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International Peace Coalition Meeting: The War for Humanity Must Be Won Now!

March 23, 2024by Mary Jane Freeman in General, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, International Peace Coalition, World war danger updates

Most people are not thinking that there can be any change, or that they can be part of a change—of changing the entire order of the world. Most people think they’re too small; this is not their job. But we should think as world citizens, because if the world is in disorder, each of us has the right to think of how to make the world better. — Helga Zepp-LaRouche

By Kevin Gribbroek

March 22, 2024 (EIRNS)—The 42nd meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) was convened today with well over 200 participants from 25 different countries. In response to the dire warnings by most of the guest speakers that the danger of world war is intensifying, there was a marked upshift in the number of people participating in a very lively dialogue session, brainstorming on how to “win the war for Humanity.”

A common thread throughout the meeting was the growing psychosis of Western leaders. Exemplary of this psychosis is French President Emmanuel Macron, who recently doubled down on his “incomprehensibly crazy” threats to send French troops into Ukraine, risking thermonuclear war with Russia.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and initiator of the IPC, began the proceedings by providing a very unsettling picture of the current strategic situation. She warned that not only do we have an increased danger of war between NATO, and Russia and China, but also the humanitarian crises in Haiti, Gaza, Sudan and other areas are causing the unnecessary deaths of massive numbers of people: “To say that humanity finds itself in an extraordinary crisis is a very mild way of describing it.” Discussing the current thinking of Western leaders, she said: “It’s as if madness, sheer insanity has gripped the minds of many leaders in the West”; that they want to go for confrontation against Russia. As a result, “Inch by inch we are moving towards World War III.”

Zepp-LaRouche emphasized the necessity for an intensified mobilization which can succeed, because the majority of people throughout the world do not want war. She informed people of the new IPC statement, “Our Outcry Must Not Come Too Late,”, which she encouraged people to get out everywhere to counter the brainwashing by the mainstream media, which only make known the voice of warmongers. She ended by stressing the critical need for a Westphalian solution based on a new paradigm of cooperation for economic development, which includes the interests of every nation on the planet.

Col. Richard Black (ret.), former head of the U.S. Army’s Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon and former Virginia State Senator, presented his assessment of the current war danger: At the IPC meeting of March 15, he had expressed his suspicion that Macron’s threat of sending French troops into Ukraine was a “carefully orchestrated trial balloon” by NATO designed to see if people in the West would accept a great world war against Russia. Black now believes that this suspicion is “gelling” into reality. He characterized the current situation as a “wag the dog” scenario: With the tremendous unpopularity of Western leaders such as President Biden, war would be used as a way to save their political futures. The revelation that the U.S., France, U.K. and Poland already have troops in Ukraine, as if it’s no big deal, is also part of the operation to condition people into accepting an escalation against Russia—an escalation that could lead to thermonuclear war.

Jacques Cheminade, leader of the LaRouche-affiliated Solidarité et Progrès political party in France, began by asserting that the primary cause of Macron’s increasing insanity is the economy: France is on the edge of a collapse. The danger is that France will be downgraded by the international ratings agencies, such as Moody’s, before the European elections. Psychologically, Macron believes he can escape the pressure of the financial crisis—and his plunging approval ratings—by becoming the “King of Europe” with his hysterical flight forward for war against Russia. The hope is that a number of high-ranking retired French military officers, who had endorsed the Solidarité et Progrès declaration to abolish NATO, are reacting against Macron’s insanity. Although a good development, Cheminade stressed that unless this resistance is international, it will lead nowhere. He closed by remarking that the IPC “must be the international leadership of sanity in the world” and that we must “raise our sense of who we are to the level of responsibility that is demanded at this moment of history.”

Brad Wolf, a lawyer, former prosecutor and full-time peace activist, spoke next on his work as one of the founders and primary leaders of the Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal. The purpose of the Tribunal is to hold U.S. military contractors accountable for knowingly producing weapons used for killing innocent civilians. The principal targets are Boeing, RTX (Raytheon), Lockheed Martin and General Atomics, a major producer of drones. He highlighted the “revolving door” collusion between these corporations and government officials, such as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who sat on the board of directors of Raytheon. By exposing these crimes to the public, the goal is to motivate people to take action.

Well-known peace activist and radio talk show host Garland Nixon stated his belief that, given the gravity of the situation and the irrationality of the ruling elites, we must build and broaden a “rational movement to overwhelm these elites.” What is driving this madness? As Dennis Small of the Schiller Institute had made sharply clear, “This is a lawful consequence of the entire trans-Atlantic financial system being in end-phase. And that’s what we’re witnessing.” He followed up by reporting on a glimmer of rationality in a March 19 Newsweek article listing 13 U.S. cities which would be wiped out by nuclear weapons if war broke out with Russia.

To demonstrate that it is not some abstract possibility, Zepp-LaRouche reported on a chilling development: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced today that Russia now sees itself in a state of war with the West. Prof. Steven Starr, nuclear weapons expert from the University of Missouri, pointed out that for the first time since the beginning of the Cold War, there have been attacks deep within Russian territory using NATO weaponry. He believes NATO troops openly entering the war in Ukraine is the final red line which will trigger war against Russia.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche delivered her closing remarks by stating her belief that the reality of the worsening strategic crisis will increasingly dawn on people, and that we must take advantage of this by getting the new IPC statement, “Our Outcry Must Not Come Too Late,” out everywhere. Then, expanding on Dennis Small’s statement that the war insanity is being driven by the financial collapse, she said that the other factor is the economic rise of the Global South—which increasingly is allied with the BRICS. As long as the “Wolfowitz Doctrine” remains in effect—the idea that the U.S. must maintain its unipolar hegemony—this will be a cause of perpetual war. She concluded by saying: “If the present world order leads to world war, with what can we replace it to create a durable peace for all of humanity to get us out of this danger? And I think a new security and development architecture is the only thing which addresses the underlying, fundamental problems.”

Cracks in the Facade of Western Hegemony – 41st. International Peace Coalition Meeting

March 17, 2024by madeleine in Activity of the Schiller Institute, General, Global Diplomacy, International Peace Coalition, Our initiatives (petitions, etc)

by Kevin Gribbroek

While we should not pay less attention to the danger—which is increasing daily, one can say—it is also clear that if there is a decisive action, there is hope that we can turn the situation around.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche

March 15—The 41st meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) convened today, and provided a very interesting contrast—one could call it a “dissonance”—between despair and hope. On one hand, several participants conveyed a sense of despondency due to the impression that the IPC and the peace movement more generally are trapped in an “echo chamber,” with few people in the general population “getting the message.” On the other hand, many participants reported on exciting initiatives designed precisely to break out of the “echo chamber” and build a bigger base of support for the IPC process. Based on remarks from several speakers, it is also evident that there is a growing revolt in the Global South against the arrogance of Western hegemony and the centuries of colonial policies that have impoverished their nations and destroyed the hopes and dreams of their people.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche began the proceedings with a strategic overview that indeed demonstrated this growing revolt by the Global South and the effects it is having on political layers in the West. Of great importance was Pope Francis’ recent demand that Ukraine have the courage to negotiate a peace settlement with Russia. In the United States, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on March 14 spoke from the Senate floor, demanding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resign and that Israel hold new elections, saying that Netanyahu does not serve Israeli security by making Israel a pariah state. In Berlin, during a joint press conference between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Ibrahim blasted Scholz in regard to the Palestinian genocide, essentially accusing him of racism. In Denmark, the Ambassador of the Palestinian Authority, Prof. Dr. Manuel Hassassian, in an interview with the Schiller Institute, endorsed the LaRouche Oasis Plan for economic development throughout the region.

Zepp-LaRouche emphasized throughout her opening remarks that in no way has the threat of nuclear war diminished. She made it clear that only by changing the underlying axioms that continuously lead to failed geopolitical solutions to the war danger, and adopting a new paradigm of development exemplified by the Oasis Plan, is there any hope for peace.

