På Nelson Mandela-dagen – Vi er ved et “Punctum Saliens”.
Helga Zepp-LaRouches tale ved Den Internationale Fredskoalition møde #111 den 18. juli 2025

Helga Zepp-LaRouches tale er på dansk.

ANASTASIA BATTLE: Hello everyone! It’s been a real joy at the various conferences in the United States and in Germany. This is the International Peace Coalition, this is our 111th consecutive meeting. Thank you for joining us. We’re coming off a very exciting conference that was held in Berlin, where there were many top speakers from around the world. I also got to meet many of you who have been participating in these meetings over the last two years.

Today is a very special day. Today is the birthday of the late South African President Nelson Mandela. It’s officially the Nelson Mandela International Day. He declared that on this day, people should devote at least one hour to doing something for another person or a needy community. I’m sure I do not need to tell all of you to go and do that; I’m sure all of you are already doing those things. But you should encourage other people to do those things, especially in honor of Nelson Mandela’s birthday; it’s really a wonderful day to bring everyone together.

I like to remind people why we created this forum 111 weeks ago, in order to bring the peace movement together from around the world. People of many different philosophies, they could differ; many different languages, cultures, religions. But we’re all coming together around the concept of one mission: That we want to create true peace in the world, and we’re going to accomplish that with the collaboration of our organizations and our joint efforts. So thank you to everyone who has been participating in this, and welcome to new people who have joined this week.

To start us off, I’d like to have Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who is the founder of the Schiller Institute and the initiator of the International Peace Coalition. Please, go ahead Helga.

HELGA ZEPP-LAROUCHE: Velkommen til jer alle. Vi er netop kommet fra en yderst vigtig konference i Berlin, arrangeret af Schiller Instituttet. Først vil jeg gerne opfordre alle, der endnu ikke har lyttet til det, til at tage sig tid i weekenden eller om aftenen til at lytte til alle paneldeltagerne. For dette skulle ikke bare være en engangs-konference, men vi forsøgte – og jeg tror det lykkedes – at præsentere et alternativ til den nuværende geopolitiske konfrontation. Jeg synes, at vi ud over at have haft fremragende talere fra alle dele af verden – virkelig top-talere, der hjalp os med at advare verdensbefolkningen, eller dem vi kan nå, om den umiddelbare fare for 3. verdenskrig. Men vi præsenterede også et alternativ til samarbejde ved at appellere til landene i Vesten – hovedsageligt Europa og USA – om at gå sammen med landene i det Globale Syd, den Globale Majoritet, for at engagere sig i reel udvikling; industrialiseringen af Afrika, Mellemøsten og andre dele af det Globale Syd. Og vi præsenterede en rapport, som I kan få adgang til sammen med konferencens dokumenter. Jeg vil bede jer alle om måske at gøre det til jeres Nelson Mandela-gode gerning, som Dr. Naledi Pandor har bedt os om. Hun er tidligere minister for internationale relationer i Sydafrika.

Grundlæggende ønsker vi at gå ind i en kampagne for at sige, at der virkelig er et alternativ til 3. verdenskrig, at vi er nødt til at overvinde geopolitik og begynde at samarbejde om udvikling. For det nye navn for fred er udvikling. Det kunne ikke komme på et mere presserende tidspunkt, for det ser ud til, at nogle af de vestlige ledere er fast besluttede på at føre verden ind i en atomar katastrofe. Da dette ikke kommer fra én stemme, men fra alle hjørner – fra massemedierne, mange politiske hjørner – er der ingen tvivl om, at der i baggrunden, eller ikke længere så meget i baggrunden, er en aktiv plan for et opgør. Næstformanden for den ældste britiske tænketank, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Malcolm Chalmers, havde allerede i maj 2022 foreslået, at NATO skulle overtage Krim og på den måde forårsage en atomkrise med Rusland og få det, han kaldte en cubansk missilkrise på steroider. Derefter, på højdepunktet af en sådan atomopgør, ville det forhåbentlig skabe betingelser, hvor Rusland kunne tvinges til at forhandle. At have en sådan tankegang er yderst bekymrende.

