On March 2, EIR held an emergency roundtable seminar on the urgent need for an entirely new system for the world. The recent launching of a full-scale war by the U.S. and Israel against Iran served as the immediate subject of discussion for the event, underscoring the title of the first panel: "On the Road to Armageddon?" However, the release of millions of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein over the recent weeks and months provide the backdrop of an even darker and more deranged situation which currently grips the planet.
“We are meeting here at what very likely is the gravest moment in world history so far. It is more likely than not that World War III has already begun.” With that solemn warning, Schiller Institute Chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche opened the event. The unprovoked attack on the Republic of Iran, she explained, has taken the world into a spiral of escalation which could lead within a short period of time to a global nuclear war. “It is therefore most urgent that all citizens of goodwill mobilize to call on their governments and parliaments in every country on the planet to immediately cease all military actions and return to diplomacy.”
To conclude, Helga Zepp-LaRouche urged all the participants to “launch an urgent appeal to all world governments, parliaments, the UN Security Council, and the UN General Assembly for the return to international law and diplomacy. This return to diplomacy must be done in the spirit of the Peace of Westphalia [1648], which came together because the war parties realized that if they were to continue the war, there would be nobody alive to enjoy the victory, they would all be dead.”
“Is this not even more true today in the age of thermonuclear weapons, when nobody will be alive if this present situation plays out? We are therefore confronted with a test of mankind. Do we have the moral fitness to survive? We must put on the table the urgent need for a new security and development architecture which must take into account the interest of every single country on the planet.”
The event included the participation of leading individuals from around the world, truly representing a "movement of world citizens," as the event Jan. 12 precursor had called for. Below is a list of the speakers. Panel two followed, with the title: "Mankind Is the Creative Species!"
Speakers
Panel One
Helga Zepp-LaRouche (Germany), founder, Schiller Institute; editor-in-chief, EIR
Zhang Weiwei (China), Professor of International Relations, and Director of China Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai
Beatriz Bissio (Brazil), Associate Professor, Post-Graduate Program of Comparative History, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
B.R. Deepak (India), Professor and former Director, Center of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Dennis Kucinich (U.S.), former Congressman and presidential candidate
Ding Yifan (China), Professor, Institute of Global Governance and Development, Renmin University, Beijing
Namit Verma (India), author and security analyst
Kwame Amuah (South Africa), security expert, techno-entrepreneur, former Senior Advisor on Nuclear Affairs for South African government
Father Harry Bury (U.S.), Catholic priest, renowned peace activist, and founder of Twin Cities Nonviolent
Panel Two
Donald Ramotar (Guyana), former President of Guyana
Richard Falk (U.S.), Professor Emeritus, International Law, Princeton University; former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 (2008-2014)
María de los Ángeles Huerta (Mexico), former Mexican Congresswoman
Fernando Garzón (Ecuador), architect, urban planner; leader, Ecuadorean-Palestinian Union
Ralph Bosshard (Switzerland), Lt. Col. (ret.), former military advisor to OSCE Secretary General
David Monyae (South Africa), Director, Center for China-Africa Studies, University of Johannesburg
Ali Rastbeen (France), President, Académie Géopolitique de Paris: “Towards an international architecture: strategic challenges and regional recompositions.”
Hanspeter Widrig (Germany), sculptor
Diane Sare (U.S.), independent candidate for U.S. President; founder, Schiller Institute New York City Chorus
