As it can sometimes happen, as if providentially, the personal and the historical come together in a moment of great happiness. Today is a special birthday of Schiller Institute founder and leader Helga Zepp-LaRouche, which caps off a week of momentous events, shifting the world onto the direction of economic development, justice and peace, which she has championed for a lifetime, alongside her husband Lyndon LaRouche.
In South Africa this week, the five BRICS nations met (Aug. 22-24) and expanded their ranks with six new member nations (Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., and Argentina), acting on the side of commitment to global betterment. This must be seen as just the beginning of a new phase of international collaboration. An expression of this is the institutional commitment made at the Aug. 24 BRICS-Plus meeting by other associations to collaborate with the expanding BRICS, for economic and all-around development. ASEAN current chairman Indonesian President Joko (“Jokowi”) Widodo attended the BRICS meetings in person, and spoke of the mutual gain from the BRICS and ASEAN collaborating. He also made a state visit to African nations—his first as President—to Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya, to confer on trade and other plans. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, currently chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), spoke by video at the BRICS-Plus meeting, and raised various ways of collaboration between the SCO and BRICS-Plus, including their participation in the 2024 Kazakhstan SCO “Digital Silk Road” event.
In a dramatic affirmation of the BRICS process, India on Aug. 23, landed a spacecraft on the Moon, an achievement embodying the interests of all humanity, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said within minutes of its landing. Earlier in the week, the Russian mission for a Moon landing did not succeed, but Russia’s revival of its lunar and space program is itself a success, and likewise a benefit for all humanity. Last night, its robotic Russian Progress cargo spacecraft delivered nearly three tons of supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), on schedule and on target. It was announced today that the U.S. and Russia have agreed, despite all conflict, that there will be an additional flight for an American astronaut on board Russia’s Soyuz MS spacecraft, in the ongoing cross-sharing of personnel on ISS trips.
Also, as an outstanding indicator of epochal change, the world now has on its agenda, the full and rapid industrialization of the whole continent of Africa. This includes the full range of activity from advanced manufacturing, to food self-sufficiency, to high-technology power and scientific research. Yesterday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Chinese President Xi Jinping co-hosted the China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue. President Ramaphosa stressed the point of infrastructure. President Xi gave a presentation titled, “Joining Hands to Advance Modernization To Create a Great Future for China and Africa.” He presented specifics in three areas of modernization—industrialization, agriculture production, and a mobilization for “talent.” Xi announced major new programs, for example, for inviting 20,000 government and other leaders to China for workshops, and providing advanced training for 10,000 persons in technical skills.
The China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue comes on the heels of the Russia-Africa Summit at St. Petersburg, committed to economic growth. This week, President Vladimir Putin reiterated key commitments for development, in a video address to the BRICS-Plus meeting yesterday. Calling Africa a “priority partner,” he said, “Russia is currently involved in more than 30 promising energy projects in Africa, which are at various stages of development. We are active in 16 countries. For example, Rosatom is building the Dabaa nuclear power plant in Egypt. The total capacity of the power projects we are promoting is about 3.7 gigawatts.”
Components and blueprints for this approach have been put forward for decades by Lyndon LaRouche and Helga Zepp-LaRouche, most notably beginning with the book, The Industrialization of Africa: Fusion Energy Foundation in 1980 (New York: Campaigner Publications, 1980). In 2017, the Schiller Institute released a special report, “Extending the New Silk Road to West Asia and Africa: A Vision of an Economic Renaissance” by Hussein Askary and Jason Ross.
The terrible paradox we face at this moment is that with this current surge in momentum for realization of world development comes increased danger from the enemies of humanity, who are escalating their provocations and conflict to the point of triggering nuclear annihilation.
This threat was part of the evaluation given today by Zepp-LaRouche, in a working meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC), conferring on how to forcefully expand against the danger. The Sept. 9 international, online conference hosted by the Schiller Institute is an important part of the upcoming action calendar, which includes activities on Sept. 21, the International Day of Peace. One powerful call to action comes from the film, “8:15 Hiroshima: from Father to Daughter,” being shown on PBS TV, and viewed at today’s IPC meeting. See the trailer: https://www.815documentary.com/
It is with very best birthday wishes to Helga Zepp-LaRouche, that we commit to ending the horrors facing mankind and to bringing about a new era for the common good of all. A beautiful birthday message was issued today from Sergey Glazyev of the Russian Academy of Sciences, posted on his Telegram channel:
“Dear Helga LaRouche, I am happy to congratulate you on this wonderful jubilee! You bring good to the world, and an understanding of the long-term future! Your ideas are in demand today for the progressive part of humankind! They are coming to life in Eurasian economic integration, One Belt One Road, and the creation of a Greater Eurasian Partnership. The concept of a Eurasian bridge, which you stated many years ago, has become very timely today, and it inspires us to create a modern infrastructure skeleton for Eurasia.
“You have become a worthy successor to your brilliant husband, the great thinker of our time Lyndon LaRouche. You are successfully continuing his cause: a transition to physical economy, and building society’s productive forces based on advanced technologies. A quarter of a century ago Lyndon forecast the collapse of the financial bubble and the destruction of the speculative global financial system. Now his forecasts are coming to pass, and you are proposing a way out of the dead end of increasing anarchy, on the basis of his ideas about reorienting economic policy to the development of the real sector.
“May God grant you good health, new creative successes, and the realization of your proposals, which are greatly needed by mankind!” (https://t.me/glazieview/3922)
