Humanity, where are you? What have we done with goodness?

On Feb. 6, a strong earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, killing 45,000 in Turkey, 6,000 in Syria and injuring about 120,000 in both countries. Six departments (wilayas) in Turkey and four in Syria were completely destroyed or wiped out. Kurdish areas on both sides of the border between the two countries were particularly hard hit by this devastating earthquake.

Described by the WHO as “the greatest natural disaster of this century,” the earthquake has affected 39 million people, including 7 million children, devastated, traumatized, mostly without parents and without a roof over their heads, according to United Nations figures….

Faced with these staggering figures, which are not yet final because the debris is still being cleared, the human rights world, called free and democratic, has not been alarmed beyond measure. Reactions have been slow and tardy…If we know that at the time of writing, on the 12th day of the disaster, 2 more people have been extracted alive from under the rubble in different places, we can get an idea of the number of lives that could have been saved…

In front of this tragic context, due to a natural disaster whose dramatic consequences were amplified by human actions, we wish to express our solidarity with the affected populations, Turkish, Syrian and Kurdish, who are living in a situation of suffering, shock and destitution in the middle of winter.

Instead of making an international emergency plan to help all the victims of this earthquake, they have started to establish preferences among the buried, while the inestimable value of human life should be beyond any form of ideology or power… Syrians and Turks are still desperately struggling to extract victims from the rubble and to ensure the survivors’ lives against hunger and terrible cold.

Helping the affected populations and providing massive life-saving resources is an urgent responsibility for all “rich” and “developed” freedom-loving and justice-loving countries; the wealth of their billionaires has again made huge strides in the past two years, and the profits of their large multinational corporations increased last year by between 10 and 20 percent, thanks, among other things, to the many ongoing wars around the world.

Washington’s decision to freeze economic sanctions against Syria for six months has not been followed through; on the ground, the 900 U.S. soldiers deployed in Syria, at the Nataf base located in the middle of the country’s largest oil field, al-Omar, in Deir Ez-Zor province, have not moved a finger. For its part, the EU stands as it is. Unacceptable. The European Union must make a decision for the imperative and immediate lifting of the economic sanctions imposed on Syria as a whole. This decision would be in line with the report published last November by the UN Special Rapporteur.

Twelve days after the earthquake, the relief and assistance work and the restoration of temporary basic living conditions are still unimaginable, not to mention the immense reconstruction work. There is a sense that Humanity has found no place in the upper echelons of power. Humanity, as a community of Earth’s conscious inhabitants living together, has once again failed to act according to justice.

We wish to express our personal solidarity with the affected people!

International aid will be a major challenge in the weeks ahead, and states must rise to the task. The current lack of global solidarity, especially on the part of rich countries more interested in strengthening their global war power, shows that our societies must regain the ability to be “good” societies, concerned with building chains of solidarity among the Earth’s inhabitants. Justice and goodness must determine the priorities of our societies.

LIFE for all is a universal right, an expression of the fraternity that makes us responsible (in solidarity) for the entire future of humanity.

Signatories

  • Marwan Abdel- Al, writer/ Palestine
  • Anwar Abou Aiche, ancien ministre de culture / Palestine
  • Abla Abu-Elbe, former Member of Parliament / Jordan
  • Haytham Abulez Hariri, Member of Parliament / Egypt
  • Alain Adriaens, environmentalist / Belgium
  • Mario Agostinelli, physicist, president of “Laudato sii…” / Italy / Italy
  • Association City of Joy, Naples / Italy
  • Guido Barbera, president CIPSI / Italy
  • Marcelo Barros, theologian, educator / Brazil
  • Rafic Boujdaria, doctor / Tunisia
  • Antonio Bruno, educator / Italy
  • Paolo Cacciari, writer, environmentalist / Italy
  • Martine Chatelain, teacher / CND/Québec
  • Carmelo Corso, teacher, Mediterranean Rights Convention / Italy
  • Roberto D’Ambrgio, architect / Italy
  • Alain Dangoisse, educator, president of Association 21 / Belgium
  • Fabrizio Di Giovanni, presenter of Radio Itineraria / Italy
  • Laura Di Lucia Coletti, teacher / Italy
  • Anibal Faccendini, director of the chair on water at the University of Rosario / Argentina
  • Ettore Fasciano, activist, Verona / Italy
  • Paolo Ferrero, former Minister of Labour / Italy
  • Alfio Foti, president of L’Altra Storia and the
  • Mediterranean / Italy
  • Pierre Galand, former Senator, President of the European Union / Belgium North/South / Belgium
  • Massimo Gatti, vice-president of the Lodigiano provincial ANPI / Italy
  • Lilia Ghanem, editor of “The Ecologist” in Arabic / Lebanon
  • Melissa Gringeau, ecological water activist, ‘La Boisselière’ / France
  • Mamdouh Habachi, architect, founder of the Kifaya(Enough) movement / Egypt
  • Wajih Hamoud, engineer, human rights activist / Syria
  • Abdel-Karim Hannachi, professor / Tunisia
  • Luis Infanti de la Mora, Bishop of Aysen, Chilean Patagonia / Chile
  • Hoda Kamel, writer / Egypt
  • Hussein Kobeissy, philosopher, translator / Lebanon
  • Michele Loporcaro, farmer and activist / Italy
  • Kim Le Quang, environmental activist, ‘Rise for the Climate’ / Belgium
  • Maurizio Montalto, lawyer, ‘Blue Community’ / Italy
  • Loretta Moramarco, lawyer / I Italy
  • Roberto Morea, Transform Europe / I Italy
  • Roberto Musacchio, former MEP, Transform Italia / I Italy
  • Issam Neeman, former minister, lawyer / Lebanon
  • Maria Palatine, artist, harpist / Germany
  • Christine Pagnoulle, professor, University of Liege, linguist, ATTAC / Belgium
  • Nicola Perrone, CIPSI, director “Solidarietà internazionale” / Italy
  • Riccardo Petrella, professor emeritus, University of Leuven / Belgium
  • Pietro Pizzuti, artist, actor / Belgium
  • Anne Rondelet, graduate in comparative literature / Belgium
  • Silvana Risi, human rights activist / Italy
  • Domenico Rizzuti, former trade union leader, University of Rome / Italy
  • Consiglia Salvio, educator, Campania Committee for Water / Italy
  • Roberto Savio, founder of Inter Press Service and president of “Altre Notizie” / Italy “Altre
  • News’ / Italy
  • Bbassam Tahan, artist / Syria
  • Dalila Taleb, former member of parliament / Algeria
  • Bernard Tirtiaux, writer, sculptor / Belgium
  • Philippe Veniel , sociologist, founder of ‘La Boisselière’ / France
  • Najah Wakim, MP / Lebanon