The next speaker, Colonel Richard Black (ret.), former chief of the Pentagon’s Criminal Law Division, characterized the current historical dynamic as “moving closer to our 1914 moment,” referring to the events which triggered World War I, leading to the deaths of 14 million people. Based on various political moves being made in Europe and the U.S., he sees the emergence of a “war consensus” with the potential of NATO troops entering into direct conflict with Russia. “This is World War III,” he said. Despite the impossibility of Ukraine winning the war, the Western “elites” are determined to “snatch victory from the jaws of defeat … which will inevitably lead to a nuclear exchange.”

Terry Lodge, an attorney from Ohio and long-time member of Veterans for Peace, discussed the open letter he authored warning State Department officials that they are engaged in criminal activity by providing Israel weapons to carry out its genocide against the Palestinians. He aptly expressed the “dissonance” of the current period with his opening statement:

“As dark and difficult as the last couple of years have become from an international human rights and war-making perspective, what has happened is that planetary citizens are coming together in gatherings like this, to talk sanely and talk rationally, and kind of reawaken awareness to the fact that humanity is struggling and trying to provide guardrails for the conduct of human behavior at a societal and national level.“

He called the Biden administration’s arming of Israel a “ghastly, dark comedy,” but believes that “there are cracks that are occurring in this facade; that people like the numbers of you on this Zoom meeting can take some credit” for having caused those cracks.

Richard Sakwa, Professor Emeritus of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent in the UK, began his remarks with an analysis of the now-ongoing Russian elections. Prof. Sakwa recounted an interview by well known Russian media figure Dmitry Kiselyov with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which Putin expressed his belief that the “Western vampire ball” is ending and that 500 years of Western dominance is over. Putin believes that a new epoch has started and that Russia—as in the Soviet days—is the leader of the new, anti-colonial era. In regard to Ukraine, Putin stated:

“For us, the Ukraine conflict is a matter of life or death. For them [the U.S. and NATO], it’s a matter of improving their tactical position globally and in Europe…. If the U.S. tries to play chicken, Moscow is prepared to use nuclear weapons and considers its arsenal more advanced than anyone else’s.”

Sakwa’s assessment is that the current strategic situation is far more dangerous than the first Cold War. Essentially, the West is playing nuclear chicken and as Putin made clear, the Russians don’t play that game.

Zepp-LaRouche asked Prof. Sakwa, given the gravity of the situation, What must be done to “penetrate the mainstream brainwashed population”? Sakwa, although not having a definitive answer, pointed to the peace movement of Sahra Wagenknecht in Germany and the election of George Galloway in the UK as a sign of hope.

Zaher Wahab, a prominent Afghan-American and Professor Emeritus of Education at Lewis and Clark College in the United States, began by thanking the Schiller Institute for its relentless efforts on behalf of humanity to promote peace and development everywhere. Prof. Wahab expressed his belief that because of the “deep economic, political-diplomatic, moral and social crises” in the West, while the Global South continues to rise, this heightens the danger of nuclear war. He endorsed the Oasis Plan, and enthusiastically called for its extension into Central and South Asia.

Jack Gilroy, a member of Veterans for Peace and Pax Christi, announced a very important initiative: On March 18, Pax Christi, in collaboration with a coalition called “Christians for a Free Palestine,” are spearheading a national day of action to deliver letters to all U.S. Senators and Representatives on the failure of Christian churches to speak out on the atrocities in Gaza.

In her closing remarks, Helga Zepp-LaRouche stated that the enemy of humanity is not nation states, but what she called “super-national structures”; structures of the neoliberal financial system which rely on war to maintain their existence. She fully endorsed the March 18 day of action and suggested the IPC mobilize for May Day demonstrations in Europe and elsewhere. She also urged everybody to encourage parliamentarians everywhere to endorse Mexican Congressman Robles’ letter against nuclear war.

Zepp-LaRouche concluded by stressing the urgent necessity of implementing the new international security and development architecture, “because it throws out the idea of geopolitics, by putting the idea of One Humanity first, and that the new architecture has to take into account the interest of every single country on the planet.”

40th International Peace Coalition Meeting: ‘In the Foothills of a Third World War’

March 10, 2024by madeleine in Activity of the Schiller Institute, General, Global Diplomacy, International Peace Coalition, Our initiatives (petitions, etc)

by Daniel Platt

March 9, 2024 (EIRNS)—The 40th consecutive weekly online meeting of the International Peace Coalition on March 8 opened with a warning from Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche that we are continuing to flirt with nuclear war. She cited the currently ongoing NATO “Steadfast Defender” exercise where 90,000 troops are explicitly rehearsing a war with Russia as an example of the supercharged environment. The mainstream media, rather than looking at the increasing danger of World War III, marked by the recent scandal of the leaked audio in which German military officers discuss covert means of directly entering the Ukraine war, are focusing their attention on speculation over who leaked the audio file.

Turning to the situation in Southwest Asia, she said that the conflict in Gaza is being driven by geopolitical motives and cannot be looked at separately from Ukraine. Several UN Special Rapporteurs are now calling it genocide, calling attention to the growing danger of starvation, and saying that it is intentional on the part of the Netanyahu regime. Investigation of genocide will inevitably bring us to the question of U.S. and German involvement and culpability. The Oasis Plan, as proposed by Lyndon LaRouche in 1975, provides the only way out of this ghastly situation.

Zepp-LaRouche’s strategic overview was followed by military and intelligence experts who expanded on the nature of the war danger.

Col. Richard Black (ret.), former chief of the U.S. Army’s Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon, observed that the Ukraine war was the lead item in President Biden’s “State of the Union” address, underscoring that whenever a President says he won’t send U.S. troops, it’s almost a promise to do the opposite.

German Lt. Col. Ulrich Scholz (ret.), a former NATO planner and lecturer on air warfare, warned: “NATO nations have not trained together for decades, and are not capable of going to war. If the Americans don’t do it, nobody’s going to do it.” Regarding the war propaganda in Europe, he said, “All the war talk is a face-saving exercise. They want out.” His advice? “Look for an area where we have common interests and stop the shooting.”

Helga Zepp-LaRouche interrupted the proceedings to report that the U.S. Embassy in Moscow has now advised Americans that they should avoid large Moscow gatherings for 48 hours, as extremists plan to attack such events. Numerous countries that routinely ape U.S. foreign policy gestures have followed suit.

Former U.S. diplomat, CIA officer, and vice-chair of the National Intelligence Council, Graham Fuller told the gathering: “The fundamental problem of world stability today lies in the inability of the United States to read the tea leaves, to understand the geopolitical shifts in the world today.”

He said that the U.S. is no longer the sole superpower; the U.S. can’t face this reality, and this is the danger. “One of the problems of democracy is that you have to galvanize the entire population to go to war…. You’ve got to demonize the enemy, demonize Putin, make it a struggle between absolute good and absolute evil.” Fuller asserted that advocacy of democracy is being used as a weapon, but we don’t support democracy when it is inconvenient. “We have a United States today which is perhaps the most ideologically driven nation in the world.”

Prof. Richard Sakwa, British Emeritus Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent, warned: “We are now in the foothills of the Third World War.” He said that we should distinguish between two levels: the world as it was structured in response to the horrors of World War II, with the UN and international law in the spirit of “Never Again”; and the paradigm which replaced this after 1989, or what he termed the “Second Cold War.”

In the first Cold War, diplomacy continued. But when Obama expelled the Russian diplomats in response to unproven allegations, diplomacy was being destroyed. “A political West emerged based on Cold War thinking.” Sakwa said that there is an emerging consensus against this in the “Political East.” They promote an idea of commonwealth, in opposition to the imperialism of the West. “The Global South and Political East can hold us back from moving from the foothills to the peaks of a Third World War.”

