by Helga Zepp-LaRouche
The summit of the BRICS countries, which will take place from August 22-24 in Johannesburg, South Africa despite all Western attempts to disrupt it, will demonstrate to the whole world that a new world economic order has emerged, opening a new chapter in human history. Nations of the Global South, which already represent the vast majority of the world’s population, are expressing their effective resolve to end forever the past period of some 600 years of colonialism, and to establish an economic system that encourages the sovereign, equitable development of all states of this earth, the elimination of poverty, and the creation of a decent standard of living for all. We, the citizens of the Global North, must wholeheartedly congratulate this development and support it through practical cooperation!
A correct analysis of how this tectonic change in the strategic situation came about is essential. This formation of a new economic model is not the result of the work of “Russian trolls” or “Chinese aggression,” as the mainstream media would have us believe. Rather, it is the result of a huge strategic miscalculation by forces primarily in the USA and Great Britain, which, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, mistakenly saw themselves as the victors of the Cold War, and derived from this the license to impose their neoliberal economic model on a unipolar world, and to bring the various methods of “regime change” to bear upon all governments who do not want to conform to this “rules-based order.”
The historic opportunity of 1989, to establish what was then a perfectly possible peace order for the 21st century, was squandered and replaced by the US neocons’ Wolfowitz Doctrine and Brzezinski’s policies, which were designed to cement into place the US-British-dominated unipolar world order, which decreed that no nation or group of nations should ever surpass the United States economically, militarily, or politically.
This supposed “end of history” that Fukuyama thought he was seeing involved the complete deregulation of markets, and the extensive privatization of segments of the economy that had previously been under state control. There was now little standing in the way of profit maximization in a globalized casino economy, which led to an ever-widening gap between rich and poor, and ultimately to the point that Lyndon LaRouche had predicted in 1971 when President Nixon repealed the fixed-exchange rates of the Bretton Woods system, namely the systemic crisis of the neoliberal financial system, which manifested itself in 2008 and which has not been resolved since then, but has only been postponed by unlimited money printing by the central banks, the so-called “QE.”
This policy, which essentially benefited speculation, led to a complex counter-reaction. China was willing to participate in globalization with its reform and opening-up policies, but instead of submitting to the model of Western neoliberal democracy, this 5,000-year-old civilization turned to its own culture, pursuing the model of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and thus set in motion an unprecedented economic miracle. China’s willingness to share the experience of this successful model with other nations of the Global South, in the form of the Silk Road Initiative, led to a renaissance of the Non-Aligned Movement and the revival of the “Bandung spirit.” The countries of the Global South are painfully aware of the fact that colonialism has persisted in its modern form—namely in the unfair trade and credit conditions of the liberal financial system—which President Sukarno and Prime Minister Nehru had already warned about in Bandung 68 years ago.
This colonialism did not end after the end of World War II, as President Roosevelt had intended, but was perpetuated by Churchill and Truman. But above all, after September 11, 2001, under the banner of the “war on terrorism,” the USA concentrated on military and security operations worldwide, the establishment of up to 1,000 military bases, and the training of military forces in almost every continent. Then there were various “humanitarian wars of intervention,” the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc. Obviously, the idea of economic development in these countries fell by the wayside.
It should come as no surprise that under these circumstances, a large number of the nations of the Global South are choosing to cooperate with the BRICS countries, which are offering them real economic growth and treatment as equal partners. In this, and in the very concrete experience of the behavior of the former colonial powers (and the current hegemonic power), lies the reason why the nations of the South have refused to condemn Russia’s supposedly “unprovoked war of aggression,” and to take the side of the “rules-based” West.
The BRICS summit will make this historic realignment visible in the world so dramatically that even the mainstream media and political forces (which until recently, with their usual Eurocentric arrogance, have at best perceived the countries of the Global South as exotic vacation spots), must take note of the new reality. But the all-important question will be how the nations of the Global North relate to this emerging economic order.
Attempting to maintain the long-defunct unipolar world will almost certainly lead to World War III, to which we have come dangerously close with the situation in Ukraine, where the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive has exhausted the conventional dimension of the war, so that only ending the war through diplomatic negotiations, or escalating to the use of nuclear weapons, remain as options. The notion that the West must “decouple” from China and the BRI’s sphere of influence, or engage in “risk reduction” to use the new, ridiculous formulation, would lead not only to economic self-destruction as in the case of Germany, but this notion also leads to war. For the splitting of the world into two completely separate blocs—a US-dominated, global NATO bloc that continues to cling to the model of the casino economy, and an economically fast-growing bloc of the Global South around the BRICS countries—would not remain peaceful, either.
