Started on March 8, International Women’s Day, Pressenza is publishing a series of video interviews entitled “Women who build the future, Towards a nonviolent culture ”.
In this interview Veronica Tarozzi speaks with Makoma Lekalakala, Director of Earthlife Africa, a civil society environmental justice and anti-nuclear organisation. She has long been active in social movements tackling issues from gender and women’s rights, social, economic and environmental justice issues. In recent years, Makoma has focused on targeting environmental corruption.
Her commitment to climate justice in South Africa has led civil society to win the first South African climate change legal case against the government and the reversal of the nuclear deal by South Africa and the Russian government. For her efforts, she received the Goldman Environmental Prize for Africa 2018 award and SAB Environmentalist of the year 2018 award. Makoma has her roots as a liberation fighter and is a strong campaigner for a just and fair society.
In this interview, she talks about the role of women in protecting the environment and life around us, and about the African philosophy of Ubuntu, according to which all living beings are connected. She describes the future she aspires to, a future where justice prevails, there are no wars and everyone has access to food and clean water. Finally, she touches on a subject close to her heart, that of the tendency of various African governments to invest in the construction of nuclear reactors and insists on the dangers of a technology responsible for endless disasters, producing radioactive waste that will affect the lives of future generations. She talks about the creation of an African network of anti-nuclear and renewable energy movements and the help that Pressenza and other media activists can give to their struggle by showing the really important issues and generating a global debate about them.
