Dear Editor,
Where are the voices of world leaders, world organisations, the International Criminal Court, NATO, the United Nations Security Council and all the other humanitarian organisations? Why this deafening silence? Where is their collective conscience? They are the ones to speak for the voiceless, to act against all the injustices and suffering we are seeing in Aleppo and other disaster areas. If nothing is done to alleviate this inhumanity we are seeing daily before our eyes, would they not be ashamed to hold such positions when all this suffering is escalating with each new day?
Some years ago I saw a film called ‘Girl in the Cafe,’ a somewhat misleading name that illustrates the imbalances between the rich and powerful and the poor and helpless in this world. It shows the callousness and dealings carried on behind closed doors, all in the name of humanity. We all need to see that film.
I also read a poem called ‘The Development Set’ by Ross Coggins, that cynically sums up the plight of the poor and voiceless. Here are a few selected verses:
Excuse me, friends, I must catch my jet / I’m off to join the Development Set; / My bags are packed, and I’ve had all my shots / I have traveller’s cheques and pills for the trots!
The Development Set is bright and noble / Our thoughts are deep and our vision global / Although we move with the better classes / Our thoughts are always with the masses.
In Sheraton Hotels in scattered nations / We damn multi-national corporations / Injustice seems easy to protest / In such seething hotbeds of social unrest.
We discuss malnutrition over steaks / And plan hunger talks during coffee breaks. / Whether Asian floods or African drought / We face each issue with open mouth.
The language of the Development Set / Stretches the English alphabet: / We use swell words like “epigenetic” / “Micro,” “macro,” and “logarithmetic.”
When the talk gets deep and you’re feeling numb, / You can keep your shame to a minimum: / To show that you, too, are intelligent / Smugly ask, “Is it really development?”
Development homes are extremely chic, / Full of carvings, curios, and draped with batik./ Eye-level photographs subtly assure / That your host is at home with the great and the poor.
Enough of these verses – on with the mission! / Our task is as broad as the human condition! / Just pray the biblical promise is true: / The poor ye shall always have with you.
This was written forty years ago. Has anything changed? Isn’t it time for a New World Order?
(As I was about to send this letter, a gunman just killed the Russian ambassador to Turkey. When the assassin shouted, “Don’t forget Aleppo,” he shouted not only for all the frustrated and desperate people of Aleppo, but for all the embattled people the world over. Who will heed his cry?)
Yours faithfully,
Gloria Lye
