ZEPP-LAROUCHE WEBCAST

Schiller Institute Conference Leads Way For Europe to Enter the New Paradigm!

This is the edited transcript of the July 5, 2018 Schiller Institute New Paradigm webcast, an interview with the founder of the Schiller Institutes, Helga Zepp-
LaRouche. She was interviewed by Harley Schlanger. A video of the webcast is available.

Harley Schlanger: Hello, I’m Harley Schlanger. Welcome to our weekly webcast of the Schiller Institute featuring our founder and Chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche.

Last weekend, the Schiller Institute convened a profoundly successful conference in Bad Soden, Germany, around the theme of the memo by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, calling for the application of the “Singapore model”—referring to the summit between President Trump and President Kim Jong-un—as a model for all international relations. The conference included speakers from many nations, including Russia and China, from Africa, Europe, and the United States. More than 300 participants engaged in a very lively back and forth dialogue for the two full days of the weekend.

Helga, by all measures, this was a highly successful conference. Are you satisfied that it accomplished the objective you set out for it?

Overcoming Seemingly Impossible Differences

Helga Zepp-LaRouche: Yes. I think the participants all expressed a profound optimism that with the ideas presented, a solution can be found. And everyone noted what distinguishes the Schiller Institute from other organizations; other organizations have conferences, sometimes on specific subjects, with experts who deliver PowerPoint presentations, but their audiences aren’t elevated to the level of thinking required to find solutions. That was why I called my presentation “The Coincidence of Opposites,” coincidentia oppositorum, an idea of Nicholas of Cusa. It’s a specific way of thinking about how to overcome the contradictions of political discourse and interaction. If you just look at the status quo, you will never be able to find a solution.

The main subject of this conference was how the New Silk Road can be applied to the African and Southwest Asian refugee crisis. There were several panels; first a strategic panel which was extremely interesting, in which there were top speakers from government-related think tanks from China and Russia, who represented their viewpoint on the difficulties and opportunities of the New Silk Road. A highlight of that panel was Roger Stone, speaking by live video on “The President Trump Europeans Don’t Know.” Many people in the audience were shocked, but also they said, “Well, I had to agree with every word he was saying.” So this was very efficient. Then we had former military men from Germany and France, and Virginia State Senator Richard Black, who set the record straight on U.S. policy with respect to Syria.

I think this was a very important introduction to the whole conference. The audience began to understand why we insist that to understand the world picture, you have to put yourself in the shoes of each different country, you have to look at the world the way it looks from China, Russia, the United States, the European countries, Africa and Asia in order to get a more balanced view and be able to form your own judgment, and not be dependent on the fake news from some random media.

Then we had a huge, very successful panel on the development of Africa, with an African ambassador and African specialists talking about the different projects, such as Transaqua and the development perspective made possible by Chinese investments in Africa.

Punctuated by a Wonderful Concert

We had a wonderful concert, in which the conductor, in my view quite successfully, attempted to replicate the conducting method of Wilhelm Furtwängler. So this was quite an experience. Videos will soon be available.

Then on the second day, we had the New Silk Road perspective for Europe, with a focus on the Balkans. We had a highly interesting discussion on the importance of higher energy flux-densities and nuclear energy. There was a very important presentation on how to restore international law, which has been abandoned so many times in the recent period.

You may have more to add Harley; I think this conference was very, very timely, because it occurred at the same time as the government crisis in Germany, in which Germany is trying, quite unsuccessfully, to find a solution to the refugee crisis.

I encourage everyone to go to the Schiller Institute site and watch the presentations, and spread them! This is something which really is important for many more people to know about.

Schlanger: The first and second panels are already posted on the Schiller Institute website’s homepage, http://www.newparadigm.schillerinstitute.com. I would add that a subtheme of the conference was the point you’ve made since the beginning of the year, that this should be the year in which we end geopolitics, the practice of pitting nations against one another in a zero-sum, law-of-the-jungle way. Both the Russian speaker and others in their own ways presented their ideas as to how this could work. Our viewers would certainly benefit greatly from discovering, that regardless of where people are from, there is a desire to move into the New Paradigm.

