Why We Organize Matteo De Vos - a podcast powered by Roots

"Yo nací y el mar ya estaba ahí". Artista, bailarín y productor, Fabricio Di Giacomo y su comunidad han emprendido una lucha colectiva para proteger el golfo San Matías, en el norte de la Patagonia Argentina, de un oleoducto y de la consiguiente campaña de desinformación dirigida por políticxs y empresas petroleras para justificar la producción y contaminación . En este episodio, Fabricio explora su conexión con la naturaleza, el océano y sus ecosistemas. Habla de la importancia de organizarse, de la campaña para defender el Mar Argentino y de cómo la información puede utilizarse como arma para cambiar narrativas e historias.


“I was born and the sea was already there”. Artist, dancer, and producer Fabricio Di Giacomo and his community have been in a collective fight to protect the San Matías Gulf in Northern Argentinian Patagonia from oil pipeline, and an ensuing disinformation drive led by politicians and companies to justify producing and polluting. In this episode, which is in Spanish, Fabricio explores his connection to nature, the ocean, and its ecosystems. He talks about the importance of organizing, the campaign to defend the Argentine Sea, and how information can be weaponized to shift narratives and stories. 

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Why and how do we organize in times of crisis? Seb Alex is an animal rights advocate from Lebanon. He shares the powerful story of how he helped organize a food relief program in the immediate aftermath of the explosion in Beirut on August 4, 2020, and the intersecting communities that were touched. Seb explores wider philosophical questions on the topic of faith and religion when it comes to veganism, providing an insightful window into organizing in space that we might not usually associate with human rights. 

About Seb:

Seb Alex is the founder of the Middle East Vegan Society, and author of the free Ebook When Animal Rights & Logic Meet. He’s also a content creator and podcaster, and gives lectures on Animal ethics in universities and schools around the world.

What does it mean to be able to slow down, observe, listen, and reflect? Climate activist, Human rights and land defender, Ayisha Siddiqa, shares the story of herself and her community in Northern Pakistan. It’s a story full of pride, but also of grief and loss. It’s one of migration, of land and of nature; and how poetry and the pen are powerful tools to process and protest. This story highlights how important those precious moments are where we can stop and breathe in the beauty; deeply  human moments of longing and belonging.

About Ayisha:

Ayisha Siddiqa is an environmentalist, a poet, a human rights defender, a storyteller, a climate advisor to the UN secretary general, co-founder of Polluters Out and Fossil Free University, research scholar at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University, and a 2023 Time Magazine Women of the Year. 



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How do you organize when mere existence can be resistance? This is the powerful anonymous testimony of a climate justice activist from Kenya on what it’s like to campaign publicly for climate justice while having to keep her queer identity private for her own safety and security. This is a story about what it means to organize in contested spaces, and it’s one that mirrors the experiences of many other LGBQTI+ activists and marginalized communities around the world. It’s a reminder of why, every single day, we must collectively organize to fight systems of oppression wherever we find them, and in whatever form.

Practicing care to build community is as old as organizing itself, yet it is often seen as nothing short of radical. Writer, activist, and community builder Philsan Osman talks about how practices of care, ritual, joy and pleasure can be experienced in the vulnerable spaces of our homes as deeply human forms of resistance, and how they’re led by women, gender minorities, people of color, and other marginalized communities.    

About Philsan:

Philsan Osman (she/her) co-authored 'Dare To Care: Ecofeminism as a source of inspiration' (EPO 2021). She studies African Languages and Cultures at the University of Gent, and volunteers for Black History Month Belgium, online feminist magazine Spijker Magazine, and Burgerplicht in Gent. Philsan is from Somalia, and is a writer, activist, and community builder. 

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"Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone". Youth activist and filmmaker Nanticha (Lynn) Ocharoenchai makes the case for using humor to communicate effectively and to build resilience in community organizing.

About Lynn:

Nanticha (Lynn) Ocharoenchai is an environmental storyteller and climate activist from Thailand. From wildlife conservation and sustainable solutions to indigenous rights and youth movements, Nanticha uses writing and film to inspire and enable individuals, businesses and governments to help create a better shared planet and home. Her work has been featured in publications such as Mongabay and Bangkok Post, as well as NGOs like WWF and Greenpeace.

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