Issues that matter need laws that cannot be undermined at the ballot box

A battle has been won against ecocide...

About a month ago, I wrote an article on ecocide. I mentioned the remarkable work of Polly Higgins who campaigned tirelessly for laws to be changed in order to protect the planet from wanton destruction by its so-called guardians. Polly died on Easter Sunday after a battle with cancer. The organisation she founded, Earth Protectors, announced that she passed away "with a mischievous smile on her face". As Polly lay dying, London was paralysed by protesting environmentalists. Greta Thunberg was adding her voice and that of a new generation to the battle cry. This was a battle that Polly had won: the world was waking up again! 

The war on ecocide goes on...

A few victories, however, will not guarantee a safer world. It is crumbling before our eyes. Yesterday, news came out of the alarming plight of the emperor penguins. They nest on ice in the Antarctic. Last year it became too thin to last long enough for the chicks to develop sufficiently for the challenges that faced them. As the ice melted away, so did the chicks, whose feathers were not yet water resistant enough to save them from drowning. The second largest colony may have been lost because of this.

By Ian Duffy from UK - Animal Portraits

We need laws...

Polly Higgins was a lawyer. She understood that without laws safeguarding the global ecosystem, nothing would stop greedy corporations and governments from exploiting it as much as they could. They would do so without any regard for present or future generations; or the destruction of the planet. 

The same applies to issues concerning human rights and justice. Not only are these sometimes at the mercy of oppressive governments, often they are left to the whims of flawed democratic systems that consider the ballot box above decency and justice.

And the laws need teeth...
UN-aligned is opposed to this pseudo-democracy. It will be fighting for international laws that transcend the ballot box when it is the planet, its ecosystems and all its lifeforms that are at stake. However, for these laws to have teeth, we also need an international order like the United Nations, but one that is not a plaything of the superpowers and their corporate buddies. This too, UN-aligned is fighting for. UN-aligned will be launched next month, but is already open for membership... Why not join?