Conference Report: “Europe after the European Elections Needs to Join the Global Majority”
The international Schiller Institute’s two-day conference, “The World on the Brink: For a New Peace of Westphalia!” opened June 15 at a time of extreme crisis, and served as a platform to not only review the nature of the causes of the emergency, but to discuss principles for solutions. A preliminary program was included in last week’s Strategic Alert, and a final version, together with the full proceedings of the two days are now available here.
The first panel addressed head-on the fact that the collective West’s attempt to assert the global dominance of the neoliberal system after the end of the Cold War has been a resounding failure. Many different aspects of this were discussed, in particular, the incompetence of Western leaders, their lack of diplomacy, and the fact that last week’s elections for the European Parliament was a resounding rejection of the current leading office-holders throughout the EU.
Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who gave the keynote address, spoke gravely of the present danger, asking, “Why are we on the verge of World War III?” She cited glaring evidence of that, including the failure of Ukraine (that is, NATO) to push back Russia on the battlefield and the recent strikes on two of the Russian 10 nuclear early warning facilities. She stressed that “We are at an end of an epoch,” referring to the end of colonialism and neo-colonialism, and we should be moving ahead. We need a new system, and the good news — blacked out by the Western media — is that, “a new world system is emerging, a polycentric, harmonious, multi-nodal system”, a shared community of the one humanity, as Xi Jinping has called it.
“This is a beautiful idea that has been around for many centuries”, she explained, it’s not new. In that context, she referred to past fundamental, positive shifts promoted by great figures, such as Germany’s Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) and Friedrich List (1789-1846), and China’s Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940).
“This is no longer a vision for the future, it is here”, Helga Zepp-LaRouche concluded. “And rather than stumble into the last world war, after which there will be nothing, let us join the Global Majority.”
The Need to Act Now
The other panelists, from the United States, Germany, France, Switzerland, Belarus, and Russia, all concurred on the urgency to act on today’s crises, and had differing points of information and emphasis. Former U.S. Ambassador Chas Freeman, a U.S.-China scholar, very strongly denounced the policy the U.S. Establishment, of economic warfare as well as armed military confrontation against perceived enemies throughout the world, which holds out no perspective of ending. He also endorsed the idea of a new Peace of Westphalia.
Two spokespersons from Belarus added to what voices for peace have been saying for years from Eurasia. Dr. Olga Lazorkina, Chairwoman of the Foreign Policy Department of the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Research (BISR), spoke of nations “finding common ground,” since we live on one planet. Her colleague in the BISR, Vitaly Romanovsky, reviewed the role of Belarus in the peace efforts in recent years over Ukraine.
The four speakers on Panel 1 with military backgrounds and associations were very hard-hitting. Col. Alain Corvez (ret.) of France, former adviser to the French Ministry of the Interior, cited Nietzsche to make his point that leading figures in the West are demented. They are in the domain of nihilism, capable of no rational thought. The U.S. is a hegemon that does not recognize it has lost dominance. Corvez concurred with the conference theme on mobilizing at large for a Peace of Westphalia approach. His compatriot from France, Caroline Galactéros, a political scientist, and colonel in the reserves, called for France to “de-align” from the U.S. and its war-making, and join forces with those promoting stabilization and security. We should “save whatever remains of Ukraine.”
From Switzerland, Lt. Col. Ralph Bosshard (ret.) gave military details on how “we are in a global stalemate” when it comes to Ukraine and elsewhere. He noted that claims that Russia wants to advance to Berlin, or even Bern, are based on an underestimation of what that involves, or incompetence, or are just “pure propaganda”.
From Germany, Rainer Rupp, military-intelligence expert, who worked directly in NATO from 1977 to 1993, in relation to their periodic simulated nuclear drills called “Wintex” (Winter Exercises), made very clear the mindset he saw firsthand, of U.S., British and other NATO leaders giving no regard at all to the mass casualties at stake within the Europe they claimed to be protecting.
Georgy Toloraya, Director, Center for Asian Strategy, Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, gave a brief report on the major speech made June 14 by Russian President Vladimir Putin to top Foreign Ministry leaders, on proposals for Eurasian and global security. This involves the “Global South” and “Global East,” and new configurations in motion such as the BRICS.
Zepp-LaRouche stressed during the panel discussion war is “an outcome of a deep cultural crisis” in the West. In her view, the present period of three to six months is the most dangerous time in history. Therefore, we need to create a process of dialogue where the best of humanity everywhere is inspired and enlisted to act.
The Global Majority Demands Development
Panel II, titled, “The Development Aspirations of the Global Majority” featured six speakers, who represented South America, Europe, and Palestine in Southwest Asia. The stage was set by a video excerpt from Lyndon LaRouche speaking over 20 years ago at a conference in Germany, May 4, 2001, addressing economic development, in which he focused on, “looking at the possibility of what we can do in Eurasia, and at the needs of Africa.” He presented the idea of development corridors “from the Atlantic to the Pacific,” radiating in all directions, years before the September 13, 2013 launch by Chinese President Xi Jinping of the Belt and Road Initiative.
From South America, former President of Guyana Donald Ramotar gave a picture of the economic exploitation, for decades, of his and other nations, and how that can and must change, for example with the help of the BRICS nations. Henry Baldelomar, Professor of International Affairs at Nur University, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia spoke of projects as the new bi-oceanic rail corridor, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
In counterpoint to the perspective of growth, reports from Europe presented the picture of needless economic and social breakdown, resulting from destructive policies. Folker Hellmeyer, Chief Economist at Netfonds AG in Germany, in a pre-taped interview by Zepp-LaRouche, titled, “Quo Vadis, Germany?” spoke of such fundamental problems as the lack of energy, and its unaffordability, and the negative blowback of the sanctions imposed on Russia. Hungarian expert Prof. Dr. Laszlo Ungvari, President (emeritus) of the Wildau University of Technology, spoke of how disappointed he is in Europe, with its degraded politicians in power, and young people without a future.
Italian economist and China expert Michele Geraci, former Undersecretary of State, Italian Ministry of Economic Development, elaborated on what “win-win” relations among nations would mean for their mutual economic development. He said, “Your prosperity and my prosperity are integral to each other.”
From Copenhagen, Palestine Ambassador to Denmark, Prof. Dr. Manuel Hassassian began his presentation on the need for Palestinian statehood, by laying out the “LaRouche concept” of development in the Oasis Plan. With a perspective of water, power and all other infrastructure to be made available, there is a basis for the future, he said. If we don’t solve this problem, the next war will be over water. His Excellency went on to shed light on the current conflict in Palestine, and the struggle for justice and statehood for the Palestinian people.
Panels 3 and 4 were dedicated to “The Scientific Revolution Underway” and “The Richness of Humanity’s Cultures and the Coming Golden Renaissance”, and provoked exciting discussions among the speakers and the audience. We will report on these panels next week.