Den samme herre foreslog i marts 2025 i et interview med The Economist endnu en sådan bravado-operation ved at foreslå, at der skulle affyres en atomraket fra en britisk ubåd, ikke mod en stor russisk by, hvor det ville medføre for mange tab. Nej, målet skulle blot være en militærbase, som skulle angribes med en atombombe. Ikke en rigtig stor bombe, siger han nådigt, bare en lille bombe på størrelse med den, der blev kastet over Hiroshima, det ville være nok. Og han håber, at det ville have samme effekt og få Rusland til endelig at forhandle. Det ville alt sammen bare være en akademisk luftboble, men desværre forlader denne samme person, Malcolm Chalmers, nu sin stilling i RUSI-tænketanken for at blive strategisk rådgiver for den britiske forsvarsminister John Healey. Så det ville bare være en bekymrende begivenhed, hvis man ikke havde en meget ildevarslende opgradering af den såkaldte koalition af villige. Det er et udtryk for den kendsgerning, at der indenfor NATO, selv om ikke alle medlemmer af NATO er enige i den nuværende kurs med optrapning, såsom at sende landtropper til Ukraine og forsyne Ukraine med alle former for langtrækkende våben, imidlertid er denne koalition af villige, som nu anføres af Storbritannien, Frankrig og Tyskland.

I sidste uge var der et møde mellem Macron og Starmer, hvor de aftalte at koordinere deres atomarsenaler bedre, for de er trods alt de to atommagter i Europa. I går var kansler Merz også i London, hvor han sammen med Starmer underskrev det, de kalder en tysk-britisk venskabstraktat – den såkaldte Kensington-traktat. Kensington er en henvisning til et palads og dronning Victorias rolle. Merz nævnte hende faktisk ved navn, hvilket viser, at denne kansler ikke er ved sine fulde fem. Victorias regeringstid var den tid, hvor briterne aktivt planlagde 1. verdenskrig, hovedsageligt mod Tyskland blandt andre. At henvise til dette viser helt klart, at kansler Merz har en forkærlighed for det

Britiske Imperium, som han nu gladeligt underkaster sig. Men det er også en yderst bekymrende udvikling.

Jeg mener derfor, at artiklen i Times of India, der beskriver vores konference i Berlin, hvor der står: »Er Europa ved at blive slagmarken for den kommende konfrontation med Rusland?«, er en præcis beskrivelse.

Desværre er dette, som jeg sagde, ikke den eneste yderst bekymrende udvikling. Samtidig havde man den amerikanske hærchef for Europa og Afrika, Christopher Donahue, der for blot et par dage siden holdt en konference i Wiesbaden, hvor Donahue stolt meddelte, at NATO nu er parat til fuldstændigt at afskære den russiske enklave Kaliningrad, hvilket er en snubletråd. Der er ingen tvivl om, at russerne har gjort det meget klart, at de har Iskander-missiler udstationeret i denne region for at imødegå at afskære denne region Kaliningrad i form af en blitzkrieg. Så jeg kan kun sige, at hele diskussionen om at fortsætte med at optrappe på denne måde, fortsætte med at sende langdistance-missiler til Ukraine til brug langt inde på russisk territorium, betyder, at vi er på en meget kort vej mod en optrapning til 3. verdenskrig, hvis dette ikke stoppes.

Nu vil vi senere høre om situationen i Mellemøsten. Situationen i Gaza er fortsat et symbol på Vestens moralske forfald, og hvis der ikke gøres noget ved det, tror jeg, det er et tegn på, at al folkeret er ved at bryde sammen. Heldigvis mødtes Haag-gruppen af udviklingslande i Bogotá, Columbia, og de har en handlingsplan for, hvad der skal gøres. Jeg kan kun håbe, at der i FN på kort sigt kan findes passende støtte til denne aktion.

Der er andre vigtige udviklinger, der går i den modsatte retning. Det er sikkert, at Rusland sender aktive signaler og tager skridt til at genoplive RIC-formlen – Rusland, Indien, Kina. Det var ideen, at disse tre atommagter, en gruppe, der blev oprettet af premierminister Primakov i 1990’erne, skulle genoplive denne kombination. Jeg synes, det er et meget godt skridt. Min afdøde mand, Lyndon LaRouche, havde på tidspunktet for Primakovs forslag foreslået, at USA skulle være en del af denne kombination, og at alle problemer så kunne løses. Det synes ikke at være den retning, præsident Trump går i lige nu, men det er den mulighed han har, hvis han ønsker at blive kandidat til Nobels fredspris, ikke blot som en symbolsk gestus, men i den virkelige historie.

Præsident Lula da Silva fra Brasilien er stærkt imod det, Trump nu kommer med i form af en 50-dages frist for at indføre en told på 50 % mod Rusland og sekundære mål, men også mod alle andre lande. Det er stadig den samme form for økonomisk krigsførelse, som kun kan føre til et tidligt sammenbrud af det finansielle system. Lula mindede også Trump om, at han ikke er blevet valgt til verdens kejser, men til præsident for USA, og afviste dermed sådanne forslag.

