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Kumi Naidoo

Passionately involved in liberation struggles from a young age, he continues to speak truth to power across the range of Greenpeace campaign activities around the globe. He is dedicated to engagement, dialogue and change and seeks a green and peaceful planet for all the world’s inhabitants.

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  • Time for civil disobedience

    Blogpost by Kumi Naidoo - May 20, 2013 at 10:01

    The tradition of civil disobedience is being reignited. The need is growing and the call to action is becoming impossible to ignore! Non-violent direct action can help re-establish a balance where our rights have been overtaken by the self interest of powerful economic elites, willing to sacrifice our children’s future for their short term gain and profit.





    Peaceful acts of civil disobedience has been at the heart of many major struggles humanity has fought over the past several decades: the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, the Civil Rights movement in the US and Gandhi’s fight against British colonial rule in India, to mention just a few examples.

    Imagine a world without civil disobedience and non-violent direct action. If that’s too abstract and difficult to imagine, tr... Read more >

  • Redirect military expenditure to ensure a sustainable future

    Blogpost by Kumi Naidoo - April 19, 2013 at 17:03

    As published in The Guardian on the 18th of April 2013.

    Last year $1.75tn was spent on the world's military, according to new estimates released this Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI). Seems like a lot? Let me put this into perspective. This amount is the equivalent of Canada's GDP or twice the GDP of the Netherlands.

    Nato members together spent a trillion dollars on the military and despite a significant 6% decrease, the US remains firmly in the lead, accounting for about 40% of the global amount. With a considerable percentage of citizens' taxes both in America (where it's up to 47%) and across the globe going towards military expenses, surely people are entitled to question whether this is money well spent to ensure security. And how this spending is more just... Read more >

  • Shell’s Arctic failure is Obama’s chance to act

    Blogpost by Kumi Naidoo - March 4, 2013 at 10:59

    Blog also published in Huffington Post on February 28th.

    An unexpected thing happened last night: one of the biggest oil companies in the world — Shell — made a big decision acknowledging that the oil industry cannot operate safely in the Arctic. A decision that means one year of relief for the people and wildlife of the Arctic.

    Shell, a company with one of the worst human rights and environmental records in history, has cancelled its plans to drill this summer in the Alaskan Arctic. A fitting end to a year-long tragicomedy of errors. A year that began with boasting and bravado and ended in a series of accidents and outright safety violations that proved Shell is far from Arctic ready. The bottom line is that no one is or will ever be ready, given the risks involved.

    President Obama ... Read more >

  • Cynical Old King Coal shows its true colours

    Blogpost by Kumi Naidoo - November 26, 2012 at 7:59

    Shocking is the only way to describe the extraordinarily cynical comments made to the Financial Times (November 4, Global warming: Climate change needs action but it has a cost) by Milton Catelin, chief executive of the World Coal Association, in trying to downplay any idea that climate change may make coal a risky investment.

    “So, I don’t know why you would assume action on climate change is more likely than action on poverty,” was Catelin's cavalier reassurance to allay any investor anxiety.

    Sadly, he has a point, in that the world is failing to meet its commitments to the poor just as it is failing to rise to the threat of runaway climate change.

    Yet, whether his comments were made off-the-cuff, and without thought, or that he is so confident that he doesn't feel the need ... Read more >

  • On the future of America’s children or whether Obama will have a different approach this time around

    Blogpost by Kumi Naidoo - November 9, 2012 at 14:44

    Obama Receives Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo While US President Barack Obama receives the Nobel Peace Prize, activists demonstrate on the streets of Oslo. Activists hold signs that read "Obama: Our Climate. Your decision." and a banner depicting Obama and Jens Stoltenberg ten years older, apologising from the future "We could have stopped catastrophic climate change... We didn't." Greenpeace urges Obama to show strong leadership when he attends the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen the following week. 12/10/2009 © Christian Åslund / Greenpeace



    I felt relieved when I heard Obama’s victory speech this morning, and I particularly resonated with him when he spoke about the future of America’s children.

    “We want our children to live in an America that isn’t burnt by debt, that isn’t weakened by inequality, that isn’t threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet,” said Obama during his speech. Crowds burst into applause, while probably millions of other citizens of the world heard his vision.

    My relief came with the realisation that Barack Obama shares our vision. When President Obama was elected four years ago, his challenge was to stop the US from going into financial freefall. His challenge is even greater now – he needs to play a more assertive roleinternationally on the issue of climate change and stop us all from clima... Read more >

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