From anti-apartheid struggle to Greenpeace leadership: Kumi Naidoo speaks at Rhodes House
Kumi Naidoo (South Africa-at-Large & Magdalen 1987), the Executive Director of Greenpeace International, spoke tonight to a wrapt audience at Rhodes House of his personal journey from anti-apartheid activism in South Africa in the 1980s to his leadership of Greenpeace today, where he is confronting the challenges of developing a global consensus to combat 'catastrophic' climate change.
An activist since his youth, Dr Naidoo first came to Oxford in 1987 as a Rhodes Scholar on the run from arrest for breaching the state of emergency under the apartheid regime. He later completed his Oxford doctorate, writing on political resistance and opposition in his hometown, Durban.
After the release of Nelson Mandela, he returned to South Africa, and has since held various leadership roles in South African non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and participated in a wide variety of international (including UN and Commonwealth) bodies on issues of development, education, human rights, social justice, and civil society.
Dr Naidoo spoke of NGO activism and civil society as essential in confronting major national and global issues, and spoke of his decision to stay in NGO work in South Africa rather than to enter government when the African National Congress, with which he was very actively involved, came to power.
Increasingly, he argued tonight, crucial issues - such as the environment, health (e.g. the HIV/AIDS epidemic), and international trade and development - depend on global rather than purely national forces, making global rather than only local or national activism increasingly important.
The risk posed to rich and poor countries alike from climate change, he said, makes the need for significant reduction in emissions urgent, and means that the failure to achieve a 'FAB' (fair, ambitious, and binding) treaty at the 2009 Copenhagen summit must be followed by renewed efforts to develop a global consensus 'from the bottom up' for action. This requires the broadening of grassroots participation as well as NGOs being professional, the strengthening of partnerships between NGOs, and the 'critical and indispensable' involvement of faith-based as well as secular organisations.
Dr Naidoo agreed with the US intelligence estimates that the greatest threat to peace and security in the future will come from climate change, and said that there are already hundreds of thousands of climate change refugees and thousands of people dying as a result of crises arising from water and land scarcity (such as in Darfur).
Crisis also means opportunity, he argued, and there are, for example, opportunities for cleaner, renewable jobs (for example, in renewable technologies) if there is the political will to help create them. The Copenhagen summit, which highlighted the role of such powers as Brazil, South Africa, India, and China, as well as the marginalistion of the European Union, shows that political power within the global community is shifting; the role of the United States remains, of course, crucial.
Dr Naidoo said that the great struggles in history require decent men and women - such as Gandhi, Mandela, and Rosa Parks - to put their lives on the line, and show that peaceful civil disobedience is what get results.
He encouraged Rhodes Scholars and others to consider how they can help divert the world from its present 'catastrophic' path, and respond to the 'perfect storm' of simultaneous fuel, food, poverty, climate, and financial crises through action, including through careers, outside as well as within the private sector.
'The Rhodes Scholarship transformed my opportunities', he said. These would have been 'much restricted' without it.
In introducing Kumi Naidoo, the Warden of Rhodes House, Dr Donald Markwell, said that he had 'beyond doubt, long been "fighting the world's fight"', and was 'one of the world's most prominent NGO leaders'.
In thanking him, Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon (South Africa-at-Large & Jesus 2005) spoke with gratitude of Kumi Naidoo's place in the tradition of progressive South African Rhodes Scholars, and of his inspiration and challenge to current Scholars.
To see a short video of Kumi Naidoo discussing aspects of his Rhodes experience, click here.
