I am of a matriarchal bloodline, I know fierce like the cradle of my grandmother. The women in my family have created all that we have with sheer grit; despite the hurdles of living as tribal/rural woman in one of the most patriarchal and violent countries against women in the world.
This women’s day, this honor, I dedicate to them, for raising me, my sisters, my mom, my aunties, to create in spite of all that seeks to destroy us. Within their ferocity is hand quilted a timeless generosity. A kindness that wakes up every morning before sunrise to feed the children, that keeps giving life and color and joy. That offers a prayer, a bow, before it picks the orange off the tree. I learned how to love the earth, because I see my mother and all the women who have created me in the ripples of earth mother. Thank you for teaching me how to love and fight. And thank you @time for putting climate Justice on the cover!
I was blessed with a stage and a voice, and I dedicate it to the people of Palestine. With a utterly broken heart I dedicate it to Palestine. In front of the ministers and politicians of the world, let us not forget Palestine.
I opened the high level, Gender day event at the Conference of Parties where we are discussing how to preserve life from fungus to ecosystems, talking about gender justice but we have forgotten our humanity.
I know why the cage bird sings
(Inspired by Maya Angelou and Rilke)
Music is easier to make after heartbreak
So the cage bird sings “break my heart again”
And then break it again, so I can make sound
Let my cage have some bells and let the bells be broken
let me sing when it gets dark
Let me hang from the center and sway back and fourth
When my throat fails
Let the intensity of pain turn into water
And if there is no water, let my tune echo without me moving my mouth
And when the immense loneliness begins
When the world no longer listens
Through the empty space between the bars
Let this tune be what you have.
Because I am going to love life
As no one has taught you to love it
It has been a year since I’ve had the privilege of taking office as an advisor to the UNSG and wanted to share what I have been up to since then.
Conventionally, when we discuss solving climate change, we consider solutions through specific action tracks such as clean energy, recycling, or even personal consumption choices. Conversely, my experiences in entering the climate sphere taught me that what truly matters in climate advocacy is the governance frameworks and the texts that dictate them.
For the past two years (going into office) I have been working with youth advocates from roughly 12-15 countries to build a structure for democratizing access to dense international climate policy formation. We have set up a policy advocacy network that is working to ensure the text coming out of multilateral climate conventions aligns with the greater good of young people and future generations. We are collaborating with the best positioned actors from UN agencies, youth offices, and those who have been organizing grassroots protests to build a systematic effort to influence international climate convention text decisions. We are mentoring each other to develop fluency in language, provisions, and policy, so that we can, without being government officials or “lobbyists”, provide edits on climate negotiations. Together, we have created a structure that could stand up to corporate capture of international climate law.
We will be continuing this work into the new year especially as the conversation shifts to climate finance. There is still much hope if we get this right, if we analyze and restructure our monetary system to be conducive to a sustainable world rather than an ever consuming world.
On April 30th, the highest court in the Netherlands ruled for the 3rd time that the Dutch Foreign Minister is legally obligated to evacuate 48 people from G@za , all approved for Dutch residence permits, most of them students accepted into Dutch universities.
Six months later, they’re still not here.
Despite a clear court ruling, the Dutch government has taken no meaningful action. Worse, the Foreign Ministry has been weaponizing bureaucracy, forcing each visa holder into a separate legal proceeding to delay and exhaust them individually.
These people have done everything asked of them. They filled out university applications through a genocide.
90% of the work to get them out is already done. The court has spoken. The permits are approved. All that’s missing is the political will.
Because of the siege on G@za , foreign affairs ministers are among the only people with the power to open that door. We are calling on the Dutch Minister to fulfill his legal obligation, not tomorrow, not after another court date, now!
In the face of scholasticide, there is a moral obligation to ensure this generation of G@zans #can pursue an education. These students survived the unsurvivable. The least we can do is help facilitate the education they have been deprived of because of genocide
#gaza #palestine #evacuation #breakthesiege
What if the future is soft and revolution is so kind that there is no end to us in sight? ✨ 🌏 🌊 🎞️ by @feminist , 🎙️ voiceover: @gretathunberg , @janefonda , @ayisha_sid
🎙️: Greta Thunberg, “United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York 2019”; Jane Fonda, “60th Annual SAG Awards 2025”; Ayisha Siddiqa, “And All I’ve Got is a Love Poem”
🎶 Background music: Chubby Cree, “Green and Carol Powder” #earthday
In my Amal Clooney era!!
