"Some say that AIDS came from the monkeys, and I doubt that because we have been living with monkeys from time immemorial, others say it was a curse from God, but I say it cannot be that"
About this Quote
Maathai’s sentence is doing the quiet, risky work of refusing the two most convenient stories a society can tell itself in a crisis: blame nature, or blame God. Both explanations function as moral anesthesia. “Monkeys” turns AIDS into an exotic accident, a problem that arrived from elsewhere, outside human choices and institutions. “A curse from God” turns it into deserved punishment, conveniently shifting attention away from policy failures, gendered power, poverty, and the everyday violence of stigma.
Her phrasing matters. “Some say...” signals a marketplace of rumors, the kind that flourishes when governments are evasive and public health information is uneven. Then she punctures the animal-origin myth with a simple, almost domestic observation: humans and monkeys have coexisted “from time immemorial.” It’s not a lab report; it’s a rhetorical reality check aimed at audiences who may not trust official expertise but do trust lived common sense.
The second clause is the sharper rebuke. By refusing the “curse” framing, she’s also refusing the social permission it grants to ostracize the sick. When she ends with “but I say it cannot be that,” she’s insisting that whatever AIDS is, it cannot be a story that absolves people of responsibility to care for one another.
Coming from an activist whose life’s work linked ecology, governance, and human dignity, the subtext is unmistakable: the real causes worth confronting are political and social, not supernatural. It’s a call to trade fatalism for accountability, and gossip for solidarity.
Her phrasing matters. “Some say...” signals a marketplace of rumors, the kind that flourishes when governments are evasive and public health information is uneven. Then she punctures the animal-origin myth with a simple, almost domestic observation: humans and monkeys have coexisted “from time immemorial.” It’s not a lab report; it’s a rhetorical reality check aimed at audiences who may not trust official expertise but do trust lived common sense.
The second clause is the sharper rebuke. By refusing the “curse” framing, she’s also refusing the social permission it grants to ostracize the sick. When she ends with “but I say it cannot be that,” she’s insisting that whatever AIDS is, it cannot be a story that absolves people of responsibility to care for one another.
Coming from an activist whose life’s work linked ecology, governance, and human dignity, the subtext is unmistakable: the real causes worth confronting are political and social, not supernatural. It’s a call to trade fatalism for accountability, and gossip for solidarity.
Quote Details
| Topic | Health |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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