From Witnesses to History Makers: Building a Future Beyond War
Today, addressing an international gathering of young people from Nigeria, Uganda, Yemen, Brazil, Albania, and many other nations, Schiller Institute Chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche observed that conflict is escalating in two strategic hotspots—Iran and Ukraine—where diplomacy appears to have been replaced by the ideology that "might makes right." On the other hand, she said, a seismic transformation is unfolding as the Global Majority advances a vision of win-win cooperation to replace the logic of geopolitics and colonialism.
A clear alternative was presented by Helga Zepp-LaRouche to the gathering: A global policy of peace through economic development, centering on international projects which would benefit the poorest regions of the world, and contribute to the building of a global productive labor force. Helga Zepp-LaRouche presented the World Land-Bridge, a policy conceived in the early 1990s by her and her husband, Lyndon LaRouche, which would build corridors of rail, water, and power uniting every continent. She also spoke of an Extended Oasis Plan for Southwest Asia, which was Lyndon LaRouche’s fifty-year development plan for Palestine, Israel, and the greater region, utilizing nuclear-powered desalination, new water infrastructure, transport, and power, to transform a region plagued by war and poverty, to a blooming oasis.
Following Helga Zepp-LaRouche was Dr. Naledi Pandor, Former Minister for International Relations in South Africa, and one of the preeminent statesmen in the world who has actively been speaking out against the genocide perpetrated by Israel in Gaza. Dr. Pandor also serves as the Chancellor of the Nelson Mandela University. She noted, that under the leadership of icons such as Nelson Mandela—whose life and legacy are honored internationally today on Mandela Day—South Africa demonstrated that it is possible for people to overcome oppression and unite to build a better world founded on peace, equality, and development for all.
In the discussion period, a question was posed to Dr. Pandor, on what aspects of the anti-Apartheid movement could be applied today by young people across the world. She said that there are multiple elements in a movement that develop as it matures, such as institutional and electoral organizing, petitions, calling offices, and the mass mobilization of people through a united call for international peace and cooperation.
Today, as we verge more closely towards potential thermonuclear war, in Iran, Ukraine, or both, we must transform ourselves from mere witnesses to events, to global actors changing the course of history for the better. Several actions can be taken now, by people of goodwill all across the planet, to reverse course and create a new security and development architecture, with Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s Ten Principles as a backdrop to that.
In the United States, for example, as Congress prepares to vote on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which proposes legislation (House Section 219) that would formally integrate the U.S. military with that of Israel’s, a nation which is internationally recognized as committing genocide against the Palestinian people, citizens must descend on lawmakers to prevent that legislation from being adopted.
Will we act, today, to mobilize our goodwill and that of others, in the manner Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Dr. Naledi Pandor, and others have called upon people to do?
Speakers: Harley Schlanger and Mike Robinson
A clear alternative was presented by Helga Zepp-LaRouche to the gathering: A global policy of peace through economic development, centering on international projects which would benefit the poorest regions of the world, and contribute to the building of a global productive labor force. Helga Zepp-LaRouche presented the World Land-Bridge, a policy conceived in the early 1990s by her and her husband, Lyndon LaRouche, which would build corridors of rail, water, and power uniting every continent. She also spoke of an Extended Oasis Plan for Southwest Asia, which was Lyndon LaRouche’s fifty-year development plan for Palestine, Israel, and the greater region, utilizing nuclear-powered desalination, new water infrastructure, transport, and power, to transform a region plagued by war and poverty, to a blooming oasis.
Following Helga Zepp-LaRouche was Dr. Naledi Pandor, Former Minister for International Relations in South Africa, and one of the preeminent statesmen in the world who has actively been speaking out against the genocide perpetrated by Israel in Gaza. Dr. Pandor also serves as the Chancellor of the Nelson Mandela University. She noted, that under the leadership of icons such as Nelson Mandela—whose life and legacy are honored internationally today on Mandela Day—South Africa demonstrated that it is possible for people to overcome oppression and unite to build a better world founded on peace, equality, and development for all.
In the discussion period, a question was posed to Dr. Pandor, on what aspects of the anti-Apartheid movement could be applied today by young people across the world. She said that there are multiple elements in a movement that develop as it matures, such as institutional and electoral organizing, petitions, calling offices, and the mass mobilization of people through a united call for international peace and cooperation.
Today, as we verge more closely towards potential thermonuclear war, in Iran, Ukraine, or both, we must transform ourselves from mere witnesses to events, to global actors changing the course of history for the better. Several actions can be taken now, by people of goodwill all across the planet, to reverse course and create a new security and development architecture, with Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s Ten Principles as a backdrop to that.
In the United States, for example, as Congress prepares to vote on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which proposes legislation (House Section 219) that would formally integrate the U.S. military with that of Israel’s, a nation which is internationally recognized as committing genocide against the Palestinian people, citizens must descend on lawmakers to prevent that legislation from being adopted.
Will we act, today, to mobilize our goodwill and that of others, in the manner Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Dr. Naledi Pandor, and others have called upon people to do?
Speakers: Harley Schlanger and Mike Robinson