Speech van Coco Jervis (Mama Cash)

Friends, right now, across the world — and here in Europe — we are witnessing a coordinated backlash against equality, against racial justice, and against democracy itself.

Anti-rights movements are spreading fear and misinformation. They attack migrants. They attack Black and Brown communities. They attack queer and trans people. And they manipulate debates about gender and identity to divide us.

This is not random. It is a political strategy that is designed to weaken democracy and to silence those who speak out for justice.

But there is another story unfolding.

Across the world — and here in the Netherlands — feminist and queer communities are organizing, resisting, caring for and protecting one another.

It is my privilege and honor to work at Mama Cash and to witness firsthand the incredible work and impact that these movements are making. Mama Cash is a fund that provides grants to grassroots organisations led by women, girls, and trans and intersex people that are fighting for fundamental rights, bodily autonomy, indigenous rights, climate justice, and resilient democracies around the world.

Real change starts with you and me — regular people organizing in their communities.

People refusing to stay silent, people marching in the streets like we are today.

When we stand together — across movements, across identities, across struggles — we become harder to divide and impossible to ignore. 

Democracy has never been given to us.

It has always been won — and defended — by people who refuse to give up.