What’s happening in Syria is an abomination

Prof Hawking said the international community could no longer “watch from the sidelines” as children died in the country’s bitter conflict, warning humans would “surely cease to exist” if they did not cling on to the fundamental principle of justice.

The director of research at Cambridge University’s department of applied mathematics and theoretical physics made the intervention in an article for the Washington Post.

He wrote: “What’s happening in Syria is an abomination, one that the world is watching coldly from a distance. Where is our emotional intelligence, our sense of collective justice?

“When I discuss intelligent life in the universe, I take this to include the human race, even though much of its behaviour throughout history appears not to have been calculated to aid the survival of the species.

“And while it is not clear that, unlike aggression, intelligence has any long-term survival value, our very human brand of intelligence denotes an ability to reason and plan for not only our own but also our collective futures.

“We must work together to end this war and to protect the children of Syria. The international community has watched from the sidelines for three years as this conflict rages, engulfing all hope.

“As a father and grandfather, I watch the suffering of Syria’s children and must now say: No more.”

About 140,000 people are estimated to have been killed in Syria since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011.


Wake up everybody
No more sleepin' in bed
No more backward thinkin'
Time for thinkin' ahead

The world has changed
So very much
From what it used to be
There is so much hatred
War and poverty, whoa, oh

Wake up, all the teachers
Time to teach a new way
Maybe then they'll listen
To what'cha have to say