You mentioned the German crisis. There’s a lot to talk about. We’re now in the “post-Singapore summit” diplomatic period. Let’s start with what we just heard Tuesday: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is going to be going to North Korea today. On Tuesday, Pompeo spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. There’s a density of diplomatic activity under way, isn’t there?

Zepp-LaRouche: Yes. The head of the North American Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry yesterday said that the summit is expected to have an “ambitious” agenda, to be very rich, and that the discussions will be extensive. Among the subjects to be discussed, besides Syria, will be the need to have strategic disarmament, the need to have a new INF [Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces] Treaty, a renewal of the START Treaty, and improvement of the bilateral relations between the United States and Russia.

The Upcoming Putin-Trump Summit

So, even before it has even taken place, judging by the hysteria on the side of the British media, who are talking about this summit in apocalyptic terms, the summit should be very good. Whenever the Economist and the Financial Times have such fits, then the subject they are discussing is usually something good happening in the world.

In this situation if the United States and Russia can improve relations, which is of paramount importance. In line with the successful Singapore summit, signs indicate that the Helsinki summit could be a similar, breakthrough for the world situation. I think we can be happy that this summit is going to take place.

Schlanger: The European Union just convened a summit last week, supposedly to address the immigration crisis. You had some very sharp comments on this in your conference presentation, so I’d like you to give our viewers today a sense of what you thought happened with this EU summit, and then the alternative—we see the Italians and the Austrians responding at some level to your initiative.

Zepp-LaRouche: Yes, that’s the good news, that there are some countries which at least as a tendency, are going in the direction we have been proposing, unlike the German government, which really presented a terrible picture! You had a knives-out fight between Chancellor Angela Merkel and [Interior Minister] Horst Seehofer. The so-called compromise they reached on the transit centers for refugees at the Bavarian-Austrian border, is already being rejected by many, including the police trade union that said the plan is not workable because it is only about one border, not all the borders.

There is no love between these Christian parties [the CDU of Merkel and Bavaria-based CSU of Seehofer]. Considering the way they have treated each other, no matter what compromise was reached between Merkel and Seehofer, they were so mean to each other and so nasty, that I think this is a now deep crisis of confidence, which will not go away.

And then, the government coalition party, the SPD, the Social Democratic Party, is in a very difficult situation, because if they agree to these transit centers, which they had rejected in 2015, if they capitulate to this compromise, which is really Merkel’s capitulation to Seehofer, then the SPD can be expected to drop more in the polls. In any case, many expect this coalition government will not last to the end of its term.

German Government Crisis

There was for a short period a “coalition of the willing” among the Italians, the Austrians, and Seehofer on the refugee question, but now this too is falling apart. Seehofer went to Vienna today and was told that there will be no solution at the expense of Austria. If Seehofer closes the Bavarian border with Austria, Austria will close its border with Italy, and there will be a jam up of refugees.

That demonstrates that any effort to solve the problem within the existing old paradigm, will not reach a solution. There is complete disunity in the EU with strong dissent from the Visegrad countries, the Balkan countries, and the South Europeans. There was a huge freak-out in the Financial Times two days ago, accusing the new “strongman” in Italy, [Lega leader and Deputy Prime Minister] Matteo Salvini, of detonating the EU—complaining that Salvini no longer accepts the French-German dictatorship over Europe—so you have complete disarray.

That is why we have been proposing that this problem must be approached in a completely different way. Even though we discussed this last week, let me just repeat: We want the European countries (I think the EU is unlikely to do it) to invite President Xi Jinping and African leaders to a summit, which could then establish a crash program for the extension of the New Silk Road into Africa.

A Huge Endeavor

This is a huge endeavor, but if three or four really big infrastructure projects are chosen, combined with an intention to build up the infrastructure of Africa in a crash effort, this would get things going. The presence of President Xi Jinping would add tremendous credibility to the intention of industrializing Africa with Chinese help. Such an initiative would provide a great incentive for the young people and others who are now fleeing from hunger and epidemics, or perhaps thinking of doing so in the future, to re-integrate themselves in building up the African economies.

In this way, we would end the refugee crisis by doing what Franklin D. Roosevelt did with the New Deal, in which he also integrated the youth into that nation’s economy, initially through the CCC program. Youth learned quickly, on the job, and in the end, became the skilled labor force of an industrial revolution.

