Transcript

Introduction: Welcome to the National Democratic Institute’s Changing The Face of Politics podcast series. In these candid conversations recorded from home, politically-active women from around the globe interview each other about the male dominated world of politics. They're the best examples of why we need to move faster to reach political parity between men and women before the middle of the next century, and change the face of politics. In this special edition episode for 2022's International Day of the Girl Child, you will hear Peace Ayo interview Julieta Martinez about her journey fighting for gender equality in Chile, while raising awareness of the intersection of climate justice as a part of this fight.

Peace Ayo: Welcome to this special two part episode of the Changing the Face of Politics series in celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child. Welcome Julieta Martinez. I hope I didn't murder your name. 

Julieta Martinez: No, it's wonderful. I mean, now that we're switching roles, I can ask anything from you. I’m so happy, let’s go! 

Peace Ayo: So, I call you Julieta or Martinez? Which one do you prefer?

Julieta Martinez: What about we go with, so people call me Julie. Are you cool with that? 

Peace Ayo: Yeah, perfect. So, Julie, I just have a question I want to ask you, which I know millions of people would want to also have the answers to it. And I think this is a great opportunity for them to share that. My question to you: what motivated you to get politically involved? Is it like someone related to you is politically active or is it personal story or something? What is that thing that motivated you to get politically involved? 

Julieta Martinez: Yes, but no. My father was, for example, once a time ago I don't know if you know this, but not too long ago in Chile, there was a 17-year dictatorship and changed so many people's lives. So my Father and my Mother went through that dictatorship. So there was a lot of censorship, there was a lot of things that you couldn't do and they were part of the opposition. So it was pretty dangerous for them to be actually present in politics because there was no political parties at the time. So my Father always had told me, and my Mother as well, “Julieta, never think about politics just as a color, not only for right, left and center or the middle right, when it's so much more. You should see politics as an art of achieving something, of changing something, of changing people's lives, and you should use every single tool and mechanisms that you have today to make an actual change in our society.” That truly changed my life, that truth changed the way I see things. And I started to get interested in how can I create my own project, how can I move my own ideas? And why should I do it always with others, right? Based on a sense of community and collaboration. Actually, politics told me that I wasn't alone. And there are so many people, especially young people, that are working every single day of their lives to make a better future and present. In 2019 in Chile, because I know I talk alot, but in 2019 here in Chile, there was a social crisis and everything changed for my country. Everything was on fire, you could see military out the streets, fighting with people. It was a big change that marched a lot of my friends life and my life in particular. And I noticed and there was like this big manifestation, this big protest strike. And I went out to the streets with more than 1 million people to ask for a better quality of life for my elders, for my younger siblings, for every single person that wants dignity. And that showed me that it's possible. When you get a bunch of people together that get organized, get coordinated, you can get to actual tangible solutions. 

Peace Ayo: Okay, Julie, I still have a couple of questions to ask you if you will be interested. Why is having more women and girls engaged in politics important to you? If more women and girls are engaged in politics, would it be a better idea or it could be a very disastrous idea?

Julieta Martinez: So it's a wonderful idea and should be implemented as soon as possible. So just to give you a Latin American context or Latin American expedient, we have been working a lot, especially in the world of feminism, we have been working based on intersectionality and basically we're like guide word. So understanding every single context or every single one of your realities, it's going to change the way that you interact with people, that you live with other people, and how can you connect with the environment as well. And let me be a little bit more clear. So my work that I'm doing right now, Ayo, is finding the connection between the climate crisis and the gender agenda. And every time I talk about like the climate crisis with a gender perspective, people look at me like, what the hell are you talking about? What is that? And you get to realize that it's not coincidence that today, 80% of climate refugees are women and girls. Today, a young woman living in my same country that use 4 hours of the day to get access to fuel or clean water instead of going to school. Right now, women are 14 times more vulnerable to die in natural disaster. And those are data that we cannot just not look at it. It's so important to understand that there's so many crisis where women are being extremely affected and extremely vulnerable to especially young girls. They should be the ones being actually participating in decision making because they understand the problems, they go through those realities. I have the opportunity not too long ago to go to certain communities here in Chile, to talk with women that had not access to clean water right now. And when you hear them talk about their realities and what they do to protect their water before it goes away you get to, I remember reading the IPC reports or I don't know if you are really connected with the IPC, like this international, like this panel of scientists that work everything related to climate change. And when they send this report, like adaptation report, and I was like, these women had been adapting all their lives. There's no other person that knows better what is actually the other patient, because it's something that's already going through. When you talk about young girls and young women, it's go farther away like the slogan of “we should get women at the table.” It's because it's a need as a society, it's a need as a human race. We have every single person involved, especially after we have been historically marginalized from every single decision that marks our future and present. 

