18/01/2023
Davos:
Gates, Schwab, Global Elites Face Growing Criticism of Their ‘Master the
Future’ Agenda
Thousands of
prominent political and business figures are congregating in Davos,
Switzerland, this week for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, as
critics accused them of “centralizing power into the possession of hand-picked
global elites.”
By
Michael Nevradakis,
Ph.D.
Thousands of prominent political and business figures are congregating
in Davos, Switzerland, this week for the annual meeting of the
World Economic Forum (WEF),
whose theme, “Cooperation in a
Fragmented World,” focuses on
the “cost of living crisis.”
In recent years, the WEF and its founder and chairperson, German
engineer and economist Klaus Schwab, generated controversy by promoting ideas such as the “The Great Reset” and the “Fourth Industrial
Revolution.”
In promoting ”The Great Reset” in 2020, Schwab said the COVID-19 “pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to
reflect, reimagine, and reset our world.”
The WEF’s 2016 vision for the future — “Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has
never been better” — has also raised eyebrows.
In its mission statement, the WEF claims “it is independent, impartial and not tied to any
special interests.”
The statement
continues:
“The Forum
strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public
interest while upholding the highest standards of governance. Moral and
intellectual integrity is at the heart of everything it does.”
However, critics describe the WEF as a “fanatical political organization masquerading as a neutral
entity” with the goal of “centralizing power into the possession of hand-picked
global elites” and for operating with no public input or
accountability.
Some critics
argue the WEF’s annual meeting “acts as the go-to in-person, invite-only,
closed to ideological outsiders policy and ideas shop for the global ruling
class.”
Statements
emerging from this year’s meeting have done little to quell concerns about the
WEF’s real agenda.
The Defender examines some of the key themes of this year’s meeting — taking
place under a militaristic security blanket and amid accusations that
participants are not practicing what they preach when it comes to their own
behavior.
Key themes this
year include “combating misinformation,” promoting “public-private
partnerships,” “green” politics, buzzwords such as “DEI,” “resiliency” and
“sustainability,” “health security,” and continued digitization via the
metaverse and “smart” technologies.
Schwab opines on the importance of ‘mastering the future’
In a press release
promoting this year’s WEF meeting, Schwab stated:
“We see the
manifold political, economic and social forces creating increased fragmentation
on a global and national level. To address the root causes of this erosion of
trust, we need to reinforce cooperation between the government and business
sectors, creating the conditions for a strong and durable recovery.
“At the same
time there must be the recognition that economic development needs to be made
more resilient, more sustainable and nobody should be left behind.”
In his opening address, Schwab said that current crises around the world, ranging from
COVID-19 to the high cost of living, are “serving as catalytic forces for
the economic transformation,” adding that
“through collective responsibility, innovation and human goodwill and
ingenuity, we have the capacity to turn such challenges into opportunities.”
Schwab asked what it means to “master the future”:
“What does it mean to master the future? I think to have a platform
where all stakeholders of
society are engaged —
governments, business, civil societies, young generation … I think is the first
step to meet all the challenges.”
Schwab also used his opening remarks to address criticism levied against
the WEF in recent years. However, he said the WEF and its global partners must
“overcome” such “negative critical and
confrontational attitudes.”
In a blog post, investigative
journalist Jordan Schachtel noted
that the WEF appears to be “playing defense” in response to the “major
headwinds” its “extremist agenda” faces, by claiming that it is the victim of
“disinformation campaigns.”
For instance, an Aug. 5, 2022, article in Canada’s The Globe and Mail stated the infamous “own nothing and be happy” quote “sparked a
misinformation campaign,” even though Schachtel noted that the phrase
originated from the WEF itself. The article containing the quote was written
by Adrian Monck, now the WEF’s managing director.
And Florida Gov. Ron
DeSantis recently attacked the WEF, remarking that “They run everything and everyone else is basically a
serf.”
