Second Discussion Session

The following are edited excerpts from the second discussion session, November 13, 2021, during Panel 2, “The Science of Physical Economy,” of the Schiller Institute conference, “All Moral Resources of Humanity Have to Be Called Up: Mankind Must Be the Immortal Species!” The discussion involved two co-moderators, Claudio Celani, from Wiesbaden, Germany, and Dennis Speed from New York City. The panelists participating in the discussion were Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Dr. Walter Faggett, Major General (ret.) Carroll D. Childers, Eric Walcott, Jhonny Estor, and Richard Freeman, co-author of “The Schiller Institute Plan to Develop Haiti,” who gave a special presentation on this during the discussion. The Plan was published in the October 1, 2021 EIR.

Mozambique Initiative

Dennis Speed: Dr. Faggett, you have a message from Dr. Khadijah Lang concerning the Mozambique initiative?

Dr. Walter Faggett: I’m here in Washington D.C. I just want to confirm, as Dr. Elders mentioned before, that the Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites is indeed sending supplies to Mozambique. Medicine, medical supplies, water purification, as well as a cash donation for the World Food Program in Maputo, Mozambique. This will be used to purchase and distribute needed supplies to the Cabo Delgado area, where there are nearly one million displaced and food insecure, starving people.

This project was urged and spearheaded by Committee member Dr. Khadijah Lang, who is not available today. She chairs the Council on International Affairs of the NMA (National Medical Association), whom Dr. Elders previously mentioned. She’s also President of the California branch of the National Medical Association (Golden State Medical Association). She has led several medical missions to Mozambique previously. This was designed both to provide care as well as to train some of the physicians there in Mozambique. It’s an ongoing relationship which will include bringing medical students to work with potentially young folks interested in health careers.

Scores of individuals from several nations have contributed to this combined effort. Hopefully, we think this modest effort to aid Mozambique can serve as a model of cooperation to accomplish the much-needed solutions to the health and famine crises that we discussed here at the conference today.

Claudio Celani: I have two questions for you, Dr. Elders:

The first question is, “I would like to know if your experience of health aid in Mozambique can be done in other countries, like West Africa?” The gentleman who asks this is a radiology specialist in Burkina Faso; his name is Dr. Zebco Gerald Ezekiel.

Another question is from Isa Martinez. “Dr. Elders highlighted the disturbing mindset many Americans maintain; in that they would rather not know about the tragic circumstances those in developing countries face every day to survive. I believe many of these people veer away from the truth, not only because the solutions seem insurmountable at times, but because once the issues are within plain sight, we are all called upon to act. That being said, I was hoping Dr. Elders could update us as to how India is combatting the ongoing COVID crisis.”

Dr. Joycelyn Elders: I feel that the group in Mozambique organized a real effort to address the specific problems they felt were being faced by people in Mozambique. And I think it’s an issue, that if you take on a problem, and feel that you want to solve it, it doesn’t matter where it is. You can go anywhere and work on trying to address that major problem. I think people all over the world feel that health care should be a human right.

Of course, before we really can deal with health care, as I’ve said multiple times, we’ve got to start with the basics. To have good health care, you can’t keep ignorant people healthy. So, you have to educate them. But before you do that, you’ve got to make sure you’ve got food, you’ve got to have clean water, clothing, and shelter. So, the basic needs of people all over the world are needed, regardless of where you are. You never as a human being escape those very basic needs in addressing the problem.

I’m well aware that we have a major problem in India, and I feel that we need to be doing everything we can to try and make sure we get immunizations to India.

All over the world, people need to be made aware of doing the things that they can do, and we need to all get busy doing what we can do. We all don’t need to do everything; but we can all do something. I think if every country, if every individual, all of youth, take on the basic problem of doing something to make a difference for people all over the world—I think it’s a mindset. We’ve got to change our basic mindset to try and get done the things which we can do. Nobody can do everything; but we can all do something.

Speed: Dr. Elders, did you hear the presentation that was done by Major General (ret.) Carroll Childers, concerning the possibilities of the use of different portions of national defense forces?

Dr. Elders: I did hear parts of it. And I do feel that we can begin to use our national defense forces all over. I understand that somebody’s got to be in charge, somebody’s got to direct them, somebody’s got to tell them what to do. And that requires organization. I don’t care what we do, we’ve got to get organized in order to get something done. Somebody has to be in charge; somebody has to be responsible. I think that’s a big thing that we need to start thinking about and trying to do.

We all don’t need to run out there. We can all say, “Oh, well, we’re going to provide clean water to everybody.” Well, we might provide clean water, but if we provide clean water and no food, they’re still going to die. So, I’m saying we’ve got to organize to make sure we provide both clean water, food, adequate health care, immunizations.

Whatever is needed, we’ve got to organize, find out what’s needed, and there needs to be, regardless of what’s done in the world today, we have to organize, develop, and get the organization on the ground to get it done. I think now we have enough telemedicine, enough different things, to be able to do many of the things that need to be done. But somebody has to organize what’s to be done, where it’s to be done, and decide who’s going to do it.

