Wangari Maathai

“We cannot tire or give up. We owe it to the present and future generations of all species to rise up and walk.” 

 

Wangari Maathai (1940-2011) was a Kenyan environmental activist, politician, feminist, scientist, and human rights campaigner who shaped modern Kenya into the nation it is today. Born Wangari Muta in a village near Mount Kenya, she grew up surrounded by beautiful scenery which embued her with a respect for nature. She studied abroad after receiving a scholarship to study in the States, earning a degree in biology and a PhD back in Kenya in veterinary anatomy. After that, she taught at Nairobi University, becoming a professor in 1977. While doing her PhD she married a (less successful) politican and they had three children together. 

During this time, she campaigned for equal rights for female staff, whom she united into a union. She was also involved in several civil organizations in the early 1970s – 1973 she became the directior of the Nairobi Kenya Red Cross Society . Following the establishment of the Environment Liaison Centre in 1974, Maathai was asked to be a member of the local board, eventually becoming board chair. Maathai also joined the National Council of Women of Kenya (NCWK). Through her work at these various volunteer associations, Maathai came to the realisation that Kenya’s problems mostly stemmed from environmental degradation. 

In 1974, her husband won a seat in parliament. His promise to improve unemployment rates inspired Maathai to link her environmental activism with a campaign to ease unemployment. Thus she founded Envirocare Ltd., a business that involved the planting of trees to conserve the environment. This led to the planting of her first tree nursery. Although this venture failed owing to a lack of funds, it possible to send Maathai to the first UN conference on human settlements, known as Habitat I, in June 1976. 

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“When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope.” 

 

In 1977, Maathai spoke to the NCWK,  proposing further tree planting, which the council supported. On 5 June 1977, marking World Environment Day, the NCWK marched in a procession to Kamukunji Park on the outskirts of the city, where they planted seven trees in honour of historical community leaders. This was the first "Green Belt", which was first known as the "Save the Land Harambee", later becoming the Green Belt Movement. Maathai encouraged the women of Kenya to plant tree nurseries throughout the country, searching nearby forests for seeds to grow trees native to the area. She agreed to pay the women a small stipend for each seedling which was later planted elsewhere. 

In 1977, Wangari founded the Green Belt Movement, after witnessing how the felling of trees was harming her wildlife and rural communities. In response, she began paying women a small amount of money to plant trees. This initiaive quickly spready throughout Africa and today more than 50 million trees have been planted thanks to the Green Belt Movement, helping to rejuvenate wildlife in affected areas. The organisation has also trained tens of thousands of women to make a living sustainably. The UN held the third global women's conference in Nairobi. During the conference, Maathai arranged seminars and presentations to describe the work the Green Belt Movement was doing in Kenya. She escorted delegates to see nurseries and plant trees. The conference helped to expand funding for the Green Belt Movement and led to the movement's establishing itself outside Kenya.  

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“What a friend we have in a tree, the tree is the symbol of hope, self improvement and what people can do for themselves.” 

 

In 1986, the Green Belt Movement expanded throughout Africa and led to the foundation of the Pan-African Green Belt Network. Forty-five representatives from fifteen African countries travelled to Kenya over the next three years to learn how to set up similar programs in their own countries to combat desertification, deforestation, water crises, and rural hunger. The attention the movement received in the media led to Maathai's being honored with numerous awards. The government of Kenya, however, demanded that the Green Belt Movement separate from the NCWK, believing the latter should focus solely on women's issues, not the environment. Therefore, in 1987, Maathai stepped down as chairperson of the NCWK and focused on the newly separate non-governmental organization. 

In 1984, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "converting the Kenyan ecological debate into mass action for reforestation." Maathai was an elected member of Parliament and served as assistant minister for Environment and Natural resources in the government of President Mwai Kibaki between January 2003 and November 2005. 

In her 2010 book, Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World, she discussed the impact of the Green Belt Movement, explaining that the group's civic and environmental seminars stressed "the importance of communities taking responsibility for their actions and mobilizing to address their local needs," and adding, "We all need to work hard to make a difference in our neighborhoods, regions, and countries, and in the world as a whole. That means making sure we work hard, collaborate with each other and make ourselves better agents to change."  

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“You cannot enslave a mind that knows itself. That values itself. That understands itself.” 

