 20 years, and writer on Africa and journalist Alec Russell, who met Mandela many times when he was a correspondent in Africa.

Kathrada became a political activist at the age of 12 and was first jailed at the age of 17 for civil disobedience. In 1964 he was sentenced to life imprisonment alongside Nelson Mandela and other defendants in the infamous Rivonia Trial. After his release he was elected an ANC member of parliament and worked as a political adviser to Mandela. Russell is news editor of the FT and author of After Mandela: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa and Big Men Little People: The Leaders Who Defined Africa.

This event is presented by the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and will be chaired by
its director, Dr Farhan Nizami.