Frozen Babies, Endless Wars, Broken Cities: A World Failing Its People

Letters to the editor

The moral failure that killed a newborn

How is it possible that we heat streets for cars but cannot heat homes for babies? How can we build heated bus shelters for people waiting 15 minutes, yet fail families waiting a lifetime for housing?

In Gaza today, life has become a struggle against the elements, against hunger, and against despair. Among the ruins of bombed homes and flooded streets, a two-week-old baby, Muhammad Khalil Abu al Khair, froze to death. Yes – froze to death – in the 21st century.

Is there any excuse that can justify a newborn dying of cold in a world of central heating, charity drives, and holiday fundraisers?

We have technology that alerts a phone when a parcel is left in the rain, yet no alarm sounds when a child’s body temperature collapses. Hot meals are delivered to doorsteps in minutes, but basic warmth is treated as a logistical impossibility. We track storms forming over oceans with satellites, yet fail to foresee the storm of deprivation gathering over a human life. We send rovers to Mars and submarines to the depths of the sea, but claim it is “too complex” to deliver a heater, a tarp, or dry shelter to a family in a rain-soaked tent.

Our priorities are not flawed – they are corrupt.

Khalil did not simply “die.” He was killed by policies that value borders over babies, by parliaments that fund weapons while cutting medicine, and by leaders who call for “restraint” as children freeze. His death certificate may read hypothermia, but the truth is death by political decision.

We maintain air-conditioned data centres and dog kennels, yet cannot guarantee that a human child survives the cold. Explain that hierarchy of compassion. Explain why donated blankets sat undistributed while a newborn froze.

There is no justification. Only moral failure. | Yumna Zahid Ali Karachi, Pakistan

We stare into abyss of our own making

The critical and escalating violence across all war-ravaged regions constitutes crimes against humanity that may yet lead to the extinction of our species. Full-spectrum warfare is now under way, as 21st-century weapons are unleashed with frightening frequency across every domain of deadly combat.

The world is soaked in the blood of innocent victims of modern warfare. Humanity seems to have forgotten that it has a heart. We forget that if we treat the world kindly, the world may yet treat us kindly in return. We live amid astonishing contradictions: people profess fear of war, yet prepare for it with relentless frenzy.

When the UN was formed after the horrors of World War II, the founding nations agreed that its charter should begin with the words: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the ramparts of peace must be erected.”

Former UN Secretary-General U Thant later warned that in modern war there is no victor and no vanquished – only one loser, and that loser is mankind.

War is, without argument, the worst collective experience of humanity. New nations have been born from the rubble of destroyed cities and countless human deaths, yet major powers now face the paradox of asymmetric warfare, where small adversaries wield weapons capable of atomic and chemical devastation.

The 1992 Rio Declaration stated clearly that warfare is inherently destructive to sustainable development and that states must respect international law protecting the environment during conflict. Today’s wars violate this principle and represent a grave abrogation of international law.

We inhabit a violent culture in an increasingly violent world. Victims are reduced to statistics, while perpetrators are caricatured as monsters. Yet just as victims are more than numbers, perpetrators are more than demons. They are human beings who have lost the capacity for empathy – a capacity that the rest of us are rapidly losing as well.

The UN remains largely powerless due to structural flaws embedded within its architecture. We struggle to fully comprehend the suffering of others, and sometimes our sorrow is all we can bear. But unless sanity prevails, savagery will become humanity’s defining emblem of dominance.

We are staring into the abyss, and the abyss is staring back at us. The present constellation of events could escalate into a global inferno, enveloping the planet in radioactive haze and heralding the demise of mankind.

Aggressive and arrogant humanity may not survive long enough to recognise its fatal folly. | Farouk Araie Benoni

Two South Africas, one failing system

It is an old and familiar story. Seated comfortably in air-conditioned offices, chatting on cellphones and enjoying fast food, municipal officials lead charmed lives far removed from the realities on the ground. Site visits are rare, unless the destination happens to be a shopping mall or restaurant.

A recent survey found that labour accounts for the largest portion of municipal expenditure, yet there is little to show for it. Potholes, collapsing buildings, sewage spills, water pollution, illegal dumping, unmarked roads, and dangerous speed humps have become the norm in many local councils. One of the worst offenders is the eThekwini Municipality.

The sewage contamination of Durban’s beaches became so severe that opposition parties had to obtain a court order to force the closure of four polluted beaches. How could municipal officials be so indifferent as to allow thousands of beachgoers to enter contaminated water? How was the Golden Mile – Durban’s flagship attraction –allowed to deteriorate so badly, bringing international embarrassment to one of South Africa’s premier tourist destinations?

Neglect is evident elsewhere too. For years, motorists on the M1 and Hans Dettman highways endured dangerous, unmarked roads. When markings were finally applied, they were so poorly done that the lines zig-zagged. One is left wondering whether basic standards mean anything at all.

The tragic Verulam temple collapse points to an even deeper failure. Building regulations are simply not enforced. Inspectors can be bribed. In affluent suburbs, compliance is routine; in townships and rural areas, anything goes. This is the reality of two South Africas – one for the wealthy and one for the poor.

Drive through Chatsworth, then through Kloof, and the contrast speaks for itself. Despite its promises, this government continues to practice a quiet but devastating form of apartheid. | Thyagaraj Markandan Kloof

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