Mexican Congressman Benjamín Robles Montoya’s statement March 6 on the floor of Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies, was shown to all assembled. The Congressman emphasized, “We have reached the precipice of nuclear war…. Achieving peace through development, that is the path.”

Prof. Steve Starr, the former director of the University of Missouri’s Clinical Laboratory Science Program and published author in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists warned that the war danger is heightened by the fact that Joe Biden is up for re-election, and can’t be seen to be losing the war in Ukraine. He said that “the danger of nuclear war is greatly exacerbated by false narratives,” such as the one where we can use tactical nukes to make Russia back down. The electromagnetic pulse generated from a single nuclear weapon, detonated above the U.S., could take out our entire electrical power grid, all solid-state circuitry and computers. An 800-kiloton nuclear weapon detonated directly over a target such as Manhattan would ignite a firestorm over an area of 100-150 square miles. Each side has thousands of nukes, and the resulting smoke and soot created from their nuclear detonations would form a global stratospheric layer reducing the sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface and halting agriculture for 10 years, in what is called “nuclear famine.”

George Koo, retired specialist in U.S.-China trade, concurred with Colonel Black: The U.S. has a tendency to say one thing and do the opposite. He said that the U.S. is sending a signal to the Philippines and Taiwan, encouraging them to start proxy wars with China. The P.R.C. government fully recognizes who is behind this. They will take out U.S. naval forces in their neighborhood in response.

Humanity for Peace coordinator Anastasia Battle presented a report on the March 2 meeting in Detroit, “Emergency Conference for Peace in Gaza: The Children of God Cry Out for Justice,” at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, the historic church of C.L. Franklin, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech in 1966. Nine videos of the speakers are now available on YouTube.

Ray McGovern, co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, reminded the participants that President John F. Kennedy, during his June 10, 1963 speech at American University, warned that we should never give an adversary a choice between humiliating defeat, and nuclear war. Now this very choice is being presented to Russian President Vladimir Putin at re-election time. He presented his assessment of Vladimir Putin: “I would say he’s a statesman, and he’s a pretty cool customer.” McGovern went on to wryly quote former President George W. Bush: “Don’t ‘misunderestimate’ the Russians.”

McGovern presented some provocative speculation about the recent resignation of State Department harpy Victoria Nuland. He pointed out that we haven’t seen the entire leak from the German officers. If Russia intercepted it, so did the U.S. National Security Agency. Maybe Nuland was working behind everyone’s back with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius to transfer Taurus missiles to Ukraine. McGovern emphasized that this is speculation, but as likely an explanation as any.

This was followed by a discussion session in which many new participants introduced themselves. In conclusion, Helga Zepp-LaRouche recommended that the Americans ally with the Global South. “The signs of hope are small, but sometimes when you are in a crisis, even small signs of hope can cause a shift.” She reported, as such a sign of hope, the growing number of leaders who have endorsed Lyndon LaRouche’s Oasis Plan for peace in Southwest Asia.

International Peace Coalition March 1 Meeting Warns, ‘We Are Sitting on a Powder Keg’

March 2, 2024by madeleine in Activity of the Schiller Institute, General, Global Diplomacy, International Peace Coalition, Our initiatives (petitions, etc)

by Daniel Platt

March 1, 2024 (EIRNS)—The International Peace Coalition (IPC) met today for its 39th consecutive weekly organizing discussion. Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche warned that “the situation is moving from horrible to worse….” Reviewing the events of the previous few days, she called attention to the massacre where Israeli troops opened fire on hundreds of starving Palestinians who were waiting for food aid southwest of Gaza City, killing 120 and wounding 750 on Feb. 29. In response to Israel Defense Forces statements that their soldiers felt threatened, she said, “I can’t imagine how starving people can be a threat to a highly weaponized army.”

This event occurred a few days after Aaron Bushnell self-immolated outside the front gate of the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C, in protest against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Also during the past week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague heard from 50 nations on the legal consequences of Israel’s “prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation” of the occupied territories, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem, but will not render judgement until the summer.

Discussing the Likud regime’s apparent objective of driving the Palestinians over the border into Egypt, Zepp-LaRouche warned that this violates the tenets of the Camp David Accords and opens the door to a wider war. Under these circumstances, the implementation of the Oasis Plan, as proposed by her late husband, Lyndon LaRouche, in 1975, becomes more urgent than ever before, because if you don’t inject hope into the situation, she said, there is no remedy for the rapidly worsening regional conflict.

Turning to the Ukraine war, she said that the danger there was greatly escalating, bringing us even more quickly to a possible global war. French President Macron has proposed to send NATO troops into Ukraine, while retired German General Harald Kujat recently charged that there are already NATO troops in Ukraine (in the role of “advisors,” as was the case with the initial American involvement in the Vietnam War.) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has refused to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine, because their 500-km range would enable direct attacks on Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin warns of possible nuclear war, but the Western press pooh-poohs his warnings. Russia Today has released the full text of what is claimed to be a discussion by senior German military officers on how to attack the Crimean Bridge in Russia. Russia’s government press spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, is said to have demanded an explanation.

Zepp-LaRouche concluded by saying that the only good news she could offer was the election victory of George Galloway, who just won a seat in British Parliament on the issue of opposition to the war in Gaza.

Jacques Cheminade, who leads the Solidarity and Progress Party in France, commented on the declaration by Macron on sending NATO troops to Ukraine, saying that it has been judged insane by a majority of French population. “He’s like a little dwarf playing with fire,” said Cheminade. Illustrating the absurdity of the situation, he reminded the discussion participants that Europe is still importing Russian LNG and enriched uranium. According to experts, the French, and probably also the German, armies are capable of fighting a war with Russia for only seven days.

Dr. James Cobey, who shared in the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines, described his project to create a “Palestinian Embassy” in Washington, D.C., which he called a potential “AIPAC for Palestine.” His partner in this effort is Miko Peled, the son of an Israeli general who fought in the 1967 Six Day War, but then became an advocate for an Israeli dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization after the Israeli cabinet ignored his investigation of a 1967 alleged Israeli war crime.

Next the participants viewed a video presentation by Nazih Musharbash, President of the German Palestinian Society. He said that the Jan. 26, 2024, ICJ Order of provisional measures to prevent genocide is being rejected by Israel. Israel is pushing the Palestinian population from one place to the next, bombing them, cramming them into impossibly small places. Prime Minister Netanyahu thinks that if UNRWA is cancelled, the Palestinian “Right of Return,” as guaranteed under point #5 of the Oslo Accords, will no longer be a problem. The IDF’s destruction of Hamas means that there is no functioning government. Regarding the massacre near Gaza City, he wryly observed that “warning shots are normally fired into the air.”

IPC Coordinator Anastasia Battle presented a report on the upcoming Interfaith , “Emergency Conference for Peace in Gaza” in Detroit. In the Michigan Democratic Party presidential primary elections, a campaign was launched for voters to vote “uncommitted” rather than endorse Biden’s enabling of genocide in Gaza. This resulted in 101,000 uncommitted votes. The next step being planned is a National Day of Action on March 2, to coincide with the Interfaith Meeting.

Executive Intelligence Review Ibero-American Intelligence Director Dennis Small called attention to Brazilian President Lula’s charge that Israel was committing genocide, and his stalwart refusal to “walk back” this accusation. He read an excerpt from a recent statement by the Brazilian Foreign Ministry: “Even so, the inaction of the international community in the face of this humanitarian tragedy continues to serve as a veiled incentive for the Netanyahu government to keep targeting innocent civilians and ignoring basic rules of international humanitarian law.”

Two activists from the UK explained the significance of the landslide victory of George Galloway and the Workers’ Party, who campaigned in opposition to the genocide in Gaza. The British government is trying to suppress growing public protests, calling them a threat to public safety, but there has been no violence. Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman tried to ban them, saying they are antisemitic. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is saying that the demonstrations support terrorism. One of the activists charged that the UK is “a creeping police state.”

