|
For those who may be
new to Green politics, the Lecture from this year's Nobel Peace
Prize Winner is an inspiring introduction to what it is to be
Green. It is also a culmination of achievement for a longtime
Green activist and something we can each aspire to in some small
or large way in our own lives. Here is a reprint of Wangari
Maathai's Nobel Lecture on December 10, 2004 in Oslo.
|
Wangari Maathai
Nobel Lecture, Oslo, December 10, 2004
Photo: John McConnico.
Copyright © 2003 Pressens Bild AB, SE-112 88
Stockholm, Sweden, Ph: +46-8-738 38 00.
|
|
Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses,
Honourable Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I stand before you and the world humbled by
this recognition and uplifted by the honour of being the 2004
Nobel Peace Laureate.
As the first African woman to receive this
prize, I accept it on behalf of the people of Kenya and Africa,
and indeed the world. I am especially mindful of women and the
girl child. I hope it will encourage them to raise their voices
and take more space for leadership. I know the honour also gives
a deep sense of pride to our men, both old and young. As a
mother, I appreciate the inspiration this brings to the youth
and urge them to use it to pursue their dreams.
Although this prize comes to me, it
acknowledges the work of countless individuals and groups across
the globe. They work quietly and often without recognition to
protect the environment, promote democracy, defend human rights
and ensure equality between women and men. By so doing, they
plant seeds of peace. I know they, too, are proud today. To all
who feel represented by this prize I say use it to advance your
mission and meet the high expectations the world will place on
us.
This honour is also for my family, friends,
partners and supporters throughout the world. All of them helped
shape the vision and sustain our work, which was often
accomplished under hostile conditions. I am also grateful to the
people of Kenya - who remained stubbornly hopeful that democracy
could be realized and their environment managed sustainably.
Because of this support, I am here today to accept this great
honour.
I am immensely privileged to join my fellow
African Peace laureates, Presidents Nelson Mandela and F.W. de
Klerk, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the late Chief Albert Luthuli,
the late Anwar el-Sadat and the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.
I know that African people everywhere are
encouraged by this news. My fellow Africans, as we embrace this
recognition, let us use it to intensify our commitment to our
people, to reduce conflicts and poverty and thereby improve
their quality of life. Let us embrace democratic governance,
protect human rights and protect our environment. I am confident
that we shall rise to the occasion. I have always believed that
solutions to most of our problems must come from us.
In this year's prize, the Norwegian Nobel
Committee has placed the critical issue of environment and its
linkage to democracy and peace before the world. For their
visionary action, I am profoundly grateful. Recognizing that
sustainable development, democracy and peace are indivisible is
an idea whose time has come. Our work over the past 30 years has
always appreciated and engaged these linkages.
My inspiration partly comes from my childhood
experiences and observations of Nature in rural Kenya. It has
been influenced and nurtured by the formal education I was
privileged to receive in Kenya, the United States and Germany.
As I was growing up, I witnessed forests being cleared and
replaced by commercial plantations, which destroyed local
biodiversity and the capacity of the forests to conserve water.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, In 1977,
when we started the Green Belt Movement, I was partly responding
to needs identified by rural women, namely lack of firewood,
clean drinking water, balanced diets, shelter and income.
Throughout Africa, women are the primary
caretakers, holding significant responsibility for tilling the
land and feeding their families. As a result, they are often the
first to become aware of environmental damage as resources
become scarce and incapable of sustaining their families.
The women we worked with recounted that
unlike in the past, they were unable to meet their basic needs.
This was due to the degradation of their immediate environment
as well as the introduction of commercial farming, which
replaced the growing of household food crops. But international
trade controlled the price of the exports from these small-scale
farmers and a reasonable and just income could not be
guaranteed. I came to understand that when the environment is
destroyed, plundered or mismanaged, we undermine our quality of
life and that of future generations.
Tree planting became a natural choice to
address some of the initial basic needs identified by women.
Also, tree planting is simple, attainable and guarantees quick,
successful results within a reasonable amount time. This
sustains interest and commitment.
So, together, we have planted over 30 million
trees that provide fuel, food, shelter, and income to support
their children's education and household needs. The activity
also creates employment and improves soils and watersheds.
Through their involvement, women gain some degree of power over
their lives, especially their social and economic position and
relevance in the family. This work continues.