‘Annual pilgrimage to genuflect to Bill Gates and Klaus Schwab’
The roster of speakers at this
year’s WEF meeting represents
a proverbial “who’s who” of the global political, business, journalistic and
nonprofit elite.
Referencing the significant number of journalists participating as
panelists and speakers, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chairman and chief litigation
counsel for Children’s Health Defense, said:
“The American
press makes its annual pilgrimage to genuflect to Bill Gates and Klaus Schwab
and get its marching orders from the billionaires.”
Among this year’s WEF meeting speakers are 52 heads of state and government, including representatives of
royal families, and 56 national finance ministers, 35 ministers of foreign
affairs, 30 ministers of commerce and 19 governors of central banks.
Indeed, a record number of heads
of state is attending this
year’s meeting.
The U.S. contingent at
this year’s meeting includes
key Biden administration and intelligence community figures, including FBI Director Christopher Wray, Director of National Intelligence Avril
Haines, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Secretary of Labor
Martin J. Walsh, U.S. Agency for
International Development Administrator
Samantha Power, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and several members of
Congress from both parties.
Schachtel said
the U.S. delegation is smaller than last year’s, which he attributed to “the
massive blowback the World Economic Forum has received.”
Key international figures on this year’s roster include U.N.
Secretary-General António Guterres, WHO Director-General
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Secretary General of
NATO Jens Stoltenberg, Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank and former managing director of
the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and former Vice
President Al Gore.
More than a dozen representatives of the EU are attending,
including President of the
European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, President of the
European Parliament Roberta Metsola, and other key officials, including the EU’s commissioner for the
economy and its executive vice president for the European Green Deal.
European heads of state, such as German Chancellor Olaf
Scholz and Prime Minister of
The Netherlands Mark Rutte, are among the speakers, alongside European royal
figures such as Queen Mathilde of the Belgians, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands
and Prince Albert II of Monaco. A large contingent of
Ukrainian politicians also is
attending.
Big Pharma also is strongly represented in this year’s speaker list.
Attendees include Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla — who at last year’s WEF meeting
discussed how microchips will one
day be added to pills — Moderna CEO Stéphane
Bancel, top-level executives of
AstraZeneca, Bayer, Merck and Sanofi, and Adar Poonawalla of
India’s Serum Institute, the world’s
largest vaccine manufacturer.
Key business and financial figures on the speaker’s list include BlackRock CEO Larry
Fink, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Citigroup CEO Jane
Fraser and Bain & Company Chairman Orit Gadiesh, alongside the governors of central banks of
countries such as France, Israel and The Netherlands.
Five representatives of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are on
the speaker’s list, as are editors and journalists from outlets such as
The Associated Press,
Reuters and The Washington Post, and Axios, Bloomberg, CBS, CNBC, CNN, Deutsche Welle, The Economist,
the Financial Times, Forbes, Foreign Affairs, Fortune, Fox Business, NBC, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Politico and The Wall Street Journal.
There’s also no shortage of Big Tech and fintech representatives on the WEF speakers lineup, including
executives from Google, LinkedIn, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, alongside Mastercard and Visa.
In all, more than 2,700 participants
from 130 countries are
listed.
Notably, George Soros, chair of Soros Fund Management and founder of the Open Society
Foundations, said in a Jan. 10 tweet that he will not be in attendance at this
year’s WEF meeting “due to an unavoidable scheduling conflict.” Soros’ son,
Alexander Soros, deputy chair of the Open Society Foundations, is on the
roster, however.
According to Andrew Lawton, a journalist with Canadian outlet True North:
“Everyone at
the World Economic Forum annual meeting — including journalists and
participants — has to take a PCR test upon arrival. If you don’t take a test,
the chip in your ID badge is deactivated. If you test positive for COVID the
badge is also deactivated.”
An intense security curtain has been set up in Davos, with police and military roadblocks and checkpoints, fingerprint scanning and an “unofficial” “World Economic Forum
Police.”
