What is WEF or World Economic Forum and is the corona crisis part of a plan, presented in Klaus Schwab's The Great Reset? That buzzes around and it doesn't add up.
I wanted to write a piece about it and during my research I came across an article by Naomi Klein that is a bit long, but a must-read if you have heard 'The Great Reset'.
“Giving back to society" certainly gives American exorbitantly rich and their corporations (and their government) an excuse to have taxes paid mainly by the lower income classes. Fencing with self-regulation and promising improvement is a tried and tested method to protect markets.
That is why big capitalists and industrialists like to rally behind annual themes such as 'Shaping the Post-Crisis World' (2009) to 'Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild' (2010) to 'The Great Transformation' (2012) and, who can forget, "Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World" (2018) – all themes of Klaus Schwab's WEF. They sound quite recognizable, right? And there will be people among them who really want to do something. But systemically, through taxes, that is of course a number of bridges too far.
The Great Reset is old wine, hastily poured into new bottles as a hooker on the corona crisis. It has no causality whatsoever with it, it is vulgar opportunism: Everything is seized upon to keep control in hand, to take the lead in promising improvement, to hold out a glimmering future, to show unprecedented generosity, to have the best interests of the world at heart. A current reason then appeals to the imagination and that is now the corona crisis.
Naomi Klein wrote a nice piece about the WEF and The Great Reset.
Because not everyone reads English easily, I posted a translation Will be brightened up a bit (headings, links) but I didn't have time for that at the moment.
So this is a translation of The Great Reset Conspiracy Smoothie by Naomi Klei on the site of The Intercept. Please go and see the photos there.
A viral conspiracy theory combines legitimate criticism with genuinely dangerous fantasies against vaccination and outright coronavirus denial.
Naomi Klein, December 8, 2020, 4:19 pm
WRITING ABOUT "The Great Reset" is not easy. It's become a viral conspiracy theory that claims to expose something that no one has ever tried to hide, most of which isn't actually happening anyway, some of which should actually be happening.
It is extra confusing for me to untangle this particular knot, because the core of it all is a corruption of a concept I know something about: the theory of shock.
But here it goes.
PHOTO: Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, gives a welcome message on the eve of the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 20. , 2020. Photo: Markus Schreiber / AP
In June, the World Economic Forum, best known for its annual Davos summit, took a leap forward to organizational relevance. It has been clear for a long time that it was completely nonsensical to gather thousands of people, botox-rejuvenated and eyelid-lifted, in a Swiss ski resort every year in the foreseeable future to talk about harnessing the power of markets to eliminate rural poverty.
The effort was called the Great Website – I mean the Great Reset. And through articles, videos, webinars, podcasts, and a book by WEF founder Klaus Schwab, it offered a coronavirus-themed rebrand of all the things Davos does anyway, now hastily repackaged as a blueprint for reviving the post-pandemic global economy by "looking for a better form of capitalism." The Great Reset was a place to make technofixes for complex social problems for profit; get heads of transnational oil giants to talk about the urgent need to tackle climate change; To listen to politicians who say what they say during crises: that this is a tragedy, but also an opportunity, that they are committed to building back better and ushering in a "fairer, greener, healthier planet". Prince Charles, David Attenborough and the head of the International Monetary Fund all played prominent roles. That kind of thing.
In short, the Great Reset includes some good things that won't happen and some bad things that will definitely happen and, frankly, nothing special in our era of "green" billionaires preparing rockets for Mars. Indeed, anyone who speaks with even a fleeting knowledge of Davos, and the number of times it has tried to transform capitalism into a somewhat buggy poverty alleviation and ecological recovery program, will recognize the vintage champagne in this online decanter. (This history is explored in an excellent new book and film by law professor Joel Bakan, "The New Corporation: How 'Good' Corporations Are Bad for Democracy.")
