OUR MEDIA WORK
We believe in the power of telling our own stories. We use international media to expose the truth and amplify voices that are often silenced. In the face of Tanzanian government censorship and misinformation, our media work has become a critical tool in defending community land rights and holding power to account.
Land Is Life
Joseph Oleshangay: Honoring nomadic, pastoral, and communal land relations (Ep444)
In-depth interview on colonial legacies, Maasai lifeways, and resisting forced evictions.
(Green Dreamer - Feb 18, 2025)
Maasai are Indigenous
(The New Yorker - 20 Feb 2023)
(The Guardian - 5 October 2022)
Our Resistance
Covers GN 673 delisting of villages, mass protests, and international advocacy.
(Oakland Institute Podcast - Sep 2024)
This podcast episode explores Maasai protests in Ngorongoro, examining forced relocation, UNESCO status, and cultural resistance.
(BBC Focus on Africa - 26 August 2024)
(The Resistance Bureau - 28 February 2025)
Inside the Maasais' peaceful fight over their homeland.
(Fairplanet - 12 April 2022)
Tanzania wants to evict Maasai for wildlife but they’re fighting back
Highlights human rights abuses, international funding.
(Al Jazeera - 5 Aug 2024)
Violent Colonial Legacy
Tanzania's Maasai and the Threat of Genocide
Examines historical & ongoing displacement, cultural erasure, and genocide risk
(Genocide Watch / Conversations on Genocide - Mar 9, 2024)
Conservation racism in Ngorongoro: A tragic loss of common sense and leadership
(MwanzoTV - 14 August 2023)
When Maasaiphobia Became Policy: An Insider’s Perspective on Environmental Racism and the Maasai Predicament in Ngorongoro
(The Republic - 3 August 2023)
What President Samia Needs To Know About Ngorongoro
(The Chanzo 14 April 2021)
Across the Maasailand, local media is heavily censored or influenced by state authorities. Stories of land grabs, forced evictions, and violence against our community are deliberately buried or worse, twisted. In many cases, government-sponsored media outlets (state owned and private) portray our community negatively to justify displacement and repression.
In response to this media vacuum, we have taken it upon ourselves to document, report, and broadcast the realities on the ground. Through powerful interviews, in-depth articles and compelling documentaries, we bring to light the truth behind the government propaganda. Our media efforts are not just about exposing injustice, they are about restoring dignity, preserving memory, and mobilizing international solidarity.
We work with international media partners to ensure that the world hears our stories unedited and unfiltered. This work has been vital in raising awareness, sparking global conversations, and pressuring Tanzanian authorities to respect our rights. Through our media work, we reveal the human cost of tourism-driven land grabs and challenge the narratives used by government and conservation organisations to justify these injustices. We reach an international audience to shift the narrative around conservation, tourism and carbon credits to demand our right to land, Indigenous sovereignty, and ecological justice.
MISA members shared their stories on a television broadcast aired by Deutsche Welle. Credit: FIAN Deutschland.
It’s Time to Rethink the Idea of the “Indigenous"
Shocking blow to Indigenous land rights’ as court dismisses Maasai herder claim
Tourism and Trophy Hunting over Indigenous Rights
Maasai Resistance Against Violent Evictions
Ngorongoro Nazi
Grzimek’s racist vision of African conservation without Africans remains embedded in much of conservation, and is ultimately destructive of both the environment and people.
(The Elephant - 18 April 2022)
In the Shadow of the Serengeti: The lawyer fighting for Maasai land rights
(Al Jazeera Witness - Feb 19, 2025)
The Maasai Strife Against Green Grabbing in Tanzania:
Interview on green grabbing, colonial continuities, and protest
(The Contrapuntal - 6 January 2025)
In Tanzania, the Maasai may lose their land – again
(Al Jazeera, The TAKE podcast - July 11, 2022)
Can Tanzania’s Maasai evictions be stopped?
(Al Jazeera - 30 Jun 2022)
Why are the Maasai being relocated in Tanzania?
