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Greetings to the Commemoration of the Victims of Terrorism at the Teardrop Memorial

September 14, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Activity of the Schiller Institute, Cultural renaissance updates, General updates, Global Diplomacy, Helga statement, article, transcript, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Russia, United States

The end of the military campaign by the U.S. and NATO in Afghanistan signifies the “end of an era,” as President Biden has stated, an era of so-called humanitarian interventionist wars. If one looks at the outcome of these wars of 20 years, it is devastating. More than a million lives were lost, more than 8 trillion dollars were spent, up to 70 million people were turned into refugees. Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, were devastated. More than 70 percent of the people in Afghanistan, 90 percent in Syria and even more in Yemen are living now below the extreme poverty line. In all of these countries there is now a gigantic humanitarian crisis, threatening death to many more millions of human beings.

The first priority must be to save the lives of the people in the countries which were the targets of the „endless wars,“ and the international community is called upon to join hands in bringing real economic development to the entire region, starting with the creation of a modern health system in every single country, which in the time of this pandemic and the danger of future pandemics is the precondition to defeat this curse of humanity. That requires clean water, which is scarce in Afghanistan—a nation hit by droughts—and it requires electricity, of which Afghanistan only produces 600 MW in the entire country, the equivalent of one medium- to- large plant in the U.S. 18 million people are food insecure and 4 million are in danger of starvation in the coming winter.

President Biden is being criticized for the withdrawal of troops, but he did the right thing, and his promise of the “end of the era of the endless wars” also must mean the end of the freezing of financial means for Afghanistan; it must mean the end of the Caesar Sanctions for Syria; and the end of any sanctions during the time of the pandemic. It is the time for joining hands, especially, again, between the U.S. and Russia, as there were several periods in the history of both nations, were such a collaboration existed for the good of all humanity.

Let us therefore use the coincidence of the end of 20 years of war and the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of 9/11 for the solemn commitment to regard terrorism, hunger, and underdevelopment as the enemies of mankind, and not each other. Let us replace the era of geopolitics with an era of achieving the common aims of mankind.  It is not an idle hope that the human species, as the only one that has proven through its existence that creativity is that quality which can transcend all seeming limitations, will soon leave conflict, aggression, and war behind it, and that we become truly human. Let us be inspired by the lofty ideal of man as it is expressed in the great art of the composers, poets, painters, architects, and sculptors, such as the creator of this Teardrop Memorial, around which we gather today.

These last 20 years are hopefully the final chapter in the adolescence of humanity, to be followed by adulthood—in which people and nations relate to one another based on the creative potential of the other, thus bringing out in them the best they can be. To learn to think that way requires an elevated state of mind in all of us, to think from above, from that higher One of humanity which shows the way to a future, in which all nations and all people will create peace on earth and colonize the stars together.

— Helga Zepp-LaRouche

Beethoven: Sparks of Joy!

April 28, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Cultural renaissance updates, Daily Beethoven — Sparks of Joy, General, General updates, Music updates

Beethoven: Spark of Joy — Tribute to the incomparable Christa Ludwig on her passing

To honor the memory of the great mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, who passed away April 26th, we hear today her legendary performance in the title role of Beethoven’s opera,  Fidelio. She sings the recitative, “Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin?” followed by the aria, “Komm, Hoffnung!”

Monster! Where are you rushing?
What will you do in your wild rage?
Does the call of sympathy,
The voice of humanity,
Move nothing in your savage heart?
But just as like stormy seas
Anger and hatred surge in your soul,
There appears to me a rainbow,
That rests bright on the dark clouds,
That watches so quietly,
So peacefully below,
That mirrors old times,
And newly calmed my blood flows.

Come, Hope, let the last star
Not fade for the weary,
Illuminate my goal, be it ever so far,
Love will reach it.
I follow an inner drive,
I waver not,
I am strengthened by my duty
Of true wedded love.
Oh you, for whom I bore everything,
Could I only be at your side,
Where evil has you chained,
And bring you sweet comfort!
I follow an inner drive,
I waver not,
I am strengthened by my duty
Of true wedded love.

