{"id":12183,"date":"2020-09-14T12:46:10","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T12:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=12183"},"modified":"2021-12-01T12:42:11","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T12:42:11","slug":"5-influential-voices-spoke-up-for-kenyas-plastic-ban-and-you-should-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/blogs\/12183\/5-influential-voices-spoke-up-for-kenyas-plastic-ban-and-you-should-too\/","title":{"rendered":"5 influential voices spoke up for Kenya\u2019s Plastic Ban – and you should too!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Earlier this month, we collaborated with Unearthed and the New York Times to expose how the American Chemistry Council (ACC) was lobbying the US Trade Representative to include terms into the US-Kenya trade negotiations that would enable the plastics industry to flood Africa with plastics<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

According to documents <\/a>uncovered by Greenpeace\u2019s investigative journalism unit, the ACC wanted the United States government to insist that Kenya relax its existing plastic bans so that it could make the East African country a gateway to Africa for plastic trade – and then sell us recycling as a \u201cfalse solution\u201d<\/a> to the environmental catastrophe it would cause. <\/p>\n\n

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URGE THE KENYAN MINISTRY OF TRADE TO ACT NOW<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Several of the world\u2019s most influential voices took to social media when the news broke, expressing disgust at this attack on Africa\u2019s plastic-free progress<\/a>. Here\u2019s what they had to say:<\/p>\n\n

1. James Wakibia <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
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Wakibia is the activist credited to have inspired Kenya\u2019s plastic ban<\/a>. He started the social media campaign, using the Twitter hashtag #banplasticsKE, that would eventually lead to the country banning single-use plastic bags. It is no surprise that he took to Twitter to voice his dismay about the news. He tweeted: \u201cUSA should stop arm-twisting Kenya and African countries to accept trade pacts that will get us into bigger plastic problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

(Read Greenpeace Africa Senior Political Advisor Fredrick Njehu\u2019s opinion piece in the ACC\u2019s lobbying to include terms that will increase plastic trade in Africa – <\/em>click here<\/em><\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n

2. Indya Moore <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
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The popular Pose<\/em> actor, who is also an anti-racism and transgender rights activist, posted the article to thier Instagram page. Moore made a strong comment on how the ACC\u2019s plans for Kenya was a prime example of how vulnerable Black people are to the exploits of big US corporations<\/a>. Over 33,000 of the actor\u2019s fans liked the post in solidarity!  <\/p>\n\n

3. Greta Thunberg <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
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The Swedish climate youth activist has never been scared to call a spade, a spade. She quoted a paragraph from the expos\u00e9 demonstrating how plastic waste export quadrupled in Africa since China stopped importing plastic<\/a> waste in 2018. Thunberg commented, \u201cThe never ending sweeping of our rubbish underneath the carpet\u2026\u201d Nearly 10,000 people interacted with her tweet.<\/p>\n\n

(Read Greenpeace Africa Plastic Campaigner Amos Wemanya\u2019s blog on recycling, and why it is a \u201cfalse solution\u201d – <\/em>click here<\/em><\/a>) <\/em><\/p>\n\n

4. Robert Alai <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
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The controversial Kenyan blogger and cyber-activist was one of the first to share the news on Twitter. Alai is well known for his online commentary and has even been sued, and briefly incarcerated, for his highly opinionated political attacks. True to form, his tweet, cynically stating \u201cKenya Set To Lift Ban On Plastic Papers For US Imports\u201d, caught the attention of many and garnered almost 1,000 interactions. <\/p>\n\n

5. Tom Udall <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
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Serving as the senior US Senator from New Mexico since 2008, Udall has been very vocal about the impact of climate change during his tenure. Udall called out big oil companies<\/a> in a tweet where he shared the New York Times article, adding that \u201c[we] must make these polluters take responsibility\u201d.<\/p>\n\n

And, of course, we have a <\/em>bonus<\/em><\/strong> post from one of the most influential voices within the organisation, <\/em>Greenpeace International Executive Director Jennifer Morgan<\/em><\/strong>! She shared the news on all of her social media platforms, saying that the ACC\u2019s plan for Africa \u201ccannot happen\u201d.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n


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Making your voice heard on the matter is the only way that we can stop the ACC from proceeding with their plans. We encourage you to raise your voice on social media just like these brave activists. Also, make your voice count by signing this petition<\/a> to the Kenyan Minister of Trade, urging her to reject any terms that may interfere with the country\u2019s plastic bans.<\/p>\n\n

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URGE THE KENYAN MINISTRY OF TRADE TO ACT NOW<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Angelo Louw<\/em><\/strong><\/a> is the Digital Mobilisation Officer Greenpeace Africa, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He currently leads the orgnaisation\u2019s Plastic Project.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n \t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPlastic Free Future\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n Get Involved\n <\/a>\n \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several of the world\u2019s most influential voices took to social media when the news broke, expressing disgust at this attack on Africa\u2019s plastic-free progress. Here\u2019s what they had to say<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":12184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"not set","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[30,39,64],"p4-page-type":[48],"class_list":["post-12183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspirethemovement","tag-plastics","tag-socialjustice","tag-kenya","p4-page-type-blogs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12183"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49962,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12183\/revisions\/49962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12183"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=12183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}