The climate crisis is a human rights crisis — and addressing it demands urgent, systemic change. South African activist Kumi Naidoo — President of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative and former Secretary-General of Greenpeace International and Amnesty International — joins host Giulia Foscari for a galvanizing conversation on justice, activism, and the future of our Global Commons. Reflecting on decades of campaigning, from standing up to apartheid to defending Antarctica and the Ocean, Kumi calls for dismantling fossil fuel addiction, amplifying the voices of the global majority, and embracing the transformative power of artivism. As the Venice Biennale Vernissage draws to a close, we are reminded that art and architecture can — and must — be a catalyst for hope, resistance, and justice.

Kumi Naidoo is a human rights and environmental justice activist. He is President of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative and Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford University. He formerly served as Secretary-General of Amnesty International (2018–2020) and was the first person from the Global South to lead Greenpeace International (2009–2015). He serves as Global Ambassador for Africans Rising for Justice, Peace, and Dignity, and as an advisor to the Community Arts Network. Together with his family, he established the Riky Rick Foundation for the Promotion of Artivism, building on the legacy of South African artist Rikhado Makhado. Kumi Naidoo is also the author of the award-winning Letters to My Mother: The Makings of a Troublemaker and hosts the podcast Power, People and Planet. He was born at 320 parts per million carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

CREDITS

Kumi Naidoo hosted by Giulia Foscari.

Broadcast from the Voice of Commons’ Planetary Embassy, in Venice. 

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Launched as a Special Project of the 19th Venice Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, under the Patronage of UNESCO, with the recognition of The European Space Agency and endorsed by United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

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