Ms. Ludwig was also a signer of the Schiller Institute’s 1988 call for the Verdi tuning to be restored bringing the pitch back to A = 432 cycles per second. [Message by Margaret Scialdone and Mary Jane Freeman.]

Beethoven: Sparks of Joy!

April 13, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Daily Beethoven — Sparks of Joy, General, General updates, Music updates

Beethoven: Sparks of Joy — his beautiful song, An die ferne Geliebte to contemplate the future.

Alois Jeitteles was a young physician who was also making a name for himself as a poet when he wrote the six poems which Beethoven wove into the beautiful “An die ferne Geliebte” (To the distant Beloved). It is a true Liederkreis (song cycle), thoroughly composed so that the songs are inseparable from one another. 
This performance by John Sigerson and Margaret Greenspan was part of an international conference of the Schiller Institute that took place in April of 2020. [Notes by Margaret Scialdone.]

Friendship, Unity Against Terrorism Expressed by U.S. and Russian Officials at Schiller Institute 9/11 Memorial Ceremony [Video included]

September 13, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Activity of the Schiller Institute, Cultural renaissance updates, General updates, Global Diplomacy, Russia, United States

On Sunday, September 12, 2021, in Bayonne, New Jersey, the Schiller Institute, with the support of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Washington, D.C., and the Russian Consulate in New York City, organized a memorial ceremony on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the mass terrorist attack on the United States. It was held at the towering Tear of Grief monument, which sits just across the Hudson River from the site of the attack on the Twin Towers in Manhattan. The Tear of Grief monument, designed by Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, was given by the Russian government and people as a gift to America in 2005, in sympathy and in support of the families and survivors of the 9/11 attack. 

The master of ceremonies was Fireman Michael Pelliccio, from the City of Bayonne Fire Department, which provided its honor guard, joined by that of the City of Bayonne Police Department, and by the New York City Police Department Ceremonial Unit Color Guard. Extraordinary music, including the national anthems of the United States and Russia, was provided by the Schiller Institute NYC Chorus, and by soloists Kevin Maynor, and NYC police officer Kevin Shaw. 

Among the many speakers were Terry Strada, national chairwoman of 9/11 Families and Survivors United for Justice Against Terrorism, Consul General Sergey Ovsyannikov of the Russian Consulate in New York, Bayonne Mayor James M. Davis, Bayonne Fire Chief Keith Weaver, and Kirk Wiebe, former Senior Analyst of the National Security Agency. Messages were read from Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche and from the President of the Russian Academy of Arts, Zurab Tsereteli. 

An important message was sent by the Russian Federation’s Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Anatoly Antonov. The Ambassador’s message concludes:

“The 9/11 tragedy has shown that terrorism is a common global threat. Any attempts to create isolated ‘islands of security’ in the modern inter-connected world are ephemeral and doomed to failure. The victory over terrorists can be achieved only through joint efforts of the entire international community. There is no place for carelessness and double standards in this regard. It is unacceptable to divide terrorists into the good and the bad.

“Vladimir Putin as well as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have stated multiple times that cooperation in counterterrorism meets the interests of both Moscow and Washington. Interaction in this sphere can save the lives of hundreds of people.

“The Tear of Sorrow monument testifies to the unity of our peoples in the face of the global terrorist threat. This memorial epitomizes grief, which the Russians share with the Americans.”

Bayonne Fire Chief Keith Weaver discussed in his remarks, the common values of the American and the Russian people in the face of great challenges, and concluded by saying, “God bless The Russian Federation and God bless America.”      

The Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations released 2 short videos of the event: https://twitter.com/RussiaUN/status/1437074316248633346 https://twitter.com/RussiaUN/status/1437064574042259470

Schiller Institute Statement: President Alberto Fernández to China; Ibero-America to Mars!

April 12, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Activity of the Schiller Institute, Cultural renaissance updates, General, General updates, Our initiatives (petitions, etc), Space updates

Schiller Institute Statement: President Alberto Fernández to China; Ibero-America to Mars!

