READER LETTER | Escalating wars close to wiping us all out

19 October 2023 - 10:33
By
Smoke rises in the air above Gaza following Israeli bombings, as seen from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel.
Image: REUTERS/Amir Cohen Smoke rises in the air above Gaza following Israeli bombings, as seen from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel.

The stone wall at the entrance to the Unesco headquarters carries a profound message that all members oft he United Nations have violated ever since its inception.

These sacred words must not be ignored: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.”

Chronic conflicts, relentless warfare and persecution have created mental stress across the war-torn landscapes. In today’s brutal wars, civilian deaths outnumber fighting combatants.

The world is afflicted with gruesome violence, carried out by governments in the name of anti-terrorist missions. The ultimate consequence is the destruction of humanity with innocent civilians bearing the cost. Our global history is replete with wars of aggression being waged in a sinister pattern of regime change and naked territorial expansion.

Selective morality and condemnation have become the footprints of international diplomacy. The time is fast approaching when the web of escalating war would engulf us forever and bloody barbarism would be an accepted norm.

As powerful events escalate out of control, nations, will be forced to unleash their atomic venom, whose deadly lethality will exterminate us all.

Farouk Araie, Mackenzie Park, Benoni