International Peace Coalition

The April 26th meeting of the International Peace Coalition

by Daniel Platt

April 24–The 47th consecutive online weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition began today, with remarks by Schiller Institute Founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche. Zepp-LaRouche identifying the three hot spots which continue to be areas of escalation: the Ukraine war, the Israeli assault on Gaza, and efforts to provoke a China-Taiwan conflict. She pointed to the recently released statistics by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), indicating that military spending reached an all-time high of $2.443 trillion over the past year.

This parallels the rapid arms buildups that took place before each of the two World Wars of the 20th century. European political leaders are blithely saying that war is inevitable. “Nobody talks about diplomacy,” she said. Germany has even established an annual Veterans Day, although the only German veterans are those who served in the war in Afghanistan. She suggested that it were more appropriate to issue an apology to that ruined nation. The danger of a new world war is rapidly increasing, and “any little mistake… any little surprise can trigger a catastrophe.”

Zepp-LaRouche knows China well, having met with political and scientific leaders in many visits to that nation. She critiqued the recent diplomatic deployment by U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken in which he called out China for supplying Russia with “dual-use” technologies. This is a clumsy attempt to drive a wedge between the two powers, and an attempt to suppress China’s spectacular industrial development.

She cited recent comments by seasoned observers Ambassador Chas Freeman, Alistaire Crooke, and Scott Ritter, all of whom assessed that Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel demonstrated the vulnerabilities in Israel’s air defense systems. On the U.S. domestic front, Zepp-LaRouche charged that authorities in the U.S. are using anti-democratic methods against students who are protesting the genocide in Gaza. “If you are suppressing free speech in this way, it is not a sign of strength,” she said, “it is an admission of guilt.”

George Koo, a retired business consultant specializing in U.S.-China trade, and the Chairman of the Burlingame Foundation, followed Zepp-LaRouche. Koo offered an assessment of US-China relations, in the wake of the Blinken follies: “It seems that the Biden administration is a one-trick pony with respect to international relations: speak very loudly and carry a big stick.” China sent a low-level functionary to meet Blinken when he arrived in the country, demonstrating their lack of enthusiasm for his approach to diplomacy. Koo said that he is skeptical of the possibility of nuclear war, asserting that the people in the Pentagon are very aware of China’s advanced military capabilities. If there were a real fire-fight, Koo continued, he doesn’t believe that the Chinese will fire on civilians. They will target U.S. warships.

Jason Ross, representing the LaRouche Organization, reported on his recent interview with Kevork Almassian on the “Syriana Analysis” program, which focused on the unique conceptions that underlie the “Oasis Plan” for peace between Israel and its neighbors. Ross told the meeting that the chronic problem which leads to conflict in Southwest Asia, is that there is not enough water. To address this problem, water infrastructure and desalination are priorities. Ross described two methods of desalination, one using heat distillation, and the other using reverse osmosis, pumping water through a filter. Since desalination is energy-intensive, potable water is an energy problem in the modern world. Ross indicated the great value of nuclear energy, for heating and pumping water, especially in nations not rich in hydrocarbons.

In the spirit of the Oasis plan, Ross called for Southwest Asia to become a region of integration for humanity. He urged peace demonstrators to incorporate a vision of where the region ought to go: replace the paradigm of conflict, otherwise any temporary victory will not be sustained.

Following Ross’ comments, a short video with excerpts from the Schiller Institute’s April 13-14 conference on the Oasis Plan was shown.

During the discussion period, co-moderator Dennis Speed observed that 35 American college campuses are now experiencing “various levels of revolt and resistance.” In an unprecedented action, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson went to Columbia University and called for the resignation of the university president. Israeli PM Netanyahu has arrogantly intervened into U.S. politics, calling for the suppression of campus protests. The tactic of accusing protestors of antisemitism is falling flat, however, particularly because the catalytic role of organizations such as Jewish Voices for Peace in the protests, has rendered the anti-Semitic charge ludicrous on its face.

Jacques Cheminade, President of Solidarité & Progrès, reported on the situation in France, where more than 50% of the population thinks that President Macron is talking nonsense. Macron endorsed the German “sky shield” initiative, which would lead to the integration of European air defenses and would mean de facto acceptance of NATO rule over Europe.

