Ahmed M. Kathrada is a veteran of the South African liberation struggle, one of the famous Rivonia trialists and a long-serving political prisoner on Robben Island and at Pollsmoor Maximum Prison. He became a political activist while still a teenager when he got involved in the activities of the Communist Party and the Transvaal Indian (Youth) Congress. In the 1950s, he participated in many campaigns of the Congress Alliance alongside ANC-leaders like Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. The title of his lecture is "Letters from Robbens Island."