There is only one sure way to resolve the many existential crises that exist around the world: Instead of viewing and opposing the new economic model of the BRICS countries as an antagonist, it is in the self-interest of the nations of the Global North to cooperate with this emerging New World Economic Order and to jointly tackle the daunting task of overcoming poverty and underdevelopment.
There are currently few signs that the representatives of the transatlantic establishment would be willing to admit their misjudgments and policy mistakes of the last almost 35 years, with a few exceptions such as former French President Sarkozy. But the ordinary citizens of Europe and the USA should now very urgently check the axioms of their own thinking, inquiring whether they are not perhaps influenced by a Eurocentric point of view and the associated latent racism.
In Goethe’s Faust, the young Gretchen asks her lover, Faust, how he feels about religion. The Germans call this a “Gretchen question,” and it can mean the question you don’t want to answer because it exposes the thing you most want to conceal. The simple Gretchen question regarding the relationship of the North to the South is: Have we really accepted that it should stay like this forever, that almost a billion people are permanently on the brink of starvation, two billion have no clean drinking water, 940 million have no access to electricity and the vast majority of humanity, due to poverty, does not have the ability to develop the potential that is inherent in them, and are thus robbed of what is one of the most precious possessions of man?
We must not see the emergence of this new economic order as only long overdue for Africa, Asia and Latin America, but we should also understand that we too can only get our own ailing economies going again by cooperating with them. President Xi Jinping has made it clear from the outset that the Belt and Road Initiative is open to cooperation with any country in the world, and it is almost certain that the BRICS countries will respond openly to offers of cooperation from Western nations.
However, this requires that we in the West demonstrate unequivocally that we are ready for honest cooperation. Above all, this includes giving up the concept of expanding NATO into a global NATO, and working specifically on a new international security and development architecture that takes into account the interests of all nations, including Russia, Ukraine, China and all other states. I have formulated ten principles on this topic, the aspects that such a new architecture must take into account.
Our entire future, that of the nations of the Global South, and not least of all world peace, will depend on whether we can win enough forces in the European nations and the USA to seize the extraordinary opportunity that presents itself in the possibility of cooperation with the BRICS-Plus States. We are currently experiencing an epochal change of the kind that happens maybe once in a thousand years, and the great thing is that we can all help shape this new era through our contribution. We can help end the shameful phase of colonialism and begin a human chapter in universal history.
— Click here to sign —
Initiating signer: Helga Zepp-LaRouche (Germany), founder, Schiller Institute
Additional prominent signers (affiliation for identification purposes only)
Tse Anye Kevin | Africa | Deputy President, State55, Afrika |
Abderrahim Kachour | Algeria | TV journalist, station AL-24 |
Pablo Antonio Anzaldi | Argentina | Professor, Political Science, Catholic University of Argentina; Superior War College |
Enrique Juan Box | Argentina | Social communicator |
Juan Francisco Numa Soto | Argentina | Legal counsel to Yacyretá Binational Entity; former professor of Constitutional Law, University of Buenos Aires |
Carlos Pérez Galindo | Argentina | Lawyer |
Eduardo Anibal Putruele | Argentina | Former Economics Professor, University of Concepión del Uruguay |
Osman Vladimir Escobar Torrez | Bolivia | Human Rights Secretary, Bolivian Labor Confederation (COB) |
Max Yecid Ibáñez | Bolivia | Former Secretary of Grievance Resolution, National Federation of Electrical and Telephone Workers |
Sandra Marca Uscamayta | Bolivia | Tajibal Community, Santa Cruz |
Jairo Dias Carvalho | Brazil | Professor of Philosophy of Technology, Federal University of Uberlândia |