Lawton reported that “private bilateral and multilateral” meetings among
participants are likely also being held, “which don’t appear on the programme.”
‘We are a select group of human beings’
Despite the presence of so many high-level figures at the annual WEF
meeting, Schwab has previously
said he doesn’t make
“political statements or economic statements which are … in any way influencing
political personalities.”
However, Schwab was
photographed mingling with global heads of state at the November 2022 G20 conference in Indonesia.
Schwab also previously proclaimed that alumni of his Forum of Young Global Leaders have “penetrated” the governments of multiple countries, where WEF policies are widely being
adopted.
In the leadup to this year’s meeting, the WEF raised some
eyebrows with its list of the
“Top 10 Risks” facing the world over a two- and 10-year period, including the
“cost of living crisis,” “erosion of social cohesion” and “large-scale
involuntary migration.”
According to Lawton, corporate executives view the benefit of
participation in the WEF meeting as “face-time with
politicians,” while NGO
leaders focus on getting “an audience with business leaders (potential donors)
and policy-makers.”
However, Lawton noted that attendance at speeches by world
leaders in Davos is “sparse.”
Nevertheless, perhaps revealing how participants view their role as WEF
invitees, Kerry, speaking at this year’s meeting, said, “We are a select group
of human beings” who “sit in a
room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet.”
This theme of “saving the planet” is evidenced by the titles of some of
the panels at this year’s
WEF meeting, including “Leading the Charge through
Earth’s New Normal,” “Tackling Harm in the
Digital Era” and “Why We Need Battery
Passports.”
Leaders tackle ‘clear and present danger’ of ‘misinformation’ and
‘disinformation’
One of the key
themes permeating this year’s WEF meeting is the perceived need to tackle
so-called “misinformation” and “disinformation.”
This was evidenced, for instance, by a panel “The Clear and Present Danger of
Disinformation” panel, which
included former CNN personality Brian
Stelter, Times Publisher Arthur
Gregg Sulzberger, European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová, Rep. Seth
Moulton (D-Mass.) and Internews CEO Jeanne Bourgault.
During this session, Moulton blamed “mis
info” for not “get[ting]
people to take a COVID vaccine,” while Sulzberger described “disinformation” as
“the most existential” challenge society faces, and Jourová suggested
“disinformation” could be fought via enacting “increased regulations,” calling
on the U.S. to pass hate speech legislation.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), speaking on another panel, said, “The problem we have
is the open press system and basically all the platforms.”
Public-private partnerships: solutions to the world’s problems or
‘top-down vision for technocratic tyranny’?
In its Twitter bio, the WEF describes itself as “The international organization for public-private
cooperation.” This is evident in its description of this year’s meeting, where
the WEF says, “We’ll look at how we can tackle the numerous and interlinked
challenges the world is facing and find solutions through public-private
cooperation.”
A Jan. 17 press conference at this year’s meeting, for instance, was
titled “Philanthropic-Public-Private
Partnerships for Climate & Nature,” and included participants from the Bezos Earth Fund and McKinsey
& Company, as well as Børge Brende, former Norwegian foreign minister and
current WEF president.
Brende said, “Time is running out to address critical global challenges”
and he introduced the concept of “stakeholder
geopolitics” as a means of
tackling them.
Also on Jan. 17, Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares Bueno, said the COVID-19 and Ukraine crises “have shown us that the best
method is to do things together,” as “we get out of crises quicker and in
better shape.”
Schachtel described this focus as “a public-private fascist
movement,” where the WEF partners
with the “most influential individuals in business, along with central bankers,
governmental head honchos, and international organizations, in order to
facilitate their top-down vision for technocratic tyranny, or what they call
‘stakeholder capitalism.’”
Leaders arrive in ‘droves of private jets’ to talk ‘Green’ politics
Lawton reported that multiple participants at this year’s conference
discussed ideas for how we can transition to a “climate positive
lifestyle.”
