
It might seem obvious that we are all born equal, with the same rights. The European Parliament can challenge governments that threaten our freedoms – yet another good reason to speak up! We can all challenge this by raising our voices for human rights with candidates. Politicians who use bully tactics want us to be silent, because our silence gives them power. In Poland, women have faced violence from far-right groups, just for peacefully protesting against hatred, and the government introduced laws which threaten the independence of the courts. Hungary’s government has even made this a crime.
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In France, Greece, Italy and the UK people are being targeted and prosecuted simply for helping those forced to flee from war, poverty and persecution.
#To raise your voice free#
In societies that are genuinely free and fair, people can protest peacefully, join groups and get organised on issues they believe in.īut some politicians in Europe are working to steal those freedoms. Now is the time to show support for the global climate protests by calling on your candidates in the European elections to commit to tackling climate change. The EU has the resources and the responsibility to lead decisive global action to avoid climate catastrophe. Politicians need to urgently face the fact Europe is one of the world’s worst polluters and start protecting people, and our planet, now.

The recent #SchoolStrike4Climate movement started by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has demonstrated that younger people are much more committed to taking radical action to save our planet than the leaders who represent them. And the European elections in May give us a unique opportunity to do just that. The only way to protect ourselves and our communities from hate, discrimination, racism and sexism, is to stand up and speak out for what we believe in.

Along with powerful media, some politicians in Europe are busy spreading hate and fear, cracking down on peaceful activists, and pointing fingers at minority groups for everything that’s going wrong in our societies. Many of us share a sneaking feeling right now that some leaders are taking Europe in completely the wrong direction.