The BBC World Service unpacks the land dispute in Loliondo, violent police actions, and potential pathways to dialogue.
(BBC, Africa Daily podcast - 17 June 2022)
The human rights of the Maasai people are violated through involuntary assimilation and relocation
(Civicus Lens - 8 July 2022)
Maasai community lose land dispute
(Deutsche Welle - 30 September 2022)
A Lawless Government
Attempted Disenfranchisement of Maasai in Ngorongoro Proves that Tanzania’s Election Management Bodies Are Neither Free Nor Fair
(The Chanzo - 10 December 2024)
Maasai Rise to Defend Ancestral Land
Why are the Maasai in Tanzania contesting relocation from a heritage site?
In Tanzania, the Maasai fight eviction over state conservation plot
(Al Jazeera - 16 June 2022)
Over 5,880 cattle seized, seen as a coercive method to clear land for tourism/trophy hunting.
(Associated Press, 27 January 2023)
(The Atlantic - 8 April 2024)
Highlights forced evictions from Ngorongoro tied to tourism and carbon-credit ventures, with violent clashes in Loliondo
(Wall Street Journal - 22 Dec 2024)
Maasai leaders arrested in protests over Tanzania game reserve
(The Guardian - 14 June 2022)
Tanzania’s Maasai appeal to west to stop eviction for conservation plans
(The Guardian - 22 April 2022)
It’s becoming a war zone’: Tanzania’s Maasai speak out on forced’ removals
(The Guardian - 16 January 2023)
Loliondo Land Grabbing: History of Pain and Bitterness in an Unaccountable State
(MwanzoTV - 17 October 2023)
Human Rights Reports
Documenting forced displacements of 82,000+ Maasai from Ngorongoro; closures of schools and health facilities.
(Human Rights Watch - 31 July 2024)
Highlights maternal deaths, healthcare suspension, relocation policies.
(Deutsche Welle - 31 July 2024)
Maasai women struggle to survive amid forced evictions
Covers social collapse, maternal/child deaths, medical shortages.
(Mongabay - 13 September 2024)
In-depth coverage of rights violations, beatings, destroyed homesteads.
(Human Rights Watch - 31 July 2024
Losing the Serengeti: The Maasai Land that was to run forever
(The Oakland Institute - 2018)
Tanzania is pushing out Maasai to attract rich tourists
Focuses on luxury tourism, fencing, and village demolition in favour of safari camps.
(Deutsche Welle - 5 July 2024)
The Safaris and Carbon‑Credit Projects Threatening the Serengeti’s Maasai
Tanzania forcibly relocating Indigenous Maasai
Indigenous Maasai Being Forcibly Relocated
Plan for Maasai removal putting people at risk
Maasai Fight for Survival: Land Grabs, Evictions, and the Struggle for Cultural Identity in Tanzania
Details President’s statement, tourism boom, exclusion of Maasai in benefit sharing.
(Cultural Survival, 6 March - 2025)
Authorities brutally violated Maasai amid forced evictions from ancestral lands
(Amnesty International - 6 June 2023)
Tanzania’s conservation concerns do not excuse violations of Maasai rights
(Al Jazeera - 9 August 2024)
“It’s Like Killing Culture”: Human Rights Impacts of Relocating Tanzania’s Maasai
(Human Rights Watch - 31 July 2024)
Tanzania's Eviction of Maasai Pastoralists Continues
(Human Rights Watch - 2 February 2023)
Tanzania’s President Takes on Forced Evictions of Maasai Community: Meaningful Consultations, Accountability Needed in Ngorongoro Conservation Area
(Human Rights Watch – 5 December 2024)
End the crackdown on the Maasai standing up against forced evictions in Ngorongoro
(Amnesty International - 25 August 2023)
A private business complicit in forced evictions of Maasai communities by authorities
(Amnesty International - 7 August 2024)
“We have lost everything”: Forced evictions of the Maasai in Loliondo.
(Amnesty International - 5 June 2023)
(Al Jazeera - 31 July 2024)
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