Joseph Moses Oleshangay

The tireless advocate for Tanzania's Maasai urges Africans and Westerners to rethink their relationship with nature and its preservation.

On 10 December, the German city of Weimar awarded its Human Rights Prize to Joseph Moses Oleshangay, 36, who advocates for the Tanzanian Maasai. He is the only lawyer from this traditional semi-nomadic people and found his vocation in his family's history. In 1959, the British authorities evicted his clan from their ancestral lands in order to establish the Serengeti National Park. This was all motivated by a very colonial idea of Africa, seen as an original paradise that had to be protected from its troublesome inhabitants. A sort of  ‘eco colonialism’ that never went away with independence, despite the fact that the Maasai's agro-pastoral way of life contributes to the preservation of biodiversity (not only do these cattle breeders not hunt, but their pastures also maintain the savannah). For years, Joseph Oleshangay has been defending his people's rights in the courts and in the media. Tanzania used wildlife conservation as a pretext to evict the Maasai from Ngorongoro (8,288 km2) and Loliondo (1,500 km2) while, in fact, making way for Western tourists and trophy hunters.

In June 2022, the eviction of indigenous communities from Loliondo even led to clashes between the police and the Maasai. Joseph Oleshangay has turned the international spotlight on this situation. His struggle has led African states, international institutions and Western public opinion to examine their conceptions of protecting African biodiversity. In March, the Maasai thanked him by making him one of their traditional chiefs (alaigwanani).