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

Feb. 17—“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

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

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 lamented the fact 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 for one full week, starting Feb. 19, on a UN General Assembly complaint issued Dec. 30, 2022, alleging violations of human rights against the Palestinians by the Israelis over a period of 55 years. This is good, 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 the 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. She emphasized the importance of “flooding the zone”; and getting the video of the Oasis Plan out far and wide. With that, the video was shown after which Jason Ross, Executive Director of The LaRouche Organization and producer of the video, 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 that must be changed: The UN has estimated that it will cost $20 billion to reconstruct Gaza over a period about 70 years. This is a monetarist conception which does not 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 legitimately oppose war but also oppose peace. Ross used as an example energy policy: 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 U.K. 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 away from the IMF/World Bank policy of debt slavery towards lending focused on real physical economic development. This is characterized by the African Development Bank, New Development Bank, and various Chinese banks that are financing the Belt and Road Initiative.

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. The people who attack China—an integral part of this new lending paradigm—need to explain how China succeeded in lifting 850 million people out of poverty.

Bob Cushing of Pax Christi began by reading from the book of Isaiah, chapter 58 verses 6-14, on the topic of fasting. He then commented on it with a quote from Frida Berrigan and 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, 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.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche in her concluding remarks 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, the Islamic renaissance, and Italian Renaissance to 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 also throughout the galaxy with the inevitable demise of our Solar System over the next billion or so years. Given 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 like wildfire.

Comments (0)