Bilderberg Group

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Peter PhillipsThe 67th Bilderberg Meeting took place from 30 May – 2 June 2019 in Montreux, Switzerland. About 130 participants from 23 countries attended. A review of these participants confirms the importance of this non-governmental policy discussion group relative to new academic research on global power elites and concentrated wealth.My new book, <a href="https://www.projectcensored.org/product/giants-the-global-power-elite/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Giants: The Global Power Elite</a>, follows in the tradition of C. Wright Mills’ work the <a href="https://www.marxists.org/subject/humanism/mills-c-wright/power-elite.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Power Elite</a>, which was published in 1956.  Like Mills, I am seeking to bring a consciousness of power networks affecting our lives and the state of society to the broader public. Mills described how the power elite were those “who decide whatever is decided” of major consequence. Sixty-three years later, power elites have globalized and built institutions for preserving and protecting capital investments everywhere in the world.Central to the idea of a globalized power elite is the concept of a transnational capitalist class theorized in academic literature for some twenty years. Giants reviews the transition from nation-state power elites, as described by Mills, to a transnational power elite centralized on the control of global capital around the world. The global power elite function as a non-governmental network of similarly educated, wealthy people with common interests of managing and protecting concentrated global wealth and insuring its continued growth.The global power elites, who direct the world’s corporate financial giants, overlap with the leadership of organizations such as the Bilderberg Group, World Economic Forum, Council of Thirty, the Trilateral Commission, and the Atlantic Council. These privately-funded non-governmental organizations and their members provide direct instruction and policy recommendations to international institutions controlled by governmental authorities like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), World Trade Organization (WTO),  G-20, G-7 and their intelligence agencies, and other top capitalist countries. The US/NATO military empire operates in nearly every country of the world to protect global capital and the wealthy One Percent.The global One Percent comprise over thirty-six million millionaires, and 2,400 billionaires who employ their excess capital with investment management firms like BlackRock and J.P Morgan Chase. The top seventeen of these trillion-dollar investment management firms—which I call the Giants— controlled $41.1 trillion dollars in 2017. These firms are all directly invested in each other and managed by only 199 people who are the decision makers on how and where global capital will be invested. Their biggest problem is they have more capital than there are safe investment opportunities, which leads to risky speculative investments, increased war spending, and the privatization of the public commons.My research effort was to identify the most important networks of the global power elite and the individuals therein. I name and provide biographies for over 300 people, who are the core members of power networks that manage, facilitate, and protect global capital. The global power elites are the activist core of the transnational capitalist class—one-percent of the world’s wealthiest people. They serve the uniting function of providing ideological justifications for their shared interests through the corporate media and they establish the parameters of needed actions for implementation by transnational governmental organizations and capitalist nation-states.A review of the recent Bilderberg meetings in June of 2019 verifies the importance of individuals identified in Giants: The Global Power Elite. Five individuals who are directors of trillion-dollar investment companies or major policy organizations attended Bilderberg 2019 including:Name, Citizenship, CB-Corporate Boards/Current Corporate Employment, PE-Prior Corporate Employment/Boards, PC-Policy Councils, Philanthropic Organizations, Government E-Universities, F- Public FinancialsThomas Buberl, Germany, CB– CEO AXA, PE- Zurich Financial Services AG, Winterthur Group, Winterthur Group, DBV Deutsche Beamtenversicherung AG, Dbv Deutsche Beamtenversicherung AG PC- The Forum of Young Global Leaders, World Economic Forum, E- WHU Koblenz,- Master’s, Economics,  Lancaster University- M.B.A.,  University of St. Gallen- Ph.D. Economics, F-AXA Annual Compensation $2 million 2017, AXA Shares 1,757,212-$44.1 million 2016Mark J Carney, Canada, CB-, Governor and Director <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=874036" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Bank of England</a>, CEO Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation,Director <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=873988" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Bank For International Settlements</a>, PE-Governor Bank of Canada, PC-Chairman Financial Stability Board, Group of Thirty (G30) World Economic Forum, Bilderberg Group, Trilateral Commission, E-Harvard University-BA, University of Oxford-Ph.D., University of Oxford-MA., F- Bank of England Compensation $800,000+ 2016Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., US, CB- President and CEO TIAA, (private) Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP.($8.7 billion Hedge fund 2017), General Mills, Alphabet Inc., International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., PE- Partner at McKinsey & Company, Chair Swiss Re America Holding Corporation, PC- Vice Chair Federal Reserve System, President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, Group of Thirty(G30), President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board,  Economic Club of New York,  Chair Conference Board, The Partnership for New York City, Inc.,  Regent Smithsonian Institution,  Council on  Foreign Relations, Bilderberg Group,  Trilateral Commission, World Economic Forum,  E- <a href="https://littlesis.org/org/14730/Harvard_University" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Harvard University</a>-B.A., <a href="https://littlesis.org/org/14713/Harvard_Law_School" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Harvard Law School</a>– JD, F- General Mills Compensation $254,999 2016, General Mills Stock 9,000-$532,000  2017, Alphabet Inc. Stock award 2017 $1,004,789,  International Flavors & Fragrances Compensation $237,790  2016, International Flavors Shares 9,860-$1.5 million 2016,Thomas Leysen, Belgium, CB-Chairman, Umicore S.A., KBC Bank NV, KBC Insurance,  Corelio NV, Eurometaux, Corelio Media , Eurométaux,  Rubenianum Fund, Heritage Fund of the Fondation Roi Baudouin, Aurubis Belgium nv/sa, Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan,  Norddeutsche Affinerie AG, Board of Bank Metzler, Chairman, Federation of Belgian Enterprises, UCB SA, PE-Umicore NV, Sydes NV, CEO Transcor Group, Atlas Copco, Aurubis AG, PC– European Friends of Versailles and Vice President of the “Vrienden van het Rubenshuis”Executive Committee of the Belgian Employers Federation (FEB/VBO), President BJA, Trilateral Commission Executive Committee, , European Round Table of Industrialists, E-University of Leuven, Belgium, Law Degree and Masters of Law. F-Compensation Umicore & KBC $585,000 2016,<a href="http://group30.org/members/bio_current/thiam" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Tidjane Thiam</a>, Ivory Coast/France, CB-CEO Credit Suisse, 21st Century Fox board, PE-Chief Executive of Prudential plc, Managing Director of Aviva International, PC-Chairman Association of British Insurers, Secretary of Development and Planning at Côte d’Ivoire., Global Advisory Board- Council on Foreign Relations, CEO of the National Bureau for Technical Studies and Development, Group of Thirty (G30), World Economic Forum, Bilderberg Group,  E- Ecole Polytechnique France-B.A., INSEAD-M.A., F- Prudential Compensation $15.4 million 2015, Credit Suisse Compensation $12 million 2016, In addition, nineteen other directors of the global Giants have attended Bilderberg in past years as well as four other global policy advisors listed in Giants. Also, eight current or former employees with the giant investment management companies attended the 2019 Bilderberg meetings including: two from Barclays, two AXA, four Goldman Sachs, and one from Credit Suisse.Like other elite policy groups Bilderberg meetings seek to educate and find consensus among the powerful in the service of protecting global capital concentration and the continuing growth of world wealth. This concentration of protected capital leads to a crisis of humanity, whereby poverty, war, starvation, mass alienation, media propaganda, and environmental devastation are reaching levels that threaten our species’ future. Organizing resistance and challenging the global power elite should be foremost on the agendas of democracy movements everywhere, now and in the near future. Addressing top-down economic controls, monopolistic power, and the specifics of the global power elites’ activities will require challenging mobilizations and social movements worldwide.The act of identifying the global power elite by name may persuade some of them to recognize their own humanity and take corrective action to save the world. In the current geopolitical economic system, ironically (yet quite seriously), global power elites may be the only ones capable of implementing and supporting the monumental measures necessary to address this crisis without major civil unrest, war, and chaos. Giants is an effort to bring a consciousness of the importance of systemic change and redistribution of wealth to the ninety-nine percent, and to global power elites themselves, in the hope that we all can collectively begin the process of saving humanity. Social movements for human betterment will need to pressure these elites to use their money and power to make necessary changes. In that effort, I highly recommend using the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a> as a moral base to offer a united thread of consciousness for all seeking positive social transformation. Humankind deserves nothing less.Peter Phillips is a professor of political sociology at Sonoma State University, where he has taught since 1994. He teaches courses in Political Sociology, Sociology of Power, Sociology of Media, Sociology of Conspiracies and Investigative Sociology. He served as director of Project Censored from 1996 to 2010 and as president of Media Freedom Foundation from 2003 to 2017.  <a href="https://www.sevenstories.com/books/4097-giants" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Giants: The Global Power Elite</a> is his 18th book from <a href="https://www.sevenstories.com/books/4097-giants" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Seven Stories Press</a>—it was released in August 2018.Hear Peter Phillips giving recent updates to his research on the Project Censored Show <a href="https://www.projectcensored.org/the-transnational-capitalist-class-global-economic-crisis-and-twenty-first-century-fascism/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">here</a>.See his recent appearance on Abby Martin’s The Empire Files <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUGh1Su7-ok" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">here</a>.<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">giants pp:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div>The Global Power Elite works out policies to advance their</div><div>interests with regard to the management and protection of</div><div>global capital and the enforcement of debt collection worldwide</div><div>in such private policymaking forums as the World Economic</div><div>Forum, Trilateral Commission, Group of 30, Atlantic Council,</div><div>
</div><div>and Bilderberg Group, and in such transnational state institu-</div><div>tions as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, G20, and</div><div>
</div><div>Bank for International Settlements.</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group</a>