A report came in from a participant in the Freedom Flotilla, which is preparing to leave Türkiye with 5,000 tons of food and medical supplies for Gaza. It was scheduled to sail for Gaza today, but there is a delay because its largest vessel sails under the flag of Guinea Bissau, and Israel is pressuring that nation’s government to delay the aid. The organizers have asked peace activists to contact their governments, and Helga Zepp-LaRouche stated that we need a major mobilization to allow the flotilla through. CodePink founder Medea Benjamin, another participant in the Flotilla, has prepared a video with instructions.

Executive Intelligence Review editor Mike Billington reported that Zwelivelile “Mandla” Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela, has also joined the flotilla team. Mandela emphasized that his grandfather was always highly engaged with the Palestinians’ struggle, which he called the greatest moral issue of our time. He recounted how San Francisco dockworkers launched an international movement by refusing to load goods for South Africa, and that now we need a similar approach for Israel.

A graduate student in American Economic History participating for the first time in the IPC, asked whether our elected officials are compromised by foreign money, and if so, what can we do? Dennis Small, one of co-moderators, responded, yes, ”but the worst form of colonization of the U.S., is by foreign ideas, by “British liberal empiricism” modes of thinking, spread particularly in academia. Americans have been conditioned to view the world through the lens of geopolitics, the “law of the jungle.” One remedy for that outlook is the Ten Principles for a New Strategic and Development Architecture . The 10th point of Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s “Ten Principles,” the one that asserts that man is essentially good, “drives people crazy” because it contradicts the British Malthusian ideological assertion that you have to gain by destroying somebody else.

In her concluding remarks, Zepp-LaRouche commented with a smile that we must lead the “fight to unify the peace movement,” even though some people “just faint when they hear my name.” She reminded the participants of our historical antecedents, such as the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, where leaders came to realize that no one can enjoy a victory if everyone is dead, and “this is even more true in the age of nuclear weapons.” “Think of the one humanity, and make that a rule of everything you do.”

by Kevin Gribbroek

April 19—The 46th consecutive meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) was convened today, less than a week after the historic Schiller Institute “Oasis Plan” conference. Although the main focus of the meeting was the Oasis Plan—as a feature of an overall policy of peace through development—an important theme developed towards the end of the proceedings on the importance of beautiful art to inspire and ennoble people; to lift them “out of the pit.” In fact, what became evident, was that beautiful art and economic development are in reality integral parts of the same whole, with power to bring about true, lasting peace by creating for people the vision of a beautiful, more prosperous future.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and co-founder of the IPC, began the proceedings with her assessment that “we are experiencing one of the most traumatic shifts in the alignment of the world” driven by the emergence of a new world order. As this process unfolds, one can expect “major seizures, and effects, and dramatic convulsions,” including the danger of global war, until we have reached a more peaceful level of cooperation among nations. The IPC is unique in that it’s not simply against war and for peace, but presents a blueprint of how peace can be achieved—peace through economic development. She highlighted the fact that high-ranking diplomats from four nations, Palestine, South Africa, Russia, and Belarus, at the April 13, Schiller Institute conference, openly endorsed the Oasis Plan. However, that same day, Iran launched a missile and drone attack against Israel in retaliation for Israel’s April 1 bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, demonstrating just how close we are to World War III.

The next speaker, Terry Lodge, lawyer and long-time member of Veterans for Peace, described a recent letter sent to President Biden, the State Department, and the Department of Energy. The letter summarizes the history of Israel’s “very troubling” nuclear weapons program, and details the fact that under U.S. law, financial aid must be denied to any country not in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This, of course, would apply to Israel. With no “delusion” that the U.S. will cut aid to Israel, nonetheless he expressed his hope that the IPC will serve as a vehicle for generating international discussion about the Biden administration’s inability to follow its own legal standards. According to Lodge, Benjamin Netanyahu was directly involved in the smuggling operation that resulted in Israel acquiring nuclear weapons technology.

Jack Gilroy, of Pax Christi, gave a report on recent direct-action activities targeting the military-financial complex. On April 15, tax day, Gilroy and his collaborators conducted demonstrations outside three arms manufacturers in the Scranton, Pennsylvania area: General Dynamics, producer of 155mm artillery shells; Lockheed Martin, largest defense corporation in the world, and producer of the laser-guided Paveway bombs; and finally to BAE Systems, producer of the M777 Howitzer.

