EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR FRIDAY JULY 1, 2022

Celebrating Independence from the British Empire—Hong Kong’s 25th Anniversary, United States’ 246th Anniversary

June 30, 2022 (EIRNS)—On July 1, 1997 Hong Kong became free of being a colony of Britain, after over a hundred years, and became an independent part (Special Administrative Region) of the People’s Republic of China. President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan are visiting Hong Kong for a two-day gala celebration of this 25th anniversary and what independence means.

In the United States, this Fourth of July weekend is the 246th anniversary of its enactment of the Declaration of Independence. However, the Biden Administration continues the U.S. subservience of recent years to the British empire, in the form of Global NATO and the dying financial system of the City of London/Wall Street.

The meaning of the original American Declaration of Independence, and what it signifies universally today, will be celebrated this weekend at a special international Schiller Institute webcast, held Sunday, July 3, at 1 p.m. EDT, 17:00 UTC, 7 p.m. CET. Speakers will be the founder of the Schiller Institute Helga Zepp-LaRouche, and Diane Sare, the LaRouche Party candidate for U.S. Senate from New York. This event is a call to action for independence from the war threat, and from economic breakdown, through a replacement—a “New Bretton Woods”—for the destructive financial/economic system propelling the conflict and destruction. The event is titled, “This July 4, Declare for a New Bretton Woods!”

A call for an “Ad-Hoc Committee for a New Bretton Woods System” was issued as an international Schiller Institute petition this week by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, with a hundred international signers, and is now circulating for thousands more.

Zepp-LaRouche explained the purpose of this today in her weekly webcast dialogue: “There are many people who are extremely concerned about the danger of a Third World War, and given the fact that the danger is increasing, really, by the day, as we could see by the recent NATO meeting in Madrid, but most people just are against the war, but they’re not really looking at what is the cause for this increased war danger. And it is the fact that the neoliberal system is collapsing: As a matter of fact, it has been collapsing for a very long time. But now it has entered its final, hyperinflationary phase, and the entire trans-Atlantic sector is comparable in this situation with Weimar Germany in the summer of 1923. That’s why we need to take action before you have either a hyperinflationary blowout of the system, or, if the central banks are increasing the interest rates, you could have a chain-reaction collapse, and that would increase the war danger dramatically.

“So, therefore, we are calling for a New Bretton Woods, a committee to organize such a system which must take immediate emergency measures to completely reorganize this bankrupt, trans-Atlantic, neoliberal system. And given the fact that there is a historic precedent which could be used, we are calling it a New Bretton Woods system, because if you go to the initial intention of Franklin D. Roosevelt, what he wanted the Bretton Woods system to become, which it never, unfortunately did, because he died, and then Churchill and Truman designed the Bretton Woods, which is why many people think it was not such a great thing. But if you look at the intent of Roosevelt, he wanted to create a credit system which would overcome colonialism, and end the poverty in the third world by increasing the living standard, especially of the developing countries.

“This is urgently needed, because we have 1.7 billion people who are in danger of starvation. We have, still, 2 billion people who are without clean water, and I could add that there is no modern health system in most countries, and so forth.”

In Hong Kong today, President Xi spoke of the great benefits ahead for Hong Kong and all concerned, under the “One Country, Two Systems” relationship. His itinerary was marked by great festivities, from the police brass band at arrival by high-speed train, to fireworks, and a visit to the Hong Kong science park. He will attend the inauguration of the new chief executive of Hong Kong, John Lee, on July 1.

The spirit of independence was echoed today by Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a pre-recorded video address to the 10th St. Petersburg International Legal Forum. Denouncing the “rule of law” jargon of nations imposing their arbitrary will, Putin said that the new multipolar world coming into being “speaks for the practical realization of the pivotal international legal principle of the sovereign equality of states and the right of each state to pursue its own development model.” All problems can be solved under this principle.

The concept involved was included yesterday in the final communiqué of the Sixth Annual Caspian Sea Summit, which stated adherence to “the principles and norms of the United Nations Charter and international law,” by the five Caspian Sea nations—Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Iran. Meeting in Ashgabat, they discussed concrete mutual-interest projects including oil and gas, and the planned International North-South Transport Corridor, a 7,200-km transport artery from St. Petersburg to ports in Iran and India.

In contrast to the momentum these events of independence embody, today’s conclusion of the NATO Summit in Madrid featured still more pledges of military aid to Ukraine, military buildup in the Pacific, and opposition to Russia and China in Africa and Southwest Asia, for their alleged “coercive economic leverage.” In reality, the economic resources and means don’t exist in the Trans-Atlantic, to fulfill their crazed weaponry pledges. Every sector in Europe and the United States and Canada, from transportation, to power and fuel, to agriculture and health care, are sinking into dysfunction and chaos.

This is the time for the mobilization to succeed for a long-overdue new system. Sign the petition, spread the word.