An organizer for Veterans for Peace reported on their campaign to circulate a letter, which demands that the U.S. State Department terminate weapons shipments to Israel, and calls on the Inspector General to investigate alleged criminal acts by senior Biden administration officials.

A ghastly video was shown to the discussion participants, a one-minute animation that is being broadcast on German state public television and is targeted at German children, in which talking cartoon representations of cruise missiles debate which of them would be the most effective weapon against Russia. Helga Zepp-LaRouche characterized it as part of the complete indoctrination of the population to prepare them for a coming war.

In concluding remarks, Zepp-LaRouche said that many people think the Zionist Lobby controls the U.S. But, as her late husband always said, the U.S. establishment uses Israel as a hand grenade to destabilize the region. The reason is geopolitical, a scheme to destabilize the region in order to contain the rising global majority.

Returning to the grim situation in her native land, she said, “Germany is right now like a hermetically sealed country. You cannot say anything…. We are sitting on a powder keg, and the ordinary population has no clue.” She urged all participants to organize prominent individuals to endorse the Oasis Plan.

IPC Meeting: Only Through Development Will Mankind Defeat the ‘Structures of Sin’

February 24, 2024by madeleine in Activity of the Schiller Institute, General, Global Diplomacy, International Peace Coalition, Our initiatives (petitions, etc)

by Kevin Gribbroek

The opposite of destruction is love. And what more loving could you do than to create the conditions for every living human being on the planet to fulfill the potential of their life.

Helga zepp-larouche

The 38th meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC), convened on Feb. 23, was a demonstration of why this deliberative body is uniquely suited to address and solve the crises threatening to plunge mankind into a prolonged new Dark Age or even thermonuclear Armageddon. Whereas most forum discussions on the issues of Gaza, Ukraine or any other conflict—be it mainstream or alternative media—are reduced to explanations of why one side is good and the other evil, much of the IPC meeting was devoted to deliberation over the true definition of good and evil from a philosophical standpoint. This proved very fruitful in helping participants to reach a higher-level understanding of why the Oasis Plan and economic development per se are so crucial to the survival of the human race.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche opened the proceedings by focusing on the incredible rift taking place between the Global South and the “tiny minority” of the Global North over particularly the conflict in Gaza. Exemplary of this rift is the recently concluded G20 meeting in Brazil where the U.S. and other Western countries refused to sign a common declaration because both Brazil and South Africa insisted that it include language denouncing the genocide in Gaza. Another highlight of this rift is the ongoing hearings at the World Court, where one nation after another has condemned Israel for its actions against the Palestinians. Ma Xinmin, Legal Advisor to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, called Palestine “a litmus test for the collective conscience of humanity….”

Zepp-LaRouche continued by pointing out the insanity of Western leaders, who, despite the impossibility of Ukraine winning the war, are demanding that more long-range weapons be sent to the Zelensky regime for striking deep inside Russian territory. These leaders seem incapable of thinking about the consequences of their actions; that this could lead to World War Three! Because the strategic situation is so dangerous, it requires that the IPC mobilize that much harder to “offer solutions to an otherwise seemingly unsolvable conflict.” The way to free Palestine is the Oasis Plan because it would transform the entirety of Southwest Asia into a prosperous economic hub between Asia, Africa and Europe—a solution of optimism in the best interests of Israel, Palestine and all their neighboring countries. A similar approach is needed for Ukraine. Only a new paradigm of cooperation on economic development is capable of ending the cycle of violence.

The next speakers, Alan Rivera and Gerardo Castilleja of the Schiller Institute in Mexico, recounted a recent intervention they made at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where they went from classroom to classroom briefing students and professors on the Oasis Plan. One professor even allowed them to show the Oasis Plan video. They then attended a campus ceasefire rally where they encountered a group of old American “lefties” repeating the same empty-headed “anti-imperialist” slogans from 40-years past with no comprehension of how to overturn the system to which they are opposed.

Dr. Mohammad Toor, Chairman of the Pakistani American Congress, stressed the necessity of peace through economic development. Weak countries must develop themselves so they do not fall prey to stronger nations. There are enough resources on the planet so that every nation can develop and become prosperous.

A university professor in Michigan spoke of the fear that permeates campuses, particularly concerning the Gaza issue. Despite a very large Arab and Muslim student body in the state, students and faculty alike feel they cannot express their emotions and feelings—they can’t advocate for what they feel is right. A large number of the students are Palestinian or have friends that are Palestinian, many of whom have lost family members in Gaza. To help people overcome this fear, the professor is organizing an arts and cultural event with the belief that, under conditions of oppression, the only way to speak up is through the arts.

The next speaker, Jack Gilroy of Veterans for Peace, reported on an initiative to deliver a document that outlines the crimes committed by Israel and the U.S. in Gaza to every State Department office in the U.S. The document warns State Department officials that they are complicit in criminal activity—the murder of thousands of people in Gaza—and could be prosecuted for these offenses.

During the discussion period, a profound dialogue was initiated by Father Harry Bury on the nature of good and evil. He challenged two fundamental beliefs that he views as obstacles to bringing about the objective of peace through development: The first is that there are evil people in the world. Father Bury believes that this is false; that there are good people that do evil things because they don’t know any better. These people must be educated to know what is good. The second belief is that the best way to prevent evil is through punishment. This is proven wrong by a worldwide recidivism rate of 80-85%. “Justice is not vengeance; justice is not getting even; justice is restoring the evil doer” according to Bury. Zepp-LaRouche, although agreeing in principle that people are fundamentally good, had one point of disagreement: Given that the human species is endowed by the Creator with free will, why is it that some people are quite capable of comprehending that what they are doing is evil but do it anyway? Why have they decided to be on the side of Satan?

The Michigan professor offered an idea, expressed in a book titled Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt, that evil is the absence of empathy; the inability to see others as equal with oneself. Zepp-LaRouche fully concurred with this view and explained Friedrich Schiller’s belief that only through the aesthetic education—education rooted in noble and sublime concepts—are people elevated to the level of reason.

Dennis Small of the Schiller Institute pointed out that to defeat evil one must put the City of London/Wall Street financial system through a complete bankruptcy reorganization, because that entire system is evil—what Pope John Paul II called the “structures of sin”—and creates the circumstances for evil policies to be carried out. As long as that system prevails, it will obstruct the potential to bring about the good in people. While the Boycott-Divest-Sanction (BDS) movement is fine, if you really want to go after the root of the problem you must take on the financial system.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche concluded the meeting by expressing her profound belief that “poverty is the greatest violation of human rights you can imagine”—children growing up hungry with no education are being robbed of their humanity. The only way to solve the crises of Gaza and Ukraine is through a discussion of how to develop these impoverished regions, something which is eminently doable. In history’s past, the areas of Central and Southwest Asia were developed: Baghdad was the greatest city in the world; Afghanistan was the land of a thousand cities; Syria was part of the Silk Road. “If we connect this great tradition of the past with a vision for the future, if that becomes the motivation of all the people involved, I think we can bring this to a much more beautiful epoch in history.

Humanity Must Have a Vision for the Next Billion Years – International Peace Coalition Meeting

February 23, 2024by madeleine in Global Diplomacy, International Peace Coalition, Our initiatives (petitions, etc)

This article appears in the February 23, 2024 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

by Kevin Gribbroek

We have reached a point in history, where because we are sitting in one boat, we must step up to the level of reason, of finding a solution for the entire human species.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche

Feb. 16—The 37th meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC), convened Feb. 16, 2023, was devoted to fighting the pragmatism which infects the minds of most people in today’s society, which prevents them from conceptualizing higher-level solutions to the grave crises threatening mankind. People are often blinded by the particulars of the various conflicts—Gaza or Ukraine—robbing them of the ability to envision a means of resolving them, which would require simultaneously taking into account the needs of every single nation on the planet. This was the challenge taken up with the showing to the IPC of the new video: “The Oasis Plan—LaRouche’s Solution for the Middle East,” produced by The LaRouche Organization.

