Conference To Stop War
With Eurasian Development Strategy

"This is the first international conference since the war started, which is clearly taking a stand against this unjust war," said Iraqi journalist Dr. Mustafa Ali of Al-Arab newspaper, in a plenary discussion. He was describing the March 21-23 conference of the Schiller Institute, "How To Reconstruct a Bankrupt World," held in Bad Schwalbach, Germany. It brought together nearly 600 people from 45 nations—including 120 LaRouche Youth Movement activists from across Europe—to confront the disaster of imperial "perpetual war," with a grand design for Eurasian Land-Bridge economic development. The strategy was put out for worldwide circulation as "The Bad Schwalbach Declaration" (see page 10).

Keynoting the conference on the day after the U.S. strikes began, Lyndon LaRouche condemned the war as the beginning of a world war. "If you don't stop it, there is no 'after' Iraq war," LaRouche said. [Full text of Lyndon LaRouche's address] "Because you will be going into another war, under an administration which is totally committed to a worldwide fascist imperialism. Therefore, we must stop it." LaRouche's keynote is below on page 11; he challenged his audience to give up those public opinions, and policy axioms, which permitted world leaders to start this war—and to mobilize for a worldwide economic recovery program which could lead to world peace. This program has been developed over years by the LaRouche movement, in the form of the Eurasian Land-Bridge and an FDR-style New Bretton Woods.

As if to show how feasible LaRouche's call was, sitting next to him on the podium were representatives from the three nations of the Eurasian Strategic Triangle: Russia, China, and India. All three came to the microphone after LaRouche's speech to thank him and promise their support. Chandrajit Yadav from India, a Minister in Indira Gandhi's government; Dr. Bi Jiyao from the Chinese State Development Planning Commission; and Dr. Vladimir Myasnikov from the Far East Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences [see full text of Dr. Myasnikov's speech], all spoke vigorously, and joined participants from the other nations present at the event's conclusion in signing the Conference Declaration, "This War Must Be Stopped."

In addition, Britain's anti-war parliamentary leader and "Father of the House of Commons," Tam Dalyell, sent a message which said, "I applaud Lyndon LaRouche's caring and serious approach toward Iraq. I wish you success for your conference.... What needs to be done, when the fighting ends, is to look at the legal position, in international law, of those who launched this atrocity, which includes the British Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary."

The Eurasian Land-Bridge

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and a famous campaigner for the New Silk Road/Eurasian Land-Bridge, keynoted the next conference panel, which was devoted to the concept of the Eurasian Land-Bridge as the answer to the strategic crisis. Mrs. LaRouche elaborated on the parallels between the current plunge toward world war, and the buildup for the First World War, and called for a Eurasian Union based on policies such as the Marshall Plan, or FDR's New Deal. [Full text of Helga Zepp-LaRouche's speech]

Speakers from the Eurasian lands of Russia, China, India, South Korea, Finland, and Poland followed up Mrs. LaRouche's presentation.

Russian Academician Professor Myasnikov, a prominent proponent of the Land-Bridge for years, spoke on "The Strategic Triangle of Russia-China-India," reviewing the history of Russia's shift toward collaboration with China and other Eurasian nations, especially in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001. He presented the plans for Russian-Chinese collaboration on the development of Western China, the East-West and North-South international transport corridors, construction of pipelines for downstream transport of hydrocarbon resources from Russia to China, and the Eurasian Transcontinental Economic Bridge, as the direct counter to the Anglo-American empire doctrine.

Myasnikov was followed by Dr. Bi Jiyao, of China's Academy of Macro-Economic Research, on the theme "Prospects for Economic Development and New Measures in Opening Up." He presented a fascinating challenge of thinking what it means to develop an economy for a nation of 1.3 billion people. Dr. Bi stressed that China is conceptualizing how to maintain its recent high growth rate of 7-8% a year over a 20-year period, in order to quadruple its GDP by the year 2020. Loud applause arose when he welcomed the strengthening of economic relations between China and Germany, as demonstrated with the successful completion of the Shanghai Maglev train.

Former Indian minister Chandrajit Yadav gave a rousing speech, the central theme of which was that this great crisis is now also an opportunity. He presented a moving picture of the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi, especially as he put his philosophy to work winning young people to the fight against British imperialism. He spent much of his speech elaborating the painful problems facing mankind: poverty, AIDS, illiteracy, the outrage of spending tens of billions on war in the face of such suffering. He concluded by addressing the youth organizers present: "If we have to make sacrifices for freedom and independence, remember that youth in previous eras gave their lives and blood for these.... I call upon youth here to make a pledge, that we are the soldiers of a new world." Yadav received a standing ovation.

Next to speak were two representatives from South Korea, Ambassador Kim Sang-woo, Secretary General of the East Asian Common Space Secretariat, and Dr. Chin Hyung-in, from the Korean Maritime Institute. Dr. Chin elaborated on the "Iron Silk Road" proposal from the South Korean government, while Ambassador Kim addressed the political crisis with the North, which, he argued, had been created to destroy the development policy.

Markku Heiskanen from the Nordic Institute of Asia Studies, and chairman of the Finland North East Asia Trade Association, then presented his group's proposal for a Northern branch of the Eurasian Land-Bridge. Dr. Zbigniew Kwiczak, the former Minister of the Polish Embassy in Moscow, outlined his vision for Poland's central role in the infrastructural development of Europe, in the context of the Land-Bridge.

Development and Education

The discussion continued, into the next session of the conference, on the principles of the New Bretton Woods and a development perspective. Dr. Eneas Ndinkabandi from Rwanda and Nigerian economist Prof. Sam Aluko spoke from the African viewpoint, with Dr. Aluko, in particular, outlining the dramatic change required away from the IMF system, in order to save Africa.

The Italian economist Dr. Nino Galloni also spoke about Africa, and the water projects required there.

Hartmut Cramer of the Schiller Institute presented new research on the job creation plans developed by Dr. Wilhelm Lautenbach, showing that his program—which was rejected in the months leading up to Hitler's coming into power—was directly parallel to that of FDR's New Deal. [Text of Hartmut Cramer's address]

Speakers from Russia and Cyprus addressed the question of education in their speeches. Dr. Nina Gromyko of the Moscow Academy for the Development of Culture and Education spoke about her work in developing an educational method based upon the "Paradox-principle." Dr. Areti Demonsthenous of the Institute of Historical Research for Peace in Nikosia, Cyprus, approached the question from the standpoint of the dialogue of cultures.

But the highpoint of excitement on the question of culture came with the final panel, entitled "The Second American Revolution." This featured six young people from Germany, France, and the United States, all under the age of 30, who presented the method of thinking being used in the United States, within the LaRouche Youth Movement, to build a new Renaissance, and to put Lyndon LaRouche into the Presidency. While the topics ranged from Jeanne d'Arc, to Gauss's Fundamental Theorem of Algebra, to economics, the subject was clearly beyond the particulars: developing a youth movement unlike any other, which has the competence to create a future, and worldwide, continuous Renaissance.

The conference was followed by a youth cadre school, which involved about 60 of the young people, many of whom proceeded to go to the German capital, Berlin, for a "week of action" in the aftermath. As in the United States, in the Fall of 2002, it can now definitively be said that the LaRouche Youth Movement has been launched on the European continent, with a perspective for snatching victory for mankind, out of the jaws of a war process which currently threatens its very existence.