*[Enwl-eng] Wisdom from a wise woman
ENWLine
Hi,
I recently got challenged by a wise woman called Angela. After confessing how hard I find things right now, she told me the trouble is I don’t celebrate enough. Now, Angela wasn’t telling me to close my eyes to the heaviness of this moment. She was saying we should open our eyes to the energy being poured into making things better. Because, where there is action there is hope.
So I thought about it. And here are the top 5 things I'm celebrating in 2021:
- We’re fighting for a better world and winning.
In Tenerife, we helped local activists stop a mega port
from being built that would have destroyed the only whale heritage
site in Europe. This wasn’t just about stopping something bad from happening.
It was about fighting for a different model of development, that doesn’t allow
growth and profit driven companies to walk all over nature. The local
activists made it happen, but I’m so proud that we could back them up and help
make this a European story.
- People are refusing to be ignored in Serbia. You
can’t help but be blown away by the thousands of people in Serbia who have gone from organising around
kitchen tables, to signing petitions and taking to the streets. All to stop
Rio Tinto grabbing their land and destroying the environment. The
multinational corporation wants to exploit the area for lithium, regardless of
the irreparable damage to the water, land, air and its people. Land grabbing
and environmental destruction are happening all over the world. But people are
fighting back. I’m celebrating them and our work to support their
fight.
- Passing the million marker of people that make up this
community of WeMovers. Our power comes from speaking up together -
the more of us there are and the more our knowledge is rooted in local
realities across Europe, the more we can stand up to the likes of Rio Tinto or
big pharma that are exploiting our planet for mega profits that benefit the
few. There’s now more than a million of us and we want to keep growing. So
please help us spread the word!
- Growing our ability to move fast and make positive change.
Almost all our income, about 80%, comes from small donations from
individuals. [1] When I started at WeMove Europe, that figure was at 60%.
It just keeps growing. And the fact that we take zero cash from corporations
or governments means that we are independent. We can speak truth to power,
without worrying that those folks might cut our funds in the morning. And
while we haven’t yet closed our funding gap for this year, I’m
celebrating all those who give money to support change.
- Building a WeMove Europe team of 28 people rooted across Europe. From Madrid to Brussels to Warsaw, and now Amsterdam! We just hired a fantastic campaigner to build our impact in Europe. The team will grow again in 2022 with plans for another team member to boost our campaign support for YouMove - our tool that allows many more organisations, movements and citizen initiatives to set up their own campaigns online.
We know the world is not in the best shape right now. After all, that’s why we campaign and speak up together to change things for the better. But when we take stock we can find things to celebrate, no matter how small. And it’s important. When we can look back with pride, it gives us the energy to push ahead with hope.
So I’m curious. What about you? What are you celebrating? Let us know via this survey and we’ll share some of the joy back with the rest of this community. Keep going people!
Laura - Executive Director of WeMove Europe
References:
[1] The rest is from a couple of progressive
foundations and individuals that give larger amounts. You can read more on our
website https://www.wemove.eu/how-we-are-funded
WeMove Europe is a community of people from all walks of life,
who call Europe our home,
no matter where we were born, where we live or who
we love. In the name of a brighter future for people and the planet,
we
come together to sign petitions, send letters and protest on the streets to make
our voices heard.
Our power comes from each other. And it's thanks to
small monthly donations, fivers and tenners, that we can keep going.
Vladimir, please help keep WeMove Europe strong by chipping in.
| DONATE! |
WeMove Europe SCE mbH | Planufer 91 Berlin | www.wemove.eu | Privacy policy |
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