Jose Vega, independent LaRouche candidate for New York’s 15th District Congressional seat, reported from the Bronx, where he is currently leading a petitioning drive to get his name on the ballot. Vega characterized his campaign as “flooding the Bronx with optimism—spreading a message of hope and peace. Despite the fact that his district in one of the poorest in the nation, with 30% of residents way below the poverty level, his opponent, Congressman Ritchie Torres, is campaigning as a “champion of Israel.” We all must emulate the IPC through a “dialogue and discussion process”:

Ray McGovern, retired CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, spoke about the April 17 opinion piece by Joe Biden in the Wall Street Journal. Biden made a pitch for billions of dollars in supplemental funding for Ukraine, trumpeting its tremendous benefit for the U.S. economy. McGovern called this the Military Industrial Complex on steroids, which will only benefit the rich.

An interesting dialogue emerged as a result of a report given by a leader of the Mexican LaRouche Youth Movement (LYM) during the discussion period. She recounted her experience at a recent pro-Palestine, where a planned showing of the “Oasis Plan” video was preempted by the event organizers in favor of a “horrible, harsh” video showing the gory images of people suffering and dying in Gaza. The event organizers seemed uninterested in discussing solutions, despite their good intentions. The question was asked: How do we get people to understand that these violent, horrific videos do not ennoble and empower, but rather dehumanize and desensitize the population?

Zepp-LaRouche addressed the question by expressing her belief that it is necessary to expose the death and suffering, dwelling on that “breeds hatred and violence and desperation; pessimism” which is counterproductive. What needs to be accomplished is to evoke humanity, “to strengthen that in people which is the divine spark; which makes them reject any such violence forever.” One of the ways to accomplish this is through a truly artistic treatment of the subject. She offered an incredibly moving 3-minute video featuring Dieter Hallervorden, a famous German actor, reciting his poem “GAZA GAZA,” against a video panorama of the destruction of Gaza, and other images, during which he addressed the people of Gaza directly, by turning his back to the audience who thus saw him talking to Gaza, and would turn from time to time back to the audience, invoking compassion and passion for peace.

In her closing remarks, Zepp-LaRouche came back to this theme of aesthetic beauty, tied integrally to the “Westphalian” approach of peace through development–the only way the “cycle of violence” in Southwest Asia can be interrupted. Although this may seem impossible, to survive, people must make an “intellectual jump,” to “leave the past behind, and have a beautiful vision of the future, which gives hope to all participants in the conflict.” She cited Friedrich Schiller’s poem “[[Hope]]”:[[ https://archive.schillerinstitute.com/transl/trans_schil_2poems.html#hope]] “We are born for that which is better!” and concluded by insisting that building the momentum for a development solution is “the dynamic that can move mountains.”

April 5—Helga Zepp-LaRouche offered this example of the “top-down” policy formulation-process that the International Peace Coalition, which held its 44th consecutive weekly meeting today, must engage in. Today’s featured speakers were:

• Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Founder of the Schiller Institute;
• Prof. Richard Anderson Falk, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories from 2008 to 2014;
• Jens Jørgen Nielsen, historian, author, former Moscow correspondent of the Danish newspaper Politiken, representative of the Russian-Danish Dialogue, Denmark;
• Francis Anthony Boyle, American human rights lawyer and professor of international law at University of Illinois, counsel to Bosnia and Herzegovina and to the Provisional Government of the Palestinian Authority;
• Prof. Fernando Garzón, architect, urban planner and leader of the Ecuadorian-Palestinian Union, adviser to various UN agencies, the Inter-American Development Bank, and others.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche opened the proceedings with an update on the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. She asserted that with all that has transpired in Gaza, the fact that leading nations are still sending weapons to Israel is indicative of “the collapse of the moral order of the world.” She said of the devastation there, that “the only way to stop it would be that the United States puts its foot down, which they could, but they’re not doing it.”

Noting the recent observances of the 75th anniversary of NATO, Zepp-LaRouche remarked, “If you look at the actual history of NATO, it was not a defensive alliance.” She reviewed the history of its illegitimate actions, and said that in particular, the Libyan war was the beginning of the destruction of the UN, noting that her husband, Lyndon LaRouche, said at the time that this was the beginning of the war against Russia and China. Since that time, Zepp-LaRouche concluded, “NATO wars have killed 4 1/2 million people.”

