In today's world, as in yesterday's, journalists are still being killed in Afghanistan, Mexico, Somalia, Palestine, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Burkina Faso; journalists are still being threatened, harassed and imprisoned in Algeria, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Belarus, Yemen, Brazil, Iran, Malaysia, France, Colombia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Hungary, Turkey, Indonesia and Poland. ... and we are still fighting to defend our rights on the ground in Switzerland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Chile, Spain, Greece, Italy, Taiwan, Namibia and Argentina...
The list is too long to be exhaustive, but the most important lesson to draw from all these struggles, those of today and those of tomorrow, is that they can only be carried out by active journalists' unions in the front line, alongside the IFJ, on all fronts, to defend our organisation's ideals.
On 13 June we will celebrate 95 years of fighting for free access to information and independent unions. It is an opportunity to remember that international solidarity is our strength, and your support in recent weeks for our sisters and brothers in Palestine is a wonderful illustration of this.
Anthony Bellanger
IFJ General Secretary