A conversation with South Africa's new foreign minister
Minister Ronald Lamola is crystal clear on his country's values, and he's not backing down on changing the U.N., empowering the Global South, talking to Putin, or supporting Palestine
I had the distinct pleasure and opportunity on Tuesday to be in conversation, at the invitation of the Quincy Institute and my friend Trita Parsi, with the newly named Foreign Minister of South Africa, Ronald Lamola.
Lamola, who is young and mostly serious — though I did get him to laugh at the prospect of joining me for an adventure day at the Spy Museum. And he was rock solid on his views, on behalf of his country, that the United Nations must expand its security council to include African voices; that South Africa would continue to talk to Vladimir Putin to pursue their anti-war aims, and that the country, which is emerging as a key leader of the Global South, will not back away from the Palestinian people, or from their firm believe that they are the victims of apartheid and genocide.
The conversation is about a half hour long. Have a look and let me know your thoughts in comments.
The morality of South Africa’s position is hard to argue with, particularly as Israeli settlers bear down on Palestinians in the West Bank, violently disposessing them of their farms and in many cases killing them under the watchful eye of the IDF. Which is what Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was protesting when she was shot dead by an IDF sniper… she has been buried in Turkey.
Meanwhile, the carnage in Gaza continues, in refugee camps and schools, hospitals and supposed safe zones. This was the impetus for much of my conversation with the South African foreign miniser.
Also WTF, exploding pagers in Lebanon???
And speaking of Africa… this seems incredibly unethical and wrong…
Also … the absolute and utter menace of Sean Combs…
A refreshing conversation with one of the few moral governments in the world right now.
Fantastic, Joy! Enlightening and informative. Perceptive of you especially, to throw that bit about China in there. I wish there had been more time to discuss, but he likely wouldn’t have disclosed anything substantive anyway, I’m guessing. What a snack though! Thank you for sharing this with us!