World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a not-for-profit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. As they put it in the mission statement of their page, "The Forum strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance."About Our Mission, World Economic Forum The foundation was initially established by a precocious German academic named in 1971, for the purpose of making European businesses think more about stakeholders beyond those who own their shares (e.g., a business theory called or stakeholder capitalism, of which Schwab was a prominent promoter),"The murky rise of Klaus Schwab's stakeholder 'capitalism' and the WEF's Davos corporate plan" by Terence Corcoran, Financial Post, 2021 January 22 and to expose them to American management methods."Can the World Economic Forum keep its mojo?", Economist, 2020 January 18th 
It is best known for its annual event in a Swiss resort town named An A-list bash for plutocrats, it attracts nearly 3000 corporate and political leaders every year. Compared to the type of capitalism envisioned by economists like Milton Friedman (who believed that businesses should only answer to shareholders), advocates of stakeholder capitalism theoretically believe that corporations should also be accountable to employees, customers, and the environment."In Its 50th Year, Davos Is Searching for Its Soul" by David Gelles, New York Times, 2020 January 19 Thus, Davos conferences are noted for tackling topics like climate change and inequality that would ordinarily not have fit into previous big business paradigms. 
Contrary to conspiracy beliefs, the WEF does not prescribe policy, and cannot make any government create any law based on ideas discussed. Unlike intergovernmental organizations like the United Nations (UN), there is no formal mandate. The intent of the WEF is to facilitate problem solving by acting as a forum to exchange ideas."World Economic Forum official says Canada has bigger issues to discuss than conspiracy theories" by Peter Zimonjic, CBC News, 2022 September 3"Three questions with Johanna Mair about the World Economic Forum", Hertie School, 2023 January 16"The claim: The World Economic Forum ordered governments to start rationing water" by Isabella Fertel, USA Today, 2023 April 26
Defenders of Davos note that the conference is one of the few forums where activists and business moguls can mingle, and historically it has served as a launchpad for new global development campaigns and programs. Examples of these programs include a global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization in poor countries that was launched at the World Economic Forum in January 2000; and the which was conceived at Davos in 2011."Is Davos As Bad As Critics Say? Global Leaders Weigh In" by Joanne Lu, NPR, 2020 January 24World Economic Forum History, 2000"For Elite? Yes. Ostentatious? Yes. But Also Effective." by David Kaufman, New York Times, 2022 May 21
==Criticisms==
Davos is seen as a symbol of globalism and neoliberalism that promotes capitalism and democracy."This Year at Davos: A Referendum on Davos Itself" by David Gelles, 2022 May 21 Optically, Davos is also seen as a gathering of a handful of untouchable elites. This has led to prominent criticism that the Davos conference is fueled by hypocrisy (a criticism that, true to form, has been brought up at Davos itself) — a conference that talks about the ill effects of climate change where the elite are flying in on their private jets, a conference that talks about the ill effects of inequality where issues like tax avoidance by the elite are downplayed. 
Essentially, the suspicion of critics is that for all the talk, not much action takes place; the global elite are seen by these critics as uninterested in solutions to world problems if the solutions threaten their dominance. Indeed, hypocritically, some CEOs that espouse stakeholder capitalism at WEF have been known to act like old-fashioned Friedman-style "shareholder capitalists" (e.g. firing workers to reduce expenses and please shareholders) during periods of reduced profit."Can the Great Reset really create a gentler, more equitable capitalism?" by Ira Basen, CBC, 2023 May 24 There are also concerns from some critics that WEF's mission implies that only unaccountable business elites, not democratically-elected governments, can solve the world's problems, a position seen as potentially more aligned with the ethos of than democracy. The WEF annually publishes a "global competitiveness index"; some critics see this as a feature that has "flogged national governments into a race to the bottom to adopt lower taxes and slash regulations", essentially contradicting its purported "stakeholder capitalism" goals."How the 'great reset' of capitalism became an anti-lockdown conspiracy" by Quinn Slobodian, Guardian, 2020 December 4
The late political scientist coined the term "Davos Man" to refer to the affluent attendees of the annual forum. Huntington saw these attendees as an elite global superclass who had "little need for national loyalty, view national boundaries as obstacles that thankfully are vanishing, and see national governments as residues from the past whose only useful function is to facilitate the elite’s global operations.""Who are ‘Davos Man’ and ‘Davos Woman’?" by Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 2018 January 19"'Davos Man' is an angry, powerful look at economic inequality" by Michael Schaub, NPR, 2022 January 20 For non-conspiratorial critics of Davos concerned about issues such as rising inequality, this term is a pejorative.
