Taking Roots

Taking Roots

        Kenya was a country that was apart of many countries that got colonized by Britain in the past. Like any other country in Africa that was colonized by the British, they were stripped of their culture because the colonists considered those countries unfit to take care of themselves and implemented their own way of doing things. But even after Kenya’s independence from Britain, leaders like Jomo Kenyatta or Mai continued some of the practices that the British had implemented, which caused some major problems within the country like the continuous deforestation of the countries trees. That’s where Pan African organizations came in like the Greenbelt Movement. Organizations like the Greenbelt Movement is the best way to start change within countries with corrupt governments. So to answer the question who should be the preferred response group to the environment, I would answer that Greenbelt organization would be the best way to start change, but it would eventually needed to be supported by the Kenyan government to reach it’s full potential.

        Britain’s DECOLONIZATION of Kenya was supposed to be a major turning point for the citizens of Kenya in hopes of regaining their culture. Decolonization is the process of a colony gaining control over its own territory and establishing an independent government (Diversity Amid Globalization, 1999). There was little to no change when this occurred though. Citizens were mad at the government for not changing the methods that the British had implemented, for example Kamoji Wachiira says “The policies from the Kenyan government was no different in terms of forestry and natural resources, from the colonial one, in fact it was a bit worse” (Taking Roots, 2008). The purpose of decolonization is for a country to discard the colonists culture and either regain their own culture or try and start a different one. That’s why organizations like the Greenbelt movement are crucial to countries regaining their traditional practices.

        The promotion of PAN-AFRICAN MOVEMENTS are important to regaining a sense of tradition back into decolonized countries within Africa. Pan African Movements can be best described as the advocacy of African traditions from various organizations (Diversity Amid Globalization, 1999). The Pan African Movement that this documentary focuses on is the Greenbelt Movement and how they are protesting against their government to help support the planting of trees within Kenya rather than get rid of them (Taking Roots, 2008). Movements like these help start a domino effect for the change that they want to occur in their country. For example the goal of people like Wangari Maathai was to relentlessly protest against the deforestation of their country, this eventually gained support from around the country and at the end of the documentary you can see that military has started to plant trees as a way of protecting the country's environment. Pan African Movements lay the groundwork for change and help build a better environment for present and future generations of Africans.