WESTERN PRODUCER — There was a time when the World Economic Forum was a target for only the left side of the political spectrum. In the past few years, the right side has started suggesting the WEF is out to get all of us.
Could it be that the WEF isn’t out to get anybody?
Complicated conspiracy theories about the group abound. Among them, an imminent move to one-world government bent on taking the wealth of the working class and enslaving the masses in a well-fed form of communal socialism. As well, it is thought by some to be the creator of a global pandemic hoax causing the population to receive a vaccine that will make them docile and easily misled.
The myths are rampant.
The annual WEF event typically comprises a who’s who of heads of state, captains of industry, celebrities, billionaires and academics. Even some journalists attend. Meetings take place in an exclusive Swiss alpine town where most ordinary folks will never go.
Attendees discuss new paths and approaches to the world’s most pressing problems. These include great mysteries like climate change, hunger, income inequality and global health concerns. At the end the group releases reports and recommendations, none of which any government is compelled to act upon.
The Great Reset is among the rumours of the evil the WEF delivers. The Reset began life as a legitimate response to global recovery from the economic effects of COVID-19. That was the focus of the WEF beginning in 2020.
But the internet has proven to be excellent breeding ground for conspiracies. Rumours often start about subjects that aren’t well understood or communicated, and the WEF falls into that category.
Founded in the early 1970s by German economist and engineer Klaus Schwab, the long game for the organization is to lobby governments the world over to make what forum members think will improve various problems facing the planet. These include environmental concerns, financial and monetary aspects of society and workplace factors. It has long worked on gender, race and income equality as it relates to work.
Technology is high on the WEF’s agenda; it generally suggests the world needs more of it, and that it can help solve many of the world’s ills.
The organization takes a special interest in food and agriculture, which makes sense because we humans spend most of our efforts ensuring we are fed, and that pursuit tends to affect the best land in the world and the rest of the natural environment accordingly.
Current “evil” concerns for the WEF include: averting an African food crisis; the dangers of plastics in the soil that might interfere with crop yields; and food safety and global trends in agricultural weather, farmer incomes and forest protection.
Farm sustainability is a hot topic for the group and the forum often discusses the related financial and environmental issues. Dark stuff, indeed.
In the past month, a humorous graphic has been circulating on social media platforms. It shows a grand WEF plan for the future of food, outlining how people will eat in 2030. The spoof suggests that most fresh fruit and vegetables will be replaced with synthetic supplements created by WEF partnered corporations. Two-thirds of our protein will come from “micro livestock” (a.k.a. insects) and another third will come from soy-based, lab-grown meats and “upcycled” people.
The tongue-in-cheek graphic also suggests something truly nefarious for the future of food: greater use of “seed oils” like canola, that are sustainable and reduce levels of “toxic testosterone.”
You can make anything seem evil if you try hard enough.
Karen Briere, Bruce Dyck, Barb Glen and Mike Raine collaborate in the writing of Western Producer editorials.
