Kumi Naidoo: podcast appearances and interviews

Kumi Naidoo, born in 1965, is a South African human rights and climate justice activist known for his leadership roles in various international organizations. He served as the International Executive Director of Greenpeace International from 2009 to 2015 and was the Secretary General of Amnesty International from 2018 to 2019. Naidoo also held the position of Secretary-General of CIVICUS, the international alliance for citizen participation, from 1998 to 2008. Currently, he is the president of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, which advocates for a treaty to halt fossil fuel exploration and expansion, phase out existing production, and support a just transition to renewable energy in alignment with the Paris Climate Agreement. His activism began early in life; at the age of fifteen, he organized students in school boycotts against apartheid in South Africa and engaged in civil disobedience against the ruling regime. He co-founded the Helping Hands Youth Organisation and has written about his activism in his memoir, "Letters to My Mother: The Making of a Troublemaker," which recounts how his mother's suicide became a catalyst for his radical activism. Naidoo served as the Launch Executive Director of Africans Rising for Justice, Peace & Dignity in 2016 and was appointed as the Inaugural Global Ambassador in June 2020. In addition, he has contributed to campaigns against poverty and climate change, organized mass demonstrations around climate negotiations, and participated in various academic and advisory roles, including fellowships at the Robert Bosch Academy and Oxford University.