Candidates Sare and Vega Launch Campaign To Transform the Peace Movement

by Stewart Battle

[Print version of this article]

Oct. 18—The world is currently experiencing an unprecedentedly dangerous situation, as two raging conflicts now threaten to explode far beyond their regional borders. In Ukraine, the U.S. and NATO have spent hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons and other assistance in a proxy war with Russia which has all but become a direct conflict between two nuclear powers. In a clear message to the West, Russia recently announced that it was changing its nuclear doctrine, opening up the possibility for a preemptive nuclear strike if the existence of the state is threatened. At the same time, Israel is weighing the possibility of a full-blown war against Iran, while at the same time expanding its criminal actions against civilians in Palestine and Lebanon. War between Israel, with the backing of the U.S., and Iran, with the backing of Russia, would be the worst disaster ever to grip Southwest Asia, and could quickly escalate to a nuclear conflagration.

Given this unprecedented situation, it must be asked: Where is today’s peace movement? Why have so few Americans and Westerners been stirred to speak out against what are increasingly life-and-death developments?

Today’s political activism in the West, or lack thereof, cannot be separated from the depravity and infantilism of its modern culture. Consider the difference between a John F. Kennedy, who invited the classically-oriented Marian Anderson and Robert Frost to perform at his 1961 inauguration, and the 2021 inauguration of Joe Biden, which featured the orgiastic Lady Gaga. Many such examples could be cited, giving an indication as to why such an enormous emotional disconnect exists between Americans and the atrocities being committed in their name. Not the least such example is Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s rock-n-roll tour to Kiev.

Do art and culture exist merely for purposes of “entertainment,” to either stimulate or subdue the passions of a population? Or does art serve a higher purpose?

In 1840, the famous painter and fierce defender of the American cause, Thomas Cole, reflected upon the purpose of true art in a letter he wrote to art critics:

Many pictures have little merit beside that of gratifying the eye by mere dexterous imitation; but a good thought, a beautiful sentiment, even though feebly expressed, is of far more worth than the most skillful display of execution without meaning; and the works which possess the highest value, are those in which human genius manifests its greatest powers: those creations of master minds which, while they please by being true imitations of the beautiful of external nature, are the vehicles of noble sentiment, and poetical thought.

Lyndon LaRouche always insisted that the most central underlying belief which determines the directionality of a society is its view of the nature of mankind. Is mankind merely an advanced animal, driven by nothing more than the pursuit of its momentary and self-serving interests? Or does mankind participate in the divine, and possess a capacity to discover universal truths about nature?

Society’s grappling with conceptions such as these exemplifies the type of “noble sentiment and poetical thought” which Cole discussed. On the other hand, the mass-acceptance of—or indifference to—the policies of genocide and war which have seemingly become commonplace in Western foreign policy may have its root in a culture which sees humanity as little better than beasts.

A Fight for a Culture of Peace

The independent campaigns of Diane Sare and Jose Vega in New York have been working to inspire a new peace movement, setting their sights on a mission which goes far beyond the elections on Nov. 5. Their activities, acting as a sort of lightning-rod across the state and the country, as leading voices who refuse to capitulate to the policies of war, genocide, and their enabler—partisan politics, have exploded over the recent months.

In a recent interview with EIR, Vega said that, while a new peace movement is indeed in the process of being formed, “What’s missing is ideas.” He went on:

It’s not enough anymore to just say we need to stop war; it’s not enough to just be against something. To be pro-peace, to be nonviolent, is to actively create something good and something beautiful.

Later he added, “You can’t just talk about these ideas, talk about how bad things are, and not give people a sense of beauty and the sublime.”

Vega insisted that people who are serious about doing this kind of work today must think from the standpoint of the future. Famous for his interventions against supposed authority figures, such as his recent one against Paul Krugman, Vega said that he always keeps in his mind that the “people in the future” are watching and judging what he’s doing today. “What did I do? What are my neighbors doing? What are we actually doing while there’s a whole genocide going on?”

Everything we should be doing now should be to define the future. That’s the only thing that we know [will actually] exist. We know that something will come after us, and so everything we do should be from that standpoint.

The Vega and Sare campaigns are collaborating to hold a flagship event in New York City on Oct. 26 entitled “Build a Peace Chorus Against the Ghouls of War.” The indoor peace rally and concert aims to unite significant elements of the disparate peace movement and inspire it so as to overcome the aforementioned hurdles of depravity, barbarity, and cynicism. As the invitation for the event reads:

The national vision, which was reaffirmed once again in the Civil War and the civil rights movement, must be reasserted once again in the face of the current economic crisis in the nation and the series of genocidal wars which now threaten to escalate into a global thermonuclear war.

