WANGARI MAATHAI ON AFRICA'S MICRO-NATIONS

On this day, we celebrate what would have been the 85th birthday of Kenya’s Wangari Maathai, the pioneering environmentalist and political activist.

Maathai formed the Green Belt Movement, which promoted tree planting, nature conservation and rights for women. She drew attention to the fact that nature was involved in the struggle for social justice.

In 1989, Daniel Moi’s government proposed building a British-designed, 60-storey glass skyscraper in Uhuru Park, one of Nairobi’s few green spaces. Maathai’s resistance forced the government to abandon the project - though not before she was ridiculed as a ‘crazy woman’ who should ‘stay quiet.’

Her ecological consciousness had been shaped by her Kikuyu heritage, which valued trees as sacred. She understood that deforestation leads to landslides, droughts and the destruction of life. Her fight for Kenya's forests was a fight for the future.

She was the first Kenyan woman to be awarded a PhD and went on to work in parliament and as a cabinet minister. She was also the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2004.

In this clip, Maathai reminds us that, prior to colonialism, African societies governed themselves, with social and economic issues in the hands of the people. She rejected the colonial tactic of ‘divide and conquer’ and employed the term ‘micro-nation’ rather than ‘tribe’ to honour Africa's ethnic groups.

She joined the ancestors on 25 September 2011. Rest in power, Wangari Maathai.