Living Legends changemakers

The selection

• Aaron SorkinLos Angeles, USA“Because he understood that the gap between democratic ideals and institutional reality is where drama lives, and because works like “The West Wing” and “The Newsroom” showed millions of people what genuine public-spirited argument could look like before they’d ever witnessed it in their actual institutions.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno
• Abderazzak BenchaabaneMarrakech, Morocco“Forty years documenting Morocco's plants quietly saves knowledge that was about to disappear.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Ama, Japanese Freediving WomenMie Prefecture, Japan“Two thousand years of diving in rhythm with the sea, taking only enough to return, still teaches us how to live with the ocean.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Amélie NothombParis, France“Amélie Nothomb, writer and extraordinary woman. Because her presence in the world of writing is a constant source of inspiration, as is the idea that one can write every single day, each day at dawn, and deliver readers a new book every year, for the sole reason that inspiration never runs dry. Her very existence is a constant reminder of my own laziness.”Recommended by Ilaria Gaspari
• Angela DavisOakland, USA“Angela Davis is undoubtedly one of the most clear-sighted pacifists of the 21st c. And, without a doubt, when it comes to the notion of incarceration, she is a figure we cannot afford to overlook.”Recommended by Coralie Custos Quatreville
• CERNGenève, Switzerland“Where we found the Higgs and invented the web, seventeen thousand scientists from a hundred countries work as one.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Donna HarawaySanta Cruz, USARecommended by Søren Hermansen
• Ellen MacArthur FoundationLondon, UK“Ellen gave the circular economy its language, and that language shaped real policy.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Enzo TortoraMilan, Italy“Because his wrongful imprisonment became a catalyst for Italian judicial reform, and because he transformed personal injustice into a campaign for systemic change.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno
• Equal Justice InitiativeMontgomery, USA“Bryan Stevenson reminds me that getting close to injustice is where real change starts.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Germaine AcognyToubab Dialaw, Senegal“Because gesture and movement are, above all, a constant rethinking of openness.”Recommended by Coralie Custos Quatreville
• Hannah ArendtNew York City, USA“Because she insisted on understanding politics as the realm of human plurality and action rather than administration, and because she never stopped asking what makes democratic life possible beyond bureaucratic processes.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno
• Heatherwick StudioLondon, UK“Thomas argues that buildings should move us, and his work makes that case hard to ignore.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Institut Océanographique Paul Ricardîle des Embiez, France“Fifty years of independent Mediterranean science, freely open to the public, is a gift.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Judith ShklarCambridge, MA, USA“Because she built an entire political theory around “putting cruelty first” as the foundation of liberalism, and because she showed that defending ordinary citizens from arbitrary power - whether public or private - is the core democratic project, not some secondary concern after we’ve sorted out grand constitutional principles.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno
• Knepp Wildland / Isabella TreeDorset, UK“Letting a worn-out farm go wild brought back turtle doves and nightingales, and that story changed how I think about land.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Kéré ArchitectureBerlin, Germany“Francis Kere builds with local hands and materials, and the community owns the result.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• La ChartreuseAiguenoire, France“Choosing to make less in order to stay true to themselves is a kind of courage I admire.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Léna BlouPointe-à-Pitre, France“Léna Blou invites us to reflect on the colonial legacy and on how the body can become a space of emancipation, capable of transforming both an individual and an entire society.”Recommended by Coralie Custos Quatreville
• Michel MayorGenève, Switzerland“He turned the question of whether we are alone into something we can actually measure.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Mondragon CorporationMondragon, Spain“Eighty thousand worker-owners governing their own companies since 1956 is the most serious counter-model to shareholder capitalism I know.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• NavdanyaDehradun, India“Vandana Shiva defends seeds as a commons, and that fight protects farmers everywhere.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Nyaguthii ChegeNairobi, Kenya“Carrying forward Wangari Maathai's vision is no small task. Chege's stewardship matters because it keeps a foundational African environmental movement rooted in the women and communities who actually do the planting.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Olivier RoellingerCancale, FranceRecommended by Katy Foraz
• Pierre RosanvallonParis, France“Because he built an entire intellectual project around making democracy work better rather than just critiquing it, and because he showed that rigorous scholarship and public engagement are not just compatible but necessary complements.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno
• Ralph NaderWashington D.C, USA“Because he demonstrated that one person armed with rigorous research and moral clarity can reshape entire systems of power, and because he never confused access to elites with actual influence over them.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno
• Simone Schwarz-BartGoyave, Guadeloupe“To bring such a small part of the world to the fore, knowing that it holds so many of the answers to the challenges of our time.”Recommended by Coralie Custos Quatreville
• Simonetta CheliFrascati, Italy“Turning satellite data into tools for climate decisions is European responsibility at its best.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Slow Food Foundation for BiodiversityBra, Italy“Carlo Petrini reminded us that eating well is a pleasure worth defending everywhere.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Tetsunari IidaTokyo, JapanRecommended by Søren Hermansen
• Ursula HirschmannBrussels, Belgium“Because she co-authored the Ventotene Manifesto’s vision of European federalism while herself stateless, and because she demonstrated that building transnational democracy requires both intellectual courage and practical organizing across borders.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno
• VelaParis, FranceRecommended by Simon Bernard
• Wanjira MathaiNairobi, Kenya“Carrying forward the Green Belt Movement while shaping continental climate policy. She makes the link between restored landscapes and restored dignity feel obvious.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Wildlife Conservation Fund / Hélène GrimaudNew York, USA“A great pianist giving her fame to wolves is a union of art and wildness I find moving.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• World Access for the BlindLos Angeles, USA“Daniel taught himself to see with sound and now teaches thousands, which expands what we think a person can learn.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Éliane Vogel-PolskyBrussels, Belgium“Because she used strategic litigation to establish gender equality as a fundamental EU principle, and because she showed how a single well-crafted legal case can reshape an entire constitutional order.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno