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Wangari Maathai, Founder of the Kenyan Green Party, Wins Nobel Peace Prize. |
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GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES October 8, 2004 Contacts: U.S. GREENS CONGRATULATE WANGARI MAATHAI, FOUNDER OF KENYAN GREEN PARTY, ON NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party members in the U.S. celebrated the news that Kenyan Deputy Environment Minister and peace activist Wangari Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. Dr. Maathai is founder of the Mazingira Green Party and the Green Belt Movement in Kenya. In 2002, before her current appointment, she was elected to the Kenyan parliament on the Green Party ticket in the first free elections held in the country in decades. "Wangari Maathai has been a good friend to Greens in the U.S. for many years," said Tony Affigne, co-chair of the International Committee of the Green Party of the United States. "Her recognition as this year's Nobel winner is no surprise to those of us in the Green movement who've seen her decades-long commitment to peace and ecological wisdom." U.S. Greens, sending their congratulations to Dr. Maathai, noted her long career of activism on behalf of human rights, especially equality for women, democracy, peaceful resolution to Kenya's internal strife, and the environment. The first environmentalist and first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Maathai was jailed in 1991 for working to stop deforestation in Kenya. Dr. Maathai and the women-based Green Belt Movement, which planted more than 30 million trees, have already received numerous awards, including the Petra Kelly Prize for Environment, named for the founder of the first Green Party in Germany. "Wangari Maathai showed how planting a tree can be a gesture of peace and liberation," said Jody Grage Haug, national co-chair of the Green Party. "Dr. Maathai, who has defied dictatorships, corruption, and corporate greed on behalf of the Kenyan people and the land they live on, is an example for all of us in the Green Party. Congratulations, Wangari!" MORE INFORMATION search: rgt, gbl, prty |