April 10 (EIRNS) — {The Schiller Institute today issued the following statement in Spanish for broad circulation in Ibero-America and Spain. Below is the English-language version.}

The upcoming May 2021 trip to China by Argentine President Alberto Fernández, in which he is scheduled to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with China on the Belt and Road Initiative – the global infrastructure project involving nearly 150 nations – presents a unique strategic opportunity.

1) All of Ibero-America can take a giant step towards finally breaking out of the straitjacket of financial looting by the dying London/Wall Street system, and join instead with the Belt and Road, sometimes called the New Silk Road, and its high-tech, science-driver approach to development.

2) An Argentina-Mexico axis can emerge to propose a game-changing policy in the Western Hemisphere: that China and the U.S. shall jointly work on developing the Mexican-Central American region in particular, and also all of Ibero-America, by cooperative efforts around extending the BRI into the region. Such development is the way – the only way – to stop the drug trade, stop desperate migration, stop the gangs, stop the poverty, and stop the COVID-19 pandemic.

“But is it possible?” people will ask skeptically. Can we really end poverty? Well, look at China, where 850 million people were lifted out of poverty in 40 years. If China can do it, why not we?

Can small nations actually hope to master the most advanced science and help develop breakthroughs for all mankind? Well, look at tiny United Arab Emirates, and their historic achievement of sending an orbiter to Mars. If the UAE can do it, why not we?

Can we really get the U.S. and China to cooperate in the development of Mexico and all the Americas, instead of heading towards confrontation and war which only serves the Establishment’s geopolitical interests? Yes – if the U.S. returns to its senses, and to the policies of its greatest sons: Washington, Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon LaRouche. The current breakdown crisis of the Western financial system has now made that possibility a necessity – if the U.S. itself is to survive Wall Street’s unavoidable demise.

The key is space, beginning with an international 50-year Moon-Mars exploration and colonization project, powered by fusion power, that the nations of Ibero-America – especially their youth – must participate in.

It just so happens that two of the world’s premier space-launch sites are in the South American continent: Alcântara in Brazil, and Kourou in French Guiana. They are very close to the equator, which is a big advantage for space launches. Additionally, Argentina and Brazil both have very significant aerospace capabilities, which can help be the cornerstones for cooperation with China, the United States, and other space-faring nations such as Russia and India, to develop those space-launch sites in those two locations as centers of scientific and economic development for the entire region.

Argentine President Fernández should be entrusted with a mission on behalf of all of Ibero-America during his upcoming trip to China, especially in light of his developing close working relationship with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which is already benefiting the whole region. In addition to the package of Argentine infrastructure projects that he is already planning to discuss with China’s President Xi Jinping – which importantly includes nuclear energy – Fernández should propose regional great development projects as well, especially in the field of space. Specifically, he should propose establishing two polytechnic institutes, or institutes for space science educational activity: one in Argentina and one in Mexico — perhaps in the city of Querétaro near Mexico City. These two centers will serve as centers of international scientific cooperation, and as poles of educational and technological progress required to bring the entire continent into this kind of high-technology space development. They will be centers of the emerging New Space Silk Road.

The other crucial area for cooperation is developing both the science and the health infrastructure needed to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic – and any new pandemics that might emerge to threaten mankind. Again, Argentina-Mexico cooperation is leading the way, and must be used as a lever to bring in international support to aid the entire region.

The Schiller Institute has long proposed a full set of regional infrastructure projects as part of the World Land-Bridge. We mention some of the key ones here:

1) Build a set of South American bi-oceanic rail corridors connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific (including a northern Brazil-Peru route; a central Brazil-Bolivia-Peru route; and a southern Brazil-Argentina-Paraguay-Uruguay-Chile route). All are viable; all are necessary.

2) Construct a North-South high-speed rail line extending all the way from Tierra del Fuego in the south to the Bering Strait tunnel in the north, traversing South America, the Darien Gap, and the entirety of Central America and Mexico. These would be development corridors of about 100 kms in width, with integrated power, industry, agriculture and communications infrastructure along the way. That would create millions of new productive jobs along the way, which is the sine qua non of defeating poverty and the associated drug trade and migration problems in the region.

