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The Green Belt Movement has planted 30 million trees across Kenya. Its leader Wangari Maathai is very disappointed with the response of government officials and politicians:
“In the 1970s and 1980s, as I was encouraging farmers to plant trees on their land, I also discovered that corrupt government agents were responsible for much of the deforestation by illegally selling off land and trees to well-connected developers. In the early 1990’s, the livelihoods, the rights and even the lives of many Kenyans in the Rift Valley were lost when elements of President Daniel Arap Moi’s government encouraged ethnic communities to attack one another over land. Supporters of the ruling party got the land, while those in the pro-democracy movement were displaced. This was one of the government’s ways of retaining power; if communities were kept busy fighting over land, they would have less opportunity to demand democracy.” In the above passage what relationship do you see between democracy and social movements? How should this movement respond to the government?
(i) Social movements are carried by the agitated people against the wrong practices and ill policies of the government. In the above passage, while Mr. Mathai was encouraging farmers to plant trees on lands, the government sold the piece of land to its supporters. To prevent undemocratic situations like this, people started agitation against the government.
(ii)The movement should oppose the working of the government officials. It should forward its demand before the government till justice is met with.