A map of LaRouche’s peace and development solution for Southwest Asia, “The Oasis Plan.” The IPC was challenged to circulate the new video of the plan produced by The LaRouche Organization.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and initiator of the IPC, opened the proceedings with a strategic overview, pointing out that in Germany the annual meeting of the Munich Security Conference was taking place. This conference, in the past a forum for finding solutions to critical security issues, has now degenerated into a public relations event for the military-industrial complex—the tone of the event being that of confrontation, not diplomacy. One exception was António Guterres, Secretary General of the UN, who made clear that 1.4 million Palestinians are facing an unimaginable destiny in Rafah. Also, the President of Ghana spoke, demanding a just new economic order, saying it cannot continue that one part of the world lives in wealth and the other part is faced with starvation.

Zepp-LaRouche continued by reporting on the 52 countries that will testify before the World Court in The Hague for one full week, starting Feb.19, on the subject of a UN General Assembly resolution of Dec. 30, 2022, alleging human rights violations against Palestinians by the Israelis over a period of 55 years. This is good, she said, but something much more fundamental is needed: Unless the hopelessness of the situation is changed, a solution can’t be found. This is why Lyndon LaRouche’s 1975 Oasis Plan for economic development of the entire region is so crucial. Unless you kick over the table of geopolitics—which the Oasis Plan would do—and go into a new paradigm of development, there is no hope.

Zepp-LaRouche emphasized the importance of “flooding the zone”; getting the Oasis Plan video out far and wide. With that, the video was shown.

Jason Ross, Executive Director of The LaRouche Organization and producer of the video, then fielded questions from IPC participants. Ross opened by making the point that charting a path toward peace sometimes requires changing the terrain. Under the current paradigm of “hegemonism,” there is no possibility of peace. There are two aspects of this paradigm which must be changed: The UN has estimated that it will cost $20 billion to reconstruct Gaza, and that it would take until 2092. This monetarist conception doesn’t take into account the necessity of transforming not only Gaza but the entire region in a way that benefits all people.

The other aspect is the problem that there are people who oppose war, who also, at the same time, whether they know it or not oppose peace. Ross used energy policy as an example: The Oasis Plan calls for nuclear power as the most efficient means of generating energy. Regrettably, many of the people who oppose war also have a Green, anti-growth Malthusian ideology and are opposed to nuclear energy. This ideology will doom people to poverty and unnecessary death, preventing the establishment of a new paradigm of peace through economic development. Ross concluded his remarks by stressing that the Oasis Plan is not contrary to the necessity of a ceasefire.

A participant from the UK sparked a very useful discussion with a question on how to finance development outside the conditionalities that enslave countries to Western finance. Ross explained that there is a new paradigm of lending outside of the IMF/World Bank policy of debt slavery, focused on lending for real physical economic development. This type of lending is being carried out by the African Development Bank, the New Development Bank, and various Chinese banks that are financing the many Belt and Road Initiative projects worldwide.

Dennis Small of the Schiller Institute added that, operating under the current bankrupt trans-Atlantic financial system, U.S. and British banks will lend for real development only after Hell freezes over. With $2 quadrillion of financial aggregates on their books, Western banks lend for one purpose: more speculation. The aim of this type of lending is to ensure that no physical economic development occurs and to impose Malthusian genocide particularly on poor nations of the world. Those who attack China—an integral part of this new lending paradigm—need to explain how China succeeded in lifting 850 million of its people out of extreme poverty.

Bob Cushing of Pax Christi began by reading from the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 58, Verses 6–14, on the topic of fasting. Then, after adding a quote from peace activist and columnist Frida Berrigan, he concluded, “Here’s the ‘to do list’ now: Release the prisoners; set free the oppressed; share your food with the hungry; open the doors for the homeless; clothe the naked; end the wars. Now let’s get to work!”

Dennis Speed of the Schiller Institute emphasized that with the proceedings before the World Court starting Feb. 19 on behalf of the UN General Assembly (mentioned above), a “field of action” has been made available to us for escalating our intervention into the strategic situation.

Alejandro Zenteno Chávez of Mexico’s Reason and Thought Society offered greetings to the IPC and stated his belief that the Oasis Plan provides a path to a solution for the whole world.

In her concluding remarks, Helga Zepp-LaRouche took the IPC participants on a tour of the “long arc of history,” noting that there have been several “high periods of human civilization” from Confucianism in China through the Greek Classical period to the Italian Renaissance and the American Revolution. However, throughout this historical arc, the dynamic was such that one area of the world could be experiencing a renaissance while another was in a dark age. Today that is no longer the case. Humanity is sitting in one boat: nuclear weapons would destroy everyone; the internet allows global connectivity; because of air travel, pandemics affect the whole world. Zepp-LaRouche expressed her conviction that because of this dynamic, regional solutions to crises won’t work.

Although nations will continue to be important, a paradigm must emerge that does not allow the interest of any one nation to be put above the interest of humanity as a whole. Common economic development among nations makes this possible. A discourse is necessary to establish a vision for how to preserve our immortality as a species—not only here on Earth but throughout the galaxy—given the reality of the inevitable demise of our solar system over the next billion or so years. With the gigantic vacuum of leadership in the North Atlantic, our task is to bring the idea of the new paradigm into the public discourse. This includes “flooding the zone” with the Oasis Plan. A handful of leading people coming out in support of the new paradigm could spark a renaissance and spread it like wildfire.

International Peace Coalition Meeting

February 10, 2024by Mary Jane Freeman in General, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, International Peace Coalition, Our initiatives (petitions, etc), Palestine, Russia, World war danger updates

A Transformation of the Moral Universe is Required

Feb. 9—This week’s online meeting of the International Peace Coalition began with moderator Anastasia Battle observing that the Coalition has now met for 36 consecutive weeks without interruption. She announced that a major focus of the Coalition’s activity will be to build a mass mobilization to restore funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which has been the target of undocumented allegations by the Likud regime in Israel and its neocon supporters in the US, UK and elsewhere. 

Opening remarks were made to the meeting by Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche. She said that the most breathtaking and horrible development in Gaza has been Netanyahu’s rejection of the offer by Hamas for a release of hostages, and the announcement that the IDF will attack the town of Rafah. 1.5 million Palestinians who have been forcibly displaced from other parts of Gaza have been herded into a small area in Rafah, from which there is no escape. An IDF assault on these refugees will result in dreadful carnage. Zepp-LaRouche also commented on the efforts to disable UNRWA, noting that UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called it “irreplaceable” and that if you defund it, you “condemn the people who depend on it to death.” 

Even in U.S. establishment circles, she said, there is some recognition that this can’t go on forever. She mentioned an article in Foreign Affairs titled “Israel’s Self-Destruction,” which concludes by saying that Israelis must reach out to Palestinians, and to each other (because of the highly factionalized situation in Israel.) 

Zepp-LaRouche reminded the participants that although the Palestinian situation is most urgent, we must keep in mind that there is a danger of escalation to global war unless we can implement a new security and development architecture like the one she proposed in November of 2022. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó recently warned of this exactly: if one more major conflict is added to the ones in Ukraine and Southwest Asia, it can mean global war. Zepp-LaRouche said that the most significant aspect of the celebrated Tucker Carlson interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which has already been viewed by at least 120 million people, is that Putin and Russia have at no point closed the door to cooperation with the West. 

Greetings to the attendees were offered by South Africa’s ambassador to Mexico, who was thanked by the members of the Coalition for South Africa’s important contribution to the pursuit of justice for Palestine. 

Former CIA analyst and Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) cofounder Ray McGovern presented an analysis of the Tucker Carlson interview. He reminded the participants that U.S. President Eisenhower had warned that the military-industrial complex will succeed in dominating American policy if Americans are uninformed. Further, he said, one man who succeeded in making a dent in the otherwise pervasive climate of enforced ignorance was Julian Assange. Tucker Carlson has now made an additional, important contribution. 