Maathai and her husband, Mwangi Mathai, separated in 1977, finally divorcing in 1979. Apparently, he condemned her as "too strong-minded for a woman" and complained that he was "unable to control her". In addition to labelling her as "cruel" in court, he publicly accused her of adultery with another MP which he suggested harmed his health. The judge ruled in her husband’s favour. When Maathai publicly objected that the judge was either incompetent or corrupt she was charged with contempt of court and sentence to SIX MONTHS! in jail. However, she only served 3 days, her lawyer was able to secure her release. Shortly after the divorce, her former husband sent a letter via his lawyer demanding that Maathai drop his surname. She chose to add an extra "a" instead. 

The cost of the divorce and the loss of her husband’s income made it difficult for Maathai to provide for herself and her children. When an opportunity arose to work for the Economic Commission for Africa through the United Nations Development Programme, she was forced to leave her children with her ex-husband, where they lived until 1985. 

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“You cannot protect the environment unless you empower people, you inform them, and you help them understand that these resources are their own, that they must protect them.” 

In 1979, shortly after the divorce, Maathai ran for the position of chairperson of the NCWK. This was opposed by the newly elected President of Kenya, Daniel Arap Moi, who wished to limit the amount of influence those of the Kikuyu ethnicity (such as Maathai) held in the country. She narrowly lost the election, and the one a year later. She believed that government interference was to blame, which seemed to be proven when the government’s intervention caused the NCWK to become practically bankrupt. However,  the NCWK survived by increasingly focussing on the environment and increasing its worldwide reputation. Maathai continued to be reelected to serve as chairman of the organization every year until she retired from the position in 1987. 

In 1982 Maathai decided to run for parlimanet as MP of her home region. As legally required, she quit her job with the university to campaign for office. However,  the courts decided that she was ineligible to run for office because she had not re-registered to vote in the last presidential election in 1979. Maathai believed this to be false and illegal, and brought the matter to court. The judge disqualified her from running on a technicality. When she requested her job back, she was rejected. As she lived in university housing and was no longer a staff member, she was evicted. 

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“When I see Uhuru Park and contemplate its meaning, I feel compelled to fight for it so that my grandchildren may share that dream and that joy of freedom as they one day walk there.” 

In the latter half of the 1980s, the Kenyan government made an aggressive stand against Maathai and the Green Belt Movement. The single-party regime opposed many of the movement's positions regarding democratic rights. For example, the Green Belt Movement carried out pro-democracy activities such as registering voters for the election and pressing for constitutional reform and freedom of expression. Maathai claimed that the government had clung to power through electoral fraud.  

In October 1989, Maathai learned of a plan to construct the 60-storey Kenya Times Media Trust Complex in Uhuru Park. Maathai wrote many letters in protest to, among others, the Office of the President. She also petitioned Sir John Johnson, the British high commissioner in Nairobi, urging him to intervene with Robert Maxwell, a major shareholder in the project, equating the construction of a tower in Uhuru Park to such construction in Hyde Park, maintaining that it could not be tolerated. 

 

The government refused to respond to her protests, instead brandishing her as "a crazy woman” in the media. On 8 November 1989, Parliament expressed outrage at Maathai's actions, complaining of her letters to foreign organizations and calling the Green Belt Movement a bogus organization and its members "a bunch of divorcees". They suggested that if Maathai was so comfortable writing to Europeans, perhaps she should go live in Europe.  

Despite Maathai's protests, as well as popular protest growing throughout the city, the ground was broken at Uhuru Park for construction of the complex on 15 November 1989. Maathai sought an injunction in the Kenya High Court to halt construction, but the case was thrown out. A day later,  during a speech celebrating independence from the British, President Moi suggested Maathai be a proper woman in the African tradition and respect men and be quiet. She was forced by the government to vacate her office, and they audited the Green Belt Movement in an apparent attempt to shut it down. Despite all this, her protests, the government's response – and the media coverage it garnered – led foreign investors to cancel the project in January 1990.  

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“African women in general need to know that it's OK for them to be the way they are - to see the way they are as a strength, and to be liberated from fear and from silence.” 

 

In January 1992, Maathai’s name appeared on a list of pro-democracy activists targeted for assassination. The pro-democracy group, known as the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD), presented its information to the media, calling for a general election. Maathai decided to barricade herself in her home, but after a three-day siege police forcefully entered the property and arrested her. She and the other pro-democracy activists who had been arrested were charged with spreading malicious rumors, sedition, and treason. After a day and a half in jail, they were brought to a hearing and released on bail. A variety of international organizations put pressure on the Kenyan government to substantiate the charges against the pro-democracy activists or risk damaging relations with the United States. In November 1992, the Kenyan government dropped the charges.  

On 28 February 1992, while released on bail, Maathai and others took part in a hunger strike in a corner of Uhuru Park, which they labeled Freedom Corner, to pressure the government to release political prisoners. After four days of hunger strike, on 3 March 1992, the police forcibly removed the protesters. Maathai and three others were knocked unconscious by police and hospitalized. President Daniel arap Moi called her "a mad woman" and "a threat to the order and security of the country". The attack drew international criticism. When the prisoners were not released, the protesters – mostly mothers of those in prison – moved their protest to All Saints Cathedral, the seat of the Anglican Archbishop in Kenya, across from Uhuru Park. The protest there continued, with Maathai contributing frequently, until early 1993, when the prisoners were finally released.  

During this time, Maathai was recognized with various awards internationally, but the Kenyan government did not appreciate her work. They accused her of inciting women and encouraging them to strip at Freedom Corner, but they could not silence her.  

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“It is often difficult to describe to those who live in a free society what life is like in an authoritarian regime. You don't know who to trust. You worry that you, your family, or your friends will be arrested and jailed without due process. The fear of political violence or death, whether through direct assassinations or targeted "accidents", is constant. Such was the case in Kenya, especially during the 1990s.” 

During the first multi-party election of Kenya, in 1992, Maathai strove to unite the opposition and for fair elections in Kenya by forming the Middle Ground Group, of which Maathai was chosen as chairperson. Simultaneously Maathai and like-minded opposition members formed the Movement for Free and Fair Elections. Despite their efforts, the opposition did not unite, and the ruling KANU party used intimidation and state-held media to win the election, retaining control of parliament.  

The following year, ethnic clashes occurred throughout Kenya which Maathai proposed were incited by the government who had warned of stark consequences to multi-party democracy. Maathai travelled with friends and the press to areas of violence in order to encourage them to cease fighting. With the Green Belt Movement she planted "trees of peace", but before long her actions were again opposed by the government. In February 1993 the president claimed that Maathai had masterminded a distribution of leaflets inciting Kikuyus to attack Kalenjins. After her friend and supporter Dr. Makanga was kidnapped, Maathai chose to go into hiding. While in hiding, Maathai was invited to a meeting in Tokyo of the Green Cross International. She said that she could not attend because she feared she would not be allowed to leave Kenya. The President denied this and allowed her to travel, thanks to international pressure. Maathai was again recognized internationally, and she flew to Scotland to receive the Edinburgh Medal in April 1993. In May she went to Chicago to receive the Jane Addams International Women's Leadership Award. 

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“Education, if it means anything, should not take people away from the land, but instill in them even more respect for it, because educated people are in a position to understand what is being lost….As I told the foresters, and the women, you don't need a diploma to plant a tree.” 

During the elections of 1997, Maathai again wished to unite the opposition in order to defeat the ruling party. In November, less than two months before the election, she decided to run for parliament and for president as a candidate of the Liberal Party. Her intentions were widely questioned in the press which suggested that she should stay out of politics. On election day, a false rumour that she had withdrawn from the election and endorsed another candidate was printed in the media, resulting in the loss of the election. 

In the summer of 1998, Maathai learned of a government plan to privatize large areas of public land in the Karura Forest, just outside Nairobi, and give it to political supporters. Maathai protested this through letters to the government and the press. She went with the Green Belt Movement to Karura Forest, planting trees and protesting the destruction of the forest. In early 1999, she and other protesters returned to the forest to plant a tree in protest. When she tried to plant a tree in an area that had been designated to be cleared for a golf course, the group was attacked. Many of the protesters were injured, including Maathai. When she reported the attack to the police, they refused to return with her to the forest to arrest her attackers. However, the attack had been filmed by Maathai's supporters, and the event provoked international outrage and the plans were eventually scrapped.   

