Schiller Conference:
Europe, U.S. Must Join New Silk Road
by Our European Bureau
Oct. 20—An overflow audience of 350 people gathered in Frankfurt, Germany Oct. 18-19, to join the Schiller Institute in deliberations on “The New Silk Road and China’s Lunar Program: Mankind Is the Only Creative Species!” Representatives participated from more than a dozen nations, including Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, China, the United States, Iran, India, Serbia, and a number of African states.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche keynoted the event, which also celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Institute which she founded. She began with greetings from her husband Lyndon LaRouche, and then highlighted the threats which mankind faces today from three mortal dangers—the IS terrorism, the rapid spread of the Ebola disease, and a new financial crash much worse than that of 2008. The situation can and will be changed by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and the nations that are allied with them, Zepp-LaRouche stressed, as they pursued a paradigm of peace and respect for the other, replacing geopolitics with the pursuit of the common aims of mankind. Zepp-LaRouche’s full presentation, as well as other speeches and greetings delivered at the conference, will be published in our upcoming issues.
Videos, including the numerous musical offerings and the Oct. 18 concert, will appear on the New Paradigm website of the Schiller Institute. The conference’s final Resolution, will form the basis for an expanded organizing drive around the world. In this short report, we provide an overview of the topics discussed, the participants, and the nature of the discussion—all of which underscore the Schiller Institute’s global impact, and the fact that this was a conference which will resonate with, and shake and shape world politics in the weeks ahead—just as the Institute has over the first 30 years of its existence.
The New Silk Road
Representatives from nations involved in the BRICS and Silk Road process addressed the keynote panel, following Zepp-LaRouche. First was Shi Ze, of the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing, who spoke on “Some Innovative Ideas Concerning the Mode of Cooperation Along the Silk Road.” Dr. Fatemeh Hashemi, president of the Women’s Solidarity Association of Iran, then took up the question of “Iran’s Role in the New Silk Road Strategy in the Third Millennium.” From India, Jayshree Sengupta, senior fellow of the Observer Research Foundation of New Delhi, India, spoke on “BRICS and the New International World Order.” The conference then heard Dr. Natalia Vitrenko, an economist and chairwoman of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, who came from the strategic hotspot of Kiev to speak on “A Constructive Alternative to the Existing World Order, and Stability in Ukraine—Pathway to Saving Mankind.” The panel concluded with a presentation on “A Vision of the Future of Eurasia” by Ali Rastbeen, founder and president of the Paris Academy of Geopolitics, and a greeting from Russian Academician Mikhail Titarenko, read from the podium.
The Future of Europe
In the afternoon, the conference took up the question of Europe, and whether it would remain in the trans-Atlantic collapse paradigm of the EU, or ally as sovereign republics with the New Silk Road process. First, German steel expert Prof. Dieter Ameling addressed the “Role of Steel in the New Silk Road Perspective,” shocking the audience with the contrast between China’s huge increase in production, and the decreases in the trans-Atlantic region. Member of Parliament Panos Kammenos, chairman of the Independent Greeks party, then discussed the role he foresaw for Greece in the New Silk Road—once it breaks out of the EU straitjacket. Prof. Enzo Siviero, member of the Italian National Council of Universities, spoke on “Mediterranean Bridging,” beginning with Leonardo da Vinci’s plans to bridge the Bosporus, to the plans underway now. He was followed by Col. Alain Corvez (ret.), former advisor to the General-in-Command of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Paris, who spoke on “Common Security Interests in Eurasia.” The final presentation came from the United States, from Ray McGovern, a veteran CIA analyst and founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), which opposes the current geopolitical adventures of the United States. “How Long Will the ‘Sovereign Republics’ of Europe Keep Dancing to Washington’s Tune?”, he asked, and proceeded to give a sobering picture of the necessity for Europeans and Americans to stop the danger of fascism on both sides of the Atlantic. After a substantial discussion period, the conference participants took a break, and then reconvened for a Musikabend in the evening, which featured a concert version of Ludwig van Beethoven’s opera Fidelio.
A New Paradigm for Mankind
Jacques Cheminade, president of the Solidarité et Progrès party in France, led off the second day of the conference, which was dedicated to the “New Paradigm for Mankind” being created by the Silk Road process. He sharply contrasted Europe’s current death spiral, with the paradigm of the Italian Renaissance, which Europe must recreate today. Europe must choose the identity of fostering “The Advantage of the Other,” he stressed, as it was inscribed in the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia. Cheminade was followed by Saeed Khatibzadeh, of the Institute of Political and International Studies (Iran), the head of the Institute’s Berlin office, on “The New Silk Road as the Basis for Peace in Southwest Asia; Antonino Galloni, an Italian economist who serves as the statutory auditor of the Istituto Nazioniale Previdenza Sociale, who spoke on “Enrico Mattei’s Policy as a Universal Model for North-South, East-West Relations”; and two Serbian representatives—Asst. Prof. Milena Nikolic, Higher Education Institute for Applied Studies; and Dragan Duncic, Agency for Spatial Planning in Belgrade—who addressed the question of “The Danube, Morava-Vardar-Axios-Aegean Waterway and the Silk Road Economic Belt.” The remainder of the second panel included a greeting from the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation; one from Diogène Senny, Secretary General of the Pan-African League, Umoja; and a message from Robert Barwick of the Citizens Electoral Council of Australia.
Science Drivers
The final panel turned to the theme “Science Drivers for a New Economic Miracle and the Common Aims of Mankind.” Leading off the discussion was Jason Ross of the LaRouchePAC Science Team based in Virginia, who presented a Promethean approach to developing new forms of fire, and specifically, the prospects for Lunar helium-3 for a fusion-powered mankind. A message was read from Prof. Wangsuo Wu, dean of the School of Nuclear Science and Technology from Lanzhou University, China, where Helga Zepp-LaRouche spoke in August of this year on the New Silk Road Economic Belt. The final two presentations were given by members of the German Fusion Energy Foundation. First, Toni Kaestner, who chairs the Foundation, presented a paper on “Where Germany Should Be 50 Years from Now.” He was followed by Dr. Wolfgang Lillge, editor-in-chief of Fusion magazine, who discussed “Fighting Diseases and Pandemics Through a Policy of Global Development.”