Vi har også til hensigt at bruge tiden mellem nu og den 28. og 29. juli, som er meget kort, til at genoptage vores kampagne for Oase-planen. For den tostats-(Palæstina og Israel)-konference, der blev aflyst i juni, skal nu finde sted i slutningen af denne måned. Jeg vil opfordre alle tilhængere af Oase-planen til at genoptage jeres bestræbelser på at bruge alle de kanaler I har i FN, i denne tostats-konference, til at sige, at den eneste måde, hvorpå der kan være håb om fred, er en kombination af det, som Bogotá-Haag-gruppen foreslår, og Oase-planen som den virkelige plan for fred og udvikling.

Jeg tror, vi har meget arbejde foran os. Dr. Pandor opfordrede alle i forbindelse med vores Berlin-konference til at gøre IPC til den største organisation nogensinde. Få folk til at melde sig ind; det er mere presserende end nogensinde før. Krigsfaren stiger praktisk talt for hvert minut, og selve civilisationens eksistens står på spil som aldrig før. Men gør det med den pakke vi har, for at få de

vestlige lande til at samarbejde med den Globale Majoritet om at sætte reel udvikling på dagsordenen for Afrika. Vi har fremlagt et udkast til forslag om industrialisering af Afrika, vi har Oase-planen. Begge disse planer er i overensstemmelse med den afrikanske dagsorden for 2063, og det er den vej, vi skal gå. Vi må lægge geopolitik bag os og gå efter reel udvikling som grundlag for fred. Det var det, jeg ville sige til jer i begyndelsen.

Remarks during the Discussion:

På engelsk:
[1] I think the description of the conference we had was quite accurate in different aspects. I think the organizing from Paris also gives people an idea that we are not talking about academic presentations, but we really want to engage many institutions and also so-called ordinary people. Because the more you look at how the world is going, we are in such an unprecedented danger of civilization, and therefore my appeal to you, and obviously what other speakers have said is, become active! Don’t look at the IPC process as a thing to just watch. Become active, because the world is more in need of peace activists. I can only repeat what Dr. Pandor said. We have to work to make the IPC the most powerful peace organization on the planet by uniting everybody. The problem is that there are many groups even in Germany—I say even in Germany because Germany is still one of the most controlled and occupied places. There are many people who are really so absolutely frightened and concerned. When they realize that they are not the only ones, that there are many co-thinkers, it gives them courage to speak out. I think we need to change the policy. I think what Chancellor Merz is proposing in Germany is really going in the wrong direction. I am really calling on all people in France, Macron being in a similar orientation. But let’s really move Europe in the direction of cooperation with the Global South. Then all the problems could be solved very easily. The United States has their 250th anniversary next year, and America could go back to its own anti-colonial tradition of the American Revolution, the American War of Independence which was the first anti-colonial war in history. All problems would be easily solved, and that is not an empty promise. I know the BRICS countries would receive Europe and even the United States with open arms if they would just say we want to stop this insane geopolitical confrontation. So, contact Anastasia after the call, and let’s broaden our outreach by several orders of magnitude.

[2] I want to pick up on what Dmitri Trenin said in his conference presentation. That was actually mentioned in the Times of India article. He is one of the eminent spokesmen of Russia; a strategic thinker. He used to be with the Carnegie Foundation; he’s now in all kinds of important think tanks and positions. He said that Russia will react to the present NATO provocations, and he said it will not happen in the Far East, it will happen here in Germany. There are many other analysts now who say, “When is the Oreshnik moment for Russia coming?” I think there is a general discussion among analysts around the world as to what will be the appropriate reaction coming from Russia. It is generally estimated that Russia, and Putin in particular will try everything possible to not go into the trap of being entangled in something which could get out of control and end civilization. But Russia will be reacting in a very measured way. The Oreshnik moment would be the moment when they are sending the equivalent of an Oreshnik missile, however without a nuclear warhead because that could be put on the Oreshnik. But just by the kinetic energy of this new type of hypersonic missile, they could demonstrate that there are new physical principles at work. Such a reaction has to be expected soon.