Initially, the work was difficult because
historically our people have been persuaded to believe that
because they are poor, they lack not only capital, but also
knowledge and skills to address their challenges. Instead they
are conditioned to believe that solutions to their problems must
come from 'outside'. Further, women did not realize that meeting
their needs depended on their environment being healthy and well
managed. They were also unaware that a degraded environment
leads to a scramble for scarce resources and may culminate in
poverty and even conflict. They were also unaware of the
injustices of international economic arrangements.
In order to assist communities to understand
these linkages, we developed a citizen education program, during
which people identify their problems, the causes and possible
solutions. They then make connections between their own personal
actions and the problems they witness in the environment and in
society. They learn that our world is confronted with a litany
of woes: corruption, violence against women and children,
disruption and breakdown of families, and disintegration of
cultures and communities. They also identify the abuse of drugs
and chemical substances, especially among young people. There
are also devastating diseases that are defying cures or
occurring in epidemic proportions. Of particular concern are
HIV/AIDS, malaria and diseases associated with malnutrition.
On the environment front, they are exposed to
many human activities that are devastating to the environment
and societies. These include widespread destruction of
ecosystems, especially through deforestation, climatic
instability, and contamination in the soils and waters that all
contribute to excruciating poverty.
In the process, the participants discover
that they must be part of the solutions. They realize their
hidden potential and are empowered to overcome inertia and take
action. They come to recognize that they are the primary
custodians and beneficiaries of the environment that sustains
them.
Entire communities also come to understand
that while it is necessary to hold their governments
accountable, it is equally important that in their own
relationships with each other, they exemplify the leadership
values they wish to see in their own leaders, namely justice,
integrity and trust.
Although initially the Green Belt Movement's
tree planting activities did not address issues of democracy and
peace, it soon became clear that responsible governance of the
environment was impossible without democratic space. Therefore,
the tree became a symbol for the democratic struggle in Kenya.
Citizens were mobilised to challenge widespread abuses of power,
corruption and environmental mismanagement. In Nairobi 's Uhuru
Park, at Freedom Corner, and in many parts of the country, trees
of peace were planted to demand the release of prisoners of
conscience and a peaceful transition to democracy.
Through the Green Belt Movement, thousands of
ordinary citizens were mobilized and empowered to take action
and effect change. They learned to overcome fear and a sense of
helplessness and moved to defend democratic rights.
In time, the tree also became a symbol for
peace and conflict resolution, especially during ethnic
conflicts in Kenya when the Green Belt Movement used peace trees
to reconcile disputing communities. During the ongoing
re-writing of the Kenyan constitution, similar trees of peace
were planted in many parts of the country to promote a culture
of peace. Using trees as a symbol of peace is in keeping with a
widespread African tradition. For example, the elders of the
Kikuyu carried a staff from the thigi tree that, when placed
between two disputing sides, caused them to stop fighting and
seek reconciliation. Many communities in Africa have these
traditions.
Such practises are part of an extensive
cultural heritage, which contributes both to the conservation of
habitats and to cultures of peace. With the destruction of these
cultures and the introduction of new values, local biodiversity
is no longer valued or protected and as a result, it is quickly
degraded and disappears. For this reason, The Green Belt
Movement explores the concept of cultural biodiversity,
especially with respect to indigenous seeds and medicinal
plants.
As we progressively understood the causes of
environmental degradation, we saw the need for good governance.
Indeed, the state of any county's environment is a reflection of
the kind of governance in place, and without good governance
there can be no peace. Many countries, which have poor
governance systems, are also likely to have conflicts and poor
laws protecting the environment.
In 2002, the courage, resilience, patience and commitment of
members of the Green Belt Movement, other civil society
organizations, and the Kenyan public culminated in the peaceful
transition to a democratic government and laid the foundation
for a more stable society.
Excellencies, friends, ladies and gentlemen,
It is 30 years since we started this work.
Activities that devastate the environment and societies continue
unabated. Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a
shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its
life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal
her wounds and in the process heal our own - indeed, to embrace
the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder. This
will happen if we see the need to revive our sense of belonging
to a larger family of life, with which we have shared our
evolutionary process.
In the course of history, there comes a time
when humanity is called to shift to a new level of
consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we
have to shed our fear and give hope to each other.
That time is now.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has challenged
the world to broaden the understanding of peace: there can be no
peace without equitable development; and there can be no
development without sustainable management of the environment in
a democratic and peaceful space. This shift is an idea whose
time has come.
I call on leaders, especially from Africa, to
expand democratic space and build fair and just societies that
allow the creativity and energy of their citizens to flourish.
