Background
My team asked me to add more details about myself, so here’s a bit more blah blah. Don’t feel like you must read:
Besides running for the most unusual job on earth, along with Andrea Venzon, I co-founded Atlas, the global political movement uniting people for survival. Since 2020, Atlas has campaigned and organised protests and lobbying efforts to fight against authoritarianism, climate change, and inequities.
For example, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we campaigned for health workers to have priority access to vaccines when they would have become available, regardless of their nationality. History taught us that in pandemic times, some countries hoard vaccines to the detriment of others, and companies put profit first, refusing to share tech know-how and intellectual property with those who need it most during a crisis. And history too often repeats itself. Despite the World Health Assembly welcoming our campaign to ensure the bare minimum level of equity for health workers, we saw vaccine apartheid take over the world.
Throughout the last few years, we have been creating coalitions of leaders to counter dictatorships, lobbying for boycotts, protested. We, for example, organised a boycott of Russia’s presidency of the United Nations Security Council amidst its invasion and war on Ukraine. It is fundamentally wild, abhorrent and sickening that Putin’s regime can head the UN’s most powerful body whilst invading another and committing war crimes. Four countries joined in.
We sought to use the flaws of the United Nations system to give it a shock by, for example, organising stunt primary elections for the role of Secretary General in 2021. Through it, we wanted to understand if we could mobilise people around the topic of UN leadership (spoiler alert, yes!), and disturb the status quo (yes as well!).
And much more. We tested, analysed, learnt. And it wasn’t enough. This is why we are now preparing to run for office worldwide at Atlas, starting with my campaign. With over 25,000 supporters in more than 134 countries, we refuse to continue to ask global institutions to take action to ensure our survival. We will do it ourselves!
After years of working on the ground, learning from activists and politicians and exploring best-practices, I also wrote The Philosophy of Unity with Andrea. It is a political manifesto calling for humanity to unite beyond differences and work towards a fairer, freer, and better future. To do so, we must end power and wealth monopolies, ensure equity across the planet, and create a system to administer our world.
I am currently a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for International Policy, looking into how to design an effective, democratic global governance system.
Before that, I co-founded the first pan-European political party, Volt Europa, which elected representatives at the 2019 European Elections and local elections on a vision of a more united and progressive EU. I was a trustee of the United Nations Association - UK, and worked to support them in improving knowledge of transnational organisations and reform. I was also a board member of the Democracy and Culture Foundation, supporting their work in improving and innovating democracy. Finally, I was a Guest Lecturer at Northeastern University for the Socioloy & International Relations Department, where I focused on survival threats and power dynamics.
I could tell you some (genuine) romantic story about always dreaming of working for institutions like the United Nations when I was a kid, my passion for human rights and the ideals that led me here, but that’s not the point. This campaign isn’t about me. It’s about our future. So take action!