After a week in the US, I left with something unexpected: hope. I know, it’s not what you expected to hear considering Trump is looming in the background.

But it’s true. I just came back from a few days at Boston University where I gave a lecture on “How to rebuild the United Nations to confront the climate crisis”, met with students and heard many of them talk about how, considering the state of the world, they are rethinking their entire future careers, choosing to do good rather than just chasing money.

After that, I headed to New York to meet with ambassadors to the UN about campaigns to ensure this organisation finally stops the wars and survival threats devastating millions of lives. And for the first time ever, I returned from a week filled with UN-focused activities with hope!

I want to tell you what I told a room full of students recently: the United Nations, and the crises it is dealing with, are part of your life, will touch it, impact it, and shape it, whether you like it or not. For this impact to be positive, you must take the power to influence the UN, to impact it, and to shape it, whether the great powers of this world want it or not.

I’m not just preaching empty words.

I’m running for United Nations Secretary-General.

That’s the chief of the UN. Weird right? Well, it gets more difficult: the UN doesn’t elect that person, but 5 superpowers choose them behind closed doors. The UN doesn’t allow citizens to run for that position, but countries make backroom deals. And the UN doesn’t actually want that person to be able to lead it, so it gives them close to no power. It makes my candidacy kind of difficult right? Thankfully, I’m the picture perfect of what they are looking for. For the last 80 years, Secretary Generals have all been men, on average 58 years old when taking office, former diplomats or heads of state, and lately avoiding at all costs to make political statements that might upset superpowers. I’m the exact person they’re looking for, clearly!

Jokes aside, I’m nevertheless running to fix this broken and undemocratic system, to make the UN ours, and to mobilise people to leave it with no choice but to be reformed! By challenging this process, I hope to change it, and push our progressive policies there! So take a minute, I need your support:

Endorse my campaign

We’re working to make the UN stop grave crimes. Systematically!

And more than this, along with my incredible campaign team Atlas, I’m pushing for the General Assembly (the closest thing to a UN parliament, but with far less power) to pass what we call the Freedom Emergency Declaration: a Resolution for the UN to act systematically when states commit grave crimes, not just when convenient. Imagine if countries actually ensured the UN did its job and blocked hypocrisy from dominating the global agenda. Imagine the suffering we could stop. Stop imagining: let’s make it happen!

Send an email by clicking here to the UN General Assembly president & say it loudly: pass a Freedom Emergency Declaration! Because make no mistake, they want you to think that you have no say, that the UN is a distant bureaucracy that has nothing to do with your life. But it’s not. It shapes your world every single day.

And guess what? Some at the UN are starting to listen.

The reason I was able to come to the U.S. was because I was invited to give a Distinguished Lecture at Boston University: “How to Reform the United Nations to Confront the Climate Crisis.”

I opened the talk by saying something that felt almost impossible: I want you to leave this room excited about the United Nations. I knew it was a tough ask. The UN often feels distant, bureaucratic, and out of reach. But that’s a lie we’ve been told. The UN isn’t some abstract institution. The United Nations, simply put, is the wildest dream humanity ever had. Forget about going to the Moon or Mars, climbing Mount Everest blindfolded or reaching the deepest point of our oceans. In 1945, not even a year after the most devastating war ever witnessed by our species, people said: “No more”. They decided to build the United Nations to maintain peace and security. What happened next is history, but what we choose to do with it will determine our future.

To learn why the UN is a matter of life and death and how you can take action to reshape both your future and its future, watch my lecture ⤵️

Once done, I headed to NYC and met with the ambassadors of Chile, Barbados and Timor-Leste. You might not know, but these countries have applied international law without bias, standing against grave crimes and for justice way more systematically than a big part of the world. From Ukraine to Palestine, they have stood firm, tall and strong. They also aren’t afraid to call out the UN’s failures. That’s why it was a huge honour to meet with their ambassadors, not just to introduce the UN Secretary-General campaign, but to speak about the Freedom Emergency Declaration we are seeking to pass. Because for this to happen, we need countries on board. And the good news? There’s real interest in making this a reality.

I also met with the Canadian mission!

So, what will you do to build a world that you have a say in? Here are some ideas!

I’m not going to lie: this is a tough battle. And I need your support. I’m lucky enough to work with incredible people changing the United Nations from the ground up, and you could be part of this revolution.

💡 Meet the team. Denise & Cristian aren’t just making all of this possible, they’re constantly coming up with the boldest, most creative, and, let’s be honest, completely wild (in the best way) ideas to challenge the system. From using UN mechanisms against itself to trolling the likes of Musk & Trump, they stop at nothing to change the world.

👉 Join them. Let me know if you’d like to volunteer! From lobbying ambassadors to dreaming up the craziest campaigns possible, we need every bit of energy and ambition.

📢 Spread the word. I need you to help me get this campaign out there. Forward this email to 10 people, get them to sign on. Talk about it. Get others involved.

💰 And if you know funders who believe in this fight, let me know. We need money, fast, to make this happen!

Don’t think this is only about reforming what’s broken. This is about stopping the flow of weapons to countries that use them against civilians, whether it be Russia in Ukraine, Israel in Palestine, or Sudan’s forces against its own population. Don’t be mistaken, this is about climate, but also no one dying of hunger in a world of plenty, where currently one out of ten human beings live in extreme poverty. This is about ensuring that pandemics don’t kill more people next time around because we refuse to share vaccines. This is about artificial intelligence not destroying the fabric of society. Don’t be mistaken: this is about so much more than just avoiding doomsday, or saving us from hell. Once we have taken care of the elephants in the room, the sky's the limit. The UN has already managed to basically eradicate polio, diminish the world’s nuclear arsenal, and ensure that no weapons are in space, and the list goes on.

Imagine what it could do if it was fair, democratic, and transparent. If it had the power, trust and leadership to bring the world forward. What I’m dreaming of is a world in which we stand united and able to deal with whatever comes our way, together. Imagine the planet you could live on. Imagine it for yourself, for those you love. And now act!

Always reach out for anything,

Colombe

PS: we are organising a big event on March 15th, in person in Milan (Italy) and online, on how to build a new coalition for freedom! You can register here.

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Colombe Cahen-Salvador (she/her)
Co-Founder & Candidate for United Nations Secretary-General
Atlas
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