Through its highly influential Global Competitiveness Report, the WEF has played a leading role in the transnational campaign to free capital from all burdens (such as robust regulation, protections for local industries, progressive taxation, and – heaven forbid – nationalizations). Long ago, however, Schwab realized that if Davos didn't add some "good-doing" to its "well-being," the pitchforks that began to gather at the base of the mountain would eventually storm the gates (as they almost did at the 2001 Summit).
And so the dizzying sessions on new markets in Malaysia and new startups in California were complemented by somber sessions on melting ice caps, United Nations development goals, impact investing, stakeholder capitalism and corporate global citizenship. In 2003, Schwab introduced the tradition of every January summit with a big theme, starting with the aptly chastened "Building Trust." However, the new tone of Davos was really set in 2005, when actor Sharon Stone, hearing the Tanzanian president speak about his country's need for mosquito nets to fight malaria, jumped to his feet and turned the session into an impromptu charity auction to get the nets. She raised $1 million in five minutes, and a new Davos era was on the way.
The Great Reset is just the latest edition of this gilded tradition, barely distinguishable from previous Davos Big Ideas, from 'Shaping the Post-Crisis World' (2009) to 'Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild' (2010) to 'The Great Transformation' (2012) and, who can forget, "Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World" (2018). If Davos was not "looking for a better form of capitalism" to solve the spiraling crises that Davos itself is systematically deepening, Davos would not be Davos.
And yet, search for the term "global reset" and you'll be bombarded with breathtakingly "revelations" from a secret globalist cabal, led by Schwab and Bill Gates, that is using the state of shock caused by the coronavirus (probably a "Hoax" itself) to turn the world into a high-tech dictatorship that will take away your freedom forever: a green/socialist/Venezuela/Soros/forced vaccination dictatorship if the Reset exposé comes from the far right, and a Big Pharma/GMO/biometric implants/5G/robot dog/forced vaccine dictatorship if the exposé comes from the far left.
Confused? Is not your fault. Less of a conspiracy theory than a conspiracy smoothie, the Great Reset has managed to fuse every freak-out that happens on the internet – left and right, true and insane – into a rudimentary meta-scream about the unbearable nature of pandemic life under voracious capitalism. I've been doing my best to ignore it for months, even when several Reset "researchers" have insisted that this is all an example of the theory of shock, a term I coined a year and a half ago to describe the many ways elites try to exploit deep disasters to push through policies that further enrich the already rich and limit democratic freedoms.
There has been a tsunami of examples of the real shock doctrine since the start of the pandemic: Trump's attacks on Washington's regulatory architecture; Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' beefed-up campaign for "school choice" rather than, say, giving public schools the resources they need to keep children safe; The multi-headed power grab of Silicon Valley, which I wrote about as the Screen New Deal; the Modi government's brutal attacks on price protection for Indian farmers (which sparked a wave of heroic protests) – and much more.
What Schwab and the WEF are doing with the Great Reset is both more subtle and more insidious. Schwab, of course, is absolutely right when he says that the pandemic has revealed many deadly structural failures of capitalism as usual, as well as the accelerating climate crisis and the pushing of the planet's wealth to the Davos class, even in the midst of a global pandemic. But like the WEF's previous major themes, the Great Reset is not a serious attempt to actually solve the crises described. Rather, it is an attempt to create a plausible impression that the huge winners in this system are about to voluntarily set aside greed to get serious about solving the raging crises that are radically destabilizing our world.
The Great Reset is not a serious attempt to actually solve the crises described. Rather, it is an attempt to create a plausible impression that the huge winners in this system are about to voluntarily put aside their greed to work seriously to solve the raging crises that are radically destabilizing our world.
Why? For the same reason, I keep hearing Facebook ads on NPR podcasts telling me how much Facebook wants to be regulated. Because if our business leaders can create this impression, it is less likely that governments will listen to the rising chorus of voices calling on them to do what is necessary to actually combat rising poverty, unemployment, climate disruptions, and information degeneration. That is to regulate companies that have caused these crises and tax them, break them up and in some cases place them under public control.
So no, the Great Reset is not just another name for the Green New Deal, as many a far-right with a digital board and an unhealthy AOC obsession absurdly claims. It is primarily about blocking a real Green New Deal, which would certainly not have the support of BP, Mastercard, the Prince of Wales and all the other Great Reset partners.
And yet, in recent weeks, a slew of right-wing commentators on Fox News, as well as Brazil's foreign minister and prominent opposition politicians in Australia and Canada, have claimed to be confused about this and are suddenly giving oxygen to what until recently was a fringe conspiracy. Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, and Ben Shapiro have all terrified their massive audiences with claims that green socialism is about to be forced down their throats via Schwab's Great Reset, which, they explain, is exactly the same as that of President-elect Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" plan, which is itself a thin cover for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal. (As an early fan of an indie punk band, Glenn Beck used his spot in The Blaze to point out that he was ranting about the Great Reset when it was just a glimpse into Schwab's eyes.)
Do these people honestly think that Schwab is in cahoots with AOC and using the pandemic to bankrupt BP – with BP's full cooperation? Of course not. But President Donald Trump is leaving and the Green New Deal is popular – precisely because it is as far away from Davos as possible, based on a polluter pays ethos and in programs such as a job guarantee and universal health care that enjoy broad support from the working class. For right-wing politicians and the oil companies that support them, the more climate action can be combined with an organization known for its private plane traffic congestion and as the founder of the Bond villain (link to Armstrong), the easier it will be to resist any climate plan at all. That's why the first alarm about the Great Reset came from the Heartland Institute, ground zero of the climate change denial machine.
Jason Kenney, leader of the United Conservative Party, speaks at a press conference in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on Friday, April 5, 2019. Kenney said he would create a C$1 billion ($750 million) crown company to support indigenous resource projects including pipelines if he is elected to lead the Alberta government this month, according to an emailed statement. Photographer: Todd Korol/Bloomberg via Getty Images Jason Kenney, leader of the United Conservative Party, speaks at a press conference in Calgary, Canada, on April 5, 2019. Todd Korol/Bloomberg/Getty Images
This reporting catches on not because people are fools, but because they are angry – and they have every reason to be. Lockdown policies have demanded months of individual sacrifice for the collective good without providing the most basic collective protections to prevent families from sliding into hunger and homelessness, or to prop up small businesses. Meanwhile, trillions have been spent to push back markets and bail out multinational corporations, and pandemic profiteering is rife.
Is it any wonder that so many find it perfectly plausible that the same elites who expect to swallow all coronavirus-related sacrifices while partying in the Hamptons and on private islands would also be willing to exaggerate the risks of the disease in order to get them to accept more bitter "green" medicines, for the common good? As that first Davos theme made clear, the trust between the people and the mountaintop has been broken – and it certainly hasn't been rebuilt.
To get a glimpse of how this all fits together, take a look at what's going on in Alberta, Canada, under its truly reprehensible prime minister, one Jason Kenney. Kenney rose to power and promised to serve as a shameless servant for the oil field in Alberta, especially the planet-boiling tar sands. He promised to ram all pipelines through, regardless of opposition, and to create a "war room" to guard all opponents.
In March, in the early days of the pandemic, I noted that Kenney earned the accolade for the most mischievous Covid-19 disaster capitalist for just laying off 20,000 education workers, ostensibly to cover pandemic costs, even as he spent $7 billion on government subsidies on the Keystone XL pipeline, despite the lockdowns causing a massive glut of crude oil. He followed up in the fall by laying off 11,000 health care workers, a clear attempt to use the Covid-19 crisis to open the door to partial privatization of U.S. health care.