3) Establish new centers for the industrialization of raw materials throughout Ibero-America, such as a major steel production center near the Mutún iron mine in Bolivia; aluminum plants near the plentiful bauxite in Jamaica, Guyana and Surinam; and so on. Stop the neo-colonial pattern of looting of raw materials in order to pay the foreign debt (various times over), leaving only poverty and devastation behind.

4) We need nuclear energy, and lots of it, as well as the total technological up-shift associated with this new energy platform – especially as we transition into fusion power. Solar and wind power are a bad joke. Their low energy flux density, their high physical-economic costs, and their intrinsically interruptible nature, mean a return to the technological platform of the Middle Ages, with a corresponding collapse of population to medieval levels. The Green New Deal is nothing but old, unscientific Malthusian depopulation policy, with a fresh coat of (green) paint.

That Malthusian agenda which is planned for the April 22-23 global summit on climate change, scheduled to start on Earth Day, has to be totally rejected – as it is beginning to be by nations such as India, China and others. In fact, Earth Day should simply be cancelled, and replaced by a more human holiday: Mars Day!

President Alberto Fernández’s upcoming trip to China can become the first step in Ibero-America’s participation in mankind’s mission to Mars.

Brazil COVID Strain Comes to the U.S.

April 12, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Brazil, COVID-19, Economic development updates, General, General updates, Healthcare

Brazil COVID Strain Comes to the U.S.

April 10 (EIRNS) — For anyone stupid enough to think that President Jair Bolsonaro is Brazil’s problem and not ours, the CDC reported yesterday that the more infectious Brazilian strain of the coronavirus is now the second most common variant in the US, after the Kent one. The CDC has identified 434 cases of the Brazilian strain, mostly in Massachusetts, Illinois and Florida. But, as the Daily Mail noted in its coverage, the CDC’s “count is inevitably an underestimate as cases of the variant can only be confirmed with laborious genome sequencing.”

There are a number of concerns about Brazil’s P-1 strain. One is that it appears to be able to re-infect people who already had other strains. Another is that it is infecting a disproportionately large number of younger Brazilians. “The variant is dominant in Brazil, where hospital systems are buckling amid record-breaking daily death tolls,” the Daily Mail accurately reported. “The South American nation is now a global concern, because scientists view it as a breeding ground for more variants.”

China to Donate Vaccines, Medical Aid To Afghanistan; Stresses Need for Regional Cooperation and Coordination

September 10, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Afghanistan, China, COVID-19, Economic development updates, General updates, Global Diplomacy, Healthcare, Healthcare

China to Donate Vaccines, Medical Aid To Afghanistan; Stresses Need for Regional Cooperation and Coordination—

Sept. 9, 2021 (EIRNS)–Yesterday’s mini-summit among China, Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, called to discuss how to address the challenges posed by the Afghan situation, announced a humanitarian aid package of $31 million, including food, water, three million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, and other medical supplies. The meeting was chaired by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who had just completed a tour of Afghanistan’s neighbors 10 days earlier. The three million COVID vaccine doses reportedly represent only a first batch, with more to come. Xinhua reports that State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced that China is prepared to offer more anti-epidemic and emergency materials to Afghanistan under the China-South Asian Countries Emergency Supplies Reserve.

Today, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian offered more details on yesterday’s meeting, stressing that it is the first attempt by Afghanistan’s neighbors “to work closely in response to the evolving situation in the country,” and to specifically establish “a coordination and cooperation mechanism.” He explained that this mechanism should be able to work smoothly with other existing multilateral mechanisms on Afghanistan “and can complement each other and form synergy. All participating parties support the continued operation of this unique mechanism so that countries can share policy propositions, coordinate positions, and jointly address challenges through this platform. The hope to host the second conference has already been expressed,” he reported. 

