Zepp-LaRouche Call for Joint Action To Stop Starvation in Africa

In the Discussion Session of the October 21, 2020 Schiller Institute and Cátedra China Conference, “China and the West Face to Face: Rivalry or Cooperation,” Helga Zepp-LaRouche issued the following call for joint action—by the conference participants, and beyond—to stop starvation in Africa.

Moderator: We have a question, coming from Mexico, addressed to Helga: “Since China shares Western values, could China, based on Chinese values and based on Confucian principles, help the West to solve the problems of hedonism, the lack of faith in science, and above all, the lack of optimism in youth in the West?”

Helga Zepp-LaRouche: I would emphatically say yes. Leibniz, in the 17th century, was absolutely convinced that what he called the natural theology of the Chinese, which really referred to the Confucian teaching, represented something which would be a remedy for the weaknesses of Europe at that time, after the wreckage of the Thirty Years’ War, after1648. He asked if the Chinese could not send missionaries to teach the Europeans morality. I think unfortunately we are in a situation where that may be a good idea, because the West is in a much more profound cultural crisis.

But I have an idea, and I actually would like to propose it. Because thinking about it, I think the fact that we have here two pro-Chinese think tanks—Cátedra China and the Schiller Institute—we have His Excellency Mr. Yao Fei, and Mr. Geraci, who may still be on the phone. We have right now an unbelievable crisis. Mr. David Beasley, who is the head of the World Food Programme, which just received the Nobel Peace Prize, has made a statement that already this year, 7 million people have died of hunger and there is the immediate danger of 30 million more people dying in the next several months if the World Food Programme does not receive $5 billion, which it has not been able to raise, despite many appeals.

It seems to me that this is such an incredible humanitarian crisis, that out of this dialogue which we have today, we should issue an appeal. We have a member of the Schiller Institute in South Africa, Ramasimong Phillip Tsokolibane, who has just made a very urgent appeal, saying these people are dying right now, and there must be an immediate response. He appealed directly to President Trump. But I would urge that this be a call in which China and the two organizations meeting today, and Mr. Geraci would join, in support of that call by Phillip Tsokolibane, … $5 billion is really proverbial peanuts in terms of what is happening now! The central banks have spent $20 trillion on saving the bankrupt banking system, and almost no money from that has gone into any kind of real investment. If the world’s 2,000 billionaires each gave a certain share, they wouldn’t feel it; they wouldn’t miss a meal, as David Beasley just said.

We will have a Zoom conference like this one on Friday, in which an organization will be taking shape, right now, in the United States called the Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites. It will promote a response by the West to this urgent call to relieve the famine in Africa. I would like to at least pose it to the people on this panel: How do you make a practical example of cooperation between Europe and China, including the United States, if we cannot address the most urgent questions?

Xi Jinping began a very good initiative with the World Health Silk Road some years ago. I agree with that approach, a World Health Silk Road; we need a health system in every country in the world. If every country would have had a health system like people in Wuhan and Hebei province had, we would not have a pandemic! The pandemic could have been stopped.

We have reached a point where we need to change this present system. I would like to ask all the speakers if we cannot come out of this meeting supporting such an initiative as a very practical example of the kind of international cooperation Mr. Yao Fei was just mentioning before. That is my proposal.