The fact is, the world today stands at the crossroads between a descent into thermonuclear catastrophe and a potentially beautiful future, and the determining factor rests on what we in the West do to cause an actual rethinking. The Sare-Vega event on Oct. 26 may just be the most crucial event in the world today in shifting this process. As Sare told a small gathering recently when talking about the importance of the event:

We have to do something that shifts the whole dynamic in the United States…. And there is this question of the perfectibility of mankind. That is: Why should we not exterminate the entire human race? And it’s because human beings have this potential of self-perfection—that mankind as a whole can become better and better.

When I was younger, I thought that we had gone past the barbarism of the Inquisition, or the Dark Ages, or Nazi Germany. But you look at what is occurring today and you realize, somehow we didn’t get beyond it. Or if we did, somebody or some evil group conspired to throw us back into that bestial mentality.

But I think it is really possible to move people. And you see that in the difficulty in some of these natural disasters—we also saw that after 9/11—where people were prepared, at great risk to themselves, to reach out to others and help others.

But the point is: Why? Why is this quality innate? And I think we have to make people much more conscious of this. Because at this point, I think that we really have to fight for the good, and remind people of what the true nature of mankind is.

International Concert in New York
Presents Extraordinary Program for Peace

Oct. 14—The Saturday, Oct. 26, indoor peace rally and concert in New York City, jointly hosted by Jose Vega and Diane Sare, is shaping up to be an unprecedented event. Designed to have a powerful impact internationally as well as for the United States, the event is titled, “Build a Peace Chorus Against the Ghouls of War.” The program will be livestreamed from the Manhattan concert hall, with simultaneous interpretation into multiple languages.

The sponsors of the event, Vega and Sare, are independent candidates for Senate and Congress from New York: Diane Sare for Senate, and Jose Vega for Congress, 15th CD in the Bronx.The website of the special-purpose joint fundraising committee created for this event provides information on viewing and participation in English and Spanish.

Below is a partial list of speakers, performers, and musical selections. The section titles are provided only for pre-event information and may not be final. The Chorus referred to throughout is the Friends of Sare-Vega Chorus. Additional contributions of music and presentations are invited for this and future events, including for sister events internationally.

Opening—
‘Because All Men Are Brothers’

Little Fugue, J.S. Bach (1685-1750); Piece for Brass Quintet, Victor Ewald (1860-1935, Russia)—Sare Brass Quintet

“Because All Men Are Brothers” (text, Tom Glazer; music, Bach’s Passion Chorale)—Friends of Sare-Vega Chorus

Welcome

Diane Sare, Candidate for U.S. Senate, New York

Jose Vega, Candidate for Congress, 15th CD, the Bronx, New York

Call to Action—
‘Go Down, Moses’

Dennis Fritz, Director of the Eisenhower Media Network; Command Chief Master Sergeant (ret. U.S. Air Force)

“Go Down, Moses” (spiritual)—Chorus

Russ Dobular, co-founder of Due Dissidence

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute; convenor of the International Peace Coalition

“O, Freedom” (spiritual)—Chorus

Stop the Nuclear War Madness—
‘Hold On’

Garland Nixon, veteran progressive radio and television talk show host; member of the National Board of the ACLU

“Hold On” (spiritual)—Chorus

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson (ret. U.S. Army); Chief of Staff of former Secretary of State Colin Powell

Freedom from War—
“Steal Away”

“Steal Away to Freedom” (spiritual)—Chorus

Jimmy Dore (invited) podcaster (Host of the Jimmy Dore Show); comedian, political commentator

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst, co-founder of VIPS (Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity)

Jose Vega

Diane Sare

Classical Principles—
Beauty, Courage, Statecraft

“Quia Respexit” from the Magnificat in D, by J.S. Bach (“He has looked upon my lowliness”)—soprano, oboe duet

South African Youth Chorus (invited)

Special contributions of Classical music from Iran, Syria, Albania, and Sweden

Additional Music

String Quartet No. 12, “American,” Op. 96 B. 179, Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)—NEO String Quartet

Shalom Chaverim canon (Hebrew traditional folk tune)—Chorus and audience

“My Country ‘tis of Thee” (arr. by Fred Haight from Dvorak’s String Quartet, Op. 97 B. 180 Larghetto)—Chorus and NEO String Quartet

“Battle Cry of Freedom” (George Root, 1862)—Chorus and audience