My person of the year is… many millions

Maria Kalesnikava, one of the many brave women leaders in Belarus, currently in prison

This year my person of the year accolade goes not to one person, or to a few, but to the many millions of people around the world active in trying to make it a better place. To all the people who are striving for justice: social justice, economic justice, climate justice, ecological justice, every kind of justice. Thank-you!

Many of the big powerful countries have been dominated by ghastly politicians over the last few years; the very best in terms of national governments have tended to be small countries, very much less covered by the media. If Trump, Putin, Bolsonaro, Duterte, Modi and our very own Boris Johnson represent all that is bad, who represents all that is good? Finland’s Sanna Marin, Iceland’s Katrin Jakobsdottir and New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern I think are the three outstanding Prime Ministers currently in office. However each of these is governing a small country with a long history of democratic governance. Obviously it is much harder to take over a country which has had a long history of corruption and poverty. Maia Sandu is the new Prime Minister of Moldova and she seems to be trying to set the country onto a better path.

Yesterday there was a global wave of relief as the inauguration of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris put an end to the Trump presidency. It is not to Biden or Harris that I want to pay tribute today, but to the millions of activists who have worked for this change over the last four years.

Recent days have seen extraordinary scenes in Russia. Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader poisoned with polonium by Putin, returned from Berlin to Russia and was immediately arrested. Along with the young Russian climate activist Arshak Makichyan, these are two very brave and inspirational Russians.

In neighbouring Belarus we are now into the 165th day of continuous street protest. These protests have represented something powerful: well organized, brave, creative and peaceful protest actively supported by the majority of the population, and led by some truly remarkable women. Hopefully sooner, rather than later, Lukashenko will fall.

Worldwide there are millions of great climate activists and today I’d just like to acknowledge the tireless campaigning of three young women from Africa, Patricia Kombo from Kenya, Kaossara Sani from Togo and Oladosu Adenike from the Lake Chad Region.

Thank-you one and all.

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