| Kumi Naidoo | |
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Kumi Naidoo at climate change protest in Copenhagen, Denmark. December 2009. |
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| Occupation | International Executive Director of Greenpeace |
Kumi Naidoo, born 1965, is a South African human rights activist and the International Executive Director of international environmentalist group, Greenpeace.[1][2] He is the first African to head the organisation.[2]
After battling apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s through the Helping Hands Youth Organisation, Naidoo led global campaigns to end poverty and protect human rights. Recently, he has led the Global Campaign for Climate Action (Tcktcktck.org), which brings together environmental, aid, religious and human rights groups, labor unions, scientists and others and has organized mass demonstrations around climate negotiations.
Naidoo has one 17-year old daughter; Naomi Naidoo.[3]
In June 2011, Kumi Naidoo spent four days in a Greenlandic prison after scaling an oil platform owned by Cairn Energy, as part of Greenpeace's "Go Beyond Oil" campaign. He was deported to Denmark where he spent a short time in Danish custody before being released in Amsterdam, Netherlands.[4]
Born in South Africa, Naidoo became very involved his country's liberation struggle at the age of 15. As a result of his anti-apartheid activities, he was expelled from high school. He was very involved in neighborhood organizing, youth work in his community, and mass mobilizations against the apartheid regime.
During the apartheid government, Naidoo was arrested several times and was charged for violating provisions against mass mobilisation, civil disobedience and for violating the state of emergency. This led him to having to go underground before finally deciding to live in exile in England. During this time he was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University and earned a doctorate (D.Phil.) in political sociology.
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