E.I.R.STRATEGIC WEEKLY NEWSLETTER ALERT--Special Issue on the Dialogue of Cultures The “Clash of Civilizations”

E.I.R.STRATEGIC WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

ALERT Volume 33, No. 23, June 6, 2019 Special Issue on the Dialogue of Cultures

The “Clash of Civilizations” Is an Absurd Geopolitical Construct The Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations was held on May 15 in Beijing under the auspices of President Xi Jinping. Although scarcely reported in the West, the event brought to- gether representatives from 47 Asian nations, as well as from 50 other nations in the world. Schiller Institute Chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche was among the speakers, delivering a speech on “the Highest Ideal of Mankind Is the Potential of the Future” (cf. SAS 22/19).

The editorial board of the Strategic Alert Service has de- cided, for different reasons, to devote this issue exclusively to the CDAC and in particular to Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s offering on that occasion. It affords a more profound view than our newsletter can usually provide of the cultural foundations and work of EIR and the Schiller Institute, which our readers can certainly appreciate.

President Xi Jinping has has consistently underlined the im- portance of mutual learning and cultural exchanges as an in- tegral part of China’s current economic and foreign policy. In opening the CDAC, he noted that the Belt and Road Initiative, “together with the Two Corridors and One Belt, the Eurasian Economic Union and other initiatives, have greatly expanded inter-civilizational exchanges and mutual learning. Coopera- tion among nations in science, technology, education, culture, health and people-to-people exchanges are thriving like never before.” (Full speech in English at https://eng.yidaiyilu.gov.cn/ qwyw/rdxw/90754.htm)

In that context, he made a clear statement against the in- famous thesis of the clash of civilizations, which has been en- dorsed by so many in leading positions in the West. “We need to uphold the beauty of each civilization and the diversity of civilizations in the world”, he said. “Civilizations don’t have to clash with each other; what is needed are eyes to see the beauty in all civilizations. We should keep our own civilizations dynamic and create conditions for other civilizations to flourish. Together we can make the garden of world civilizations colorful and vibrant.”

Xi further stressed, that “all civilizations are rooted in their unique cultural environment. Each embodies the wisdom and vision of a country or nation, and each is valuable for being uniquely its own.... No civilization is superior over others.”

That resonates, as our readers will see, with the theme of Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s article, written for publication by the

CDAC a few weeks before the conference began. In fact, the Schiller Institute was founded to promote a dialogue of cultures based on the very best that each has to contribute.

Xi Jinping, for his part, according to a recent article in Xin- hua, has long been dedicated to just such a dialogue. “Over 40 years ago [Xi as] a teenager was fascinated by [Goethe’s] Faust.... It was towards the end of the 1960s, an age of scarci- ty with little to read, when Xi was sent from Beijing to work as a farmer in a poverty-stricken village in China’s northwestern Shaanxi Province. An avid reader of not only Chinese but also foreign literary works, Xi read whatever books he managed to find during his seven years there, from old Chinese textbooks to plays written by William Shakespeare. ‘To be or not to be,’ Xi pondered the question on the barren plateau, and eventually made up his mind to dedicate himself to serving his country and the people.”

The same article quotes from a 2014 speech by Xi: “Art and literary works are the best way for different nations and peoples to understand and communicate with each other.” The article notes that the Belt and Road Initiative is also centered on this idea: “A priority in Xi’s signature initiative is to build a road connecting different civilizations, where mutual respect will re- place discrimination, exchanges will replace estrangement, and mutual learning will replace clashes.”

Geopolitical Trade Wars Must Give Way to Cooperation The contrast between the optimism for the future in Asia and the pessimism in the trans-Atlantic world became even more striking for Helga Zepp-LaRouche during her ten-day visit to China (May 15-24). All the more so, as it took place in the context of the less-than-enthusiastic elections to the European parliament, and of the escalation of the trade war between the United States and China.

At the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations, she stressed, what came across is that the Asians right now are very proud, both of the past contributions of their respective civilizations and of those to come. All speakers, she noted in an international webcast on May 30, stressed that there is no con- flict so great that it cannot be solved through dialogue, rather than confrontation.

