March 14, 2025
Today, we come together and recognize one another—individuals, organizations, businesses, and collectives from different lands—to reaffirm a pact: to protect life in all its diversity. We are currently witnessing, on a global scale, the deepening of hateful, racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, LGBTI-phobic, and ableist discourses and practices due to increasing political instability, democratic backsliding, and the weakening of human rights protection mechanisms. We believed we had reached certain basic agreements on what cannot be undone, particularly regarding the rights already won, which we are not willing to negotiate.
Amid the rise of a notion of "freedom" misunderstood as unrestrained selfishness, material accumulation, impunity, and individualism, we strongly reaffirm our commitment to life and to the defense of human rights. And when we say "life," we understand it in its most radical sense: everything that makes it possible and full—all elements of nature, ecosystems, biodiversity, and communities.
In this era of the paradox of permanent hyperconnectivity and disconnection, we maintain that it is urgent to continue weaving bonds of solidarity, restoring trust in the collective, strengthening networks of mutual support, and continuing to advocate for an ethic based on justice and the common good. Defending the right of all people and species to exist with dignity should not be just an occasional slogan or a passing agenda, but a daily way of inhabiting the world, working, living, loving, and coexisting.
We also commit to safeguarding this pact among all of us, to resisting in reactionary and violent times with firmness and conviction, with compassion and dialogue, to pave the way for equity, justice, hope, and joy, and for future generations. The commitment to life is also a commitment to caring for our bodies, land, culture, and nature, recognizing their intrinsic value beyond any market logic. We commit to continuing to work for the well-being of ecosystems and communities, so that life, in all its forms, has the real possibility to flourish with dignity.
"Impunity is not just the lack of punishment; it is the continuity of the power order that allowed the violence in the first place".
Rita Segato