This is the approach that has to be taken. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of Austria announced an EU Summit with Africa, to take place this year, during the time that Austria holds the EU presidency. So this is very good. In September, there will be a big conference between China and the African Union [the third summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)], and that will set a certain standard. We will keep pushing this idea, even beyond the present EU summit. I did not expect that this EU summit would do what was required, but nevertheless it would have been the correct policy. It remains the correct policy; therefore, we will keep organizing for it.

Refugee Crises

The refugee crises, not only between Africa and Europe, but also between Latin America and the United States, need this approach. The countries which the refugees are coming from need to be developed; it’s the only human way. In Mexico, there is now some hope that things may go in this direction, because the newly elected President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said that he had a very good telephone discussion with President Trump discussing great projects in Mexico, creating many jobs, and that way, Mexico could help to reduce the refugee crisis for the United States. So this is the way to go, but we need more of it. Everyone listening can help.

Schlanger: I can report from the sidelines of our conference that there was great enthusiasm from the Europeans, the Russians, the Chinese and the Africans, to this approach. The question they kept coming back to was, “How do we do it, given the existing institutions?” One of the interesting points you made in the discussion session with one of these officials was that the existing institutions are barely surviving. The opportunity exists now to establish new institutions.

On that note—the instability of the EU—there was just a fairly interesting visit by the Polish Prime Minister to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. What happened?

Zepp-LaRouche: That meeting makes clear what a low point this EU has reached in relations with its member states. First of all, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was completely snubbed. EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker didn’t go to greet him; his first deputy Frans Timmerman didn’t go either. Instead a lower level commissioner was dispatched to receive him and escort him to the plenary assembly.

Poland

Then he was attacked by MEP Manfred Weber, who heads the Christian Democratic bloc (the European People’s Party) in the European Parliament, who was very provocative: “What happened to the Polish media? There is only propaganda. Why do you only arrest peaceful demonstrators and not the right wing?” Although clearly upset with that, Morawiecki replied that he didn’t think the EU Commission or the EU is any longer an honest mediator with Poland. So that relationship is obviously at a low point. And the situation between Italy and France is at a low point. So I think the EU does not look in good shape at all.

Schlanger: One interesting development in an EU country—you mentioned Austria—in Vienna, the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW) just put out a very positive report about Europe joining the New Silk Road. We’ve seen some motion in this direction in Vienna. Do you think this, in conjunction with the Austrian chairmanship of the European Council, can put this on the agenda of the EU now?

Zepp-LaRouche: I’m sure. Because remember, in the coalition treaty of the new Austrian government, they have a chapter on why Austria wants to become a hub for the New Silk Road. Austria’s Transport Minister, Norbert Hofer, has just been in China in April, during which he and the Chinese signed an agreement of understanding that not only should the Eastern European countries be participating in the New Silk Road, but that this is a policy which would benefit the entire economic sphere of the European Union, and that Austria will be the main pusher and mover for this policy.

Austria

That’s very good, and the proposal you mentioned from the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, proposed that Europe should create its own fund of one trillion euro over the next ten years, with two major corridors: One going from Lisbon to Madrid to Lyon, I think all the way on the one side to Constanta in Romania, and also to Nizhny Novgorod, and Baku—I don’t know the routes. I think the proposal is very good. The authors say this will create seven million new jobs in Europe, building railways, bridges, ports, highways, other integrated infrastructure along two possible main routes of a “European Silk Road” that would connect the western European industrial centers with the eastern part of the continent. In total, they encompass a route of 11,000 km.

So I’m very happy, because the more this kind of discussion about investment in the real economy and infrastructure occurs, the more those people who are not completely evil or stupid will benefit from this discussion. I’m absolutely sure this discussion will eventually reach every European country. The New Paradigm cooperation for the benefit of each other, for win-win cooperation, is the spirit of the time, the New Silk Road Spirit. I think it’s very good that Austria has now the Presidency of the EU until the end of the year, and I think Chancellor Kurz is quite the energetic man to put this on the agenda. This is very good.