Speed: OK, we’d like to make sure to get any response that Major General Childers may have, both to what Dr. Elders has just said, and also to whatever else you’ve heard, since you made a proposal, and we want to have some discussion on it.

Maj. Gen. (ret.) Carroll Childers: OK, I certainly agree with what she just said. Somebody has to make a decision, and then the hard part comes: Locating the fiscal resources to carry something like this off. I basically outlined the amount of talent that is found within the reserve components and all of its sub-elements. When I say sub-elements, I mean there’s Air National Guard, there’s Army National Guard, there’s militia, there’s state defense forces. You can actually divide the National Guard units up into Title X people of the U.S. Code, and Title XXXII people.

There’s also a host of civilians employed by the National Guard. I have not discussed this with the National Guard Bureau, nor the DoD (Department of Defense), nor any of the other large decision-makers. I discussed it because I was asked to give my views on this general subject, and I’ve done that.

Speed: We only have a limited amount of time on the questions. But at least we’ve got these points established on the record. I’m sure Helga is going to take that under advisement.

The Schiller Institute Plan to Develop Haiti

Celani: Maria in Virginia asks, “How can the countries of the Caribbean Basin, which have diplomatic relations with China, such as the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, and El Salvador, how can they cooperate so that Haiti can execute its development plans? They share the same gang problems and under-development as Haiti.” Helping Haiti to develop would mean helping its neighbor countries to develop.

Jhonny Estor: In Renaissance Haiti, we focus on U.S. diplomacy about Haiti. We focus now on trying to put people who have an imperative favorable for Haiti, like Daniel Lewis Foote, like Gregory Meeks, like Andy Levin, to work with those people backing the policies the American government applies against Haiti, so they will change. These people will be enlightened. We want policy to change.

There are a lot of Americans who don’t like the policies used against Haiti, but a lot of them don’t say anything. They don’t lend their voice to say to change it. So, if we can have more people who are coming to the view of people like Daniel Lewis Foote, who quit his position in Haiti because he didn’t accept the way the American government sent back the Haitians who were coming from Mexico to Del Rio.

Some people like Gregory Meeks and Andy Levin—a lot of time they are asking for a transition for Haiti. So, the U.S. government, even the administration of Biden, who during his campaign went to Miami, Florida to promise the Haitian community to help them have a change in Haiti. After he got to power, he did nothing for this change.

So now we have to bring together all people who have empathy for Haiti, who do not agree with this policy, to voice their voice and put pressure on this government to change this policy against Haiti.

So, we can always have help; we need help. We need other organizations like the Schiller Institute, like Ms. Helga LaRouche to help us be a louder voice in broadcasting this situation. We have a plan—this Renaissance plan—and if we apply it, we can make a miracle in Haiti in ten years. In ten years, we can change a lot of things in Haiti.

Our plan is focussed on rebuilding Haiti by infrastructure. We think about railroads, we think about creating new cities along the train routes and stations. We talk about moving the population who are living in the high population, big areas like Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haïtien, to the new cities. We can rebuild the cities, from the way they used to be, with people living in the slum areas.

We have a good plan, so we need to have a super policy; an international super policy to be able to apply this plan for Haiti. With the plan, we focus on the “physical economy,” like the LaRouche movement or the Schiller Institute puts it, and it is going to be a good thing for the Schiller Institute or the LaRouche movement, if they can support this approach, the way we would like to rebuild Haiti. We need help, we need a lot of organizations to help us to do that. That is the reason why I am coming to the Schiller Institute to help to change this situation in Haiti.

Celani: We have with us Richard Freeman, who is co-author of the development plan for Haiti and the Caribbean for the Schiller Institute.

Richard Freeman: As people may know, Haiti is locked into a couple of situations. One is that it gets 75% of all its energy from charcoal, which comes from burning trees, a 16th Century technology. Haiti must be freed from that. We propose in the plan to build about 27 megawatts of installed power over the next 20 years, but especially over the next 15 years, 13.5 megawatts. This would be spread out to every part of the country. Because the children wake up, there’s no power, there’s no food, there’s not the development they can have to bring out the genius of the Haitian people.

We also propose, in terms of the health system, which gets to what Helga was talking about, what Dr. Faggett was getting at. Haiti has 1% of its population vaccinated against COVID-19. It also has very few nurses. If you get sick in Haiti, you need nurses. They’re completely capable of developing that. What we propose is that Haiti have 100,000 nurses; it’s absolutely essential. You get from 2,800 doctors to 20,000 doctors, and need to build 184 new hospitals. These hospitals would have 47,000 new beds. What that gets at immediately is what Helga said back in May. If you do that, you need clean water, you need electricity—vast amounts of those.

Providing this has to be a comprehensive plan that the U.S., China, and especially Haiti will be participating in, but also the entire region.

Look at this plan for Haiti. This is something we developed. If you look at the railroad, that’s a railroad all along the coast from Fort Liberté all the way to Jacmel in the south. That’s a 1,000-mile or 1,600 km railroad. It would provide development corridors, which is exactly what Jhonny is talking about. New cities, high technology, fiber optics, electricity, and so forth. In every part of Haiti, we would also have—and you can see the little symbols—both a power plant and a water treatment plant. You need clean water 230,000 gallons per day. The power would come from floating nuclear power plants, clean coal, and natural gas.