But seriously it’s been a dream come true, 1.5 years ago my team and I at the Future Generations Tribunal were invited to work with the Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change, to help bring community and local voices to the worlds highest court- so that they could share the stories with the ICJ as it worked on its Opinion on climate change. I worked on a portion of the testimonies from my bedroom in LA. I wasn’t able to join our team on the ground in The Hague because it was my first semester of law school and I had finals. @futuregenerationstribunal carried the work, the stories, with such an integrity, but my dream of seeing these halls still was unfulfilled. So when the opportunity to intern at the court presented itself, I leaped at it.
I’ve been working at the International Court of Justice this semester in lieu of taking classes and it’s been everything I hoped for. A part of this is a personal dream, and a part of it is a larger duty to the fight that is ahead.
"Ayisha Siddiqa's new project may just change the world."
In a feature for @guardian 's Down to Earth newsletter, environmental editor Damian Carrington interviews our Founder and Executive Director @ayisha_sid , highlighting the sliver of hope that young activists' impactful work brings to the underwhelming political spectacle of COP30.
Read the Guardian's full feature now.
#FutureGenerationsTribunal #WhatWillTomorrowAsk #EastAfricaTribunal #HumanRights #ClimateJustice #IndigenousVoices #ICJ #COP30
And we’re headed to Belém for COP30!! I have the honor of representing the @futuregenerationstribunal from Nov 16-21, after completing our flagship tribunal in East Africa. We have sooo much to share from legal innovation, to stories. Please join at the following events where I will be sharing the results of our recent tribunal and our submission of the people’s petition to the ICJ.
Nov 17 — GLF Climate 2025 Closing Plenary
16:30–17:30 | Action on Food Hub Pavilion, Blue Zone
Nov 18 — The rights of future generations
10:50–11:35 | Children & Youth Pavilion
ICJ Advisory Opinion & the 1.5°C Goal
13:00–13:50 | Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion
Restoring Balance: Indigenous Peoples Science
14:00–15:00 | Planetary Science Pavilion
Justice, Human Rights & Health
16:00–16:37 | COP30 Blue Zone
Culture Hack: Right to Grow Citizens Assembly
17:45–18:45 | Parque da Cidade
Nov 19 — Strategic Dialogue on International Courts & Advisory Opinions (LACLIMA)
09:00–19:00 | Casa Balaio, Av. Nazaré 669, Belém
I have been living on Guam for about a month now. It is a place where the air carries the scent of salt and plumeria, and where the forest still rings with the call of the ko’ko’ bird, a flightless bird found nowhere else on earth. The undergrowth is red and alive with black butterflies and the quiet work of land snails, some as rare as any found in the Pacific. Evenings are heavy with moisture and sound of cicadas. In its moments of stillness, Guam seems to belong only to itself.
But that sense of peace feels interrupted. Nearly a third of the island is carved out for U.S. military bases, creeping further each year into forests, ocean, aquifers and places sacred to the indigenous people, places with names older than America itself. You don’t need to spend much time here to witness the gentrification of American soldiers- who train for war and prepare for violence they’ll carry out somewhere else.
The economy moves to the rhythm of American occupation. The price of milk, of fruit, of a place to live is incredibly high, but cheaper and affordable on military bases. It seems like the cost of living for locals in their own home; is their body. Many are forced to give their lives to the military.
This island has taught me sooo much about beauty, but also about the quiet force of U.S imperialism and what ordinary people are expected to give up, over and over, for someone else’s wars.
LA you’ve been so generous and have shared your art with me, thank you!
Everyone go check out @xiuhtezcatl new song!
It touched such a deep cord, the struggles of indigenous peoples across the world to be free, to harvest, to tend, to walk with our elders and bring our children into the world with tradition and story is at stake. So we must tell our stories, we must sing our songs. We must break bread with others who walk with the forest. We must store our harvest in the belly of our brothers.
