Panel 3 of this weekend’s Schiller Institute conference, on the subject “The Science Drivers of Physical Economy Today,” opened with Beethoven’s beautiful song Abendlied unterm gestirnten Himmel, sung by Schiller Institute Musical Director John Sigerson, accompanied by Margaret Greenspan. Lyndon LaRouche was then brought in to kick off the discussion, through excerpts from his January 17, 1998 speech, “How the Top One Percent of American Citizens Think,” in which LaRouche posed the difference between images based on the senses ("Man, that’s real!"), and ideas, principles which you can’t smell, touch, lick or taste, yet which control the universe. Ideas, scientific principles are the difference between monkeys and people; that is why Mankind, initially having the potential population density approximating that of an ape, of not more than 3 million people, had risen so that by 1998, fully 5 billion human beings could be supported. Such a growth in population depended upon technological and artistic progress. We are not apes. We grow!
A rich discussion of principle followed (the transcripts of the speeches are posted in Documentation). The moderator of the panel, Schiller Institute science advisor Jason Ross elaborated briefly on the role of scientific thought as the fundamental source of economic value, and a unique bridge between different societies which investigate together the universe common to us all. Human economy has advanced from being powered by fire, to the prospect of nuclear fusion. This is the 50th anniversary of LaRouche’s founding of the Fusion Energy Foundation in 1974, which became the leading promoter of research for the development of fusion power, until the U.S. government shut it down in 1986, he noted. The battle against the oligarchic lie that there are “limits to growth” is an old one, stretching back to Zeus’s persecution of Prometheus for giving mankind the power of reason. LaRouche fought this lie, such as in his 1983 book, There Are No Limits to Growth. “Our truly human future lies not in terrestrial conquest or hegemony, but in space exploration and the advancement of our shared understanding of nature’s marvels,” Ross said.
Jacques Cheminade, former candidate for the President of France and president of the French political party Solidarité et Progrès, gave the keynote, speaking on “The Science Driver for the New Paradigm of Physical Economy.” He opened bluntly: “Our mission is to get mankind off the trajectory towards thermonuclear extinction.” Scientific progress, through which we secure the physical preconditions for the survival of all mankind, is key to fostering confidence in the powers of creative reason, and that is our unique weapon to inspire people to join together for the cause of peace. Cheminade took up a theme that had run through the previous panels: the principle of the Good as the basis on which the survival of civilization depends. The West recognizes the innate goodness of all human beings in Platonic Christianity, as does China, in its Confucian tradition—a basis for peace. Cheminade recommended people investigate Lyndon LaRouche’s 1993 work, “The History of Science,” to help the West revive the Platonic method of hypothesizing, as advanced in the Renaissance’s Christian notion of imago viva Dei and capax Dei, the principles upon which actual scientific discovery is based, as he elaborated.
He gave the example of the need for the West to aid the African countries to leapfrog stages of development, citing the African space industry and the development of nuplex centers of industrial development as key. Collaboration of Western countries with the Global Majority is the only alternative to nuclear war. “We have to stop thinking in terms of power relations and instead of inclusive cooperation to bring a better world to our future generations,” he concluded.
Dr. Naledi Pandor, former Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa, spoke next, on the theme: “How Should the South Respond?” to the environment of “toxic politics,” of aggressive self-interest and rejection of global cooperation, which has weakened the bonds which had helped avoid a world war for decades. This is also an inflection point, she noted, with promising signs of new formations and policy perspectives emerging which put people first. She cited South Africa’s suit filed before the International Court of Justice against the ongoing war against Palestinians as an example of how the South can step up. That action, she pointed out, is in the tradition set by Nelson Mandela, that South Africa’s foreign policy must be based on concern for others, expressing the ancient African philosophy called Ubuntu, which means that “I am human because you recognize, in action, my humanity.” The maturing of the BRICS forum, with its New Development Bank and discussions of new innovative institutions and practices, is another sign the South can step up. She emphasized, also, that Africa must be transformed over the next five decades to answer the desires of its “significant impatient youth population eager to achieve a prosperous … Africa.” As the Schiller Institute proposes, we need to “harness the human capacity and ingenuity for solving problems,” and grow that capacity together, to secure peace, she concluded.
A fascinating discussion between Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Pandor and Cheminade followed, begun by Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche’s question to Dr. Pandor on her ideas of what more can be done to get off our current track towards catastrophe, and convince Europe and the U.S. to cooperate with the BRICS and the Global South? We need mature, rational leaders, who are capable of carrying out a dialogue on this, Pandor answered. Civil society has to be more active, she suggested; this environment, while toxic, is an opportunity for this. Cheminade raised the potential of the African diaspora living in Europe to help create this dialogue. Pandor concurred, referencing how South Africa brought the nation together post-apartheid by recognizing the principle of “unity in diversity,” in calling for people to embrace the notion of our dependency on each other.
This dialogue concluded with Zepp-LaRouche’s pressing her conviction that the Global South has the right to, and must speak out more strongly on the danger of nuclear war. In response, Pandor held up the ending of the apartheid regime in her South Africa, which was accomplished by such North-South cooperation. When we work together, there is great work we could do.