In addition to a presentation at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University in Beijing, Helga Zepp- LaRouche held many private meetings with professors and

researchers of different universities and think tanks, many of whom have known the Schiller Institute for years. Of grow- ing concern in China today is the attitude of the United States government and what it hopes to accomplish with the so-called trade war. That led to a number of discussions on the danger of the “Thucydides trap”, whereby the dominant power strives to prevent the emergence of any potential “competitor”, including by military means. In almost all cases in the past, that has led to war.

Zepp-LaRouche and EIR correspondent in Washington Wil- liam Jones explained to their interlocutors the different rival factions in the power centers of the West. Some of them have consciously chosen a confrontation course toward China, and also toward Russia, as they see no other means to maintain their own supremacy. Such is the motivation behind the “clash of civilizations” doctrine, most associated with Samuel Hun- tington but actually conceptualized by Bernard Lewis.

Such neo-conservative and neo-imperial ideologues, Zepp- LaRouche and Jones stressed, have a decisive influence on policymakers in the Western world, in particular in the United States. While Donald Trump tends to favor dialogue and “good

relations with China”, that is not the case of many of his advi- sors on security, military and trade matters.

Although Trump may believe that the issue is the need to protect American manufacturing and jobs, the intention of oth- ers in his administration, in Zepp-LaRouche’s view, is clearly to prevent China from becoming a top technological power, as shown in the Huawei affair. There is no other way to explain why the US side is basically demanding that China abandon the very model which ensured its success.

In her May 30 webcast, the Schiller Institute chairwoman called this “a futile effort”, but a dangerous one. “Because first of all, you cannot contain a country of 1.4 billion people, whose government has obviously set the policy in the right direction, otherwise, you would not have the tremendous success of the 40 years of reform and opening-up, whereby 800 million or so were lifted out of poverty.”

Moreover, an increasing number of developing countries are looking to the Chinese model to overcome their own under- development. “So the idea that you can contain a nation just because it’s not Western, is completely absurd.” The dynamic is unstoppable.

The Highest Ideal of Mankind is the Potential of the Future

We excerpt below the paper that Helga Zepp-LaRouche draft- ed for the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations, and which was published in full in the conference proceedings. In her speech to the conference on May 15, Mrs. LaRouche pre- sented a somewhat shortened version of the same. Sub-titles have been added. The paper begins:

It majority is the characteristic of turning points in history that the of people have no concept of what is occurring. Only those visionaries who have a clear idea of the positive potential of the future are able to intervene in the process at moments of decision, to avert potential catastrophes, and instead usher in a new epoch of humanity. We find ourselves in such a phase change: the old world order, as it developed after World War II and especially after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, is in a process of dissolution, but what the new order will look like is by no means decided yet. We are in a period when even international law seems to be overridden, as at the moment neither the UN nor any other institution seems to be able to enforce it.

But it is undeniable that the pendulum that favored West- ern civilization over recent centuries -- though for thousands of years Asia had occupied an outstanding and even leading place in universal history -- has long been swinging back. This is clearly supported by the demographic development of Asia, completely new strategic interventions such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and clear objectives, such as the concept “Made in China 2025” or the outlook that President Xi Jinping has set for China by 2050.

Tremendous opportunities for Asia arise from this, and per- haps along with them a completely new form of responsibility, which should ignite the inspiration to work out concepts about how to advance humanity as a whole. President Xi Jinping obviously has this very approach in mind when he speaks of the “Community of a Shared Future of Mankind.” We are now experiencing a precious moment, for never before in history has the conscious design of a new epoch, with the idea of a

unified humanity as a higher idea, been so clearly defined as a task. If we want to create a more human order, it must be built on the best concepts that have been produced by various cultures. Those concepts must have an ontological character as it were, because nothing in them can be accidental or of merely contemporary character, if they are to determine the Dharma -- the moral codex -- which the spiritual leaders, and with them Asian societies, are to follow in this new chapter of universal history.