It hasn't surprised anyone that Kenney has also been in charge of an American-style coronavirus explosion, with the county's positivity rate recently exceeding 10 percent (higher than the average south of the border). Now Kenney, a self-proclaimed libertarian with a big government, has been reduced to a subsidy begger with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to build field hospitals.
Is it any wonder he tried to change the subject? Last week, Kenney did just that by selecting a question about the Great Reset during a livestream on Facebook. The prime minister feigned disgust at the idea that Klaus Schwab could potentially see Covid-19 as an opportunity to advance policy goals, describing the plan as a "grab bag of left-wing ideas for less freedom and more government" and "failed socialist policy ideas". As he warmed up to his subject, he declared: "I'm not going to follow any policy direction from Klaus Schwab and his ilk. … No way! We are not going to exploit or abuse a crisis to advance a political agenda. … It is deeply distasteful and regrettable that influential people are explicitly trying to take advantage of a crisis like this to advance their own political vision and values."
The online right rejoiced: "Jason Kenny is showing real leadership by rejecting Klaus Schwab's new world order!" declared one outlet, and I can't bear to refer to the many, many others.
Unfortunately, Kenney's aversion to crisis opportunism comes too late for the thousands of newly unemployed teaching and hospital workers in his county, or for the hundreds of patients who will soon be treated in the field hospitals. And while Kenney was quick to say that the Great Reset was not a conspiracy theory and that the coronavirus is real, his statements were immediately seized upon by the growing number of people who are seriously convinced that Covid-19 is a hoax concocted in Davos by globalists who want to eliminate their private property, poison their brains with 5G, and deny them the right to go to the gym.
In Alberta, thousands of those people took part in maskless 'Walk for Freedom' marches last week. I have no doubt that Kenney meant it when he said they had to stop it, just as he undoubtedly wants Covid-19 to stop ravaging his county, along with his reputation. But what he wants much more is to put the momentum toward climate action into coronavirus recovery plans so that the oil companies that his party and government endorse can wring out a few more profitable quarters. And he, along with a growing number of similarly cowardly politicians around the world, sees fueling the Great Reset conspiracy as the most effective means to achieving that goal.
This is not to say that Schwab's reset push is benign and not worth investigating. All sorts of dangerous ideas lurk beneath its broad edge, from a reckless push for more automation in the midst of an unemployment crisis, to the steady movement to normalize mass surveillance and biometric tracking tools, to the very real (but not new) problem of Bill Gates' power over global health policy. The irony, however, is that the fact that Vitamix is currently buzzing around the Great Reset actually makes it harder to hold the Davos set accountable for all of this, as legitimate criticism is now mixed with genuinely dangerous anti-vaccination fantasies and outright coronavirus denial.
It also makes it harder to talk about the profound realignment that our economies and societies so desperately need, a vision that a group of us laid out in the short film we released way back in October called "The Years of Repair" – because now we're all talking about how we're changing for the better in response to the atrocities that Covid-19 has revealed, which is immediately framed as part of the Great Reset. As historian Quinn Slobodian recently wrote, years after "The Shock Doctrine" was published, "the right now appropriated this narrative for its own ends." Meanwhile, the less fantastic but extremely real shock doctrine maneuvers that are currently waging war on public schools, hospitals, small farmers, environmental protections, civil liberties, and workers' rights are getting a fraction of the attention they deserve.
Is it all a plan, another kind of elaborate conspiracy? It's not that elegant. As Steve Bannon kindly told us, the information strategy of the Trump era has always been to "flood the zone with shit." Four years later, we can see what this looks like in practice. It seems that far-left and far-right conspiracies are sitting over a tray of sandwiches with information poop to talk about how the Great Reset is Gates' plan to use the DNA from our Covid-19 tests to turn the United States into Venezuela.
It doesn't make sense, and people like Bannon and Kenney are fine with that. Because if you want to continue waging war against Earth's life-sustaining ecology, a great way to do that is to intentionally pollute the democracy-sustaining information ecology. In fact, the pollution is the point.
