New book to be launched soon by Sir Shridath Ramphal

Georgetown: Renowned Guyanese-born international diplomat Sir Shridath “Sonny” Ramphal will soon launch Glimpses of a Global Life, a book outlining the central role he played in several significant events during his time as Commonwealth Secretary General.

Ramphal rose from humble origins to become a key adviser to Queen Elizabeth II as Head of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Leaders from every continent engaged with him as the longest serving Secretary-General of the Commonwealth (1975-1990) and as the only person who served on all the Independent International Commissions that grappled with the world’s major issues.

Glimpses of a Global Life involves a cast of the world’s leading characters and the central role Ramphal played alongside them in issues such as ending apartheid in South Africa; laying the foundations for global concerns about the environment; the reform of global governance; and the resolution of conflicts.

The core of the book is concerned with the 15 years he served as Commonwealth Secretary General; for 11 of which Margaret Thatcher was Britain’s Prime Minister.

Ramphal tells the story of the Commonwealth’s role in ending the Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Southern Rhodesia by a minority white regime and bringing Zimbabwe to independence; of aiding the struggle against apartheid and securing its end, and the release of Nelson Mandela and South Africa’s freedom; of Thatcher’s obduracy against sanctions and the heroic stand against her by other Commonwealth leaders – from Africa, India and, particularly, in terms of effectiveness, Canada and Australia. Ramphal replaces conjecture over these dark episodes in human history with fact.

In these ‘glimpses’, the shadows of characters such as Uganda’s tyrant, Idi Amin, are recalled, as are the enlightened spirits of others like Germany’s Willy Brandt and Nelson Mandela – all of whom Ramphal encountered in his global life.

Glimpses of a Global Life is as well an analysis of major problems and challenges that dominated the 20th century which continue to shape the contours of the 21st.