Global Activists Celebrate Mandela's Gift to Justice Movements

In what seems a possibly unprecedented outpouring of global mourning over the death of South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, many of the world’s leading environmenal, human rights, and social justice activists are forgoing sadness in order to issue thanks to the man known affectionately by many as “Madiba.”

To honor him for helping break the chains of racial injustice in a divided nation, the leaders of a new generation fighting against oppression are celebrating Mandela’s commitment to justice and his endless courage as the legacy that will never be forgotten.

As Canadian author and activist Naomi Klein tweeted late Thursday:

And fellow South African Kumi Naidoo, who started as a young anti-apartheid activist himself and now leads the international environmental group Greenpeace, wrote in response to the news of Madiba’s death:

Bobby Peek, from Friends of the Earth-South Africa, reflects on the deep connection between the work of Mandela and the anti-apartheid movement and the now global fight for environmental justice: