Confirmed Speakers: Aleida Guevara • Leila Khaled • Naledi Pandor • Rashed Khan Menon

Aleida Guevara - Che Guevara Studies Center (Cuba)

Aleida Guevara March is the eldest daughter of Ernesto Che Guevara and Aleida March, and Cuban revolutionary leader. She is a doctor of medicine and director of the Che Guevara Studies Center – a Cuban institution that keeps the personal archives of Che Guevara, and promotes his life, work and thought.

She has also worked as a Physician in Angola, Ecuador, and Nicaragua. She is a militant of the Communist Party of Cuba and has been an advocate for human rights and debt relief for developing nations. She is the author of the book “Chávez, Venezuela and the New Latin America”.

Leila Khaled - Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (Palestine)

Leila Khaled is an icon of Palestinian Liberation. The image of a young, determined-looking woman with a checkered scarf, clutching an AK-47, flashed across the world after she hijacked a passenger jet in 1969. Leila Khaled's story gives unique insights into the Palestinian struggle through one remarkable life. She has made notable contributions in social, humanitarian, and political areas, in the service of her cause, and in defense of basic human rights.

Her family was forced to leave Haifa after the city fell to Zionist forces in April 1948, when she was barely four years old. The family settled in the Lebanese city of Tyre. In 1959 she joined the Arab Nationalist Movement. She had joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) as soon as it was founded in December 1967. In the PFLP she occupied various administrative and leadership positions. She also was a member of the Secretariat of the Women's Union and the Palestine National Council.

Naledi Pandor - Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (South Africa)

Naledi Pandor is the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation since 2019. She is a South African politician, educator and academic. She has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the African National Congress (ANC) since 1994. She served as the Minister of Higher Education and Training (2018-2019), having previously served as the Minister of Science and Technology (2014-2018). She has also served as the Minister of Education (2004-2009) and also, the Minister of Home Affairs (2012-2014).

She holds Master's degrees in Education (University of London) and Linguistics (University of Stellenbosch), and obtained a Doctorate in Education from the University of Pretoria in 2019. Dr Pandor taught at distinguished institutions such as Ernest Bevin School, Taung College of Education, University of Bophuthatswana and the University of Cape Town.

Rashed Khan Menon - Workers Party of Bangladesh (Bangladesh)

Rashed Khan Menon is the President of the Workers Party of Bangladesh and a Member of the National Parliament of Bangladesh. He is the President of Parliamentary Standing Committee of Ministry of Social Welfare. Earlier, he served as the Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism.

Menon was elected to parliament in 1979. In 1990, he played a leading role in the mass struggle that toppled the Hossain Mohammad Ershad regime. In 1991, he was again elected to parliament and one of his main activities was to demand constitutional amendments in the parliament.