A global movement to solve global problems Colombe CahenSalvador
For years, I have been
working on a simple idea:
for humanity to take its next leap ahead,
we need to work together across borders
to solve global issues.
In the modern world,
no wall or border
can protect us from crisis.
We have no other choice but to unite,
and we need to do it fast.
In 2016, I was devastated
by the UK’s decision
to leave the European Union.
I’m French, and for me, the EU is a symbol
of a more open and global society.
But suddenly, my beliefs were shattered.
And I wasn’t alone in feeling this way.
My partner, Andrea, who’s Italian,
and Damian, a German friend,
also felt the shock of seeing
the world turning inward.
We realized that despite being
from three different countries,
we witnessed the same challenges:
migration flows being dealt with
in an inhuman manner,
climate change
or high youth unemployment.
And we also had the same hopes and dreams
in our everyday lives.
We also realized
that to solve European issues,
the outdated model of always
putting national interests first
had to go.
So we decided to act.
For a few months, we worked on
the idea of launching Volt,
the first pan-European political movement.
And then, naturally, we told
our Facebook friends,
and a lot of them responded
saying they were up for the challenge
and wanted to help.
People started holding small
community meetings in parks,
universities and pubs
to discuss their common future
and share their solutions
to the continent’s biggest problems.
We mobilized tens of thousands of people
across 28 European countries
Two years in,
Damian was elected
to the European parliament
on the campaign run
by volunteers across borders
on the idea that we are stronger together.
We showed that by
collaborating across borders,
by uniting and acting as one,
we could start changing how people think.
We were the first ones to attempt
something of this scale
and to succeed.
Despite this,
after the European elections in May 2019,
Andrea and I looked into each other’s eyes
and asked that frank question
that you never want to ask
once you have worked for two years
towards something
that actually worked out:
“Is this enough?”
No, it wasn’t.
We knew that today’s urgent challenges
are not just European
but global.
We also knew that we couldn’t even
attempt to solve them
by only focusing on Europe,
a continent that represents less than
10 percent of the world population.
The underlying issue
is that the way we see the world
and the way the world works
are fundamentally wrong.
In the span of two generations,
the world has changed more
than in the previous 20,000 years.
We can land on the moon,
we can wake up in Shanghai
and go to bed in New York.
We have access to a huge amount
of information all the time, everywhere.
But we still see the world
as our immediate vicinity.
But issues like COVID-19,
climate change, migration,
fiscal justice or human rights
mean that we need to think
and unite beyond national borders.
A global approach is needed to solve them.
Countries need to collaborate,
share resources, information
and solutions.
It’s not just the right thing to do
but it’s also the smart one.
So in the weeks following
Damian’s election,
Andrea and I decided
that we would create a global movement
to unite people beyond borders
and solve those issues
that concern us all.
We called it NOW!
because we’re not very creative,
and because it needs to happen now.
So I know that going beyond national
borders is not the easiest thing to do,
so here’s the framework
that has been guiding our work.
I call it “think, unite and leap forward.”
First, we need to change the way
we think about the world.
Whether we like it or not,
we already live in a globalized world.
We need to stop thinking
within national frameworks
and start thinking globally.
Take, for example,
how we think about taxation.
Multinational companies
like Facebook or Amazon
already operate across borders,
but they pay very little taxes
in very few countries
because we think of them
within national frameworks.
And as a result,
we lack a global tax system.
Due to this,
countries are deprived of at least
500 billion dollars annually.
Five hundred billion dollars.
To put it in perspective:
with half of that amount of money,
we could put an end
to global hunger for one year.
But we don’t,
because of the way
we think about the world.
At NOW! we want to change this.
We connect people
from all across the world
who discuss, work together and understand
that global is the new normal
and that they have more in common
than what separates them.
We host weekly events
in which we discuss topics
such as LGBT rights,
pandemics,
fiscal justice
or mental health.
