General

A lengthy report in the New York Times underlines the absolutely disastrous situation facing Africa as it is hit with what is described as the “second wave” of the epidemic. During the last few months, it was generally reported that the epidemic was not as serious In Africa as what we have experienced in the U.S. and in Europe, although the dearth  of statistics and information coming from some parts of the continent may have caused a good deal of scepticism over these claims. And it’s very possible that many cases simply went undetected. But now the disaster is at hand – and readily apparent.

The report is authored by Sheri Fink, a NYT reporter who has written extensively on health and medicine and covered the Ebola crisis. In South Africa, the epidemic is spreading from Port Elizabeth to the entire country. Nigeria, Mali, and Uganda recorded their highest daily death count in the year. In South Africa, they admit that they really don’t know how many people have died from COVID. One government analysis shows that more than twice as many excess deaths simply could not be explained by the number of confirmed COVID cases. ““We don’t know what the real number is,” said Dr. John Black, the only infectious disease specialist for adults in Port Elizabeth.

The greatest number of COVID cases and deaths has been in South Africa, where the hospital system has been stretched beyond its limits. This includes cases which are suspected of being of the new mutated variety now found in Great Britain.

At the beginning of the epidemic early in the year, the African countries had instituted strong restrictive measures and lockdowns, but the measures proved to be so economically problematic that they began to ease up. South Africa brought in 200 physicians from Cuba, medical staff from Doctors Without Borders and scientists from the W.H.O. By late August, the numbers had dropped.

But the closed borders and canceled flights also prevented the rapid supply of equipment and outside experts to help in the fight. In Somalia, some areas were not reporting any cases at all. And investigations in areas controlled by the Shabab terrorist group, when they could be conducted, showed a rampant spread of the epidemic.

Even in hospitals in South Africa, which is probably the best equipped of all sub-Saharan African countries to deal with the crisis, the system has been swamped. And doctors have found it necessary to triage in the case of the limited ventilators and other equipment for the more serious cases, often prioritizing the younger candidates who are more likely to recover and live long lives rather than the elderly.

And the other dilemma that will  be faced as a vaccine is developed is getting it to Africans, and conducting mass vaccinations. Here also, the report notes there is “vaccine scepticism”  among many people as we also experience in the West. And many people still view COVID as a disease that Westerners get, and is not a threat to Africans. And the logistics of a mass vaccination on the African continent is absolutely daunting.  With the intense competition among countries to obtain vaccines from the various producers, African countries are not high on the priority list. Only China has promised that they would prioritize developing countries for their vaccine. But only a concerted effort  from the outside, and with the help of military-style logistics of a country  the size of the United States or China could accomplish the goal of getting vaccines to those in need in Africa quickly enough to avoid a total disaster.

In her weekly dialogue, Schiller Institute Founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche evoked the principle of statecraft as developed by Friedrich Schiller as the means by which the present dominant global paradigm can be swept away. She reviewed how that paradigm is threatened by a systemic collapse, but as long as the method of the thinking imposed by the oligarchy remains hegemonic, we face a worsening world situation of pandemics, famine and war.

The alternative requires a new idea of politics, in which citizens elevate the quality of thinking to a new level. Zepp-LaRouche said that Schiller provided the means to achieve this, in his Aesthetical Letters, in which he argues that “true political freedom is the highest form of art.” In the battles ahead, including that of reversing the election theft of the 2020 election, the defense of the ideals of a constitutional republic requires that citizens come to distinguish between the real enemies of the U.S., centered in the City of London, and potential allies, such as Russia and China.

She concluded by urging that to accomplish this essential goal of elevating the level of thinking of the citizenry, the “Beethoven Year” should be extended, until a majority of people are able to “Think like Beethoven.”

Aug. 31, 2018 –Chinese President Xi Jinpig sent a letter in reply to professors at China’s Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) on the occasion of CAFA’s celebrations of its centennial, in which he stressed the importance of “aesthetical education” for the development of the individual and society. Xinhua reported this in its lead news story this morning. Xi’s letter stressed the importance of “strengthening aesthetic education to ensure the healthy growth of the country’s youth, both physically and mentally…. Noting that aesthetic education plays an important role in shaping a more beautiful mind, Xi said that it is necessary to improve it,” Xinhua reported.