Now, I think this will happen, because if the West is continuously upping the ante, as with the Malcolm Chalmers appointment to be strategic advisor to the British Defense Minister, this should get everybody alarmed. Because these people are in a Cuban Missile Crisis on steroids mindset; or breaking the emergency glass, just break the rules and go completely out of control. That will be the moment when we have really the existence of civilization at stake. So, I would really urge people to get active now. We are in that very short window of opportunity where something still can be done. For Merz to go to London and make this Kensington Treaty is a demonstration of the absolute lack of any historical instinct. If you know what the role of the British was in bringing about the two world wars—which would require a whole other discussion—it is just unbelievable. It is one thing to be the slave of the United States and the underling and colonial entity of the United States, but to go like that into the den of the lion and submit to policies which have already led to two world wars, is either a complete lack of political instinct, or it is what Merz also did. He had a meeting in the Chancellor’s office a couple of days ago, where the content of the discussion was not revealed, but after much pressure by journalists, they got the spokesman of the government to admit that one of the key individuals meeting there with Merz was a key representative of BlackRock. Maybe that’s the answer to the whole mystery, because BlackRock is in weapons companies all over the world. Maybe that is the connection which makes this whole thing tick.

But we need an active response to that by increasing the peace movement and many demonstrations of it.

Re comment: “The internet is not enough; we need outreach together with all parties who stand for peace, left or right, confessional or atheistic.” And Q from Denise Ham: “Please address the idea that evil is not a force, but the problem is the lack of the good. What is needed is to get people to do the good. That is what people need to do: Wake up and act as world citizens.”

I think concerning the comment, I can only agree, and we need activists. I think we made a big step forward with the Berlin conference, because people realized that as Stephan mentioned in the beginning, the Schiller Institute has demonstrated over the decades that we can bring forces together from all over the world. That is not a miracle; we didn’t go and pluck a rabbit out of a hat, and bring all these people together. The reason why the Schiller Institute can do that is because it is a reflection of our work for half a century. We have organized in Africa, in Latin America, in Asia since the early part of the 1970s, but in earnest since 1975. The fact that we have worked with the Non-Aligned Movement, with Indira Gandhi on a 40-year development plan; with López Portillo, President of Mexico, on Operation Juárez, which was a plan for the economic integration of all of Latin America. We have worked on a 50-year plan for the Pacific Basin; the Oasis Plan, the Africa development plan, the Eurasian Land-Bridge. We published “The New Silk Road Becomes the World Land-Bridge.” We had literally hundreds of conferences and seminars over the decades on five continents. So, that is why people trust the Schiller Institute; why we are much more known to people internationally than let’s say in Germany where the mass media is really not at all our friend. In fact, if they ever did publish something, it was a calumny, a slander, or some idiotic description which had nothing to do with our work.

Fortunately, as I keep telling my German associates, Germany is not the navel of the world, and I absolutely refuse to look at the world picture from an inner German point of view, because you get depressed. If you look at Germany as Germany, it looks almost hopeless—or many people think so—and then people get depressed. So, the best thing is to really try to see the world dynamic as it is developing right now and take that as your starting point.

Therefore, I call on people listening and watching to get in contact with us. We are prepared to amplify the impact of this recent conference many-fold. I’m absolutely certain that what we are saying in terms of the perspective of cooperating with the countries of the Global South, is in the real interest of Germany. It’s in the interest of the German industry, the German mittelstand, the German trade unions, the German civil organizations. Is it in the interest of Germany that the health budget gets cut? No, it’s in the interest that we bring a health system to every country on the planet.

Anyway, all I’m saying is, there are a zillion things we can do. Everything really depends on whether we can multiply our efforts in the very short term. I think there is hope.

Now to Denise, I want to say, I fully agree naturally with you. Evil is not a force, because in the tenth of my proposed Ten Principles for a New International Security and Development Architecture, I maintain that man is good by nature, and that evil is the result of a lack of development, and therefore can be overcome by development. It is my experience that there is a very small percentage of human beings who have decided to be evil, to be a force of evil. Depending on how old they are, you can’t do much about it because they are set in their ways. But they are just a tiny percent, and the reason why it is good to be optimistic about the Global Majority is because while naturally if you have a country of several hundred million inhabitants, not everybody is on the same line, but look at the trajectory. The trajectory of a country is what counts. If a country is moving upwards, it tends to pull its citizens in a positive direction.

I give you one example. I don’t know if I mentioned it here in this program, but when I grew up it was in the postwar period. And I played with my fellow children many times on rubblefields; because Trier, my hometown, was pretty much bombed out due to General Patton—who I still hold a grudge against. In any case, there were many rubblefields. But we played, and because the general direction of the country was characterized by the German Economic Miracle, we all felt it was going forward. So, we all thought we had a great time, even if the environment was maybe a rubblefield.

Likewise, the countries of the Global South, who have the feeling that things are going forward because of China, because of the BRICS, their general outlook is positive. While if you go to Europe or the United States, it’s more in the opposite direction because people have the sense that the future of their children and grandchildren will be worse than that of themselves; and therefore the trajectory is going downward. Subsequently, people are pessimistic.

