And while they are often viewed as the fictions of sad people wearing anoraks and tin foil hats, they can relate to the real business of global politics.
Conspiracy theories surround the likes of TTIP, Davos, the CIA, and recently, the Bilderberg meeting. Haven’t heard of Bilderberg? That’s because security is very heavy, journalists are not invited, and all participants are forbidden from talking about the discussions.
People have been suspicious of the meeting since its inception in 1954 at the Hotel De Bilderberg in Oosterbeek, Netherlands. Since at least the mid-1960s, the meetings have been seen by commentators on the right and left as one of the places where the New World Order does its business. Like Bohemian Grove, the Trilateral Commission and Area 51, Bilderberg attracts the paranoia of conspiracy theorists who claim that a varied collection of people spend time talking about how to enslave us. There are plenty of websites with colourful hotlinks making connections between Bilderberg and the Illuminati, the Freemasons, the death of Diana and so on. It’s a spiralling world of madness.
Or is it? Rather famously, Adam Smith (beloved of free-marketeers) once said: “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.”
So imagine what really happens in those hotels, in between the heavy meals and the raids on well-stocked minibars.
The official line is that the informal discussions concern megatrends and major issues facing the world. Previous meetings have had such topics discussed including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, chemical weapons threats, Greece, Iran, NATO, Russia, terrorism and the US elections.
Because the meeting is private, the people who take part don’t have to worry about repeating particular policy or party lines. They can instead explore scenarios and say what they really think, because there are no agendas, no resolutions, no votes and no statements issued at the end of the meeting.
But some conspiracy theorists do have a point. These politicians and businessmen (because they are, mostly, men) do have common interests after all. These are the success stories of transatlantic post-war capitalism. What do they know of the “precariat” they’re supposed to be discussing?
If you spend much of your life occupying the first class compartment on aeroplanes, it doubtless becomes logical to assume that there is some virtue to the system that put you there. Your fillet steak always tastes better if it has been accompanied by a small side-helping of self-congratulation. So the 120-150 members of the elite who get together every year – two thirds of the participants from Europe and the rest from North America – are undoubtedly not terribly motivated to change much....read more>>>...