On Wednesday, August 30, Dr. George Mutalemwa and Professor Nirmala Gopal of “Global Peace Studies” moderated an online forum dedicated to the “BRICS” which was addressed by the LaRouche Organization’s Bill Ferguson and David Cherry of EIR.
Speaking to the more than 30 attendees, Prof. Gopal remarked, “I want to thank you immensely for taking us down this in-depth, insightful, comprehensive, courageous, historical narrative. I think what you gave us now, an insight, which we would not be necessarily able to pick up either through Google or [online] texts that are easily available, for that I think we are tremendously grateful. And I’m hoping that the food you have given us for thought here is going to stimulate the discussion, as I open the floor for discussion…thank you once again Mr. Ferguson.”
This initial “Global Peace Studies for Sustainable Development in Africa” forum on “BRICS,” was hosted by a coalition of university-based organizations internationally. Less than 24 hours before convening, the event was nearly derailed by the sudden, unexplained pull-out and complete severing of relations with the coalition by a South America-based entity which previously has also provided technical broadcasting and video service. There was an air of relief and sense of victory among the participating members of the coalition that members of TLO and Schiller Institute stepped in and provided the necessary technical support, permitting the event to go forward as publicized and scheduled.
Ferguson’s remarks began with him citing LaRouche’s reading, during his 1984 Presidential Campaign national TV address, from Elliot Roosevelt’s As He Saw It. LaRouche had chosen FDR’s admonishment to Churchill that the US was not fighting WWII to save the British Empire and its “18th-Century methods,” but was committed to using “20th-Century” American methods to industrialize and raise the living standards of the former colonies.