She asserted that the UN Security Council is effectively defunct due to the abuse of the veto, followed by the statement of White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby that UNSC resolutions are not binding. “We are in a lawless situation,” she said. “We have entered the world of jungle already.”

Zepp-LaRouche concluded by encouraging all to participate in the Schiller Institute’s [[Oasis Plan conference]] [[https://schillerinstitute.nationbuilder.com/oasis_conference_20240413]] next week.

Former UN special rapporteur, Prof. Richard Falk, presented an impassioned defense of his colleague, special rapporteur for occupied Palestine Francesca Albanese, who recently issued a formal report titled, “Anatomy of a Genocide.” Falk described her report as being ”… in my judgment, the most objective and meticulously researched and analyzed assessment of the genocidal dimensions of what Israel has been doing in Gaza.” Falk recalled his own prior experience as Special Rapporteur for Occupied Palestine, during which he also endured “a series of smears, death threats and unpleasantness… and in my case, additionally compounded by being called a ‘self-hating Jew.’”

Falk called what is happening in Gaza “the most original, transparent genocide in all of history…. This is a case where the perceptions of people around the world are taking place in real time, with overwhelming evidence that is supplied by the imagery shown nightly on TV and by the self-justifying language used by Israeli leadership to dehumanize the Palestinian people.”

Jens Jørgen Nielsen offered his assessment of the strategic crisis, saying that leading politicians “regard the present situation as a sort of computer game.” “People wind up hating their counterparts so much that they are willing to hurt themselves to inflict harm on the other….We are trapped in our own toxic narratives and psychological distortions.” Nielsen called for a return to diplomacy, like that which saved the world at the time of the Cuban missile crisis. Instead, he lamented, “it seems that Western politicians have a race to see who can use the most derogatory terms about Putin.”

Prof. Francis Boyle proposed five measures that can be taken to resolve the crisis in Gaza:

• Suspend Israel’s participation in the activities of the UN General Assembly, along the lines of what the General Assembly did in response to apartheid in South Africa;
• Convene a war crimes tribunal against Israel, similar to the one against Yugoslavia to which he was a party;
• Sever diplomatic relations with Israel;
• Issue economic sanctions against Israel;
• Have the UN general assembly admit Palestine as a full-fledged member.

This was followed by a dialogue with Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who endorsed Boyle’s proposal to give Palestine full membership in the UN. She asked him to comment about her statement that the UN is defunct if the United States says resolutions are non-binding, to which he responded, “The statement that UN Security Council resolutions are non-binding is a bald-faced lie…under article 25 of the UN charter, all Security Council resolutions are binding.”

Professor Fernando Garzon described the conflict in Palestine as “…consequences of a scorched Earth strategy… to destroy any vestige of infrastructure,” following “75 years of continuous expulsion and elimination of its original population.” He emphasized the importance of creating a viable economy: “The Oslo agreements included a special chapter on development…. There never was implementation of this component.”

During the discussion period, a German participant proposed a “friendship concert” in Kaliningrad; preceded by a motorcade through European countries. Jack Gilroy of Veterans for Peace and Pax Christi, U.S.A. presented reports of anti-war actions around the country, including protests at weapons plants. Another participant described peace marches and related activity being held in Ibero-America.

To a question on how to avoid war with Russia, Zepp-LaRouche said, “You have to make the effort to understand the complexity of the whole world and put the one humanity first…. Treat other cultures as if they were your sons and daughters and grandparents.”

A video was shown of Kynan Thistlethwaite’s intervention against reporters and editors from the New York Times, Politico and the Guardian. Moderator Dennis Speed reported that “they basically froze and took an adjournment for five minutes.”

A final question was posed: “What does it mean to be optimistic under today’s circumstances?” Zepp-LaRouche turned to great thinkers, including astronomer Johannes Kepler, who said that the more you study the laws of the universe, the more you recognize the beauty of the plan of the Creator, and Gottfried Leibniz, who said that every evil will cause an even greater good to emerge. She concluded, “You must create within yourself a vision of how you want the world to be… If you do it, you will be happy.”