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A Maasai Victory

By on April 11, 2014
MaasaiH

By staff writers at Avaaz

For 20 years, the Tanzanian government has been trying to evict a Maasai community from its traditional lands to make room for a big game hunting company to bring in tourists to shoot wildlife. A year ago, our community launched a campaign calling on the Tanzanian President to stop the evictions — and after many months of working closely with the Maasai community, we finally won!
It was a massive effort — 1.7 million of us signed the petition, with the Maasai, we rallied the international media, getting CNN and Al Jazeera to visit the area and break the story to the world. Then Avaaz members funded hard-hitting adverts in local papers calling out the government. When news of an impending eviction surfaced, we supported a Maasai march on the capital — there traditional leaders camped outside the Prime Minister’s office for three weeks, forcing him to listen to their case. The pressure was building and, in late September, the Tanzanian Prime Minister visited the area and told the Maasai that the President had confirmed that they would not be evicted.

The Maasai are waiting to get this in writing, but the commitment to end the conflict is a huge breakthrough that many said would be impossible. Read this Guardian piece to hear how this amazing community of Maasai took on their government, and won.

To learn more about how to take action now visit www.avaaz.com

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