For international release June 28, 2023
If you are interested in working with the International Peace Coalition, please contact questions@schillerinstitute.org
The International Peace Coalition (IPC), initiated by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder and leader of the Schiller Institute, held its third meeting on Friday, June 23. More than 40 representatives from ten different peace organizations from around the world participated in the 2.5-hour discussion, addressing the increasingly urgent need to bring together diverse international peace organizations to stop the presently escalating danger of the current conflict between NATO and Russia expanding into nuclear war.
The meeting was opened by Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche, who indicated that there were significant positive developments over the past week, including the fact that several new people had joined this event since the launching of the organization on June 2 and the second meeting on June 16. But, she warned, the war danger is increasing daily, as the British and the U.S. are expanding their military and financial aid to Ukraine, ignoring the bloody failure of the so-called “counter offensive” by the Ukraine military, which has been a “suicide mission” that has left another 13,000 young Ukrainian citizens dead or dying, destroyed about one-third of the western armaments, and resulted in no significant territory regained by Ukraine.
Most importantly, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s speech on June 20 in New Hampshire, she said, is a “breath of fresh air,” to hear an establishment candidate telling the truth.” Kennedy, Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche said, quoted from the historic “peace speech” delivered by his uncle President John Kennedy on June 10, 1963, which directly addressed the devastating impact of a nuclear war. RFK, Jr. strongly denounced the U.S. and NATO war policy in Ukraine, insisting that we must “put ourselves in the shoes of our adversaries.” He praised Russia for the sacrifices it made in defeating the Nazis in World War II, attacked the military industrial complex for the current “forever wars,” and insisted that the U.S. must not act like an “empire.” The speech has “renewed hope” that the JFK legacy can be restored, Mr. Zepp-LaRouche said.
She noted that the nations of the “Global South” are now taking international responsibility, insisting that they will not allow the continuation of the colonial system, and are working with the BRICS nations to create a new world financial system independent of the “weaponized” U.S. dollar.
The old order is collapsing, she said, warning that such a time in history is, however, fraught with the greatest danger. She called for the IPC to expand internationally, noting that the nations of the South at the 1955 Bandung Conference, the first major meeting of the former colonies without the presence of their former colonial masters, had taken note of the fact that a nuclear war would be launched by the major powers of the North, but the nations of the South would be destroyed as well by such a war, and thus had to act to prevent it.
The other speakers described their activities including meetings of the No2NATO organization in the UK, other meetings in Argentina, Australia, India, Minneapolis, New York, Toledo Ohio, Spain, Scotland, and Texas. Proposals were made regarding major future events, with general agreement that August 6, the anniversary of the nuclear annihilation of Hiroshima, should be an International Day of Action, with conferences and demonstrations. Many spoke in praise of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s courageous stand against the war policies, while others noted that Donald Trump has also strongly denounced the war policy, insisting he would end the war in Ukraine immediately if he were elected. Thus, leading candidates in both parties are speaking out against the war policy, marking a potential phase shift in the population.
Other proposals were offered, while a communication platform has been established for the participants to share reports on their activities and proposals for other members of the IPC.
Following are excerpts from some of the participants in the discussion:
Helga Zepp-LaRouche (Germany) founder and leader Schiller Institute
“The solution cannot be the division of the world into blocks. I agree with Dr. Mahathir from Malaysia, who said that if the world would be separated into two complete blocks that would also escalate the danger of a World War. So we have to create a new paradigm… The new security and development architecture, which we have been organizing for over a year now, has that idea of the Peace of Westphalia — that we must find a solution which takes into account the interest of every single country on the planet…It’s very good that our coalition is growing. That we are finding more and more people who are willing to join it… Let’s really go into an all out organizing offensive and contact every single peace group on the planet to really go for a demonstration of the will of the People!”
Jurgen Wolf (Scotland), No2NATO UK, Workers Party BG
“We had a No2NATO British meeting and discussed this important date of August 6, and are planning a major demonstration…”
Bernie Holland (UK), No2NATO
“I’ll be attending the demonstration as well with another group called the International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity and we are campaigning to have an inquiry of the Odessa massacre. I’ll be doing a presentation based on a number of slides that have been sent to me by a journalist who now is in exile…I would just encourage you all to support this petition to essentially quarantine Victoria Nuland that has been put out by Code Pink.”
Oliver Boyd-Barrett (U.S.), Professor Emeritus, Bowling Green State University, Ohio
“My point is we’re talking about peace. We’re talking about searching for peace in a multi-polar context. It can’t all be white men and women… So we have a few more Asian faces. And where are the Russians?…Hiroshima. August six. Absolutely. Anything of that kind, of course, to my mind, is to be welcomed. My own preference, I think, is more towards BRICS, August 22nd and August the 24th. And my saying that, that’s surely where we want to go. We want to get away from U.S. hegemony and the most convincing international movement to date that is pushing the world in that direction is surely BRICS.”