A significant aspect of the interview was Putin’s reminder that there had been an agreement in early 2022, concluded in Istanbul, to end the Ukrainian war. The U.S.and U.K. intervened to throw those signed documents into the dustbin of history. What followed was the unnecessary killing of up to a half million of the flower of Ukrainian youth. 

Carlson asked Putin for his opinion on who’s in charge in Washington. Putin responded by saying that he didn’t know, but it was certainly not the president. McGovern said that Putin should necessarily be concerned about who really controls the nuclear button, and noted the contrast between Putin and Biden, pointing out that the Department of Justice has just said, in effect, that Biden can be excused for untruths because he is old and “not all there.” 

The meeting heard from a number of clergy and religious activists. A Christian minister from Dearborn, Michigan was outraged that the American media say that Israel is waging war on Hamas, while in fact, it’s a war on the civilians of Palestine. People who speak the truth are labeled antisemitic, he said. A recent commentary in the Wall Street Journal, which labeled Dearborn a jihadist city, provoked an outraged response from the city’s mayor who then ordered an increase in security due to the danger of Islamophobic violence. The clergyman warned of the danger that Israel will extend the war into Lebanon and other surrounding countries, and said that Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid should be a major issue. He concluded by saying that the killing of civilians by the IDF will cause further recruitment to Hamas, and the cycle of violence will cause yet more extremist, Netanyahu-like leaders to come to power in Israel. 

Other religious leaders discussed citations from Christian, Jewish, and Islamic scripture that bear on the present strategic crisis, concluding that “a total shift in the moral universe has to happen.” They reported on recent activism and discussed plans for the future. Pax Christi has numerous actions planned for tax day against American arms manufacturers, the “merchants of death” who receive a stupendous amount of U.S. tax dollars. Activists from Mexico and New York reported on successful embassy visits, urging funding for UNRWA and support for South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice. Rallies were also held outside the embassy of nations which had cut their funding for UNRWA.

 U.S. Senate candidate Diane Sare, who was actually participating remotely in the IPC meeting while attending such a rally, said that she was optimistic about the future because she sees that young people are becoming active. But, she asked, what is next? What should the world actually look like? The rotten old empire is dead; what replaces it? 

During the informal discussion, participants commented further on the Tucker Carlson/President Putin interview, saying that it shows Russia remains willing to be in a dialogue with the West. The former president of Guyana, Donald Ramotar, observed that the interview demonstrates that Putin knows he can have a military settlement, but he prefers a political, negotiated settlement. He went on to hail the government of South Africa for acting as the conscience for humanity as a whole. He said that they have ripped the mask off the face of the “genocide actors in Israel and the U.S.” He defended the Yemeni Houthis, saying their actions against Israel-related shipping constitute solidarity, not terrorism. 

In her concluding remarks, Helga Zepp-LaRouche emphasized that the Rafah situation must be viewed with utmost urgency, but at the same time the entire world is changing. No one can speak of a “rules-based order” after the West has condoned what is happening in Gaza. Are we going to live by the law of the jungle, or by the universal principles in the UN charter? These ideas must guide our activism in the weeks ahead.

IPC Statement: Gaza Genocide Denounced at the World Court; Now We Must Stop It!

January 28, 2024by tobi in General, International Peace Coalition

The government of Algeria announced over the weekend that it has requested that the UN Security Council be urgently convened this coming Wednesday, Jan. 31, to give “binding effect” to the historic Jan. 26 decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the matter of South Africa’s charges of Israeli genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. UN Security Council resolutions—if they can get past U.S. and British vetoes—are in fact internationally legally enforceable. ICJ decisions are legally binding on the parties, but the Court has no enforcement mechanism of its own.

The perpetrators and accomplices of the ongoing Gaza genocide are now loudly whistling past the graveyard, trying to convince the world of the lie that the ICJ somehow gave Israel a green light. The Wall Street Journal called the World Court’s decision “a rare win for Israel”; the Jerusalem Post said it was “a big win for Israel”; and the State Department announced that “the ICJ did not make a finding about genocide or call for a ceasefire in its ruling,” and that “we continue to believe that allegations of genocide are unfounded.”

But the reality is that, with South Africa’s presentation of its airtight legal case against Israeli genocide in Gaza, along with the ICJ’s finding that there are sufficient grounds to fully investigate that charge of genocide, the veil has finally been lifted for all to see. For that, the world owes a debt of gratitude to the Republic of South Africa, and perhaps to Nelson Mandela personally, whose life continues to give meaning and strength to millions who have come after him. The role of the BRICS nations, of which South Africa is one of the original members, in supporting and strengthening South Africa’s resolve, should also be noted.

But ours is not to comment on the ins and outs of the ICJ’s ruling, but rather to escalate the fight to actually stop the genocide. Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche addressed the broader implications of the ICJ ruling in her remarks to the 34th weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) on Jan. 26, which led to a discussion of the next steps to be taken.

Participants expressed their gratitude for the ruling of the International Court of Justice, which was quite remarkable, and took note of the fact that this is an enormous step forward. No matter what Israel is now intending to do, they have to take into account what was stated by the Court, because they have international friends that also have to live with the consequences of it. The big question is what the effect will be on the United States and Germany, for example, that had argued that the South African case was “meritless.”

The wording of the Court’s ruling was in fact very strong, even if it did not call for an immediate total ceasefire. Furthermore, the final document repeated large parts of South Africa’s charges, and therefore it is necessary to get the exact text of what was read out in The Hague by the presiding judge Joan E. Donoghue of the United States, and get that out to all social media, all city councils, churches, mosques and synagogues, with the demand that they should pass resolutions that there must be an immediate ceasefire, acting on the basis of the ICJ ruling. This is all the more urgent because the mainstream media will have a tendency to play it down, and try to get it out of the news cycle as quickly as possible.

The participants in the IPC meetings, and all others who want to end the carnage, should make a commitment to get the word out about the ICJ ruling as widely as possible. This will send a message of support to the South African government, and it will keep a maximized sense of mobilization internationally.

Israel has one month before they have to report back to the ICJ on what they have done to ensure no genocide occurs. Every single day, every single hour and minute, people are still dying in Gaza. Maximizing our efforts, especially now, is more important than ever before.

Further Reading:

Pamphlet: Peace Through Development for Palestine and Israel — The LaRouche Oasis Plan

Greetings to International Peace Day Rally at the United Nations

September 26, 2023by madeleine in General, International Peace Coalition tagged

Below are the greetings sent in for the Humanity For Peace “Special Musical Operation” at the United Nations on International Peace Day.

Twenty-four hours of nonviolence and cease fire is the least we can ask for at this crucial time in our shared work for world peace.  Let this day of commitment inspire us to make every day a day of peace.

Frank Kartheiser, Worcester. Ma. Catholic Workers Movement.

September 21st is International Peace Day!  Today we a are faced with growing tensions around the world from Europe and Asia to the Middle East and Africa.  Many of these tensions include the involvement or support of Great Powers and have brought us perhaps to closest to an open nuclear conflict.  Let us take time this day to step back from the potential abyss, to think, to respect each other, to show leadership and true diplomacy, to resolve our disagreements and work together in joint collaboration for the betterment of all.

Earl Rasmussen,  Lt Colonel (ret) U.S. Army, business consultant.

“The 17.5 million Guatemalans support peace in the world and the proposal made by Mrs. Helga Zepp-LaRouche of the Schiller Institute, where she proposes the CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW JUST WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER!”


RAÚL ANÍBAL MARROQUÍN CASASOLA, proud member of the IPC and Humanity for Peace, and Coordinator of “The Pupil of Heaven” Observatory for Peace in Guatemala

PROCLAMATION FOR PEACE TO THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD

“Brothers of the nations of this shared world.

