Free and Quiet

When 4 and 5 May came into view, we used to ask each other: what are you going to do on Liberation Day? Now we asked each other what we were going to do with Remembrance Day.

Report after report shows that worldwide, press freedom is on the decline, the right to demonstrate is under pressure, and civil society organisations are being squeezed, thwarted and discredited. Newsreel after newsreel we see the large-scale suffering of innocent civilians in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and where not really?

And then suddenly it was Sunday 8pm. I was deeply silent for two minutes - and decided that wasn't enough.

Since then, I have been silent for two minutes every day for the people we stand up for at the Max van der Stoel Foundation. Our friends in Ukraine and Lebanon, the victims in Gaza, Sudan, and Congo, the protesters in Serbia and Georgia.

Fortunately, we are free to choose freedom. And to fight for peace, justice and democracy. To this end, we and the FMS are going on missions to Ukraine, Serbia and Georgia in the coming months. We are also organising discussion and dialogue in the Netherlands.

Be welcome and join in so that next year's silence will be more bearable and freedom can be celebrated by many more people!

- Kido Koenig, Director FMS