Young Pakistani climate activist, Ayisha Siddiqa has been named one of TIME’s Women of the Year 2023. The 24-year-old from Jhang was featured alongside the likes of famous personalities such as Angela Bassett, Cate Blanchett, and Phoebe Bridgers.
Ayisha Siddiqa is a human rights and climate activist who hopes to find a way to bring “humanity back into the staid, high-level conversations that increasingly occupy her time.”
According to the magazine, “Siddiqa felt the effects of this lack of action viscerally last year as she witnessed from afar the life-altering impacts of Pakistan’s floods, likely made more extreme by global warming. She channeled those feelings into poetry as a form of protest.”
In an interview, Ayisha stated,
It’s an effort to preserve what I have left, while I still have the time, in written form. Art makes life worth living, and in my opinion, it’s what makes humans worth the fight. Like all of the things that we leave behind, all the creations, wouldn’t it be so unfortunate if there’s nobody on the other side to witness and observe them?
Ayisha Siddiqa grew up in a matriarchal, tribal community in eastern Pakistan, which has helped shape her perspective. “The wounded world is so beautiful because she keeps producing life,” she told to the publication. “And my work is in defense of life. By default, it’s defense of the rights of women. Therefore, it’s also by default human rights.”
These values and realities are what motivate Ayisha Siddiqa to use her voice to uplift the vulnerable and hold polluters to account. “I was raised with the idea that the earth is a living being, that she gives life to you, and in return, you have a responsibility,” she said. “And I think we, collectively, have come to a point where we are ignoring the cries of the mother earth.”
We are but not ruled by our conscience