Gore suggested that activities considered to be “anti-climate” should be defunded, while Guterres said, “To stop our ‘self-defeating war on nature,’ we must close the
emissions gap, phase out coal, and supercharge the renewable revolution,”
adding that oil companies have perpetuated a “big lie” on climate change.
In turn, Oxford University professor Ngaire Woods suggested the
implementation of a “real carbon price” by every country, in order to accelerate the energy transition, while
in an interview outside the official meeting schedule, Schwab Foundation
member Kola Masha talked about “forcing” environmental policy on the public.
Lawton observed that all WEF meeting
participants, upon
registration, were surveyed “to calculate their carbon footprint for attending
the meeting in Davos.”
Perhaps belying the underlying goal of purported “green” proposals,
Kerry said, during a panel titled “Philanthropy: A
Catalyst for Protecting Our Planet,” that the only way to achieve a 1.5 degree Centigrade reduction in the
global temperature was “Money, Money, Money,
Money, Money, Money, Money.”
Articles on the WEF website complementing the meeting program suggest,
“Why you should consider adding carbon credits to your climate action plan,”
and how cities can adopt
“environmental, social, governance” (ESG) management utilizing the metaverse and blockchain, and ideas
like the “15 minute city” and “traffic filters.”
In an interview with Nicholas Lyons, Lord Mayor of the City of London, when asked why WEF participants engaged with China in light of its
severe lockdowns, he pivoted to climate change, stating, “Human rights issues
are always a concern … but also you have to understand, the biggest challenge
facing the world is climate change.”
In a press release preceding the start of this year’s gathering, Greenpeace criticized
the “hypocrisy” of the WEF delegates, who “arrive in droves of private jets.”
‘DEI,’ ‘ESG,’ ‘resiliency’ and ‘sustainability’: Popular buzzwords
dominate panel discussions
This year’s WEF
meeting program, and the talks delivered by many of its participants, are
peppered with repeated mentions of in-vogue buzzwords, including “DEI”
(diversity, equity, inclusion), “resiliency” and “sustainability.”
This is evident in the WEF’s description of the meeting, where Schwab is quoted saying, “There must be the
recognition that economic development needs to be made more resilient, more
sustainable and nobody should be left behind,” while the description also talks
about the need for “industry resilience.”
Vicki Hollub, CEO of Occidental Petroleum, commented during the meeting that, “As we
transition, we must not leave developing countries behind,” while Bob Sternfels, global managing partner of McKinsey & Company, said, “Companies
that act in a resilient way outperform their peers by up to 50%.”
Fink, a member of the WEF Board of
Trustees and a major proponent
of ESG, participated in the “Relaunching Trade,
Growth and Investment” panel.
Another panel, “Technology for a More Resilient World,” included participants
from the WEF, IBM, Accenture and The Atlantic.
And as part of the agenda for this year’s meeting, the WEF also
suggested that “consumers want
sustainable options” and provided
suggestions for “what producers, suppliers, and retailers can do now.”
Notably, however, in remarks made to
Bloomberg, Fink complained that “the
narrative around ESG investing has become ugly” and has led to “huge
polarization” — a statement perhaps indicative of the increasing criticism
being levied toward Fink, BlackRock, the WEF and other associated entities.
For instance, in a recent tweet, Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk remarked “The S in ESG stands for Satanic.” The WEF’s Twitter account is
not included in the “How to follow Davos
2023” pamphlet distributed by
the WEF.
Delegates at BlackRock’s pavilion refused to answer one
reporter’s questions.
And, perhaps spelling out what underscores discussions of
“inclusiveness,” “sustainability” and “resilience,” a WEF article accompanying
this year’s meeting agenda titled “5 dimensions of
leadership to address complex challenges” includes, as one of its dimensions, “Muscles: perseverance to
translate ideas into action.”
Future ‘pandemics’ and ‘global health security’: Will tuberculosis be
the next pandemic scare?
Another
prominent theme at this year’s WEF meeting is how to deal with “future
pandemics” and “global health security.”
One panel discussion, “State of the Pandemic,” included Bancel and representatives of the Gates-affiliated GAVI,
The Vaccine Alliance, the Harvard
School of Public Health and European news outlet Euronews.
Participants in “Ending Tuberculosis:
How Do We Get There?” included WHO Secretary-General
Tedros and representatives from the WEF, The Washington Post, the Wellcome
Trust and The Global Fund.
During this panel discussion, Tedros warned that “a resurgence of tuberculosis may be coming …. sooner or
later.” In response, Twitter commentator “Chief Nerd” wrote,
“fortunately, BioNTech & Bill
Gates started testing a mRNA vaccine for TB last year.” The author provided a link to a relevant article from
GAVI’s website.
Another panel, “Putting Health at the
Heart of Climate Action,” bridged the
topics of “global health” and “climate change,” and included panelists from
Sanofi, the Africa CDC and UNICEF.
Articles on the WEF website accompanying the meeting agenda include, “A universal flu
vaccine: Here’s what you need to know” and “Let’s bring together
countries and corporations to grow global pathogen surveillance.”
Other articles promoted a “digital
transformation” of healthcare infrastructure and telemedicine as a means of achieving “global health equity.”
Investigative journalists Avi Yemini and Ezra Levant of Rebel News
located Pfizer CEO Albert
Bourla on the streets of Davos today and bombarded him with 29 questions — to which Bourla
provided two responses: “Thank you very much” and “Have a nice day.”
In a separate street interview, AstraZeneca Chairman Leif Johansson was
more talkative, admitting to Yemini that the COVID-19 vaccines never stopped the
spread, but nevertheless
justifying the vaccine mandates. According to Yemini, “He scrambled behind the
restricted area before I could ask about the recent rise in ‘sudden deaths.’”
The ‘metaverse’ and ‘smart’ technologies: global ‘cooperation’ or global
control?
This year’s
meeting continues the WEF’s promotion of digital technologies such as the
“metaverse” and other “smart” technologies, as solutions for multiple global
challenges.
According to Schachtel, the WEF will announce “the first, and long-awaited, outputs of the
Defining and Building the Metaverse Initiative,” including briefing papers on “Interoperability in the Metaverse” and “Demystifying the
Consumer Metaverse.”
Also this year, Schwab, Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad
Smith, and Julie Sweet, chair and CEO of Accenture, shared a vision for the
so-called “Global Collaboration
Village.” Schwab said the
initiative can be “trusted” because INTERPOL is
participating in the
effort.
This “Global Collaboration Village” was first announced in May 2022, as a means to “harness the power of the metaverse to grow and diversify participation in advancing the global public
interest.” Panelists this year presented the benefits of a “global VR society” — referring to virtual reality — that would be “without borders.”
The embattled von der Leyen said this week, “the next decades will see the greatest industrial
transformation of our times, maybe of any
time,” in a clear reference to “The Great Reset” and the “Fourth Industrial
Revolution.”
Investigative
journalist Noor Bin Ladin characterized
von der Leyen’s statement as a “chilling message if you know what this
Globalist shill is talking about: Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, and other
recent technology advancements [which] are absolutely essential for … the
digital jails in which we’ll be trapped.”
Other metaverse-related panels and events this year include “Deployment in the
Industrial Metaverse” and “How to Build a Metaverse for All,” accompanied by articles suggesting how the metaverse can
impact industry, shape inclusiveness and explaining why and how it needs
to be regulated.
Michael Nevradakis,
Ph.D.
Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D., based in Athens, Greece,
is a senior reporter for The Defender and part of the rotation of hosts for
CHD.TV's "Good Morning CHD."
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