CAFA is China’s first modern school specializing in fine arts, founded by “renowned Chinese educator Cai Yuanpei” in 1918, the news agency reported. The eight senior professors had written the President on the subject of aesthetical education. In his answer, Xi called on CAFA to “implement the CPC’s education policy to foster students with love and create great works of art,” Xinhua said.

Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche responded with great happiness today to this report that President Xi had endorsed the ideas of the German classical poet Friedrich Schiller, for whom the Schiller Institute is named. One of Schiller’s most profound works is entitled “Letters On the Aesthetical Education of Man.”

Join us LIVE at 2pm EST. Today’s meeting will feature Dennis Speed, Diane Sare and Matthew Ogden.

As the drumbeat for war grows louder, and the near-misses in the air and near-collisions at sea more numerous, it is more urgent than ever that a summit of major powers happen, as soon as possible. The escalation in rhetoric against Russia and Putin over the narrative being spread about the Navalny “poisoning” — being spread with the usual help of Britain’s Porton Down chemical warfare center and the British-directed media — may have been the deciding factor in Putin’s decision to not attend the UNGA in New York this month.

The exposure of a coup faction among retired military, by former JAG officer Col. Richard Black at last weekend’s Schiller Institute (SI) conference, is reverberating widely, as it reflects the view of patriotic military officials who reject the idea of a coup against Trump. The President himself, in his Labor Day press conference, drew attention to the role of the war party, referring to Eisenhower’s warning about the Military Industrial Complex, and the decision announced on Wednesday to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq demonstrates his intent to move on his pledge to end the “endless wars.”

In discussing this dangerous strategic situation, Helga Zepp-LaRouche urged viewers to use the video proceedings of the SI conference to elevate the level of dialogue in the population. The question that must be posed is, “Do you want war or peace?” If you want peace, join our mobilization to ensure a summit takes place BEFORE the election, as it will become more difficult as time passes, especially as the war party is building for a full-fledged constitutional crisis around the election.

An article in the Dec. 3 China Briefing, titled “China’s COVID-19 Vaccine Development and Availability,” names four of China’s vaccine-producers: the Tianjin-based CanSino; the Wuhan-based China National Biotech Group (CNBG), the Beijing-based Sinovac, and ZLongkema, based in Anhui province. These pharma companies have arrangements to carry out testing and distribution of vaccines in 14 developing sector countries, primarily in Ibero-America and Southwest Asia. Recently, China’s Sinovac licensed Brazil’s respected Butantan Institute to get raw materials to manufacture millions of doses of its COVID vaccine inside Brazil. China has the scientific knowledge, manpower, strong Hamiltonian finances, and production engineering skills capabilities to teach other countries to set up vaccine production factories within their borders, to the effect, perhaps, of expanding vaccine production by 1 to 2 billion doses.

The United States has strong capabilities. Were the U.S. to apply the Defense Production Act of 1950 to expand vaccine-manufacturing facilities, it could greatly add to this process, under HHS’s Operation Warp Speed.

The international organization COVAX was formed decades ago, as a joint fund for equitable distribution of vaccines, joining with an organization named Gavi, a funder of vaccines for low-income countries based in Geneva, Switzerland. On Dec. 18, COVAX announced that through contributions, it has pledged that at least 1.3 billion donor-funded vaccine doses will be made available to 92 low- and middle-income economies that are eligible. This valuable immunization initiative would fund only approximately enough vaccine to vaccinate a targeted 20% of the population.

These nations cannot wait until 2023-24 to get sufficient COVID-19 vaccine. The production facilities must be constructed so that the vaccine is available to a considerable share of those nations’ population by the first quarter of 2021. This will require not only vaccines per se, but also the refrigeration chains and other basic infrastructure required to deliver the doses to the targeted population. The method to address this was outlined in the LaRouche plan “Reopen the U.S. Economy: The World Needs 1.5 Billion New, Productive Jobs.”