Schlanger: Helga, there was a very significant development coming out of Kyiv, Ukraine concerning Natalia Vitrenko, a good friend of yours and the Schiller Institute. The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (PSPU), which she chairs, has been illegally kept off the ballot since 2010. The Schiller Institute conducted an international mobilization, and one of our friends, European Parliament Member Marco Zanni—who spoke at our conference this last weekend—intervened with the EU foreign affairs high representative Federica Mogherini, asking her how can the EU sit by when these political parties are being suppressed in Ukraine? Yesterday, a court ruled that it was illegal to keep her party off the ballot.

This is a significant development: What do you make of this in terms of a potential to shift the situation in Ukraine?

Ukraine,
Natalia Vitrenko

Zepp-LaRouche: Well, Natalia Vitrenko is a foremost economist, she is an extremely well educated stateswoman, and she has a program of integrating Ukraine into the New Silk Road. She spoke at our previous conference about the subject and this is indeed creating an alternative. Ukraine is a country which is in the west Catholic and pro-West, and in the east, Orthodox and pro-Russian. Unfortunately there are a lot of Nazi elements in the picture. Because the only way to solve the very dicey problem of Ukraine—which is still a potential trigger for a larger war—is by integrating Europe, the EU (or European nations), and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), with the New Silk Road, the Belt and Road Initiative.

If you go back to this idea of a single integrated Eurasian continent, from Lisbon to Vladivostok, which will clearly benefit from this economic joint development, I think a peaceful solution can be found to the Ukraine problem. And Natalia Vitrenko, I’m sure, will campaign on that issue, and that is a hopeful sign, not only for Ukraine, but actually for all of us.

Schlanger: I’d like to conclude by coming back to the Schiller Institute Conference, and again, to remind our viewers to go the New Paradigm Schiller Institute website, where the first day’s two panels are already up. One of the underlying themes, I guess you would say, of the conference, was the recognition of the role that you’ve played—but also the role of your husband, Lyndon LaRouche—over the past four to five decades. Many people were probably surprised—pleasantly surprised—to hear Roger Stone, who identified himself as 40-year friend of Donald Trump, and who I would argue was the architect of Trump’s election campaign victory, praise Lyn’s visionary ideas.

Law, Lawfulness and International Law

In the discussion period, you mentioned international law, and a very useful discussion ensued about where law comes from. So maybe you have a couple of more thoughts on that.

Zepp-LaRouche: Yes. We had a very excellent presentation by Prof. Hans Köchler, president of the International Progress Organization in Vienna, who discussed what we have to do to either reform the UN or make it function, by addressing the fact that the very setup of the Permanent Five in the Security Council is something which came out of the historic situation in the aftermath of World War II, but which must now be replaced.

Another very important idea was that, in the future world which many nations are involved in building, the new order must be based on principles, not only like the Human Rights Declaration of 1948, which is the closest approximation to what the new order should be.

In many countries of the world, discussions are taking place that we have to give ourselves—as a human species—an order more in correspondence with the lawfulness of the physical universe, that only the idea of continuous change and an anti-entropic universe can give us such a guideline to inform our political life, and that the only people who are capable of thinking in this way are the scientists, and artists of Classical culture, because only they are used to thinking in terms of universal principles, which are repeatable and therefore valid, and therefore beyond the realm of opinion, but related to the deeper, underlying truth of the lawfulness of our universe.

Take the Standard of the American Revolution

Obviously, this is a very deep philosophical discussion. It requires that many nations of the world—preferably all of them—be involved in this discussion, because we want to arrive at something binding, in a certain sense, on the level of the discussion of the Federalist Papers after the American Revolution, but this time on a world level. We need to be discussing how to provide ourselves with an order which allows self-governance and the living of human beings together. And that must be applied today on an international level. How can we make sure that we do not plunge into dark ages again, by simply elevating our populations to think in terms of a New Paradigm of the coincidence of opposites, of the one humanity first, or what Xi Jinping always calls “a community of a shared humanity,” or “shared future of mankind.”

So I think that is a discussion I would invite all of you, our viewers and listeners, to engage in with us. Become a member of the Schiller Institute! Help us to spread the knowledge about the need for New Paradigm thinking, and joint efforts with us.

Schlanger: Well, Helga, thank you very much. And to all our viewers, you now have your marching orders! Let’s see if you can follow through on them. So, until next week, we’ll see you again.