Although Davos historically has been criticized more from the left, with protests at Davos ranging from inequality-oriented movements like Occupy Wall Street to anti-capitalist and anarchist movements,"Protesters to blame Davos elite for global crisis" by Robert Evans, 2009 January 4"Echoes of Egypt swirl around World Economic Forum" by Frank Jordans and Matt Moore, NBC News, 2011 January 29"Topless protesters detained after storming Davos", Toronto Star, 2012 January 28"Globalization Gives Anarchists a Stage" by Malcolm Foster, Washington Post, 2003 January 19 since the 2020s it has also faced criticism from those on the right as well. In particular, Republicans in the United States have pushed against the WEF concept of stakeholder capitalism, and have labeled this and related concepts such as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) as "woke capitalism"."The war on ‘woke capitalism’" by Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson Although some of this pushback reflects some longstanding pillars of the Republican party, such as anti-environmentalism (especially if said environmental policies affect fossil fuels),"How Environmentally Conscious Investing Became a Target of Conservatives" by David Gelles, New York Times, 2023 February 28 this also reflected a broader rise in the Western world of a new kind of right-wing populism that — fueled by such factors as the after-effects of the the subsequent decline of manufacturing in the Western world (in favor of "offshoring" manufacturing to low-cost places like China), and the stark rise in inequality attributed to the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic — adapted a new form of nationalism that was fiercely against the sort of globalization and elitism perfectly encapsulated by the Davos conference."The Backlash Against Globalization: What's Next?", Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, July 2022"Ten richest men double their fortunes in pandemic while incomes of 99 percent of humanity fall", Oxfam International press release, 2022 January 17
==WEF conspiracy theories==
Unsurprisingly, as a gathering of elites, Davos has long generated conspiracy theories, similar to other gatherings of elites such as the Bilderberg Group and the Bohemian Grove. In these conspiracies, the WEF is accused of being a shadowy group that manipulates global events and policy for their own benefit. Initially on the fringes, these conspiracy theories started intensifying and becoming mainstream during the COVID-19 pandemic."As elites gather in Davos, conspiracy theories gain traction online", CBS News, 2023 January 16
===I will not eat the bugs, I will not live in a pod===
Beginning in the 2010s, insects as food for humans was touted by some organizations such as the United Nations as a hypothetical solution to food security issues."The latest buzz: eating insects can help tackle food insecurity, says FAO", United Nations, 2013 May 13KnowYourMeme: I Will Not Eat The Bugs These organizations include the WEF, who published several articles highlighting the potential environmental benefits of insects as food in the 2010s and 2020s."Good grub: why we might be eating insects soon", World Economic Forum, 2018 July 16 Although eating bugs actually is not uncommon in several countries (notably in Asia-Pacific regions), Western cultures at present typically do not accept insects as human food (never mind that other arthropods like shrimp and lobster don't face this reluctance)."Insects as food and feed in the Asia Pacific region: current perspectives and future directions" by A/L. Yen, Journal of Insects as Food and Feed 2015 v.1, abstract, USDA PubAg In countries where eating insects is uncommon, the idea of eating insects as a solution for sustainability has long been met with hesitancy and occasional ridicule."From 4chan to international politics, a bug-eating conspiracy theory goes mainstream" by Huo Jingnan, NPR, 2023 April 2
Given that some of these articles about eating insects were being published by long-conspired-about world organizations, and given that the idea of eating insects is one that many Westerners would find disgusting, it is not surprising that the above inspired memes on Western populist message boards. Around 2019, a meme emerged in the 4chan sphere with the catchphrase "I will not eat the bugs", often paired with the phrase "I will not live in a pod". The phrase initially was used in a more generic way to imply that global elites were exerting more control over individual autonomy, including forcing people to eat insects. Often the meme was paired with photos of environmental activist figures seen as part of this elite, such as Greta Thunberg.