I think it is very important that we really have the idea to turn this around by a mass movement: Optimists of the world unite! Then we can beat the evil.

Re Q on how can I contribute to this struggle as an African since Africa is somewhat removed from international conflicts; instead we face terrorism, etc. within our community. I think we have a lot to contribute though not directly affected like the Middle East.

I’m very happy about this question, because it allows me to elaborate a little bit more of what we plan to do. We have presented at the conference a short report, a work-in-progress, in which we outline certain absolutely necessary investments and parameters for the development of Africa, starting with electrification. Some 600 million people in Africa have no access to electricity. That can be remedied not in one day, but maybe in a few years if we really get our act together. We have defined certain game-changer projects like the Grand Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia, which is a very fine example of Chinese-Italian-African cooperation. It is providing water and electricity. Likewise the Inga Dams for the Congo, and the Transaqua project also starting with some water from the Congo River; bringing it through a system of canals and rivers to Lake Chad, to refill Lake Chad and provide water for the Sahel zone. This Transaqua project was already agreed upon by six governments of the Lake Chad Commission in Abuja. There was such a conference, and right now, that would be something which could be started and transform 12 countries along the route of these waterways.

I would suggest that you immediately download our report and if you have contacts among engineers and scholars and various such people, we can fill out the details. This is just the beginning of a report. We have to think about a transcontinental infrastructure plan for all of Africa, where you start with the idea that you want to have an integrated continental infrastructure which integrates roads, railways, high-speed rail, waterways, with energy production and distribution, with communication. And you look at the map of Africa as a whole, and think if you would forget all the difficulties and political obstacles, but just say this map of Africa would be like Europe. The European transport ministers meet at least once a year, and they always discuss how to have an integrated infrastructure grid. We need to do the same thing for Africa, because then we can start building different parts of this continental grid simultaneously, and it all will grow together nicely; especially if we put it on the agenda.

Now, I can only very roughly say that the idea of it is to overcome any poverty and under-development in Africa within really a few years, and make every African nation a middle level income country; providing for new cities, new science centers, education, universities, just everything you need to transform the population. By the year 2050, Africa will have 2.5 billion people, most of whom will be young. That’s a tremendous asset. Africa is the only continent which has demographic growth of significant percentages, which will be an enormous advantage; provided we can create a billion or more productive new jobs. That is what this program is all about.

So, we have to fill out this program; we already have published many previous plans which we can integrate with our present approach. Part of the World Land-Bridge is the transformation of Africa. Then we have to get discussions in universities, in think tanks, in academies like yours, across the entire continent and get everybody inspired. The Chinese economic miracle has inspired not only China, but the rest of the world. Many years ago, 70, 80 years ago, the German economic miracle inspired many people around the world. They said, Germany could rebuild from the rubblefield; that has unfortunately been gone for a long time, but there was a period when people were admiring the German economic miracle. Likewise, I think if you put this development perspective on the table and have it discussed in universities, in conferences, in think tanks, and get especially the young people as a fighting force to get that kind of program, we can turn the whole world around and make it happen.

So, I would suggest you download this report and then we have a follow-up discussion on what we can do between your academy, the Schiller Institute, and other such organizations. But it is something which is now a complete game-changer on the table.

Closing Remarks:

I can only support what President Ramotar just said about this money thing. These people who have dollar signs in their eyes when you look at them; one of them is clearly Ursula von der Leyen. She just came out with a new budget for the European Union for seven years from 2028 to 2034 or ’35. She wants to have a budget of $2 trillion, so even the German government—which is on the same trajectory—said no, that’s too much. All the German industry associations came out and said, “How can you put up such an armaments budget when the industries are already collapsing?” These people have no sense of reality, and I think the contradiction between what their greed demands and what people in the real world can do, that gap is becoming bigger by the day.

Now, let me conclude with again reminding ourselves that today is Nelson Mandela Day, and the call that today everybody should spend one hour today doing something for somebody else. I think this is very important. The Schiller Institute likes this approach because of aesthetic education—a method developed by Friedrich Schiller about how people can self-improve their own emotions to be on the same level as reason by educating your emotions. You can will yourself to be loving. Lessing said that; Confucius said that; Schiller said that. I think you think you should, as part of your own self-perfection, decide that you will be a loving person for at least one hour today, and do it with some good deed, whatever you feel like, but do it. If you make that a habit every day, you will see that in a very short period of time, you will have gained a whole world. Because whatever you love, you gain; and whatever you hate, you lose. So, the more loving you are, the more rich you become, in a true, human sense.