Alexander Ageev about the Mission of Public Diplomacy: "It Requires the Unity of All Forces so That Life on Our Planet does Not Disappear Because of Someone's Stupidity, Greed, or Malice"

Alexander Ageev, Deputy Secretary General of the World Peoples Assembly, member of the General Council and Chairman of the Scientific and Expert Council of the World Peoples Assembly, Director General of the International Research Institute for Management Problems, member of the Club of Rome, delivered a speech at the Plenary Session "Latin America and the Formation of the Modern World: Ideas, Culture, Heritage" at the World Public Summit: Latin America "New World: Latin America in shaping a shared future" on June 16, 2026 in Salvador (Brazil).

The speaker set the value direction of the international discussion. He began his speech by recalling a long-ago meeting between Cuban revolutionary and politician Fidel Castro and academician and biochemist Yuri Ovchinnikov, which lasted several hours and concerned how people can be happy.

Even then, two approaches were clear:

1. with the help of drugs, pharmaceuticals,

2. by changing the social conditions of life.

Today we understand well how important medicine is and how important human solidarity is. But there is another understanding today: medicine can be against life, and social technologies can be against life. That is why everything that strengthens our faith, our knowledge, and our struggle for the triumph of life is so important. And life from the very moment of birth and even conception is a miracle, an almost impossible event. That is why the birth of a new phenomenon and a person are so closely related. Our World Public Summit is also a miracle. I have already counted nine miracles that have happened here in Salvador. I will briefly mention three of them. First of all, isn't it amazing that we're all here? For some, the journey took 36 hours - across Eurasia, Africa, and the Atlantic Ocean. Alexey Belov, a Russian Brazilian and a famous traveler, traveled around the world six times across the seas and oceans. The participants of the World Public Summit gathered here from 23 countries.

Now about miracle number two. The World Peoples Assembly grew out of the community of Europe and Asia, and then Africa. There are a lot of problems and conflicts on these continents. But the Assembly has come here, under the Southern Cross. Isn't that a miracle? It lies in the fact that the similar are drawn to each other. Let's listen to the words of the Brazilian national anthem. We have words side by side with music and dance, because there is something more than words here. What the hymn text testifies to reigns supreme.

And the third. In today's complex world, it is a challenge to honestly say what we are for and what we are against. To tell evil clearly that it is evil is Brazilian. This is in the spirit of the World Peoples Assembly. Evil comes in the form of violence, deception, selfishness, blockade, attacks, bombing, enslavement, and colonialism. What does this ability to call a spade a spade mean? This is audacity, fearlessness!

Let's recall the words of the anthem again:

“But if thou raisest the strong gavel of Justice,
thou wilt see that a son of thine flees not from battle,
nor does he who loves thee fear death itself.”

And the last thing. The sun is not the biggest star in the universe. There are many galaxies. Five thousand cosmic bodies are similar to the Earth. And we don't know if there's life there. Therefore, it requires double courage to live, realizing that we may be alone in space. And to fight for the triumph of life the way his mother fights for a baby. It requires the unity of all forces so that life on our planet does not disappear because of someone's stupidity, greed, or malice.

And that is why the trouble that is gathering over Cuba is so close to us. We remember, "Don't ask who the bell is ringing for, it's ringing for you."

¡Patria o muerte!

¡No pasarán!

¡Venceremos!