We break down those global challenges
to see how they impact people
in various parts of the world.
And our members have
already shown a global thinking,
actively rallying their governments
to solve those issues,
like ensuring a fair distribution
of vaccines across the world.
Second, after changing the way we think,
we need to unite beyond borders.
This way, we can make governments
act on global issues.
Take the example of the erosion
of democracy in Hong Kong.
China has systematically cracked down
on rights, democracy and freedoms,
but countries have barely responded
to protect Hong Kongers.
And I don’t mean weak
statements of condemnation
that won’t lead to any actual change,
but proper responses such as sanctions.
That’s why at NOW!,
a couple of weeks back,
we launched a campaign
to demand that democracies rally
to be able to stand up
meaningfully to China.
And to get their attention,
we started hosting weekly protests
in front of Chinese embassies.
Within a couple of weeks,
we engaged more than
a million people online.
Our hope is that by uniting
and mobilizing people across borders,
we will be able
to successfully lobby nations
into imposing coordinated
sanctions on China.
Finally, we must have
the courage to leap forward
to create the world of tomorrow.
We need a system of governance
that works for us all across the world.
And while some supernational institutions
like the United Nations exist,
their enforcement mechanisms
are extremely limited.
Citizens cannot participate,
and national interests often prevail.
And on the national level,
political parties are bound
by electoral timetables and borders,
which means that they cannot operate
in a coordinated global manner.
Policy making, governance and politics
need to stretch further.
Take the example of the response
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Countries have shown an incredibly
shortsighted approach to the pandemic.
They haven’t collaborated
when it comes to protective equipment,
vaccines or medicines.
At NOW! we launched a campaign
demanding that the World Health
Organization ensures
that health workers across the world,
regardless of their nationalities,
get priority access
to future COVID-19 vaccines.
We leveraged a network of doctors
on social media to raise awareness
and started a petition
targeted at the WHO.
For two weeks,
our members spread the word
digitally and on the streets,
and then we got a response
from the Director-General of the WHO
welcoming our campaign,
reemphasizing that the power to do so
lies within member states,
but committing to working
with them in that direction.
And look – this was a very nice letter,
but it was completely pointless.
The WHO cannot act
meaningfully on this issue.
But the point is,
a United Nations agency should
be able to act meaningfully,
should be able to create binding policies
and implement them
when faced with a global threat.
Right now, the most we can hope for
is for some world leaders
to hear our scream
and decide to do the right thing.
This cannot continue.
In the globalized world,
we need a true democratic and accountable
global system of governance.
And that’s also what
we’re working towards,
but I know that global governance
will not happen overnight.
For this, we need people
to push their governments
to act in a global manner,
to show that collaboration
leads to better results.
We need to prove the case
before we can change
the way the world works.
So this is my framework:
think beyond national borders,
unite across the world
and leap forward to make sure
that the world actually works as one.
And I know it is easier said than done,
but it is doable.
Take our case as an example.
NOW! was only launched
on the first of January 2020
but already counts thousands of members
in more than 100 countries.
We are beginning to see that it
is possible to unite beyond borders,
that it is within our reach.
And we’re not special,
nor am I in any way.
I don’t have any cool skills,
and the thought of giving
this talk terrified me.
But I am testing different ways
to effect change on a global scale
because I know that national mindsets
and national frameworks
have to leave room for something bigger,
for something better.
My hope is that within my lifetime,
I will see what living
as one world actually means,
that by uniting,
we will be able to safeguard democracy,
to protect the environment,
to save lives by sharing vaccines,
to create safer routes for migration,
among many other achievements.
I don’t know whether
I have the one solution –
no one does.
I don’t know whether
NOW! will be successful
in achieving these goals.
But this is not the point.
The point is that you should take action
to effect change on the global scale.
My hope is that many of you will
start to work together across borders,
that you will create and innovate
new ways for the world to be truly one.
Because yes, we are stronger together.
So what are we waiting for?
Thank you.