Be fair, MAPA need a chair
We are young Belgian climate ambassadors from different social and linguistic backgrounds, united in a common fight: to save our planet and our fellow citizens. Climate change is an intersectional crisis that cannot be addressed from an environmental perspective alone. By being at the forefront of climate decisions, we strengthen international solidarity and give a voice to those who are silenced or not heard. The MAPAs, the people and areas most affected by the consequences of the climate change, include all the territories of the world as well as the marginalised people who may live anywhere. We advocate against historical and current systemic overexploitation, discrimination and under-representation as the root causes of the crisis.
On Friday 5 November, during the UN World Summit on Climate Change, we were organising a symbolic action in the streets of Glasgow: a circle of empty chairs bearing testimonies and quotes of MAPA, with a human chain inside circle. It was a silent, non-moving, self-explanatory action.
The action is symbolic as the reality of solidarity is to give a chair to the people of the world who needed and need it the most. We let the silence speak for itself by listening to the sound of their absence.
This COP26 is one of the last opportunities to preserve the environment and human rights and we won’t settle for less anymore. We stand up for international solidarity and we demand concrete political decisions on climate change.
We believe that it is ordinary people who can change the world, and we invite everyone to stand in solidarity in this valuable event, hoping that we will carry the voices of the unheard in our heart. Join the change and let’s make a difference together.