Marmolejo Names “British Crown” Behind Supranational Attack on Mexico; Cites Schiller Institute, EIR

April 12, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Activity of the Schiller Institute, Counterintelligence, General, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Media coverage of our activity

Marmolejo Names “British Crown” Behind Supranational Attack on Mexico; Cites Schiller Institute, EIR

April 10 (EIRNS)—In an April 5 discussion on Sin Censura Internet TV, a popular site for supporters of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), Mexican investigative journalist Daniel Marmolejo — who spoke at the Schiller Institute’s March 20-21 conference — warned that supranational forces are on a drive to shut down AMLO’s morning press conferences, and censor independent voices such as his own. To back up this charge, Marmolejo read the March 28 note issued, he said, by the Schiller Institute, revealing that the “Article 19” NGO which had launched a broadside against Lopez Obrador’s press conferences in mid-March, is a London-based NGO, but “it is not very Mexican, and not particularly `non-governmental’ either.” In fact, EIR dug out and published that just under 60% of that “Mexican” NGO’s money comes from grants from international private foundations, and 40% from “diplomatic representations in Mexico and development agencies,” he reported, reading off the list from the EIR account: the British, Dutch, German Embassies, the State Department, the NED, George Soros, Ford Foundation, etc.

Marmolejo summed up his message: the force behind the attack on AMLO’s government and Mexico is the British Crown, the supra-nationalists, the US military-industrial complex, all determined to restore neoliberalism in Mexico–which stunned his host, Vicente Serrano. Marmolejo and Serrano then went off into the “weeds” of Mexican political infighting in the run-up to crucial midterm elections in June, but Marmolejo interjected several times, in the midst of discussing different corrupt Mexican figures and forces, including those penetrating AMLO’s Morena party, that people should remember that behind all that, is the British Crown, and its allies, seeking to destroy Mexico.

WHO Aid Shipments Arriving in Afghanistan

September 10, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Agriculture, Economic development updates, General updates, Healthcare, Healthcare, The Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites

WHO Aid Shipments Arriving in Afghanistan—

Sept. 9, 2021 (EIRNS)–On Monday, Sept. 6, a World Food Program plane carrying WHO essential medicines and supplies landed in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan. This was the first of three such planned cargo deliveries. The WFP’s executive director retweeted the WHO information that the 53-metric-ton shipment contained 780 medical kits, and 50 kits to treat severe acute malnutrition in children. WHO teams were on the ground, ready to swiftly deliver the supplies to health facilities most in need. The WHO tweeted photographs of the plane and cargo.

On Monday, Al Jazeera’s Charlotte Bellis said, from Kabul, that aid agencies, including the Red Cross, Red Crescent, Doctors without Borders, and the AHO, say they are running out of food and medicine. “WHO has said that 90 percent of their clinics will close imminently.” She said that WHO had 2,300 health clinics spread across the country, operating last year, treating millions of people.

The Four Days when Countries Woke Up to India’s Fight against COVID-19

April 27, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in China, COVID-19, Economic development updates, General updates, Global Diplomacy, Healthcare, The Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites, United States

The Four Days when Countries Woke Up to India’s Fight against COVID-19

Apr. 26 (EIRNS)–On Thursday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, announced that China was in touch with India about emergency oxygen and other supplies. By Sunday, 800 oxygen concentrators were sent, and 10,000 more were to come within a week. (It was only months ago that China and India exchanged fire at their border, with all the consequent inflamed comments.) And over the next few days, China’s English language Global Times has made much of the lack of help from India’s erstwhile ally, the United States.

Saudi Arabia rapidly mobilized 80 metric tons of liquid oxygen. Both the UAE and Singapore are working out high-capacity oxygen-carrying tankers. Russia is sending planes with aid this week, including oxygen generators and concentrators, along with therapeutics. On Saturday, Pakistan committed for ventilators, PPE and digital x-ray machines. The UK, on Sunday, sent oxygen concentrators and ventilators On Sunday, France and Germany promised oxygen in days. On Monday, Australia joined in. The EU executive announced that they are “already coordinating with EU countries that are ready to provide urgently needed oxygen and medicine rapidly” — though it is not clear what the EU executive might mean by “rapidly.”

On Sunday afternoon, President Biden did tweet that “we are determined to help India…” in tandem with National Security Director Jake Sullivan’s announcement that the long-requested removal of the ban on raw materials (such as specialized filters, cell culture media and bioreactor bags) would be lifted and that PPE would be sent. There was no word on the tens of millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine — sitting in storage, unused, and not even approved for use in the United States.

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