Since 2020, following the COVID-19 pandemic and the growth of the "Great Reset" conspiracy theory, this conspiracy meme has become increasingly associated with the WEF."COVID Truthers’ New Freakout: Being Forced to Eat Bugs" by Mark Hay, Daily Beast, 2021 February 3
===You will own nothing and be happy===
In 2016, the WEF posted on their Facebook page an article containing "8 predictions for the world in 2030". Headlining the article was the phrase "you'll own nothing, and you'll be happy"."You'll own nothing, and you'll be happy. This is how our world could change by 2030. Read more: http://wef.ch/2gmBN7M", World Economic Forum, Facebook Videos, 2016 November 18 The title, in particular, references a 2016 essay written for the World Economic Forum by Danish MP "Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better" by Ida Auken, World Economic Forum, 2016 November 11, archived on 2016 November 25 The essay was written in the context of the growth of the deceptively-named which was a big business trend in the mid-2010s in the wake of startups like Uber."The Sharing Economy Is Taking Off: Get On the Rocket or Risk Being Left Behind" by Catherine Clifford, Entrepreneur, 2015 April 14 The essay envisioned a more sustainable future where somehow abstracting all products as services and eliminating ownership (and privacy) would eliminate seemingly every ill known to humans… except for her biggest concern, all those pesky people who live outside of her utopian city who "felt obsolete and useless". Intended by the author as a "scenario showing where we could be heading — for better and for worse", the article was seen by many as an expression of her personal utopian vision. This vision naturally was criticized for appearing to be elitist and creepily dystopian."ENDitorial: Happiness – owning nothing and having no privacy?" by EDRI, 2017 January 11
The essay was not discovered by the conspiracy crowd for several years. In October 2020, as part of an ongoing thread on the "Great Reset" conspiracy theory in /pol/, the essay was unearthed by 4chan users and posted as "evidence" that the WEF was planing to abolish the right to property for the benefit of a few."You'll Own Nothing and Be Happy", KnowYourMeme The conspiracy theory gained enough traction on the populist right to eventually be mentioned by outlets such as the New York Post"Elite ‘extraterrestrials’ plot in Davos to take away your freedom" by James Bovard, New York Post, 2023 January 18 and Sky News Australia.‘You will own nothing, and you will be happy’: Warnings of ‘Orwellian’ Great Reset
===The Great Reset===
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a new Davos conspiracy theory emerged; this conspiracy ended up becoming particularly prominent with members of the populist right and the anti-vaccination movement. This theory was espoused (often to the point of dystopian hyperbole) by figures such as Alex Jones,"Alex Jones Wrote a Book and Somehow I Have Forced Myself to Read It" by Nathan J. Robinson, Current Affairs, 2022 October 5 Tucker Carlson,"Tucker Carlson: The elites want COVID-19 lockdowns to usher in a 'Great Reset' and that should terrify you" by Tucker Carlson, Fox News, 2020 November 16 Glenn Beck,"The Great Reset: Joe Biden and the Rise of Twenty-First-Century Fascism", by Glenn Beck. "About The Book" web page, Simon and Schuster Charlie Kirk,"Charlie Kirk - The Great Reset and the Coming New World Order", Real Life with Jack Hibbs, Youtube, 2022 September 30 Ben Shapiro,"Exposing the Great Reset | Ben Shapiro LIVE at the University of Michigan" Young America's Foundation, YouTube, live from the University of Michigan, 2022 November 15 Rick Wiles,"Rick Wiles Previews 'The Greatest Reset' - Part Two", Rick Wiles, Trunews, 2022 September 16 Laura Ingraham,"LAURA INGRAHAM: In 2024 our country will have a leader who puts America first" by Fox News Staff, 2023 January 17 Joseph Mercola,[https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/the-truth-about-covid-19/ "The Truth About COVID-19
Exposing The Great Reset, Lockdowns, Vaccine Passports, and the New Normal"] by Joseph Mercola and Ronnie Cummins, Chelsea Green Publishing and Marjorie Taylor Greene."Marjorie Taylor Greene Embraces ‘Great Reset’ Conspiracy Theory on Alex Jones’ InfoWars" by Alex Griffing, Mediaite, 2022 March 9 This conspiracy theory centered on an initiative drawn up by WEF titled the The Great Reset, World Economic Forum landing page"Davos conspiracy theories used to live on fringe corners of the internet. Now they’ve gone mainstream" by Oliver Darcy, CNN Business, 2023 January 18
