THE END OF AN ERA IS NOW!
'Monday Demonstrations' Show:
Germans Demand Jobs, Recovery
by Helga Zepp-LaRoucheMrs. LaRouche is the chairman of the Civil Rights Movement Solidarity party in Germany (Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität, Büso). She issued this leaflet on Aug. 4 under the title "Get Rid of Hartz 4! Germany Needs 8 Million New Jobs." It has been translated from German, and subheads added. EIR reported details of the Social Democratic-led government's disastrous Hartz 4 plan in its issue of July 16, 2004.
Dear Citizens of Germany,
We are currently in the midst of a systemic collapse, the likes of which we have not seen since the Autumn of 1989—only this time, the quake is worldwide. Extreme instability in Southwest Asia, permanent terrorist alerts, and speculators taking advantage of the situation, have driven up the price of oil to record levels, which, in turn, has had catastrophic effects on inflation and the real economy. But all these events are merely symptoms of the fact that the world financial system as a whole, is finished. And that fact is not unknown to higher echelons in government and banking. Indeed, the global system is just as bankrupt now, as the German Democratic Republic was back in 1989.
And therefore, the policy associated with "Hartz 4"—a policy which dispossesses those unfortunate enough to be long-term unemployed, hurling them into poverty—is not only criminal from a social-welfare standpoint, it is also utterly incompetent as an economic policy. Because Hartz 4 is not going to result in the creation of a single new job; and in the face of the systemic crisis of the global financial system, Hartz 4 will have just about the same effect as using a teaspoon to empty out the ocean. And to those who are affected by it, it is simply an inhuman policy.
Beginning about four weeks ago, as part of the elections for state parliament in Saxony, the Büso has been distributing a leaflet there, calling for Monday demonstrations against Hartz 4, but also, more importantly, demonstrations for a program of full, productive employment. Three such Monday demonstrations have already been held in Leipzig, each with greater participation than the last. And sparks are now flying everywhere, with a growing number of other organizations now calling for new Monday demonstrations in other cities.
But now, Economics Minister Clement has come out demanding a halt to these protests, arguing that to call the present wave of protest "Monday demonstrations," is an embarrassment to the legacy of the peaceful revolution of 1989.
Now, to understand why Herr Minister Clement has reacted in this way, you have to know that he's not really an economist at all, but rather he's a former economic journalist. I understand this problem all too well, because I myself was a journalist once. But at an early point, I quit their little club, and turned instead to science—specifically, to the science of physical economy based on the work of Leibniz, Alexander Hamilton, and Friedrich List, which has been developed further by my husband, Lyndon LaRouche.
And so, my best advice to Herr Minister Clement, is to follow in my footsteps, and to turn to science—to the science of physical economy!
Why, then, far from being an embarrassment, is it entirely appropriate to be holding "Monday demonstrations"? Because we're now paying the price for our failure to utilize the Great Opportunity of 1989, which was rightly described at the time as Germany's shining hour. Because unfortunately, after the Iron Curtain came down, instead of being modernized with modern infrastructure and "development corridors," as I had proposed in my "Paris-Berlin-Vienna Productive Triangle" program, the East's economy was stripped bare.
The policy adopted was one of privatization on behalf of banking interests, and massive destruction of allegedly outmoded industrial capacity. Behind it lurked the geopolitical intention, shared by Bush, Sr., Thatcher, and Mitterrand, that under no circumstances should Germany be allowed to play a role in the economic development of Eurasia to the east. Instead, Russia was to be reduced to the status of a raw materials-exporting, Third World country. That was the true reason for the over-hasty adoption of a unified European currency, and for the neo-liberal Maastricht Treaty. As I warned at the time in numerous leaflets and speeches, if you take a bankrupt economy and just paint it over with an equally bankrupt free-market economy, it will be but a few short years before the entire system collapses.
And that's precisely the point we have reached today. The global economic and financial system is in the final throes of a systemic crisis far more profound than the 1930s Great Depression. The world's leading financial institutions are, of course, trying every trick to postpone a full collapse of the global system until after November, so as not to ruin George W. Bush's re-election chances, but whether they will succeed in doing so, is highly doubtful.
The LaRouche Alternative
But, there is a real alternative! With our concept of building the Eurasian Land-Bridge, we, the Büso, have presented a program for how the entire Eurasian continent can grow together economically, via corridors of infrastructure and development. Such corridors, reaching out along the old Trans-Siberian Railway and the old Silk Road route, can connect Europe's industrial centers to the great Asian population centers. High-speed rail such as the Transrapid, conventional rail, highways, and canals must likewise be knit together into a Eurasia-wide transport network, and must be tied to a parallel energy production and distribution network, and a corresponding modern communications infrastructure.
These projects must be funded according to the model of the post-World War II Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau [Reconstruction Finance Agency], with government-issued and -backed credit made available in each participating country. In Germany, this means 200 billion euros immediately, in order to create 8 million new jobs. This is precisely the pathway along which President Franklin D. Roosevelt led the United States out of the Depression in the 1930s, at the same time when we in Germany were stupidly allowing Hitler to ride into power on the crest of Brüning's Emergency Decrees.
All we need is full, productive employment, and we won't have any problem paying for our social-welfare state! But in Germany, this will work only if we make enough scientific and technological progress to place us back at the top among the world's producers, and if we export 40% of what we produce. Our natural export markets lie in Asia: China, India, Russia, Southeast and Southwest Asia—i.e., right along the path of the Eurasian Land-Bridge!
The Civil Rights Movement Solidarity gave itself that name, because we knew that as this long-impending crisis unfolded, the basic issues of civil rights—the right to vote, the right to a job, the right to life, and the right to a fulfilling life—would once again come to the fore, and that the spirit of solidarity would be needed to address these issues successfully. In the United States, Lyndon LaRouche is making his tremendously increased influence felt inside the Democratic Party, in order to firmly base Presidential candidate Kerry on the Franklin D. Roosevelt tradition, and thus on the concept of the General Welfare, to serve the interests and needs of the "forgotten 80 percent" of American citizens.
No More 'Underlings'!
We therefore call upon all citizens of Germany to join with the Büso in making this revolution happen. We must stop acting like underlings, who "go along to get along." We must instead take into our own hands, our destiny as world-historical individuals. One system collapsed in 1989; and now in 2004, a second one—the free-market economy and globalization—is going under, too. What we need now, is a peaceful revolution for the attainment of an economic program based on the principle of the General Welfare.
And that, Herr Clement, is why we need Monday demonstrations.
Chancellor Kohl acted correctly over a decade ago, when he enthusiastically proposed his Ten-Point Program. But despite that, the CDU-CSU-FDP government blew their historic chance. Chancellor Schröder now has the opportunity set things aright, by turning this crisis into an opportunity to implement the Eurasian Land-Bridge program.
Help us to put it loud and clear to every German citizen: There is a real alternative, and that is: the Büso program!
Come to the Monday demonstration!
