The Gandhi Development Trust and Phoenix Settlement Trust will present the annual Mahatma Gandhi symposium for 2022 on January 30.
The symposium has a line-up of distinguished speakers, including respected Buddhist scholar Ven Geshe Lhakdor, who was the English translator for His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama from 1989 to 2005.
Ven Geshe Lhakdor is currently the director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. The topic of his talk is “Beyond Religion and Interfaith Harmony”.
An address on interfaith respect being the key to peace by the chief executive of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation, Piyushi Kotecha, is also on the programme.
Dr Kezevino Aram, who serves as a co-moderator and executive committee member of Religions for Peace, will speak on how the pandemic has indicated the need for interfaith solidarity internationally.
Dr Kuria, general secretary of the African Council of Religious Leaders, will give the council’s perspective on the need to inculcate active non-violence into the social movements shaping Africa to reduce the toll on African people of violent conflicts and the cycles of revenge and retribution that mark our disagreements.
Ela Gandhi, the granddaughter of Mahatma and Kasturba Gandhi, is the founder and chairperson of the Gandhi Development Trust, which promotes Gandhian thought and values.
Ela and other family members established the Gandhi Development Trust, which continues running community upliftment and education programmes at the centre.
The symposium can be watched on YouTube or the Gandhi Development Trusts Facebook page on January 30.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNKhRVWp0xKX99BeWuZ-_A
Facebook: www.facebook.com/gdt.satyagraha
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
Political Bureau