Peace Ayo: Wow. Wow. Are you sure you're not advocating for the Pesidential candidate? Because I'll vote for you. 

Julieta Martinez: Don't make me think about it. 

Peace Ayo: You should, you should think about it. Okay. So I just want to say thank you for being the Malala in Chile. Thank you so much for championing things that concern women and girls. We're so proud of you. I don't know if you get this a lot, but I just want to say well done for your work. It's really important to know that there are so many girls out there who are fighting for girls. And who happen to amplify the voice of girls. So, thank you. 

Julieta Martinez: Thank you. I mean, getting that compliment from somebody like you, it makes me like, 100% better. So thank you so much. 

Peace Ayo: Thank you too. Okay, so my next question to you is that for young women and young people with diverse identities, diverse mindsets, who have different upbringings, different religions, and different cultural backgrounds. So how have you worked to contribute to combine these challenges? How have you worked to combine each and every one of those diversity to work together? How has your work navigated all those challenges? 

Julieta Martinez: So I'll try to keep it short because I know we don't have much time. And, you know, I love to talk. I think it's pretty obvious by now. I don't know if it's controversial, but this is something I truly believe, and I really hope you agree with me. But right now, what I'm trying to do in Chile is I'm trying to eradicate this message that sometimes media shows. It's like, oh, you are representing youth, or you are representing young women, or you're representing Latin American women. Because I always ask myself, yes, I'm Chilain, yes, I'm Latin American, but I do not represent every single one of us. You know, outside of being Latin American, yes, I've seen the effects of, I've been through really misogynistic commentaries. I've been cat called on streets, but you know, there's so many women in so many different places that have lived maybe even worse than me. I feel like I'm a really privileged girl. I feel like if we keep talking about people, like their representatives of certain communities is that you're taking one person to represent an enormous group of women that are diverse, are different, that live spheres of difference. So, I think the best way to get that representation, like actual representation, is I’m not going to talk about for other women. If I have the opportunity to have for right, I need to have an invitation to talk about different stuff or I get to travel to another part of the world to go to a conference or seminar, whatever. I'm going to try every single day to get other woman also on that stage. Because it's not only just me. I mean, it's me, it's Sophia, Valentina, it’s Ayo, Sarah, every single woman that's going through different realities and they should be the ones speaking for themselves. 

Peace Ayo: Thank you. Of course, I agree with what you said. Everybody has to speak for themselves because your opinion on some matters may be different from my opinion and that's what makes us different and that's what would build the nation if each and every one of us brings our own diverse opinion. So I want to ask this last and final question. This is like a personal question. What are you most optimistic about? Like, for me, in the next few years to come, I actually want to go into politics fully because I believe that getting politically involved, not just saying it, not just advocating for it, but actually being there would really make a difference. So what are you optimistic about? 

Julieta Martinez: I wish you the best, Ayo. I'm going to be following your political career. Call me with it. So for me, I guess that the world is changing and the world is actually changing. I feel like we are in this process of redesigning a lot of things: redesigning the world we understand politics, redesigning the way we understand economy, redesign the world and what we consume it, why we consume it. Who do we follow and why do we follow them? And finding young leaders such as yourself gives me the hope that the world wants to see those changes and we cannot wait any longer because we need those tangible, not only ambitious, but also effective solutions. And there's a lot of people, especially young people, they're bringing them based on entrepreneurship, based on innovation. So people like you are the ones that give me the optimism that I need in my life. And this is no joke involved. I'm saying this from the bottom of my heart. 

Peace Ayo: Aw, Thank you very much. Thank you, Julieta Martinez. Thank you for being here and thank you for actually adding your voice to this International Day of the Girl Child. And I wish you well in your future endeavors and I hope to see you soon and talk more about how we can collaborate and actually make our countries better. Thank you very much and have a wonderful day ahead. 

Julieta Martinez: Thank you so much for being an amazing host. Goodbye!

Peace Ayo: Goodbye!

Closing: Thank you for tuning in to this special edition episode of the Changing The Face of Politics podcast series. To learn more about the series and NDI’s initiative, please go to NDI's website at www.ndi.org. Tune in to hear our additional interview from this special edition podcast as Julieta Martinez interviews Nigerian girls’ education activist, Peace Ayo.