Showing posts with label Greenpeace. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Sustainability Conversations ... Africa's Own Story

"It is time we speak together and decide what change we wish to see in our countries, across Africa and what we want Africa to be when we celebrate Africa Day in the future. For a long time now, others have been writing our story. Now is the time for us to take a brave step, a giant step for us and start writing (and telling) our own story—a story of a united Africa, at peace with prosperous and healthy people," says Kumi Naidoo

"Today we are told that Africa is rising. Yet, when we look closer, it seems that this is based solely on aggregated assessments of national Gross Domestic Product. In these rising African countries the few are becoming fantastically wealthy while the majority remain socially marginalized and economically excluded." "In truth," says Kumi, the majority of Africans are not rising and continue to struggle with poverty and the denial of their most basic rights.

“Imagine we are the last people on the planet and climate change has happened and we decided to write up the history of humanity and put it in a capsule so that if human life emerges again they won’t make the same mistakes, one of the things we would probably conclude is that those who historically deem themselves to be civilised and need to civilise the uncivilised – that is the indigenous peoples of the world – we would conclude that the people who were most civilised were the indigenous peoples of the world.” - Kumi Naidoo in an exit interview after leaving Greenpeace International.

In February 2016, Kumi Naidoo agreed to serve as the start-up director of African Civil Society Initiative. Upon accepting the role he immediately set about engaging in dialogue with civil society across the continent to gain further insight into perspectives on a move to build greater unity within civil society on the continent. The process included numerous formal and informal consultations with civil society activists, regional and local networks, NGOs, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), trade unions and faith-based groups across the continent.

Key discussions were affirmed at a recent strategy workshop organized by the African Civil Society Initiative. Thirty activists, NGOs and networks aligned themselves with the inspirational Rustlers Valley Declaration (2014), thus taking up the challenge for civil society generally and NGOs specifically "to be the change we want to see in the world."

Kumi Naidoo is back on the iStart2 Show this week and offers a glimpse at what the new Africa Civil Society Initiative might look like. Tune in Thursday @17h30.

Keitu Gwangwa & Pierre du Toit host the iStart2 Show on Thursdays at 17h30. Radio Today broadcasts on 1485 MW (AM) in greater Johannesburg and countrywide on ‪#‎DStv‬ audio channel 869.

Radio Today also streams globally on www.1485.org.za.

Something to think about ...
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Friday, August 5, 2016

Activism is Sexy! It is Time to Act! ... Kumi Naidoo

"Our struggle is not about the Planet. The Planet doesn't need saving. Climate change will not make every day hotter. This struggle is about whether humanity can find a way to co-exist with nature. Practically it is about our children and our children's future," says Kumi Naidoo on the iStart2 Show this week.

He firmly believes that we have to remember what the history of the human journey teaches us about an essential ingredient. Without it, the burst of efforts and evidence of change that we see today will remain too little, too late. That ingredient is hope. It's the belief that change is possible.

Kumi has a strong message for the newly elected leadership in South Africa: "So many millions of our people do not have a place to p*** and s***."

Dr Kumi Naidoo was kicked out of school at the age of 15. As the former Executive Director of Greenpeace International he had an icy water canon trained on him whilst climbing a ladder on an oil rig in the Arctic and fell in the icy water. An extreme activist in the truest sense of the word.

He was the Secretary and CEO of Civicus, the world alliance for citizen participation, from 1998 - 2008 before joining Greenpeace. He fought against Apartheid in South Africa ("The struggle against Apartheid gave me a very large extended family.") He has led various global initiatives, including the Global Call for Climate Action and the Global Call to Action Against Poverty. He is now the start-up director for the Africa Civil Society Initiative.

Listen to the podcast of the iStart2 Show with Kumi Naidoo here:

Thought of the Day:

On a lighter note!

The iStart2 initiative on SowetoTV

Tim Modise chats to the Princess of Africa, Yvonne Chaka Chaka on SowetoTV on Woman's Day, Tuesday 9 August 2016 from 19h30 - 20h00.

Yvonne shares her journey as a woman in Africa, talks about her involvement in the recording of the iStart2Sing CD and her contribution to benefit people in Giyani by joining iStart2 in the distribution of solar lights to the community. Join us on The Tim Modise Show, #DSTV Channel 251 and Free-to-Air in Gauteng, with one of the most remarkable woman in South Africa.

Activism is Sexy! It is time to act!

Monday, August 1, 2016

Sustainability Conversations ... Leadership Voices

Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people - Nelson Mandela

I saw with my own eyes what happened to the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa once people in large numbers came to believe change was possible. I look around today, and I see more and more evidence that we can beat the worst ravages of climate change. It will take fast action. It will take courage like we have never witnessed on a global scale before – from banks, from corporations, from artists, governments, religious and labour leaders, the charity sector, the billionaires, and from every one of us.

We have a duty. A duty to share. To tell the world. To make that courage contagious. Make it a norm. Make it an expectation that this is how the world works. Belief requires evidence, and the stories we tell one another evidence our beliefs: some stories propel us forward. Others hold us back. We can believe that change is impossible, or too expensive, or naive, and consign the fate of this earth to death by business as usual. Or we can fight back. We can stand up and say that a better world is not only possible, it's being built right now, by the individual and collective acts of courage of every one of us.

- Kumi Naidoo: Thank you for letting me be a part of your journey
Read more here

This week we chat to Kumi Naidoo on the iStart2 Show. He is a South African human rights activist and previously the International Executive Director of international environmentalist group Greenpeace. He was the first African to head the organisation. He fought against apartheid in his home country and has led various global initiatives, including the Global Call to Action Against Poverty and the Global Call for Climate Action. He is now the start-up director for the Africa Civil Society Initiative.