by Stefano Vaccara
NEW YORK (UNITED STATES) (ITALPRESS) – In the heart of the Glass Palace, where diplomacy, conflicts and hopes have been met for eighty years, the UN Correspondents Association (UNCA) celebrated the United Nations anniversary with a gala that was much more than a ceremony. It was a political and civil act, dedicated to the value of truth, freedom of press and moral responsibility of those who tell the conflicts in the world. To open the evening was the president of UNCA, Valeria Robecco, who immediately asked the central question of 2025: what is the price of truth? A very high price, he recalled, paid by at least 94 journalists killed this year while carrying out their work. Gaza has become the most tragic symbol: the most lethal conflict for reporters in recent history. Robecco recalled the young Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, killed with his family in an Israeli bombing, a few days after a documentary on his work had been selected in Cannes. “To give voice to those who do not have – he said – often means paying an extreme price.” Following this, UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock addressed a direct message to UN accredited journalists, stressing that their work is indispensable to make visible the human side of conflicts, resolutions and diplomatic processes. Without information, he observed, the world would not know when the UN fails its principles nor when, instead, it succeeds in saving lives. “Every day – he recalled – this institution contributes to saving millions of people and your task is to tell them.”.
The dinner, conceived by chef Michele Casadei Massari, was conceived as “service and non-show”: accessible, shared dishes to promote dialogue. An idea that found echo in the words of the Global Advocate of the Year, Massimo Bottura, who spoke of cooking as an act of responsibility. “The future – he said – is not technology, but consciousness. Creativity means taking care of people, communities and humanity.” The name of the future, for Bottura, is “courage”. During the evening, both Bottura and Casadei Massari recalled the recent recognition of Italian cuisine as an intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO, underlining the universal value of sharing, identity and dialogue among peoples. The most intense moment came with the Global Citizen of the Year award at Javier Bardem. The Spanish actor thanked journalists for their irreplaceable role in transforming distant suffering into a reality that cannot be ignored. He recalled the reporters killed in Gaza, citing names and stories, and denounced the repression against those who tell the war. “The truth is dangerous – he said – but who seeks it deserves protection, not persecution.” In a time of silence, censure and disinformation, the UNCA gala at the UN said that without free journalism there is no truth, so there is no justice or peace.
– photo xo9/Italpress –
(ITALPRESS).
