[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE: US Green Party mourns Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Kenyan Green Party founder

Mon Sep 26 19:24:06 PDT 2011

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES

http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Monday, September 26, 2011

US Greens mourn Dr. Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Kenyan Green
Party founder and leader

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Green Party of the United States is mourning the passing
of Dr. Wangari Maathai and celebrating the life of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize
laureate and founder of the Mazingira Green Party and the Green Belt Movement
(http://www.greenbeltmovement.org) in Kenya.

In 2002, Dr. Maathai was elected to the Kenyan Parliament on the Green Party
ticket in the first free elections held in the country in decades and later
appointed Kenyan Deputy Environment Minister.  She was a close friend to
Greens in the US and throughout the world and in May 2008 hosted an Global
Greens conference in Nairobi
(http://www.gp.org/greenpages/content/volume11/issue1/world4.php).

Dr. Maathai and the women-based Green Belt Movement, which planted more than
30 million trees, received numerous awards, including the Petra Kelly Prize
for Environment, named for the founder of the first Green Party in Germany.
  The first environmentalist and first African woman to be awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize, she was jailed in 1991 for working to stop deforestation in Kenya.

African Greens (Coalition of Green Parties and political movements in Africa)
released this statement today: http://africangreens.org/spip.php?article61

• Theresa El-Amin, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States: "I heard
Dr. Maathai speak at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, two years
ago. Her influence was reflected on the campus with the planting of four trees
in her honor.  She was beautiful in her African dress as she told wonderful
stories of her childhood and the awakening she experienced on how all life is
interdependent.  Several members of the North Carolina Green Party, along with
students from all over the state, attended the special lecture."

• Marian Douglas-Ungaro, co-chair of the International Committee
(http://www.gp.org/committees/intl), member of the Green Party Black Caucus
(http://www.gp.org/caucuses/black/index.php), and DC Statehood Green:  "I was
in contact with Dr. Maathai when I lived in Kenya, 2001-2004.  Almost everyday
I drove past the Greenbelt Movement billboard in the Muthaiga neighborhood
that inspired people to action.  Black Greens will continue to work to
encourage many more African and Afrodescendant women, men, and youth to
continue the social and environmental work which Dr. Maathai both started and
inspired."

• Morgen D'Arc, co-founder of the Green Party National Women's Caucus
(http://www.gp.org/caucuses/women/index.php), recalling Dr. Maathai's 2002
visit to Maine as featured speaker for the Maine Green Independent Party: "At
the time, I was working statewide with Women in Green Politics, an
organization I had founded the year before.  Dr. Maathai opened my eyes.  Her
courage, determination, focus on women, poverty and the environment, what she
had accomplished and at the same time her gentleness, patience and warmth
really reached me.  The inspiration I gained from Dr. Maathai's visit was with
me for years, as I first co-founded and then organized and led the National
Women's Caucus.  When I learned yesterday that she was gone, it was as if a
gaping hole opened in front of me.  It's just way too soon.  She will not be
forgotten and will no doubt continue to inspire many, as she did me."

• Thomas Muhammad, co-chair of the Green Party Black Caucus: "The Green Party
Black Caucus joins the whole world, particularly African Greens, in their loss
of such a giant sister like Wangari Maathai.  Her words should serve as a wake
up call for all political parties the world over.  She said, 'As long as there
is no trust and confidence that there will be justice and fairness in resource
distribution, political positioning will remain more important than service.'
  We will miss you deeply, soft-spoken sister."

• Greg Gerritt, Green Party of Rhode Island and International Committee
member: "Dr Maathai's work on the reforestation of Africa has ben one of the
more hopeful activities on the planet, a key to both ecological and economic
revival."

• Audrey Clement, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and
candidate for Arlington County Board in Virginia
(http://www.audreyclement.org): "Women around the world are bereft of a great
leader in Wangari Maathai.  In drawing a connection between the environment
and the power and rights of women throughout the world, Dr. Maathai altered
the way we think about both.  Wangari Maathai will be remembered as a
visionary leader, like Rachel Carson, whose actions saved our planet."

• John Rensenbrink, Maine Green Independent Party and International Committee
member: "Wangari Maathai was our keynote speaker at the Bowdoin College
conference in February 2002 on Race, Justice, and the Environment.  Having
organized that three-day conference connecting social justice, race, and
ecology,  I was bowled over by her magic and warmth, her natural eloguence,
and her powerful commitment to a new way to live on this earth.  The day after
the conference she stayed to address a special meeting of the the Maine Green
Independent Party and thrilled everyone.  And when, a few years later, she was
awarded the Nobel Peace Price, I lost track of her but was told by those who
knew her that she received her fame with poise and humor, threw herself into
the often dangerous pit of Kenya politics, and continued to speak out and act
for the land, the trees, and for justice.  She is sorely missed."

• Dr. Wangari Maathai, 1992:  “We have come a long way from ignorance to deep
insight, from fear to courage and from the streets to Parliament.  We moved
from self to others, from 'my issue' to 'our issues', from home to
communities, from national level to global.  Now we embrace the concepts of
our common home and future." ("Wangari Maathai’s quotable quotes," Agence
France Presse, September 26, 2011,
http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2011/09/26/wangari-maathai%E2%80%99s-quotable-quotes)

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
• Green candidate database and campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php

"Wangari Maathai, Founder of the Kenyan Green Party, Wins Nobel Peace Prize"
Green Party press release, October 9, 2004
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_10_08_04.html

"Press Misses Big Story, As Green Party Member Beats Bush and Blair -- for the
Nobel Peace Prize"
Green Party press release, October 19, 2004
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_10_19_04.html

Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party's 2011 Annual
National Meeting in Alfred, NY, broadcast and archived on the Green Party's
Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• 2011 Annual National Meeting http://nygreenfest.org

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the
United States (Summer 2011 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog

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