EDITORIAL

New Year’s Message
from Helga Zepp-LaRouche

This is an edited transcript of a Jan. 1 video message from Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the founder and President of the Schiller Institute.

I wish you all a very good New Year! Some of you may remember that exactly one year ago I defined the overcoming of geopolitics as the most important goal for 2018, and many of you probably thought, “Geopolitics, what is that? Is that really the most pressing issue?” Geopolitics was the source of two world wars, and that is why I stated so strongly that we could not continue with such a confrontational policy in the age of thermonuclear weapons.

Now, see what has happened in the year that has just ended. We saw an enormous number of political breakthroughs globally. Many regions of the world are in the process of overcoming geopolitics.

Just to name a few: The historic summit between President Trump and President Kim Jong-un in Singapore is leading to a process of rapprochement between the two Koreas. Japan began, suddenly, to work with China on the Belt and Road Initiative. After the very important summit in Wuhan between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, China and India began to work together on projects. After the election of a new prime minister in Pakistan, there is reason for careful optimism for the relationship between Pakistan and India. Then, let us look at Africa. In the Horn of Africa, several nations not having any relations, or only negative ones—Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia—have established diplomatic relations and are now working together on infrastructure. The entire African continent is filled with a spirit of optimism because of what China has been doing there, which is now also attracting investments from many other countries from around the world.

But maybe the most interesting of all these developments is the announcement by President Trump that the United States is going to pull its troops out of Syria. This has created a quite ironical situation. Many of the Europeans and others who were screaming, “Ami [Americans] go home!” just a few years ago, are now saying the United States must stay, or it will lead to chaos, to rewarding Russian President Putin, and Iran’s Rouhani, and so forth.

Now, think about it: Isn’t it better that Trump is making good on his election promise to end the permanent wars of his predecessors? He has promised the same for Afghanistan. After futile efforts to solve the situation in Afghanistan militarily, there is now an intention to solve it through negotiation, to involve all of Afghanistan’s large neighbors. Isn’t it better to go in this direction, trying to seek solutions through diplomacy and negotiation?

Some forces, certainly the British government among others, are resolutely sticking to the old geopolitical paradigm. Look at the recent report by the House of Lords, “U.K. Foreign Policy in a Shifting World Order.” That report is a masterpiece of geopolitics of the worst kind. The EU and, unfortunately, also the Berlin government, are both continuing to insist that the so-called “rules-based order” must be maintained.

All these objections are not very convincing. I urge you to examine this yourself. Which way is better? Read the New Year’s message of President Xi Jinping of China, which is a very proud listing of all the incredibly many accomplishments China has made this past year—all the industrial parks, the beautiful bridge between Macao, Zhuhai, and Hong Kong, and many other projects. China has lifted 10 million people out of poverty in this past year alone and is confident that it will lift all its remaining poor out of poverty by the year 2020. This is a message of somebody who cares about his country and his people. Please read Xi’s message yourself, especially because of all the anti-China hysteria going on. Now, compare that New Year’s message with the one of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who finds it important to stress as the most important occurrence of 2018 the announcement of her own resignation. She otherwise presents just more of the same failed policies without any vision whatsoever.

The world will face dramatic changes in this coming year, 2019. It is not yet clear what these changes will be. It is clear, however, that the old order is disintegrating, and a new order is emerging. But what exactly the parameters of this new order, what the principles will be, is not yet decided. Let us look at the concepts of previous great thinkers of humanity, who had a clear view of our one humanity, who had a vision of the harmonious development of all nations. Let us look at these thinkers whom we can ask for advice—the great Chinese thinker Confucius, Nicholas of Cusa, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and, America’s John Quincy Adams, just to name a few.

So, I think humanity is at an historic branching point. We can shape a new era of civilization in which we overcome geopolitics for good. I ask all you to work with the Schiller Institute, so that we can win over the remaining nations that are still sticking to the old ways—especially the European nations, and get more of the peoples and nations of the world to join the New Paradigm. We can make a fantastic future if we work together.