First, Life

Who are those who for ulterior motives dare to criticize the procedures used to free the Spanish aid workers held captive so long in the Sahel in the murderous hands of Al Qaeda’s professional kidnappers?

This will fly back in their faces like a huge boomerang, because everyone will assume that they would have had no qualms about paying any ransom necessary if the aid workers had been their own children. First, life.

Yes: first, life. But immediately thereafter, concerted action and all of the necessary investments, not only to dismantle the refuges from which the kidnappers operate but, above all, to improve the standards of living in the countries in which they conduct these criminal activities. Once again: we can’t invest 3,000 million dollars daily in weapons and military expenditures, when the solution lies in sustainable global development, ceasing to exploit those countries’ resources in oil, gas, aluminum, gold, diamond, coltan… . Overcoming the resistance of the huge war industry conglomerates, it is urgent that we provide all of the means necessary to improve living conditions for all of the inhabitants of the earth, as their equal human dignity demands, so that they will be able to stand firm against those who offer them other compensations in the quagmire of their misery.

Together with this radical international change in the means adopted to counteract and totally annihilate terrorism, it is also necessary for private and public organizations to respect established security measures (remember that the Alakrana was fishing in a non-authorized zone and that, with the best of intentions, some NGOs conduct activities in areas that are also discouraged for security reasons).

First, life. It is priceless. But immediately thereafter, all of the measures, which thanks to the social progress achieved will make actions that warrant unanimous rejection impossible. Yes, unanimous. If we want to understand why, look at the eyes of the mothers of the rescued aid workers. That’s where you will find all of the reasons.

An increased role must be given coordinated international action, with a renewed and adequately endowed United Nations. The era of the G-8 and G-20 is over, leaving an intolerable situation behind.