Beethoven Invades the Corridors of Power
May 11—Can all of humanity think the way that the poet Friedrich Schiller forecast that it would, one day, in his poem An die Freude? Can all of humanity be called to service, not the way doomed governments call their young to die in senseless war, but for the purpose of eradicating poverty, famine, disease and war itself, as one American President—the last flawed, but truly free, and then assassinated American President [John Kennedy]—proposed in his 1961 Inaugural Address?
There is a civilizational necessity that we answer this question in the short term. This past week marked the 200th anniversary of the premier of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Conductor Daniel Barenboim, who has organized the Palestinian/Israeli orchestration called the East West Divan, said of Beethoven: “The greatness of music, and the Ninth Symphony, lies in the richness of its contrasts. Music never just laughs or cries; it always laughs and cries at the same time. Creating unity out of contradictions—that is Beethoven for me.”
On May 7, 2024, the deaf musician caused the world to hear what it had not heard, and what the powerful and unjust do not want taught: the method of thinking, the passion, by which the entire human race might not only be united, but know itself as a One, as a indivisible, inalienable single human race. A glimpse of that world of thought is what the world saw in yesterday’s vote at the United Nations General Assembly for recognition of the humanity of Palestine. “(T)he State of Palestine is qualified for membership in the United Nations” 143 nations asserted. The Special Session of the UNGA then recommended that the 15-member UN Security Council reconsider the matter “with a favorable outcome,” and that permanent Security Council member, the United States, which together with only 8 other states voted against the resolution, reconsider and recognize the humanity of the Palestinian people as well. “Alle Menschen werden Brüder.” Think of humanity as Beethoven did. Think like Beethoven!
Or else, what? The following nihilistic, but accurate obituary for the Anglosphere, appeared as a promo for the lead story for the London Economist on May 9, written by editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes: “When I joined The Economist in the 1990s, the liberal international order was at its zenith and the golden age of globalization was propelling economic integration, co-operation and financial freedom. Those days are over. Global capital flows are now fragmenting, the world’s governments are imposing sanctions more than four times as often, and Western-led institutions are either decaying or defunct. Our cover story in most of the world is frank in its message: the old order is dying. Its sudden collapse could be sudden and irreversible.”
As in thermonuclear war, perhaps in the next weeks. In yesterday’s 49th meeting of the International Peace Coalition, Dr. Chandra Muzzaffar, President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) stressed that the efforts of the IPC, which has been meeting consistently for the past year, have now become a major factor in the world strategic situation. “That we have sustained this dialogue for so long, that is a great achievement. And I think we can reach out to various groups, on the Russian side, one the side of the West—both sides will have to realize the danger that faces us. I cannot think of a moment in our history where we have come as close to Armageddon, a total destruction. I think we are at that point. And we don’t have much time.”
The Economist’s lurid display of imperial pessimism will not be the cover story, however, of either Executive Intelligence Review, or of the EIR’s Daily Alert. These are publications, not merely of record, but of forecasting, including economic forecasting. That is because Lyndon LaRouche, the economist and statesman who founded EIR 50 years ago last month, chose to reject the epistemology of the British empiricists, like the East India Company employee David Hume, or the Royal African Company co-founder John Locke. LaRouche chose, not Locke, but Gottfried Leibniz, founder of the science of physical economy; not Adam Smith, but Alexander Hamilton; not Churchill, but Franklin Delano Roosevelt. LaRouche sought to, and succeeded in devising solutions to mankind’s problems that have and will far outlive his mortal life. His book Earth’s Next Fifty Years, and specific studies such as “Saudi Arabia in the Year 2023,” to this day tell us what we should make of the future. LaRouche chose to think like Beethoven.
The May 10 meeting of the International Peace Coalition saw that organization reach a new level in its nearly year-long dialogue on establishing a new world security and development architecture based on “the benefit of the other,” as that is set down in Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s “Ten Principles.” Now, we must add a new capability: Beethoven and his Ninth Symphony’s vision of the world, must become the anthem of the students and citizens of the world that, in the form of the United Nations General Assembly’s vote, reflect the “awful Shadow of some unseen Power” that “floats, though unseen, among us,” and is our true, and best, identity.