“Today, September 21, we join in a fraternal and unanimous call of solidarity for peace. In the midst of turbulence, discord and global conflict, we raise our voices to reaffirm our commitment to peace…

“Peace, in its essence, is the fabric that binds humanity together. It is the path to coexistence, justice and well-being for all. But in these times of uncertainty and divisions, it is vital to remember that peace is not an automatic gift; it must be built through the efforts and dedication of all the peoples of the world.

“We declare that peace is not just the absence of war, but the presence of justice, social equality and mutual understanding….

The five signers on behalf of

Central American and Caribbean Critical Thought proclaim the need to

Foster Empathy.

Resolve Conflicts Peacefully, rather than by violence and confrontation.

Promote a Culture of Peace through Education:

Combat Social Inequality and Injustice: We pledge to work together to eradicate poverty, discrimination, social and economic injustice.

Protect the environment: and

Support those vulnerable peoples who suffer the consequences of conflict and displacement, to alleviate their suffering.

We affirm that peace is not a utopian dream, but an attainable goal. We must remember that each of us has a role to play in the quest that together we can weave a more peaceful world for present and future generations. Peace is not just a word, but a collective action. Let us raise our hands and hearts to be peacemakers…

For Peace, today and always!

Signing on behalf of Central American and Caribbean Critical Thought are

from Nicaragua: Bolívar Téllez Castellón, Professor, and Fernando Vargas, editor of the Newspaper Socialist Voices;

and from El Salvador’s Universidad de El Salvador:

José Guillermo Campos, Chairman of the Department of Philosophy;

Luis Alberto Guzman, Chair of Marxism and Methodology of Materialism; and

Ivis Barrera, Master in Human Rights and Education for Peace.



“CENTRAL AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN CRITICAL THOUGHT”

Rejoice and stand together, for we are winning in this struggle for humanity and for peace. This struggle is far from over, but we are winning!

I grew up in former Yugoslavia and lived through the wars of succession which broke out in the early 1990s. The experience was almost surreal as we saw the society polarize almost from one day to the next, from a firm belief that war was unthinkable and impossible to fighting the war as the society’s central obsession. That experience made me so worried about a repeat of this social transformation in the buildup of war between Russia and the west that in 2017 I published a book in which I tried to warn about it and call attention to those parts of the ruling establishment in the west who were deliberately dragging us into this World War 3 scenario. They were planning the big wiar, that much was clear. But what they did not and could not plan with is us, humanity, simply rejecting war and demanding peace.

There is no question that Russia was absolutely provoked into its intervention in Ukraine. When President Putin launched the special military operation, the west responded with a total embargo on all Russian sources of information and with heavy-handed censorship of any pro-Russian views. Recall, some universities in the west even cancelled Russian literature classes, and some theaters cancelled performances of Russian composers like Tchaikovsky. 

They wanted to make sure that the western narrative about that conflict couldn’t be challenged and that we all embraced the belief that Russia’s aggression was unprovoked and that the collective west was valiantly standing up for democracy, freedom and the rule of law. They wanted us to fear and loathe Russia and to give our consent for that all-out World War 3. But that didn’t happen.

Instead, it became clear that behind the facade of unity kept up by the officialdom and corporate media, a silent majority in the west rejected the official narrative. I encountered a number of informal polls in social media where a large number of respondents expressed very contrary views – allow me to share some of them with you.

On 31 December last year, Twitter account NovElection 2022 simply asked, “Which side are you on? Russia or Ukraine?” Out of the nearly 37,000 people who responded, 78.8% said that they were on Russia’s side!

On 24 January this year, Chase Geiser asked on Twitter, “Which would you rather see win? Russia or Ukraine?” Out of the 15,670 votes, 73.6% said that they wanted Russia to win.

On 2 February David Vance asked, “…if you had to choose between Putin and Zelensky, which would it be?” Out of nearly 41,000 respondents, 77.2% preferred Vladimir Putin.

A few weeks later, George Galloway asked, “Is the west to blame for the Ukraine war?” Out of more than 15,000 respondents, 95% said, yes – they thought that the west was indeed to blame for the war.

In spite of the very large numbers of respondents, some people might object that these are not scientific polls. Well, let me share some further evidence that these polls are broadly correct. As I learned from a NATO official who shared this information with me, NATO itself has been monitoring public mood among member nations very closely. They found that in most Eastern European nations, as many as 3 out of 4 people sympathise with the Russian side in this conflict. In countries like France, Spain, Italy and Belgium 2 out of 3 individuals sympathise with Russia. And when the French polling organization IFOP (Institut Français d’Opinion Publique) asked the average Frenchman about their views on the war only two weeks from its start in February 2022, they found that 52% of the French people believed Russian justifications for war.

The silent majority in the west might indeed be silent, but it seems nevertheless to be a very large majority. That majority is us, people who have awakened and opened our eyes wide to what is truly going on in the world. The war between Russia and Ukraine did not escalate into a nuclear World War 3. For that we can thank the patience and restraint of the Russian Federation, but we should also celebrate the political awakening of the populations of western countries who have rejected the official narrative and the relentless demonization of Russia and her leadership. By withholding our consent for an all-out war against Russia we may have prevented that war and preserved peace. We have not yet prevailed in our struggle for peace, but we are prevailing so do rejoice and stand together! It may just be that we are the ones we’ve been waiting for and thus far we’ve come through!

Alex Krainer, Blogger, author, financial analyst

We need a global move towards de-escalation and away from the accelerating militarisation of international politics. Humanity is becoming increasingly trapped in a security dilemma. The Political West has been negligent in understanding the security concerns of others, thus prompting responses that only escalate the conflict. We must break this cycle, otherwise we will be on the increasingly slippery path to catastrophe. There is another way, and that is a return to the founding principles of the United Nations, above all sovereign internationalism – whereby sovereign states commit to work together to resolve the common problems facing humanity. This is the vision that inspired the creation of the UN in the first place, and we must now resist the attempt by those who wish to substitute the agenda of peace and development with their own agenda of endless deterrence and militarism. The Global South has had enough of the interminable conflicts provoked by the attempts of the Political West to maintain its pre-eminence. Its voice is demanding to be heard, and it is a view that many in the Global North share. On that basis a new peace and development movement is taking shape. There is an alternative, and we are part of it, reaching across continents and cultures. That is the only way forwards, if we are to have a future at all.

Prof Sakwa is the recently retired Emeritus Professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent in the UK. He is the author of many books on Russia, and a widely read book in 2022, Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands. 

The Pillars of Peace

The philosophical position which says the engagement of war is always inevitable, is contrary to the concept of peace. God’s imparting of peace is stated in John 14:27 where it says “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” This indicates that peace is in conflict with a troubled heart. It also indicates that God desires us to be at peace with one another at all cost. That cost of war is troubled spirits of people who are engaged directly or indirectly with the actions of war. Therefore I would like to offer the pillars of peace that help us to avoid physical conflicts of war. These pillars are reason, understanding and temperance.

The pillar of reason helps avoid conflict because it helps to exhaust all avenues that lead to peace. When the wheels turn to war, reason should turn also, following the war and standing in the midst ready to continue talks of reason and peace.

The pillar of understanding is a two-way street. Both sides of a conflict should be open to make all attempts to understand the stance and feelings of the opposite side from themselves. Somehow wearing the shoes of someone else helps us to be selfless and seek to show empathy. This is the position of understanding even when we do not understand. In other words, understanding should be sought before we act on the emotions of anger and control. This leads us to our final pillar of temperance.

Temperance is simply self-restraint or self-control. This suggests that self-control over control of others is our main line of defense against war. The age-old Biblical principle found in Luke 6:31 says “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” No country desires to be drawn into war or to be the provocateur of war. Every time a war begins there is a first shot is fired which begins the conflict. It is at that moment that temperance should be exercised because remember the time to talk about peace is before a war begins. That talk must not just be had with one another, but also with the self-individual or self-country to maintain the self-control.