The impetus for defining this “righteous way” must come from the ancient traditions of Asia, such as Confucianism, Bud- dhism or Jainism, which are clearly linked to a commitment to lifelong self-cultivation and moral refinement of mankind. Though the West had the same demand in its Classical and Renaissance periods of humanism, the idea of the ethical im- provement of man as a purpose in life is the opposite of the Western liberal model...”

What principles then must underlie the coming Community of Mankind, Zepp-LaRouche asks, that are in line with both the requirements of modern natural science and of a new system of international relations. A good starting point, she proposes, would be the The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, or Panchsheel, signed between China and India in 1954, and ex- panded into the Ten Principles of Bandung by Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at the first conference of independent Asian and African states in 1955. They later became a core element of interna- tional law at the 1961 Non-Aligned Conference in Belgrade.

Such principles of peaceful coexistence are deeply rooted in several Asian cultures, and Zepp-LaRouche takes up the historic example of India. The ancient Vedic texts of India, the Upani- shads, and the classical Sanskrit literature contain important concepts of both religious and political significance, such as the notion of ahimsa, which entails renunciation of any physical violence, but also of any verbal or spiritual injury.

The Rigveda, the oldest surviving complete literary work, contain fundamental thoughts on the cosmic order, which also

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provide guidelines for human action on earth, while the Upani- shads have five basic principles.

Drawing Inspiration from the Vedic Texts

The most basic concept is that of the all-embracing Brahman. “Ishawaram idam sarvam jagat kincha jagatvam jagat”—Every- thing that exists, wherever it exists, is permeated by the same divine power. This idea is found in a similar form in Gottfried Leibniz’s idea of the Monad, where within every Monad the entire lawfulness of the universe is contained.

The second principle is that the Brahman, the creative prin- ciple whose expression is the entire realized world, is in every individual consciousness, or Atman. Atman is the reflection of this all-embracing Brahman. It is the individual consciousness, but it is not fundamentally separate from Brahman. “Ishwara sarvabhutanam idise tishtati”-- the Lord dwells in the heart of every individual. The relationship between Atman and Brahman is the core around which the whole Vedic doctrine revolves. In the philosophy of Nicholas of Cusa, this corresponds to the affinity of the macrocosm and the microcosm, which makes it possible for an intangible force -- an idea created by creative reason -- to bring about a further development of the physical universe.

A third Vedic principles is that because of their common spiri- tuality all people are members of a single family. The Upani- shads speak of humanity as amritasya putra, “Children of Im- mortality.”

The fourth concept of the Upanishads presents the idea of the consubstantiality of all religions, all spiritual paths...This idea corresponds to the “Sanatana Dharma,” the single religion which stands above all religions, an idea also expressed by Nich- olas of Cusa in his Platonic dialogue De Pace Fidei, which he wrote immediately following the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the associated bloody conflicts. In this dialogue, represen- tatives of various religions and nations turn to God for help, because all of them are fighting wars against and killing each other in His name. God instructs them that they are all also phi- losophers in their respective nations and religions—beyond all religious traditions and teachings of the different prophets— and therefore can understand that above religion there is one God, and above different traditions, one truth....

A fifth Vedic concept is that of the welfare of all creatures. “Bahujana shukhaya bahujana hitaya cha”—the Hindu philoso- phy seeks “the good of all people and all forms of life on this planet.” The affinity to the Confucian ideas of harmonious de- velopment of all is evident, as Confucius says explicitly: “They who have success should help others to succeed.” Naturally, this is the idea at the basis of the BRI and the conception of “win- win cooperation” between various nations....

The idea of a harmonious development of all as the basis for a world peace order is thus laid out in several Asian cultures, and stands in direct contradiction to the idea that relationships among nations constitute a zero-sum game. However, its re- alization in practice obviously requires a new stage of devel- opment in the evolution of mankind, the Age of the Spiritual Man, as Sri Aurobindo has expressed it; or the increasing domi- nance of the Noösphere over the Biosphere, in which Vladimir Vernadsky saw a trajectory laid out by the natural law of the universe.

