Embracing Complexity: A Conversation with Carla Vitantonio

Written by Laura Higuera Sánchez – Co-Chair

As part of the We Are Tomorrow Global Partnership’s first training series, participants were introduced to the intertwined ideas of decoloniality, intersectionality, and climate justice. At the heart of this exploration was Carla Vitantonio. A humanitarian and development professional, activist, author, and performer, Carla brought both lived experience and scholarly grounding into the discussion.

Carla framed her introduction around positionality, the idea that our perspectives are always relative, shifting depending on context and identity. From this starting point, she unpacked intersectionality, drawing on Kimberlé Crenshaw’s definition while stressing how overlapping identities shape both vulnerability and privilege. She illustrated this with personal examples: as a white queer woman living in Havana, her experience of climate change differs radically from that of her Cuban neighbors in hurricane-prone areas.

Turning to decoloniality, Carla made a sharp distinction between historical decolonisation, the political independence of nations, and the enduring coloniality that lingers in institutions, education systems, and even mindsets. Her point was clear: “Nobody likes to give away power.” Decoloniality, then, is less about closing a chapter in history and more about an ongoing process of questioning and restructuring power relations.

What stood out in the conversation was Carla’s insistence on linking the personal to the systemic. From daily acts like refusing to take an elevator, to broader critiques of humanitarian whiteness, she emphasized that small, intentional choices gain power when connected to collective action and communicated as political. Her reflections on solidarity by saying “there’s no freedom only for you, otherwise it’s privilege” gave the discussion both moral clarity and urgency.

The dialogue also touched on youth led climate advocacy, where Carla challenged young activists to resist replicating old power structures. Instead, she urged them to embrace radicalism, not as violence but as passionate commitment. Ageism, she argued, is itself a form of coloniality, often silencing both the very young and the elderly. Youth, then, must claim power creatively, while remaining mindful of how they will one day hand it forward.

The training sessions left Carla impressed by the organisation, cultural diversity, and willingness of participants to engage even when feedback was uncomfortable. For her, the greatest takeaway was hope: hope rooted in the complexity of perspectives and the refusal to accept easy binaries.

As she put it in closing, “Coloniality would like to tell us the world is simple. But we have to embrace complexity. It is not something we can avoid, it is something we can face. And it is beautiful.”