This weekend, we held our Annual Summit to officially kickstart our electoral work. In short, we will work to enter national and local parliaments to ensure humanity quells survival threats, as soon as possible! I was lucky to open the summit, and wanted to share the reasons why I believe it’s fundamental to unite for survival.
So let me share my brief speech below and on YouTube:

Welcome to the Atlas summit!

Throughout the afternoon, after my introduction, you will hear from one of the people I looked up to for a big part of my life: Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, who will talk about how to reform the global institutions we have to truly protect human rights and uphold international law. Consider how fundamental this is when you look at the state of the world: the United Nations for example, whose very purpose is to ensure peace and stability, is too often frozen and stuck in the hands of a few superpowers, to the detriment of humanity.

Following Ken’s speech and Q&A, you’ll then have a moment to meet and greet one another digitally, in that awkward yet amazing Zoom manner, before having a fireside chat between an Atlas volunteer, Clive, and the inspiring Clover Hogan who will answer all your questions on what politicians should focus on to tackle the climate crisis, and how people can support. 

I forgot to introduce myself: I’m Colombe, Atlas’ co-founder. I am also Atlas’ candidate for UN Secretary-General, which tends to raise eyebrows when I say this,  but let me get back to this later.

First, let’s talk about Atlas

It’s the global political movement uniting humanity for its survival. What this means is we are facing so many threats that no country, leader or anyone can deal with alone.

1. Think of climate. Climate change is destroying the Earth, its inhabitants and our future. Over 3 billion people are highly vulnerable, with those living in low-income countries most impacted. We need to act globally, radically, through a global carbon tax, the establishment of safe zones and support for those on the frontline.

2. Think of AI. Artificial Intelligence is already impacting every aspect of our lives. From May to December 2023, 1,000% more websites have posted AI-created fake articles, influencing elections and trust. Governments already use the technology to censor, surveil and discriminate. And it doesn’t stop there. And while regulating this borderless tech must happen globally, citizens are not involved. This is why we want the UN to convey a global citizens’ assembly on the matter. 

3. Thinks of wars. The wars in Ukraine and Gaza make headlines around the world, while others continue to destroy Ethiopia, Libya, Myanmar, the Sahel region, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and other countries. Or nuclear weapons threatening our existence. We need the UN to be reformed to be able to fulfil its mandate of ensuring peace and security, we need the UN to create a mutual defence organisation for those willing to stand by rights! 

In short, if we had ways of collaborating globally, of working together, we could solve those threats. So we are building it. After years of advocacy,  this summit marks the moment we will start running for office at all levels of government, in all democratic countries and even at the United Nations, to ensure that we not only survive but have a future where we can thrive. 

It is my pleasure to open this summit, tell you what to expect and why I profoundly believe it is more important than ever to work together worldwide. But first, let’s talk about everything wrong. Because while I’m obviously incredibly happy to be able to showcase the work we have all been doing at Atlas to build a political movement capable of going beyond divisions, differences and borders, the truth is that global challenges are impacting our survival, and we are far, but I mean very, very far, from being able to tackle them. we don’t have the luxury of time. We don’t have the luxury of blind hope. We don’t have the luxury of being complacent. Nor should we. Because some of us are lucky to be able to do this from a place of safety. So we owe others to do better.

During this summit, you will hear from members - our community spans over 134 countries - and why they seek to challenge elections in their countries. From India to Brazil, from Kenya to Italy through Australia, you will notice that although to different levels, we all face the same threats, and could benefit a great deal from collaborating, to put it mildly. 

During this summit, you will witness something I have never witnessed before. The ability to truly go beyond stereotypes and the individualistic, nationalist or regionalist tendencies plaguing the world. Because through the Atlas’ programme and vision, we consider that we are all in this together. As a French citizen, my interests should never come before the ones of others. As such, our responses cannot afford to be hypocritical like we see constantly worldwide. We can’t afford to pick and choose when to apply our values, and when to ignore them for political gains, like for example the president of the European Commission or the United States did when supporting Ukraine yet unequivocally standing with Israel’s Netanyahu & his massacres.  

Let’s go back in time.

So for three years we ran advocacy campaigns, organised a boycott of Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council, held hundreds of protests to support those fighting dictatorships, and lobbied successfully (although it was never implemented) for health workers to have priority access to COVID-19 vaccines at the beginning of the pandemic. We tested, worked together and learnt. 

Last year, we agreed to start doing politics globally. Although we don’t have a global political system to participate in, we can coordinate parties across the world and work as one to ensure for example, we redistribute our common goods better and guarantee safety nets for all.

Today marks the moment when this becomes a reality. This summit will see our political programme for the United Nations Secretary-General adopted (hopefully), our strategy for elections on all continents debated, and the next steps laid out clearly. 

Today, we come together to do our best to create a better world. 

I took the first step. As mentioned, I’m running for UN Secretary-General, for climate, AI, wars to finally be tackled. National leaders are more preoccupied with staying in power and prioritising their interests. No global institution is stepping up to the task, as the United Nations lacks the competencies, legitimacy, and leadership to do so. And to be honest, that scares me deeply. But more than this, it angers the hell out of me. We deserve better than planetary collapse. That’s why I decided to head Atlas’ campaign to challenge the selection process of the United Nations Secretary-General. I have, of course, a long road ahead of me. The makeup of this organisation means that at the end of the day, five countries (the US, the UK, France, China & Russia) make key decisions and have a veto right. That alone means that someone pushing for radical change, not the status quo, is unlikely to please them. But that’s why we are doing this work at Atlas: to mobilise, propose alternatives, and get power to change the world. 

Besides my campaign, as you’ll hear on Sunday, chapters in Australia, India, Kenya, Italy and beyond are getting ready to run for office.  

I dream that in 50 years - actually less - we live in a world where those survival threats are tackled, so much so that we can afford to spend all our political energy bickering about whether we should raise wealth taxes by 10 or 20%. And I believe that by overcoming divisions and thus uniting politically, we stand a chance to avoid climate breakdown, civil unrest due to ever-increasing inequalities, and wars. But more than this, we can strive for a tangible utopia. We can create a freer, truly equitable world where people’s well-being is prioritised over all else. It will be hard and require sacrifices and systemic change, but it is possible.

Now, how do we get there? 

I can make you a promise. What we will discuss will seem insane. Unfeasible. Out of this world. I mean consider that I’m running for United Nations Secretary-General: it doesn’t exist. You don’t have an open race. It’s weird on so many levels. 

I promise that it will be insanely ambitious. But stick with us. We need this today. Remember what I talked about? Remember that over 40,000 people have been murdered by Israel in Gaza and that virtually every Palestinian person has been displaced multiple times in Gaza? Remember that hundreds of thousands each year die because of climate-related disasters. Think about the fact that we have enough wealth to not have anyone living in insane poverty in each of our counties, yet one human being in ten lives in extreme poverty.  And don’t think about those as numbers. Take a second to imagine a person behind each. Think about this young man in Gaza whose life has been stolen. Think about the fear, the anger, the despair. Think about this family that has been displaced multiple times because of heat, and droughts. This family whose food security is impacted. Picture them. Think about the last human being who was homeless you saw. Think about your kids, nieces, and future generations and the world we are leaving them with. 

Now, when we have most of the solutions, tech, and money to solve those very big threats to our survival, how can we justify not doing so?! How can we justify not doing right by one another, by them? 

I hope you will come with ideas, challenges and a commitment to changing the world over the next two days.