Aylan’s death a cry for all to build better world

THE PHOTOGRAPH of the body of the 3-yearold Syrian boy, Aylan Kurdi (“A father’s grief ”, September 4) sent shock waves through the world this past week.

His lifeless, innocent body put the refugee crisis playing out in Europe on centre stage.

Thousands of refugees fleeing conflict areas in Africa and the Middle East have drowned trying to reach Europe.

Of course, young Aylan is just one of thousands of children that are killed as a result of mindless conflict. It appears that with all the technology and the evolution of mankind, the barbarity and interest in self is stronger than ever before.

This is not about religion, in fact it has nothing to do with religion – religion is the pretext.

Religion is the opium of the masses and the masses are blindly manipulated. If it was about religion then why do you have Saudis bombing Yemen, Saudis in alliance with Israel against Iran, Israel obliterating the Palestinians, Islamic State killing all and sundry, US systematically going to war with countries, cutting a path to Russia.

This global genocide has everything to do with power, nationalism, sectarianism and the control of resources.

The wars have to stop. The killing has to stop. It is time for humanity to unite against conflict, hunger, poverty, extremism, corrupt governments, capitalist greed and systems designed to enslave and disempower human beings.

Never before in the history of the world has humanity been so connected. We have the power to effect change. If only we can look beyond our prejudices, belief systems, self-interests and just look through the lens of humanity, of those universal principles and values that make us human.

Each one of us must become an activist for human rights and lead this fight through action.

Let’s start today, even if you start with feeding one hungry person every day. Let’s expel those arrogant and corrupt leaders. Let’s enhance our world view so as not to fall into the trap of manufactured reality.

Let’s all work towards a better world, a world that our children will live to inherit.