This article appears in the January 25, 2008 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

Danish Schiller Institute Testifies in Parliament on Financial Collapse

by Michelle Rasmussen

The Schiller Institute in Denmark has once again brought crucial ideas directly into the Danish Parliament, this time focusing on the ongoing international financial collapse. Chairman Tom Gillesberg, accompanied by a five-person delegation, testified before the Political and Economic Committee of Parliament, on Jan. 17, just hours before Lyndon LaRouche's webcast from Washington.

During his 15-minute testimony, Gillesberg stated that the global financial system is collapsing now, and that the only solution is the adoption of LaRouche's New Bretton Woods proposal, returning to fixed exchange rates and national banking. As the first step, he described the growing support in the United States for the Homeowners and Bank Protection Act, and urged Parliament to act to protect the Danish economy and citizens, and to facilitate establishing a New Bretton Woods.

In conclusion, Gillesberg asked the committee members to watch LaRouche's webcast, and "follow in the footsteps of the Italian Senate, and invite LaRouche to the Danish parliament to further discuss these questions." (See Documentation for his remarks, and a paraphrase of the questions and answers following.)

There were at least six members of the committee present: the chairman from the Unity party, plus the Social Democrats, Socialist People's Party, and the Danish People's Party. Two members of the committee had signed an earlier call by Helga Zepp-LaRouche for a New Bretton Woods, and the idea has been taken up during parliamentary debates by two other prominent parliamentarians.

Gillesberg's testimony was the second time the Schiller Institute had testified before a Danish parliamentary committee. The Institute's national maglev proposal was the subject of the first testimony, on April 12, 2007, before the Traffic Committee. At that time, Gillesberg became the first person to urge the committee to initiate a study to investigate the feasibility of building a bridge across the Kattegat Sea, between the island of Zealand, where Copenhagen is located, and the Jutland Peninsula near Aarhus, Denmark's second-largest city, as well as equipping the route with a maglev link. One could then travel between Denmark's two largest cities, Copenhagen and Aarhus, in just 25 minutes, a trip which now takes three and a half hours, which would revolutionize the Danish economy and society. A maglev train link over the Kattegat is the first stage of the Institute's proposed national maglev plan. Now, there is broad political support for at least building the new Kattegat bridge.

Gillesberg had been scheduled to appear before the Political and Economic Committee on Oct. 25, 2007, but this was postponed when parliamentary elections were called just the day before, on Oct. 24. Yet, due to the possibilities the Nov. 13 election provided, this vital discussion was brought to the entire Danish population: Gillesberg and three other Schiller Institute activists ran independent candidacies for Parliament, under the slogan, "After the Financial Crash: Maglev Across the Kattegat." There was significant national press coverage of both the candidates' warning of financial collapse, and of the maglev plan.

This campaign was a followup to the 2005 municipal elections, in which Gillesberg ran for mayor of Copenhagen, heading a slate of 12 candidates, under the slogan, "When the Bubble Bursts ... a New Bretton Woods." As the current financial collapse develops, many voters are remembering that the Schiller Institute was the first to call for action to deal with it.

The Danish Parliament allows citizens and organizations to request permission to testify before many parliamentary committees, and present written material. In conjunction with the two requests to the Political-Economic Committee, extensive material in Danish and English has been posted on the Parliament's website, including Helga Zepp-LaRouche's call for a New Bretton Woods, Lyndon LaRouche's Homeowners and Bank Protection Act, his speech to a conference in Los Angeles in November 2007, calling for U.S.-China collaboration, Gillesberg's first prepared testimony, coverage of the financial collapse from the Schiller Institute's Danish newsletter, Prometheus, and EIR articles on the economy. See www.ft.dk, and search (soeg in Danish) for "Schiller Instituttet."