In 2001, the government again planned to take public forest land and give it to its supporters. While protesting this and collecting petition signatures on 7 March 2001, in Wang'uru village near Mount Kenya, Maathai was again arrested. The following day, following international and popular protest at her arrest, she was released without being charged. On 7 July 2001, shortly after planting trees at Freedom Corner in Uhuru Park in Nairobi, Maathai was again arrested. Later that evening, she was again released without being charged. In January 2002, Maathai returned to at Yale. She remained there until June 2002. 

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“Maathai stood up courageously against the former oppressive regime in Kenya. Her unique forms of action have contributed to drawing attention to political oppression—nationally and internationally. She has served as inspiration for many in the fight for democratic rights and has especially encouraged women to better their situation.” 

 

Upon her return to Kenya, Maathai again campaigned for parliament in the 2002 elections, this time as a candidate of the National Rainbow Coalition, the umbrella organization which finally united the opposition. On 27 December 2002, the Rainbow Coalition defeated the ruling party and in Tetu Constituency Maathai won with an overwhelming 98% of the vote. In January 2003, she was appointed Assistant Minister in the Ministry for Environment and Natural Resources and served in that capacity until November 2005. She founded the Mazingira Green Party of Kenya in 2003 to allow candidates to run on a platform of conservation as embodied by the Green Belt Movement.  

Wangarĩ Maathai was awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her "contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace." Maathai was the first African woman to win the prestigious award. Between 1901 and 2018, only 52 Nobel Prize awards were given to women, while 852 Nobel Prize awards have been given to men. Through her significant efforts, Wangari Maathai became the first African woman, and the first environmentalist, to win the prize. 

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“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.” 

 

On 28 March 2005, Maathai was elected the first president of the African Union's Economic, Social and Cultural Council and was appointed a goodwill ambassador for an initiative aimed at protecting the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem. In 2006, she was one of the eight flag-bearers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. In November 2006, she spearheaded the United Nations Billion Tree Campaign. Maathai was one of the founders of the Nobel Women's Initiative, aimed at strengthing  work being done in support of women's rights around the world.  

In August 2006, then United States Senator Barack fbr traveled to Kenya. His father was educated in America through the same program as Maathai. She and the Senator met and planted a tree together in Uhuru Park in Nairobi. Obama called for freedom of the press to be respected, saying, "Press freedom is like tending a garden; it continually has to be nurtured and cultivated. The citizenry has to value it because it's one of those things that can slip away if we're not vigilant."  

Maathai was defeated in the Party of National Unity's primary elections for its parliamentary candidates in November 2007 and chose to instead run as the candidate of a smaller party. She was defeated in the December 2007 parliamentary election  

Wangarĩ Maathai died on 25 September 2011 of complications arising from ovarian cancer. 

“Recognizing that sustainable development, democracy and peace are indivisible is an idea whose time has come... Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking…We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own - indeed, to embrace the whole of creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder.” 

 

I had never heard of Wangari Maathai until my best friend gave me a book of a 100 famous women and I happened to notice a small paragraph about her as I was flicking through it on my birthday evening. Intrigued, I googled her and found an absolute hero and my new fav woman of recent times. As a student/teacher, as a feminist/empowerer, as a politician/campaigner, as a defender of democracy and the planet, an environmental acitivist, and of course as the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize, Maathai is not only an intersectional polymath, but a hero in so many different ways. Her work screams of the importance of protecting the planet, which is obviously an increasingly important cause which must never not be spoken about. However, her story also depicts the masoginy that has plagued her throughout her life – from her husband, from the ruling elite, from the media, and the military/police/legal authorities of her lad. She stood up to all of the men who sought to silence her, and spoke on behalf of Mother Earth and the countless women in Kenya and beyond who need financial and emotional support to smash the patriarchy and rise up out of oppression. Her bravery and defiance in the face of government hostility and a very real threat to her life are inspirational and her success in uniting the opposition and bringing democracy to Kenya despite all the hurdles she faced in doing so make her a treasure not just of Kenya, or wider Africa, but the whole world. I am so ashamed that I hadn’t heard of this truly remarkable woman until now, and I’m gonna do everything I can to make sure that her story and her work are never forgotten again.