====Origins====
In June 2020, Schwab (together with then-Prince Charles) launched the Great Reset initiative."What is the Great Reset - and how did it get hijacked by conspiracy theories?" by BBC, 2021 June 24 Schwab saw the pandemic as a "rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, re-imagine, and reset our world to create a healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous future." This prompted him to create this initiative as a way to promote his "stakeholder capitalism" vision."Time for a Great Reset" by Klaus Schwab, Project Syndicate, 2020 June 3 
The initiative had three main components. The first component was to attempt to steer the market towards fairer outcomes by advocating certain government reforms (such as wealth taxes and the withdrawal of fossil fuel subsidies). The second component was to ensure that COVID stimulus programs advanced equality and sustainability. The third component was to "harness the innovations of the to support the public good, especially by addressing health and social challenges."
Despite large amount of content (including a book and a podcast) produced about the plan, the wide scope of changes advocated was short on exact details on what this would mean in practice. The combination of the lack of clarity, the huge scope, and the fact that it was produced by an organization seen by many as the "global elite" created a fertile ground for the "Great Reset" plan to become a major conspiracy theory, one which neatly fit in with the many other conspiracies surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. 
====The conspiracy====
The "Great Reset" initiative was seen as proof (to the conspiracy crowd) that pandemic responses, such as lockdowns and vaccines, were created to deliberately bring about economic collapse and bring about a single world government run for the benefit of a powerful elite few. Due to the nebulousness of this conspiracy theory, these ideas not only attracted many on the populist political right, but also others (such as New Age healers) who were also prone to one world government conspiracy theories.
Great Reset conspiracy theories are very similar to older one-world-government conspiracy theories such as the New World Order. Just as the New World Order conspiracies were conflated with the UN's Agenda 21 hopeful guidelines, Great Reset conspiracy theories are conflated to the UN's update of Agenda 21, Agenda 2030."Davos: The 'Conspiracy' Hiding in Plain Sight?" by James Bickerton, Newsweek, 2023 January 18"Agenda 2030 will not enforce eating insects, banning cars or a global dictatorship", FullFact.org, 2023 March 8
Like many other social media-driven conspiracy theories (such as QAnon), the Great Reset conspiracy theory took on unified conspiracy theory elements and was integrated into other similar conspiracy movements. For instance, fundamentalists have used the "Great Reset" trope to revive the idea that the End Times is coming and that the rise of the Antichrist is near, as part of a wave of apocalyptic fervor that swept across the evangelical scene (including the Christian book publishing market) in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Big Lie of Donald Trump."Why Growing Parts of the Christian Right Are Convinced It’s the Apocalypse" by Molly Olmstead, Slate, 2022 October 6 WEF founder Schwab was a prominently featured "villain" (alongside other conspiracy-touted "villains" like Bill Gates and Barack Obama) in the Christian nationalist tour created by Michael Flynn and Clay Clark called ReAwaken America."Michael Flynn’s ReAwaken Roadshow Recruits ‘Army of God’" by Richard Lardner and Michelle R. Smith, PBS (in partnership with the Associated Press), 2022 October 7
Climate change deniers such as Marc Morano"The Great Reset: Global Elites and the Permanent Lockdown" by Marc Morano, Regnery Publishing book description have integrated the conspiracies surrounding the "great reset" into their denialism narrative, and integrate other WEF conspiracies (such as the purported push to have people consume bugs) to imply that the WEF wants to control food production and police what people eat."The Great Reset conspiracy theory is a hotbed of climate denial" by Ted MacDonald, Media Matters, 2022 November 8 Similarly, a website called The People's Voice, one of many aliases for the fake news site YourNewsWire, falsely claimed (using cherry-picked information, including tidbits not even related to the WEF at all) that the WEF ordered governments to ration water.
====Purported Great Reset conspirators====
Shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic in October 2019, the WEF worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the to host a high-level pandemic simulation in order to brainstorm pandemic preparedness concepts. This simulation was called "Live Simulation Exercise to Prepare Public and Private Leaders for Pandemic Response", World Economic Forum, Press Release, 2019 October 15 To conspiracy theory believers, this was bizarrely seen as evidence that the WEF had prior knowledge of the COVID-19 virus, and thus this became another part of the "proof" of the conspiracy. As Gates played a big role in many other COVID-19 conspiracies, it was only natural that he showed up in many "Great Reset" conspiracy theories as well."Fact check: Multiple misleading suggestions made in documentary on the COVID-19 pandemic" by Reuters staff, 2021 January 19
Another person who became associated with the Great Reset conspiracy theory is Harari is an Israeli historian who specializes in as well as a philosopher who often waxes about a possible dystopian future when it comes to technology (in particular artificial intelligence)."Yuval Noah Harari’s History of Everyone, Ever" by Ian Parker, New Yorker, 2020 February 10"Tech C.E.O.s Are in Love With Their Principal Doomsayer" by Nellie Bowles, New York Times, 2018 November 9 Harari is not part of WEF management, but he has spoken at the WEF (a grand total of two times, in 2018 and 2020). In the past, Harari has also made a few philosophical allusions to God and religion (such as referencing Friedrich Nietzsche's famous "God is Dead" quote) that, when taken out of context, could be used to imply a position of antitheism. These little nuggets somehow got twisted into a conspiracy where the WEF and/or Schwab purportedly said that Jesus himself was "fake news" or that God was dead. This conspiracy was often combined with the false notion that Harari was Schwab's right-hand man. Harari's dystopian technological what-ifs, which were sometimes written with Biblically-tinged sturm und drang and ironically were often similarly concerned about a world ruled by elites (in Harari's case, data-driven digital dictatorships), were often re-appropriated by the conspiracists to support their claims."Fact Check-World Economic Forum did not declare ‘God is dead’ or that humans would become gods", Reuters Fact Check, 2022 December 22"WEF never said Jesus is ‘fake news,’ despite claims" by Philip Marcelo, AP News, 2022 December 20"Yuval Noah Harari has a plan to control people with “organism hacking." by Pallavi Sethi, Logically, 2022 March 17
Politicians that used the "Great Reset" term also got associated with the conspiracy theory. For instance, in September 2020, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau mentioned that the "pandemic has provided an opportunity for a great reset… this is our chance to accelerate our pre-pandemic efforts, to re-imagine economic systems that actually address global challenges like extreme poverty, inequality and climate change." Conservative MP seized on the "great reset" term to "warn" (with a nod to the conspiracy theorists) that "global financial elites" were attempting to "re-engineer economies and societies" to "empower the elites at the expense of the people"."The 'Great Reset' reads like a globalist plot with some plot holes" by Aaron Wherry, CBC News, 2020 November 27 Great Reset and WEF conspiracy theories were still used by Trudeau protesters in Canada three years later."Trudeau, cabinet pursued by protesters at Hamilton retreat" by John Paul Tasker, CBC News, 2023 January 25
===15-minute cities===
In 2010, a Parisian scientist and business professor named started developing a concept called the "He Wanted to Unclog Cities. Now He’s ‘Public Enemy No. 1.’" by Tiffany Hsu, New York Times, 2023 March 28 This idea was simple: when developing cities, the goal should be that everyday destinations such as schools, stores, and offices should only be a short 15 minute walk or bike ride away from home. Initially obscure, the plan picked up momentum among many local governing districts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, by 2021, the 15 minute city idea was being promoted by the an international organization (representing 96 cities) focused on fighting the climate crisis, as a blueprint for the post-COVID-19 recovery."Introducing Spotlight On: 15-minute cities", C40 Knowledge Hub"How '15-minute cities' will change the way we socialise" by