Jacques Bacamurwanko | Burundi/Guinea | Former Ambassador of Burundi to the United States |
Juan Gómez | Chile | Peace activist |
Fernando Duque Jaramillo | Colombia | Lawyer; Master's degree in Political Science |
Enrique Ramirez Guier | Costa Rica | Biologist; consultant |
Juan José Arias Dipre | Dominican Republic | Chemical engineer |
Ramón Emilio Concepción | Dominican Republic | Attorney at Law; Presidential Pre-candidate, PRM party (2020) |
Esther C. Cuenca Carrión | Dominican Republic | Professor |
Salvador De Jesús Piñeiro | Dominican Republic | Attorney |
Máximo Doleo R. | Dominican Republic | Psychologist |
Rafael Antonio Espaillat Almonte | Dominican Republic | Geographer |
Ramón Gross | Dominican Republic | Business Administrator; Teacher and Post-graduate Professor, Catholic University of Santo Domingo |
Dantes Ortiz Núñez | Dominican Republic | Historian; Professor of History, Autonomous University of Santo Domingo |
Rafael Reyes Jerez | Dominican Republic | journalist |
Patricia Merizalde | Ecuador | Founder and President, International Feminist Poetry Movement, "Women's Flight" (Vuelo de Mujer) |
Alexis Ponce | Ecuador | Human rights advocate, National Association of Patients and Vulnerable Families of Ecuador. |
Napoleón Saltos Galarza | Ecuador | University professor; Member of Parliament (1996-1998) |
Jacques Cheminade | France | President, Solidarité et Progrès; former presidential candidate |
Dominique Delawarde | France | General (ret.). French Land Army |
Jean-Pierre Luminet | France | Astrophysicist |
Rene Michel | France | University professor; mathematician |
Ali Rastbeen | France | President, Académie de Géopolitique, Paris |
Dr. jur. Wolfgang Bittner | Germany | Author |
Joachim Bonatz | Germany | Vice President, East German Board of Trustees of Associations (Ostdeutsches Kuratorium von Verbaenden e.V.), Berlin |
Ole Doering | Germany/China | Professor of Philosophy , Hunan Normal University |
Karl-Heinz Kaufmann | Germany | Peace activist |
Friedemann Munkelt | Germany | Col. (ret.), NVA (National People's Army, former GDR) |
Prof. Wilfried Schreiber | Germany | Col. (ret), Prof. Dr. Phil et sc.oec.; Senior Research Fellow, World Trends Institute for International Policy, Potsdam |
Bartholomew Chirapanga | Ghana | Interpreter for Legal Services in Russian, German, English, and French |
Dr. Takis Ioannides | Greece | Co-Founder, Global Gandhian Harmony Association |
Raul Anibal Marroquin Casasola | Guatemala | Coordinator, Citizen Observatory for Peace "The Pupil of Heaven", San Cristóbal, Verapaz |
Otto Rene Quiñonez Carias | Guatemala | Former Congressman (1991/1993) |
Donald Ramotar | Guyana | Former President of Guyana |
Hassan Salem Abbas | Iraq | Member, Iraqi Council of Representatives (Parliament); Chairman, Committee of Martyrs, Victims, and Political Prisoners |
Mustafa Jabbar Sanad | Iraq | Member, Iraqi Council of Representatives (Parliament) |
Angelo Aiello | Italy | Former scouting director, AC Milan |
Francesco Battaglia | Italy | Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Modena |
Davide Donateo | Italy | Founder, News Academy |
Nino Galloni | Italy | General Director, Labor Ministry, 1990-2002; economist and author |
Liliana Gorini | Italy | Chairwoman, Movisol |
Bruno Marro | Italy | Musician, composer, author |
Alessia Ruggeri | Italy | Trade unionist, IPC |
Chandra Muzaffar | Malaysia | Founder and Director, International Movement for a Just World (JUST) |
Ms. Adam A. Ouologuem | Mali | Journalist; President, Mali Diaspora in the DC, Maryland & Virginia region; President, Africa Society Inc. in Mali |
Alberto Vizcarra Ozuna | Mexico | Former Congressman; Coordinator of Citizens Movement for Water, Ciudad Obregón, and National Front for the Rescue of Mexican Farmland, Sonora |
Alex Krainer | Monaco | Financial consultant, Krainer Analytics |
Bolívar Téllez Castellón | Nicaragua | Ph.D. in Education; Lawyer |
Dr. Adewale Aiyden | Nigeria | Forensic Investigator |
David Ajetunmobi | Nigeria | Trade union leader, auto sector |
Thore Vestby | Norway | Former Member of Parliament |
Blagoje Babić | Serbia | Member, Serbian Academy of Economic Sciences |
Natasa Milojevic | Serbia | Political analyst; former Member of Parliament |
Meshack Mokete Maxongo | South Africa | Leader, LaRouche South Africa |
Lars Modin | South Africa | Marine engineer |
Javier Otazu | Spain | Economist |
Juan José Torres Nuñez | Spain | Poet, published author, freelance journalist |