The universe has an inherent lawfulness which advances it to higher stages of development. Vernadsky saw the creative reason of mankind as an essential component of that universe,

as a geological power, which has been qualitatively advancing this higher development since the existence of human evolu- tion. In the science of physical economy, Lyndon LaRouche de- livered the proof of the absolute efficiency of human creativity, which distinguishes man from all known living creatures, with his concept of Potential Relative Population Density....

In meeting the task of consciously shaping a new paradigm for humanity stated at the beginning of this article, it is certain- ly an enormous advantage for Chinese and other Asian cultures that, thanks to the philosophy of Confucius, the development of a moral character has been the most important goal of edu- cation in broad areas of Asia. Despite the considerable hype about the digitalization of the economy and the role of artifi- cial intelligence in future economic platforms, it will always be a question of the moral qualities of human beings which will determine whether the new technologies are deployed for the benefit of mankind, or for evil purposes.

Thus, of first-rank strategic importance is the letter writ- ten several months ago by Xi Jinping to eight professors of the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts, where he emphasized the extraordinary importance of aesthetic education for the men- tal development of the youth of China. Aesthetic education, he wrote, plays a definitive role in the development of a beautiful soul, filling the students with love and promoting the creation of great works of art.

Thanks to the continual influence of Confucianism -- only broken by the ten years of the Cultural Revolution -- there is a continuing tradition going back thousands of years in which the development of a moral character represents the highest goal of education. It is thus taken for granted in China that atten- tion to public morals and combating bad characteristics in the population constitute the precondition for a highly developed society. For example, the Court Report on Educational Goals of the Academic Ministry of the Qing government in 1906 re- quired, above all course content, the teaching of public morals (gongde) and Confucian teachings on virtue, in order that “each has concern for others as he does for himself, and loves the state as one loves his own family.”

The Affinity between Confucian Thinking and Schiller’s Aesthetic Education

A key to understanding the special significance of aesthetic education in China today, however, lies not only in the teachings of Confucius -- who assigned a crucial role in the development of a moral character to the occupation with poetry and good music -- but in the scholar who has influenced China’s modern education system more than anyone else: the first Minister of Education of the Provisional Republic of China, Cai Yuanpei. Cai acquired the academic title of xiucai at the age of 15, due to his extraordinary intelligence and diligence, the highest title jingshi at age 24, becoming a bianxiu in 1894 at the age of 26 and thus reaching the highest level of academic career in the Qing dynasty. He had excellent knowledge of the classical script and was famous for his beautiful classical style.

During this time, Cai, along with the entire Chinese elite, was shocked that China was defeated in the war against Japan, and had generally lost out in every invasion since the Opium Wars, paying high reparations and ceding rights to the invad- ers. Among intellectuals, it was discussed how Japan, which for centuries was considered backward, had become so strong through the Meiji Restoration, and they sought to learn the lesson of this transformation.

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The corruption of the Qing dynasty was also blamed for these disgraceful defeats. Cai was convinced that the state would only survive if there was a change in the consciousness of the people, and that this improvement could only be achieved by improving the content of education. Cai first began to investi- gate the Japanese and then the European educational systems. Finally, he traveled to France and Germany, where he studied civilizational and cultural history of the West in Leipzig from 1907 to 1911, before he was appointed as Minister of Educa- tion by Sun Yat-sen in 1912.

Cai undertook in-depth studies of the aesthetic writings of Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Schiller, as well as the concept of education of Wilhelm von Humboldt. Inspired by the excellent studies on the history of philosophy of Wilhelm Windelband, and by direct study of Kant, Schiller and von Humboldt, he realized very quickly that Schil- ler’s conception of aesthetic education was not only in complete affinity with Confucian morality -- Schiller’s concept of “the beautiful soul” completely corresponded with the Confucian idea of the junzi -- but Schiller spoke about these questions with greater clarity and from a higher point of view than any earlier or contemporary philosophers.

“The comprehensive theory of Friedrich Schiller and the idea of aesthetic education brought great clarity to everyone,” writes Cai. “Since that time, the European idea of aesthetic education can supply us with a great deal from which we can draw for developing our own understanding of the subject.” Cai Jianguo further quotes Cai Yuanpei: “In Germany, aesthetic education impressed me greatly. I want to use all my powers to promote them.” Cai created the Chinese term meiju, which had not previously existed in that language.

