Jamal Benomar (In a tumultuous world, we rely on the United Nations more than ever – but it is failing, 30 September) is right on two counts: we need the UN like never before, and the thousands of UN and specialised agency staff deserve our respect for the difficult and often dangerous work they do to improve ordinary lives across the world. However, I question the implication that the current secretary general is falling short and lacking courage.
António Guterres is the only major world leader speaking out with any courage about climate change, Russian and Israeli warmongering, and the desperate poverty and suffering of millions of people around the world. Unlike his predecessors, he is facing the long-term consequences of four decades of neoliberal economics, unleashed by Margaret Thatcher and eagerly adopted by global elites everywhere. And the unholy alliance of capital, fossil fuel behemoths and unregulated new tech has created a class of super-rich arrogant “leaders” who feel empowered to ignore the UN and their own governments without consequence.