Hussein Askary | Sweden | Vice-Chairman, Belt and Road Institute, Sweden; Southwest Asia Coordinator, Schiller Institute |
Koku Foli Adomdza | United Kingdom | Professor of Law; Higher Degree of Research (HDRH) |
Brian A. Earley | United States | Captain (ret.), U.S. Army |
Muhammad Salim Akhtar | United States | National Director, American Muslim Alliance (AMA) |
David Andersson | United States | Co-Director, Pressenza International Press Associaiton |
Anastasia Battle | United States | Schiller Institute; Editor-in-Chief, Leonore Magazine; Humanity for Peace organizer |
Prof. Oliver Boyd-Barrett | United States | Professor Emeritus, Bowling Green State University |
Nick Brana | United States | Chair, People's Party |
Lt. (ret.) Robert Branca | United States | U.S. Naval Reserve; Vietnam Veteran |
Ellen Brown | United States | Activist for Public Banking; Author, "Web of Debt" |
Lisa Hart Carroll | United States | Actress, painter, writer; collaborator and widow of Al Reinert; Screenwriter for Apollo 13 movie; Director and Producer, "For All of Mankind" |
Dr. Joycelyn Elders | United States | 15th Surgeon-General of the United States (1993-1994) |
Graham Fuller | United States/Canada | Former CIA Official; Former Vice-Chairman, National Intelligence Council; author |
Jack Gilroy | United States | Pax Christi Upstate NY; Pax Christi International; Veterans for Peace |
Ephraim Haile | United States/Eritrea | Eritrean Cultural & Development Center (ECDC), Eritrean Diaspora, Boston |
Dr. Abate Kirkos | United States | Founder, Forum for Research Initiatives, Knowledge, Exchange, and Development Support (FRIENDS) |
Ricardo Macedo | United States | Independent sociologist; university professor; political analyst |
Joseph Marcinkowski | United States | Veterans for Peace; Pax Christi, Houston |
Irene Mavrakakis | United States | Founder and Chair, Liberty Speaks Inc.; Humanity for Peace organizer |
Angela McArdle | United States | Chair, Libertarian Party National Committee |
Dr. Andrews Nkansah | United States | Under-Secretary General, African Diaspora Congress (ADC) |
Dr. Sylvester Okere | United States | President, United People for African Congress, Washington DC |
Cynthia Pooler | United States | "An American Who Thinks", YouTube podcaster, "Issues That Matter" |
Earl Rasmussen | United States | Lt. Col. (Ret.), U.S. Army; International consultant |
Harley Schlanger | United States/Germany | Spokesman, The LaRouche Organization; Vice-President, Schiller Institute |
Vaithilingam Shanmuganathan | United States | Founder and President, Ever Green Award; evergreenaward.com. |
Paul Shannon | United States | Member, Massachusetts Peace Action |
Steven Starr | United States | Professor, University of Missouri |
Dr. Jack Stockwell | United States | Morning Radio Talk Show Host (1995-present), Salt Lake City, UT |
Dr. Terri Strong | United States | Senior Pastor, Mt. Sinai AME Church, Arlington, TN |
Barbara Suhrstedt | United States | Concert pianist (ret.);, President, Board of Directors - Framingham Lomonosov Association for Mutual Exchange (F.L.A.M.E.) |
Mark Sweazy | United States | Former President, United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 969 |
Dr. Mohammad A. Toor | United States | Chairman, Board, of Trustees, Pakistani American Congress |
Marco Antonio Andara Hernández | Venezuela | Social media organizer; Professor |
José Bustamante Plaz | Venezuela | Sociologist |
Andrés Ramón Giussepe Avalo | Venezuela | Former member, Latin American Parliament |
Emil R. Guevara Munoz | Venezuela | Former member, Latin American Parliament (2006-2011) |
Juan Martorano | Venezuela | Attorney; Defender of Human Rights; Columnist |
Roberto R. Montano | Venezuela | Electronics engineer |
Maria Gabriela Sánchez Perdomo | Venezuela | Editor |
Manuel Felipe Sierra | Venezuela | Journalist, political analyst, writer, radio and television host |
Munashe Chiwanza | Zambia | Civil engineer |
Background material
Colonialism is over! Appeal to the USA and Europe: Support A New, Just World Economic Order, Not War!
Contents:
· The World Needs 1.5 Billion New, Productive Jobs; Executive Intelligence Review Report
· How the International Development Bank Will Work; by Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., May 16, 1975
· Ten Principles of a New International Security and Development Architecture; by Helga Zepp-LaRouche