The momentum of protests against the war economy continues across Europe with many different particulars from place to place. The slogan has been popping up, “Let’s Do as in France!” as people in other nations take heart from the student-instigated mass actions in September that this week turned out hundreds of thousands of demonstrators Oct. 6 and 8, no longer confined to only the justified issue of the need to restore education in France, and no longer only confined to students and teachers. The next major nationwide protest action is set for Oct. 13.
In Italy tomorrow, large-scale protests are planned, centered in the southern agriculture region of Calabria, considered one of the most productive agricultural regions in the EU. Farmers instigated the protest, triggered by the impossible cost of diesel fuel, soon joined by fishermen and truckers, and now by other sectors and in other locations.
The Schiller Institute statement of support for the Italian protestors today received ready endorsement from U.S. farm leaders from six agriculture states, joining a similar group already in support from Mexico.
The reality of the economic breakdown is hitting in all kinds of ways, from, in particular, the disruptions from the U.S.-Israeli initiation of war against Iran in February. Look at the “issue” of soaring diesel prices. This hit Trump directly this week, when, on a campaign visit to the Farmbelt Oct. 5, he was booed and interrupted when he tried to play down high diesel prices by advising to an audience in Texas, the energy state, not to worry about fuel, because it’s a small price to pay for preventing Iran from bombing Los Angeles and U.S. cities! The (Republican) Texas governor did not even attend the Trump rally.
The geopolitical narratives, cover-ups, and lies are no longer reliable for the Epstein class and hangers-on still in power positions in Western capitals. On the diesel “issue,” today Trump did an about-face, spoke with President Putin, and announced in a glowing post that Russia will come to the rescue of the United States and the “markets.” The U.S. will set aside its sanctions, etc. The Kremlin did confirm that the two leaders spoke. However, read Trump’s text with the usual caution. He gives figures for volumes of exports and otherwise hyperventilates: “Lower prices for Americans, especially our Great Farmers, Ranchers, and Truckers, is my Greatest Priority. This is a very big and important announcement.”
Also, caution is advised on what today’s Trump-Putin phone call will, or will not, mean about the current meeting in Miami of delegations from Kiev with U.S. and European negotiators toward a resolution of the Ukraine conflict. Their talks continue tomorrow.
Viewed from above, what we are seeing in so many ways, is that the fight is humanity vs. the war economy. The “might-makes-right” doctrine is destroying the means to life in the West, as well as destroying target nations. The events in France this week illustrate this dramatically. On the one hand, the government, forced to try to appease the student demands, has now offered to employ 3,000 teachers, but this offer highlights only that these positions could have been filled all along. Funding instead has been going to the war economy. Two events this week illustrate this blatantly, just as mass protests were taking place.
On Oct. 5, President Emmanuel Macron, on a ship off the Atlantic coast of France, watched as a submerged submarine test-launched a new nuclear-capable long-range missile, the first test of this type. Macron posted his satisfaction: “This technical success is a new demonstration of the credibility of our deterrence…. To be free, one must be feared. And to be feared, one must be powerful.”
Also this week, Macron’s Armed Forces Minister reported to Parliament that Ukrainian pilots will start training in France in November, to fly the advanced Rafale fighter jets, looking forward to operating them in the coming years. Forget about any intent to settle the Ukraine conflict.
Today’s International Peace Coalition heard on-the-ground reports from France on the protest actions; from Brazil, where students are also on the streets; and from longtime peace leaders conferring on how, and how fast, we can “spread the momentum” for the shift out of the deadly militarization paradigm, to a peace paradigm of economic development and security. Every person and every initiative counts.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute founder and initiator of the IPC, appealed for action:
“I think we are at a particular juncture in world history, which I can only characterize by saying that many processes in many different countries and on many different levels are coming to an exhaustion moment after which there will be a phase change. And if this phase change will be to the worst or to the better, to a very large extent depends on the courage of many individuals taking the side of peace and diplomacy.”