Schiller wrote the Aesthetic Letters in response to the fail- ure of the French Revolution, and argued that from then on, any improvement in the political realm can only come from the ennoblement of the individual. Only if man rises above the transient happiness of the world of the senses, and engages his efforts not only for himself, but the community; not only for the present, but the future; not for physical pleasure, but spiritual creativity; only then could the state prosper. In the Let- ters and in further pioneering writings on aesthetics, Schiller developed why this ennoblement of character can be achieved by immersion in great classical art.

Cai Yuanpei recognized the striking coincidence between the teachings of Confucius and the aesthetics of Schiller. The immersion in poetry, music, and painting during one’s leisure hours awakens in the beholder an aesthetic pleasure in which lies neither a desire for nor a rejection of the sensible world. Rather, the taste is formed and the emotions are ennobled. Aesthetic sensibility embraces beauty and sublimity, thus form- ing a bridge between the sensual world and reason. Every hu- man being has a mind, but not everyone is capable of produc- ing great and noble deeds. Therefore this mind must become stronger as a driving force, by ennobling it.

The Enduring Influence of Cai Yuanpei in Contemporary China

In 1912, Cai wrote the Theses on New Education” and the Textbook on Moral and Personal Development for the Second- ary School, in which he characterized human conscience as the essential guide to behavior. In an essay of May 10, 1919, he wrote: “I believe that the root of our country’s problems is in the shortsightedness of so many people who want quick suc-

cess or quick money without any higher moral thinking. The only medicine is aesthetic education.”

Of course, it should not go unmentioned that Cai, as president of the University of Beijing, led this institution to internationally recognized scientific renown, taking up many suggestions from Wilhelm von Humboldt, who established the unity of research and teaching, and the beauty of character as an educational goal at the University of Berlin. Because of Cai’s prestige, the University in Beijing soon became a magnet for many young Chinese scholars returning from overseas, just as he became the inspiration for many other art colleges and academies.

In my view, Cai Yuanpei’s conception of the state as a larger family in which the interests of the state must take precedence over the interests of individual families, is also of paramount im- portance for understanding the policies of President Xi Jinping and his idea of the “Community for the Future of Mankind,” because for him the prosperity of the state was the prerequisite for the happiness of the citizens. However, the interests of the world as the home of all living beings was also set before the interests of the individual state. Cai wrote: “Until the ‘great community’ of the world is realized, the interests of society cannot be identical with those of the world.”

He also emphasized that in fulfilling the duty to the state, one must be careful not to contradict the duty of the world. He dreamed of a “great community” of the entire world, (datong shijie), which would be peaceful and harmonious, without class distinctions and state boundaries, without armies and war. All humans would understand each other in this world community and help one another.

Cai saw the “Dialogue of Cultures” as the pathway to this goal: “I have often thought that a nation must necessarily ab- sorb the culture of other peoples. This is like the body of a human being who cannot grow without breathing the air of the outside world, without eating and drinking.” Yes, he saw in this meeting of cultures the absolute prerequisite of higher devel- opment: “If one takes a look at the development of the world history, one sees that the encounter among different cultures always leads to the emergence of a new one.”

The realization of this vision is absolutely identifiable through the dynamism and the “Spirit of the New Silk Road.” The prin- ciples that must determine the “righteous path” for the new paradigm are not static axioms, but consist of the prospects arising from the aesthetic education of, eventually, all human beings. In a world where economics is not based on the prin- ciples of profit maximization and the greatest possible satisfac- tion of individual greed, but on the best possible promotion of human creativity as the motor of an anti-entropic developing universe; if, so to speak, the “cosmic order” inspires political, economic and cultural life, then the dreams of Confucius, Schil- ler, Cai Yuanpei, Xi Jinping and Lyndon LaRouche are the politi- cal legislators of humanity. As Tagore expressed it in his famous dialogue with Einstein: “When our universe is in harmony with people, we feel the eternal that we know as truth, as beauty.”

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