Arthur Dawes (US), Pax Christi
“First of all, I believe in reflecting on what is being said today. I truly believe this is part of the process of peace that we are peacemakers. And in this meeting and other meetings like, I believe we are bringing about peace. And Pax Christi Texas, … will have a public forum next week reflecting on the speech of John Kennedy. And we invite members and friends.”
Atul Anega (India), Journalist
“One of the largest provinces of the South-East Asian region and you have these large tracts of land where a lot of conflict is taking place and which is threatening nearby stable territories. So we really have to when we talk about the peace process and when we talk about global peace, please remember the center, the Indo-Pacific region, some you may call it Asia-Pacific if you like, but then please remember that there are a lot of communities that are actually getting affected. A lot of old violence and all conflicts are being revived even as we speak today.”
Darrell Nichols (U.S.), Bishop, Toledo OH
“To move toward a peace, a peaceful resolution in amongst a population that steals a whole lot like Rip Van Winkle. They’re still asleep under the trees, sleeping through a revolution, and they don’t know it. So if there’s anything that I could contribute at all, my voice, I am in the process now, putting my studio back together. I have been working with, here, the last few months to try and organize and we wanted get my first episode out.”
Dr. Balkrishna Kurvey (India) President of the Indian Institute for Peace, Disarmament and Environmental Protection
“In my institute we established the no more Hiroshima/no more Nagasaki peace museum in India. And we educate the students, the next generation because they are the future political leaders. Anyone who sees the photos of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombing, then they would never say that we should have a nuclear war. We take these photos all over India…”
Juan Carrero (Spain)
“I remember that our agenda of no violence is of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. They have always been a superior inspiration for us. And from that reflection we got here and in prayer.”
Donald Ramotar, former President Guyana “The question of the Hiroshima anniversary is very, very important. We must not miss that opportunity because it directly relates to what is happening today. But I also want to add, apart from what others have been saying, I don’t know how much we could do, but if we can involve the labor movement, particularly in the United States, Canada and other places that celebrate their labor, liberty and on September 14th, just try to get the workers more directly involved and let them sit up and be interested in what is taking place, because this is also a working class issue.”
Alessia Ruggeri (Italy) Trade Unionist
“This danger of two blocks developing is very advanced. I read recently that there will be olympic games of friendship that many nations of the BRICS will be part of. There is incorrect thinking in canceling all Russian athletes in Italy, which is something that should not be considered… I think we should do a single action representing all the states to physically go there as a message of friendship. I think we should create press releases to send to the press agencies to inform them of this initiative, especially on August 6, during these demonstrations that we are organizing.”
David MacIlwain, Australia
“I feel an extraordinary disconnect with NATO and the Western Media in the minds of the people who can’t wake up to it. I agree we need to contact peace groups. The groups I’m in contact with in Australia don’t have a sufficient focus on the this reality and I think maybe we need to go further in contacting politicians…”
Ruben Dario Guzzetti (Argentina): international affairs analyst, Argentine Institute of Geopolitical Studies (IADEG)
“We have a meeting. So in our geo geopolitical studies and our movement for solidarity and peace, and we agreed that we are going to have a meeting in the next days, in the first days of July, with all the people who can participate in this topic of peace in the fight for peace…We have to continue fighting for peace, not only against nuclear weapons, but also for peace… I think it would be interesting for the August 6th to say never again. Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
Ray McGovern (U.S.), former senior analyst, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); founding member, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)
“As I mentioned before, I’m a current intelligence analyst. I look forward and look toward the next several weeks. The election, as I said before, is 16 months away. If we survive until then, what are we to expect? … We have been warned by Zelensky himself and the head of the military in Kiev that the Russians have mined the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and they’re going to blow it. Now, does that smell like a false flag attack to you guys? It sure does to me. Is Nuland capable of authorizing that kind of thing? Given the debacle that was just just described or the counteroffensive, I would not rule it out.
August 6. Well, that is a long ways away in my horizon. But if we make it to August 6, that is the anniversary of Hiroshima. Let’s make it our purpose to educate people in the West and the East and everywhere that the atomic bomb was not necessary to end the war…”
Rev. Dr. Terri L. Strong (U.S.), AME minister from Memphis, TN Chair of the Actions and Global Concern Committee of the Church Women United
“One of the main things that I have seen the mainstream media do so well. Is used a strategy of suppress the truth and promote deception. So one of the suggestions I have for this in the independent media is to do just the opposite, suppress the deception and promote the truth, and a lot of times that is kind of hard to, ‘reprogram people’. But that needs to be a constant. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is one who has been very diligent in trying to do just that, suppress the lies and promote the truth. He has been consistent in all of his ways of doing that, and I would suggest that all media outlets do that.”
Jimmy Gerum (Germany), Lighthouse Media
“It’s very important that we come together and we find ways of learning from each other. It’s great every week. And I want to add today a specific call of action, because it’s always good to know what we all can do for peace. Some of you will already know that I’m working for the peace initiative Lighthouse Germany and we analyzed that the weakest spot of the international powers of war. It is the public opinion.”