Peter Yeung, BBC, 2021 January 4 In 2020, successfully used the 15 minute city concept as a centerpiece of her Paris mayoral re-election campaign."The 15-Minute City: Where Urban Planning Meets Conspiracy Theories" by Chris Stanford, New York Times, 2023 March 1 This plan was not a novel idea; similar urban planning ideas were conceptualized (and in some cases implemented) in many other cities prior to the COVID-19 pandemic."How ‘15-minute cities’ turned into an international conspiracy theory" by Laura Paddison, CNN, 2023 February 27 The roots of the 15 minute city idea can be traced as far back as 1898, when an English urban planner named proposed the concept of "‘15-minute city’ planning is on the rise, experts say. Here’s what to know." by Kelsey Ables, Washington Post, 2023 March 3
The conspiracy crowd paid little attention to this concept until 2022, when started trialing a plan (only tangentially related to the 15 minute city concept) called a (LTN). The goal of this plan was to attempt to reduce heavy city traffic during peak periods by requiring drivers to have permits during these peaks on six key snarled up city roads. These restrictions would be enforced by traffic cameras. Although similar LTNs (or equivalents) had been set up in several other British cities over the past few decades, somehow this particular plan fired up the conspiracy crowd's imagination. The Oxford LTN plan was transformed by this crowd into a conspiracy theory where the city of Oxford was carved up into six sealed-off "15 minute cities". According to the conspiracy theory, once separated, citizens would be strictly confined to their zone by physical barriers, facial recognition technology, or other means."The 15-Minute City Freakout Is a Case Study in Conspiracy Paranoia" by Feargus O'Sullivan and Daniel Zuidijk, Bloomberg, 2023 March 2
In late December 2022, Jordan Peterson helped amplify this conspiracy theory by retweeting a post detailing the above bullshit; this post also happened to conflate the Oxford conspiracy with the WEF and the "Great Reset". Peterson even attempted to use the C40 endorsement of the 15 minute city concept as "proof" that the post he was retweeting was somehow not a conspiracy theory."The idea that neighborhoods should be walkable is lovely. The idea that idiot tyrannical bureaucrats can decide by fiat where you're "allowed" to drive is perhaps the worst imaginable perversion of that idea—and, make no mistake, it's part of a well-documented plan.", Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson), Twitter, 2022 December 31, archived on 2023 February 28 By February 2023, the online furor had risen to the point where local Oxford officials (as well as Moreno) were getting a torrent of angry and abusive messages on social media (including death threats) from people who often had no connection to Oxford at all..
As the conspiracy spread, it was transformed into a more generic purported nefarious concept where the WEF (or the UN) would use the 15 minute city idea to implement tyrannical control. According to this conspiracy's dystopian vision, in this future "15 minute city", cameras would track every movement, car ownership would be banned (except for a few globalist elites), people would only have the "freedom to operate in the part that you live" and would need permits to leave their zones, and dystopian oppression would become the norm."What is freedom? 15-minute city conspiracies show just how little some understand it" by Stuart Jeffries, Prospect, 2023 April 5"Conspiracy Theorists Think Walkable Cities Are Really Open-Air Prison Dystopias Now" by Roshan Abraham, Vice, 2023 February 10 Frequently, posters also referenced ideas found in other "Great Reset" and WEF conspiracies."The ‘15-minute city’ backlash is part of the great climate change conspiracy theory" by Siddharth Venkataramakrishinan, Financial Times, 2023 March 8 Essentially, the conspiracy crowd feared that 15 minute cities would become a vehicle to enforce a "permanent lockdown"."Fact Check-‘15-minute city’ is an urban planning concept that promotes easy access to essential amenities" by Reuters Fact Check, 2023 March 30
Similar conspiracy theories have been propagated about "smart cities", a phrase sometimes used by the WEF and the UN to simply refer to cities that use technology to improve operations."UN, WEF agenda won’t force people to live in ‘smart cities’" by Melissa Goldin, AP News, 2023 February 22
==Notes==
==References==
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