Then, you will see from Jacmel, through Port-au-Prince, up to Fort Liberté, there would be a high-speed rail development corridor. A development corridor because all of these corridors would develop not just rail transport, but the entire nation. Cities developing, factories developing, and so forth. That would mean travel at about 180-210 mph, about 290-338 km/h.

The other plan is the one that shows the region as a whole.

This gets at the point that every speaker has referenced, particularly Billy Estimé and so forth. It’s the one that shows the regional development plan. What we’re thinking of, you’ll see Haiti right next to the Dominican Republic. We will develop Fort Liberté which is in the north into the deepest port in the entire region, including the United States, whose terminals can handle huge amounts of what are called TEUs—20-Ton Equivalent Units.

If you look at the whole region, from Ponce, Puerto Rico all the way over to Guatemala, El Salvador, and so forth, and then look at places like Dion and so forth, that’s a population of 92 million. This will become part of the Maritime Silk Road. Then, we will connect that whole development area with Ibero-America and elsewhere. The rail could begin in the very south of South America at Tierra del Fuego and will go all the way up through the Darien Gap, through Mexico, through the United States, and into Canada.

This will require Haiti to recognize China; it’s not a minor question at all, because China will not allow a country to simply recognize one of its provinces, which is what Taiwan is. It’s an easy step to do for them. Then they have many plans which are very powerful. This is all encompassed in our program. I recommend people go to it.

But the idea is, if we unleash this in Haiti, within 10-15 years, Haiti will develop every one of the critical capacities from machine tool capacity, steel capacity, and so forth. And Haiti will become one of the most developed countries within a generation, in the entire world. This demonstrates that if you take the genius of the Haitian people, and this method of LaRouche, you can then transform that with the United States and China working together, which is what we need rather than going to war. We must start to develop every country in the world as a matter of principle.

Eric Walcott: Thanks to the Schiller Institute for affording us this opportunity to have such an important discussion, particularly on the country that is near and dear to me. Based on recent surveys, particularly after the 2010 earthquake, more than 70% of Americans said that they were following very closely what was taking place. Another 18% of households that mentioned that they had actually made a donation to earthquake relief, with another 30% saying that they would be making some in the near future.

So, Haiti has occupied a very important place in the hearts and minds of the United States, and the West, and rightfully so as the first black republic. But currently, the issues that Haiti is facing really require our most clear-minded approach.

I believe that the problem that we do have with gangs and instability in Haiti, is because there is a lack of commerce, a lack of an environment where an individual can gain any type of life, any type of business so that they can take care of their families. Of course, what you saw with regard to the recent killing of President Jovenel Moïse was a playout of the whole socio-economic barrenness, if you will, that continues to have a real stranglehold not only on the economy, but all matters of social life in the Republic of Haiti.

What does Haiti need right now? I think it needs for us to come together as a global community, and really work with the people of Haiti so that for once, we can have the genius of the Haitian people come to light. I will not go into further details. I think the clear plan that has been mentioned by the previous speaker and others really spells out a plan to really take Haiti into the future.

So, with that, I’m just going to say that at this point, the people of Haiti are in crisis. As you know, fuel lines have been impacted, the water. And to a certain extent, individuals cannot even go to school, cannot go to church, or cannot even go to the marketplace and do light shopping. So, I really call on all support by the West, particularly the United States; a country I now call home. I really would like to see us get more engaged in working with the current administration so that we could stabilize the country, rid the country of gangs, and prepare it for the next elections.

I am not as optimistic, though, to think that just having an event of an election will mean that you will have stability, you will have peace, you will have security. It needs our continued support to work with Haiti, to rid it of gangs, to help build its institutions of governance, as I have mentioned, and to actually bring it into the 21st Century.

Childers: A little bit of feedback for you gentlemen. In the presentation concerning developing Haiti, I noticed all of the power plants. If you will give me a call, I’ll tell you all about it. A kind of a power plant that you might not be aware of.

Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites

Speed: We just want to make sure that people are clear that the last presentations were all the product of what Helga Zepp-LaRouche had described as her Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites. That process has now succeeded in carrying out a project in Mozambique and a project in Washington, DC. We are looking to try to expand both of those projects in various ways, including in the United States.

The actual image that we have really comes from the work of Alexander Hamilton, and the actual founders of the United States; the people who collaborated with Toussaint Louverture, who brought the delegation from Haiti into the White House in the John Adams administration. The people who understood the difference between Jacobinism and true republicanism. And the people who, in the form of Franklin Roosevelt for example, understood the great injustice that had been done there. We talked about injustices in Afghanistan earlier today. And they wanted to solve these problems.

So, we’re asking and urging that people join that Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites. There was a particular question concerning West Africa, and yes, there is something that could be done there, as well as in other locations.

But the main idea is that the entire theme of today’s presentations has been this idea that we are an immortal species, and if we act from the standpoint of our species nature, we don’t leave anyone in the world in a condition of destitution or desperation. So, we want to thank particularly the persons from the Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites who participated in this past section.