It is my hope that the talk of peace in relation to reason, understanding and temperance would help avoid the need for war. And in the event of conflict beginning, these would be tools utilized in the midst of conflict to minimize the impact and longevity of the conflict.

Rev. Dr. Terri Strong, Senior Pastor at Mt. Sinai AME Church, Arlington, TN

On this day while we commemorate International Day of Peace we ought to

reflect and point out root causes of Wars and aggressions that challenge

the humanity establishing the peace across the globe. We learn from past

and contemporary history that some of the reasons have been; superiority

complexes and difference of social and civic classes, racism, racial and

National arrogance, thirst of power over others and the most importantly

grabbing the material resources and economic exploitation.

Today the economic exploitation and deprivation is the main and central

root cause of Wars and military aggressions. We need to struggle and urge

that world global financial Groups such as World Bank, IMF and WTO

reconsider the terms and conditions that keeps under-developed countries

oppressed, continue to choke their economies and inflated debts.

International community of Nations need to work together in the spirit of

collective human progress and establish peace on the principals of equality

and respect for Human lives. The body of world nations shall mediate

between parties bringing the parties on the negotiating table.

American Muslims and Muslims across the globe strongly support any and all

moral and material efforts to bring the lasting peace in this planet.

Muhammad Salim Akhtar
National Director American Muslim Alliance

Pax Christi UpState New York totally supports the economic uplifting of all 

peoples and nations. BRICS, now greatly expanded, will have the natural and 

human resources to end poverty in the most populated regions of the world.

All nations, North and South must rally behind this just and egalitarian plan.

Jack Gilroy, Pax Christi & multiple peace and justice organizations

How Can Peace, Toppled by War, Nonviolently Reclaim

the Golden Age Mission?

 

Publication:

In English: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=531

In Russian: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=ru_c&key=558

 

          Erasmus of Rotterdam, a Dutch philosopher, theologian and humanist, more than 500 years ago wrote the world-famous “Complaint of Peace, Expelled and Defeated Everywhere” o­n Latin language: “Querela Pacis undique gentium ejectae profligataeque”, [s.l.], 1517, which became the pacifism humanistic pillar. But over 5 centuries, the situation with peace has practically not changed, if it has not become worse under the humanity and nature in nuclear Armageddon threat of complete incineration.

          Peace remains today, as before, an outcast “everywhere expelled and defeated” by war, nullified in all infrastructural vectors of all society spheres. “The expelled and defeated peace” today is its science zero and its academies. This is its schools and universities zero. This is its professional personnel zero, if you don’t count its spontaneous and sporadic amateur-pacifists. This is its material and technical base zero. This is funding zero for it, with zero peacemaking governments and parties that would not o­nly in words but also in practice, assert peace, creating all the necessary, permanent infrastructure for it. The most governments and parties frankly do not want peace, which prevents them from the war profiting and self-establishing themselves. Others want peace but do nothing real for it, do not know what to do and do not want to listen to those who know HOW to achieve true peace and not just another temporary truce that has filled all of history instead of true peace. The governments do not know true, eternal peace, out of ignorance recognizing as peace any temporary truce, any respite between wars.

          Unlike peace, from its gaping zero infrastructure, war today is provided with an excellent, rich infrastructure of resources in abundance. It is a military science started by Adam von Bülow since 1799, more than three centuries ago, and equipped today with hundreds of military academies in all countries. These are priority budget and private investments in the war and arms race, amounting to trillions of currencies of all lears. These are thousands of military schools and universities around the world. These are hundreds of millions of professional armed forces and paramilitary forces, the total number of which is bashfully kept silent in all sources. This is a countless and innumerable material and technical, primarily weapons, military platform with thousands of military bases and an endlessly accelerating arms race. This is practically all, 99%, of governments and parties in the world that openly or silently, under o­ne or another plausible pretext, serve the god of war. Now, the reigning war left to rogue-peace o­nly o­ne day a year, September 21, giving it a meager mercy-alms to remember, talk about, forget about again and return to itself for the rest days captured by war o­n subsequent years.

          With similar ratio of zero infrastructure of the rogue peace-life and 100% infrastructure of the reigning war-death-mass murder, brought to 100% nuclear, scientific genocide and ecocide, true peace will never be established o­n Earth, not in any new 500 years, if first it is not finally killed by the war along with all of humanity and its o­nly planet.

          Where, when and HOW can the humanity true, eternal peace come from and BY WHOM be established not in empty endless appeals and pacifist wishes but really, practically and tangibly in the priority peacemaking infrastructure in all spheres of every country and nation? This possibility and foundation are laid in social genetics, in the eternal actors of humanity substance, discovered by Mahatma Gandhi in 1927 in its “varna-spherons”. In prehistoric times, they provided India with a “golden age” of prosperity and world cultural leadership and will create it for the future of humanity, when it masters the Gandhian science of spherons, the peacemaking science of spheronics. The Golden Age, for all its utopianism, in historical examples like India, was “golden” o­nly thanks to the kingdom of peace, which is real as the o­nly sociogenetic way of life for people and whole humanity.

          The initial, fundamental pillars of this science, based o­n the Gandhian eternal actors of the true peace – spherons, ensuring the humanity survival as genetically peacemaking “mole of history”, in the form of an initial system of eight structural macro-sociological laws. They were first theoretically formulated, historically substantiated and statistically verified by world statistics in the GGHA during 18 years of hit scientific innovative research. Unfortunately, they remained unheard by anyone who could provide the development of this science with resources.

          The results of scientific research of the Gandhian spherons are presented in many publications in different languages, of which the last two, the most concise and generalizing, should be mentioned, presented o­n their paired banner:

 

https://peacefromharmony.org/

 

          Their scientific, fundamental conclusion: no o­ne partial, class or national actor is capable to provide true, eternal and global peace. o­nly the humanity spherons can provide it covering all people from birth to death and acting o­n every social object and ensuring its peaceful life. Without the peace science, without its schools, academies and universities, there can be no peace. It can o­nLY begin since the OBJECTIVE, SCIENTIFIC TRUTH OF PEACE, o­ne, necessary and binding for all people and nations, like Newton’s law. Without the peace science and its infrastructure, peace cannot begin. This requires, for the start, for the experiment, a meager investment of $2 million, which we, the GGHA, offer to the newly born consolidated historical actor of peace – BRICS+, which unites the global South, which makes up the majority of humanity. No other historical actor of true peace is visible today.

          There is no better purpose for the International Day of Peace than to realize this simple, basic truth: “WHERE DOES TRUE PEACE START?” that will trigger the conscious construction of its entire systemic and global infrastructure. Everything else, as they say, is “All Is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit” for peace, with which the past is filled but in which the true peace grains were born and which are integrated by spheronics. o­nly with this fundamental science will the rogue-peace revive its and the Divine providence “Golden Age” mission for the humanity.

         

         With the hope of understanding and recognizing this basic simple truth for peace,

 

Dr. Leo Semashko, o­n behalf of 750 coauthors of the Gandhian “Spherons Global True Peace Megascience”, spheronics during 18 years,

Philosopher, macro sociologist and peacemaker from the spherons harmony,

GGHA Founder (2005) and Honorary President,

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Web: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=253,

E-mail: leo.semashko@gmail.com,

Skype: leo.semahko,

20-09-23

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Dr. Leo Semashko, Founder and Honorary President, Gandhian Global Harmony Association

Webcast: Ukraine War Threatens to Escalate — a discussion with Helga Zepp-LaRouche

July 26, 2023by David Dobrodt in General, International Peace Coalition tagged

Send your questions for Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche to: questions@schillerinstitute.org

Join Helga Zepp-LaRouche tomorrow in her weekly dialogue for a discussion about building an International Peace Coalition.

#worldwar3 #newparadigm #peacemovement #decoupling #nuclearwar #russia

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