Those of us who have been privileged to
receive education, skills, and experiences and even power must
be role models for the next generation of leadership. In this
regard, I would also like to appeal for the freedom of my fellow
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi so that she can continue her work for
peace and democracy for the people of Burma and the world at
large.
Culture plays a central role in the
political, economic and social life of communities. Indeed,
culture may be the missing link in the development of Africa.
Culture is dynamic and evolves over time, consciously discarding
retrogressive traditions, like female genital mutilation (FGM),
and embracing aspects that are good and useful.
Africans, especially, should re-discover
positive aspects of their culture. In accepting them, they would
give themselves a sense of belonging, identity and
self-confidence.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
There is also need to galvanize civil society
and grassroots movements to catalyse change. I call upon
governments to recognize the role of these social movements in
building a critical mass of responsible citizens, who help
maintain checks and balances in society. On their part, civil
society should embrace not only their rights but also their
responsibilities.
Further, industry and global institutions
must appreciate that ensuring economic justice, equity and
ecological integrity are of greater value than profits at any
cost.
The extreme global inequities and prevailing
consumption patterns continue at the expense of the environment
and peaceful co-existence. The choice is ours.
I would like to call on young people to
commit themselves to activities that contribute toward achieving
their long-term dreams. They have the energy and creativity to
shape a sustainable future. To the young people I say, you are a
gift to your communities and indeed the world. You are our hope
and our future.
The holistic approach to development, as
exemplified by the Green Belt Movement, could be embraced and
replicated in more parts of Africa and beyond. It is for this
reason that I have established the Wangari Maathai Foundation to
ensure the continuation and expansion of these activities.
Although a lot has been achieved, much remains to be done.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
As I conclude I reflect on my childhood
experience when I would visit a stream next to our home to fetch
water for my mother. I would drink water straight from the
stream. Playing among the arrowroot leaves I tried in vain to
pick up the strands of frogs' eggs, believing they were beads.
But every time I put my little fingers under them they would
break. Later, I saw thousands of tadpoles: black, energetic and
wriggling through the clear water against the background of the
brown earth. This is the world I inherited from my parents.
Today, over 50 years later, the stream has
dried up, women walk long distances for water, which is not
always clean, and children will never know what they have lost.
The challenge is to restore the home of the tadpoles and give
back to our children a world of beauty and wonder.
Thank you very much.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Green Party of the
United States announced the accreditation of the National
Women's Caucus today, after the party's national Coordinating
Committee granted the caucus a voting seat.
"The National Women's Caucus is the
first national organized effort for women in the history of the
Green Party," said Maya O'Connor, Green Party Co-chair.
"We are proud to announce and celebrate the overwhelming
vote to seat the caucus and a great victory for women in the
Party."
The accreditation vote caps over two years of
organizing to qualify for affiliation with the Green Party.
Along with a vote on the National Committee, the National
Women's Caucus will be able to send delegates to Green Party
committees and enjoy access to many party resources.
"Now that we're accredited, we have the
fastest growing political party in the United States solidly
behind us, as well as a platform that is bold for women,"
said Morgen D'Arc, co-founder and Co-chair of the caucus. The
Green Party platform section on women's rights can be read at http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/socjustice.html#998980.
"We will reach into the party to
represent the needs and interests of women and reach outside to
attract greater participation and collaboration," added Ms.
D'Arc.
"The Green Party recognizes the need to
give voice, a vote, and the ability to affect policy to
communities that have been historically oppressed,
underrepresented, and disenfranchised," said Holly Hart,
National Women's Caucus delegate to the Coordinating Committee
and Co-chair of the party's Platform Committee. "Conditions
for women are declining. We will bring issues to the table
that aren't getting enough attention, such as the staggering
poverty of single mothers, violence against women, equal pay, a
living wage, and the continuing reality that women live without
the security of constitutional equal rights."
Caucus members have also spoken out for the
rights and welfare of women in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other
nations where women have been under threat of violence and
repression. The Green Party of the United States includes
feminism among its Ten Key Values http://www.gp.org/tenkey.html.
"Many Americans identify the Green Party
with environmental issues," said Ms. D'Arc. "However,
the National Women's Caucus, in emphasizing social justice and
women's rights with an electoral imperative, will help to define
the Green Party for people as well and as the only party that
prioritizes and cares about women."
The Black Caucus and Lavender Green Caucus
(representing gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and
queer Greens) have already been accredited by the Green Party.
|