Diane Sare (U.S.), U.S. independent Senate Candidate, New York
“What’s been bothering me is you have people like Jimmy Dore, who has a million plus followers on line. Scott Ritter has a huge following of people who listen to every podcast that he is involved in. But at the Rage Against the War Machine rally, we had 3500 people, which on one hand is very good. It is indeed the largest anti-war demonstrations since the Iraq war, I guess, began in 2003. But on the other hand, you would say, well, how do you translate all of these people listening to this into actions? And I do think it’s the case. You see, we have both the Trump candidacy as an anti-war candidacy and the Robert Kennedy candidacy, which is also anti-war, which I think indicates that the majority of the American people are really fed up with this and they don’t want this war. What I think in part is missing and it’s two parts is one. The knowledge in your gut of how deadly this is, how dangerous it is, and how close we are to the brink, which is why I chose the guests that I did for tonight, because my intention with this program is to scare the living daylights out of people about why they cannot go on with business as usual and why it’s not sufficient to be a spectator but to be active. I think the challenge to everyone psychologically, emotionally, to hold in yourself the kind of tension of what it means that the entire human species could be annihilated is extremely difficult. That’s why music, art, poetry, Friedrich Schiller is so important, but also the vision of the new paradigm.”
Anastasia Battle (U.S.) Organizer, Interventionist and Editor-in-Chief, Leonore Magazine, USA
“I mean, the idea was that we have all of our all of our peace groups spread across the world, and people are not very coordinated, and they feel very isolated. If we unify all of our different skills, strengths, talents, to actually take this on to stop nuclear war, then this could actually be accomplished. This group is functioning like a steering committee of different initiatives and ideas. People here are very experienced. They’re interventionists. They’re presidents of organizations or representing different groups or religious groups as well or here. So we’re coming together to bring our forces in order to accomplish this goal of stopping thermonuclear war. At the rate it’s going, it’s most likely going to happen. And we can’t, we can’t let that happen and just have to accept that that’s on our shoulders right now.”
Dennis Small (U.S.), Executive Intelligence Review Magazine
“The the point of this dialog back and forth between the Global South and what we are doing in the United States and and Europe, a dialog to reach a higher level concept which unites the common interest, which Helga was talking about from the very beginning, applies both to the peace question, the struggle for a new paradigm in the peace movement in our countries, but also on the economic issues. And I think that everything that we do building towards this August 6th event will be very important in that regard. It’s notable, just in conclusion, that the Pope, Lula, many of the voices that are playing a leading role in Organizing for Peace have a total focus on the urgency of economic development as the best way to build actual peace. I think that combined approach is exactly what’s called for. So youth, let’s get more youth in this meeting and build towards that assurance that we’ll be having a youth cadre school in next couple of weeks. We intend to use that as a kind of jumping off point or whatever you want to call it, a trampoline to build further support for what’s planned for August 6th. And then combining our efforts around the 6th with what’s going on around the BRICS activities globally.”
Maurizio Abbate (Italy), Chairman of ENAC, Ente Nazionale Attività Culturali, Italy
“We need to move in a very in a more decisive way where we should create a synergy between different groups at the planetary level just in order to bring this information to alternative channels. We know that mass media is directed by those who now have an interest in this corrupted communication.”
Fr. Harry Bury (U.S.), Archdiocese of Saint Paul in Minneapolis, MN
“So because people do evil things doesn’t mean they’re evil. It means that they don’t know any better. And so the objective is not to use violence and punish them, but rather to use love, if you will, and seek justice in helping them to see that what they’re doing is not in their own self-interest and the self-interest of the world. So this is what we’ve been focusing on this verse as a means to bring people together, to realize that the best together we can make a difference and to encourage us and not to lose faith in the possibility of having peace in the world.”
In Attendance:
Jose Vega (U.S.), Interventionist, Organizer Schiller Institute
Sam Pitroda (India/U.S.), Telecom and IT Innovator
Frank Kartheiser (U.S.), Catholic Workers
Joyce Hall (U.S.), Pax Christi
Karen Ball (U.S.), Pax Christi
Chris Fogarty (U.S./Ireland), Irish American Leader
Jack Gilroy (U.S.), Organizer, Pax Christi, NY State/Pax Christi International; Board Member, New York Veterans for Peace
Mari Correggio (Italy), No2Nato Italy
Robert Cushing (U.S.), Chairman of the Non-violence Committee / Working Group for the Association of United States Catholic Priests (AUSCP)
Martha Rollins (Costa RIca)
Ulf Sandmark (Sweden), President Schiller Institute
Wolfgang Effinberger (Germany)
Prof. Enzo Pennetta (Italy)
Fredrick Weiss (U.S.)
Kallol Bhattacherjee (India), Journalist
Christine Bierre (France), Solidarité et progrès