The Bilderberg Group, Bilderberg conference, or Bilderberg Club is an annual, unofficial, invitation-only conference of approximately 120 to 140 guests from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America" title="North America">North America</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Europe" title="Western Europe">Western Europe</a>, most of whom are people of influence.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-BBC_News_Magazine_2011-0">[1]</a> About one-third are from government and politics, and two-thirds from finance, industry, labour, education and communications. Meetings are closed to the public and often feature future political leaders shortly before they become household names. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-BBC_News_Magazine_2011-0">[1]</a>

Because of its exclusivity and privacy, the Bilderberg group is frequently accused by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theory" title="Conspiracy theory">conspiracy theorists</a> of being an all-powerful <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_society" title="Secret society">secret society</a> fixing the fate of the world behind closed doors for nefarious ends.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-BBC_News_Magazine_2011-0">[1]</a> Critics of Bilderberg conspiracy theories counter that it is nothing more than a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_policy" title="Public policy">policy</a> discussion forum and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_club" title="Social club">social club</a>, which only serves as a means to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorming" title="Brainstorming">brainstorm</a>, reach <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus" title="Consensus" class="mw-redirect">consensus</a>, and create <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_cohesion" title="Social cohesion">social cohesion</a> within the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_elite" title="Power elite">power elite</a> of North American and Western European nations, to better promote <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanticism" title="Atlanticism">Atlantic</a> free-market <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism" title="Capitalism">capitalism</a> and its interests around the globe.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-BBC_News_Magazine_2011-0">[1]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-New_Internationalist_2_2004-1">[2]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-D.26S_2003-2">[3]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>]</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#Origin">1 Origin</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#Organizational_structure">2 Organizational structure</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#Chairmen_of_the_Steering_Committee">2.1 Chairmen of the Steering Committee</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#Participants">3 Participants</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#Recent_meetings">4 Recent meetings</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#Privacy">5 Privacy</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#Conspiracy_theories">6 Conspiracy theories</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#References">8 References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#Further_reading">9 Further reading</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#External_links">10 External links</a></li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2>Origin</h2>

The original conference was held at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_de_Bilderberg" title="Hotel de Bilderberg">Hotel de Bilderberg</a>, near <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnhem" title="Arnhem">Arnhem</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands" title="Netherlands">Netherlands</a>, from 29 May to 31 May 1954. It was initiated by several people, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poles" title="Poles">Polish</a> politician <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Retinger" title="Józef Retinger">Józef Retinger</a>, concerned about the growth of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Americanism" title="Anti-Americanism">anti-Americanism</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Europe" title="Western Europe">Western Europe</a>, who proposed an international conference at which leaders from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe" title="Europe">European</a> countries and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">United States</a> would be brought together with the aim of promoting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanticism" title="Atlanticism">Atlanticism</a> – better understanding between the cultures of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">United States</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Europe" title="Western Europe">Western Europe</a> to foster cooperation on political, economic, and defense issues.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-hatch2-3">[4]</a> Retinger approached <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Bernhard_of_Lippe" title="Prince Bernhard of Lippe" class="mw-redirect">Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands</a> who agreed to promote the idea, together with former <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium" title="Belgium">Belgian</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_Belgium" title="Prime Minister of Belgium">Prime Minister</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Van_Zeeland" title="Paul Van Zeeland" class="mw-redirect">Paul Van Zeeland</a>, and the head of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilever" title="Unilever">Unilever</a> at that time, Dutchman Paul Rijkens. Bernhard in turn contacted <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Bedell_Smith" title="Walter Bedell Smith">Walter Bedell Smith</a>, then head of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Intelligence_Agency" title="Central Intelligence Agency">CIA</a>, who asked <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_Eisenhower" title="Dwight Eisenhower" class="mw-redirect">Eisenhower</a> adviser <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Douglas_Jackson" title="Charles Douglas Jackson">Charles Douglas Jackson</a> to deal with the suggestion.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Aubourg-4">[5]</a> The guest list was to be drawn up by inviting two attendees from each nation, one of each to represent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism" title="Conservatism">conservative</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism" title="Liberalism">liberal</a> points of view.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-hatch2-3">[4]</a> Fifty delegates from 11 countries in Western Europe attended the first conference, along with 11 Americans.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-rockefeller-5">[6]</a>

The success of the meeting led the organizers to arrange an annual conference. A permanent Steering Committee was established, with Retinger appointed as permanent secretary. As well as organizing the conference, the steering committee also maintained a register of attendee names and contact details, with the aim of creating an informal network of individuals who could call upon one another in a private capacity.[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] Conferences were held in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France" title="France">France</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany" title="Germany">Germany</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark" title="Denmark">Denmark</a> over the following three years. In 1957, the first US conference was held in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St.Simons,Georgia" title="St. Simons, Georgia">St. Simons, Georgia</a>, with $30,000 from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Foundation" title="Ford Foundation">Ford Foundation</a>. The foundation supplied further funding for the 1959 and 1963 conferences.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Aubourg-4">[5]</a>

<h2>Organizational structure</h2>

Meetings are organized by a steering committee with two members from each of approximately 18 nations.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-bbc05-6">[7]</a> Official posts, in addition to a chairman, include an Honorary Secretary General.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-prweb97-7">[8]</a> There is no such category in the group's rules as a "member of the group". The only category that exists is "member of the Steering Committee".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-8">[9]</a> In addition to the committee, there also exists a separate advisory group, though membership overlaps.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-iww-9">[10]</a>

Dutch economist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_van_der_Beugel" title="Ernst van der Beugel">Ernst van der Beugel</a> became permanent secretary in 1960, upon Retinger's death. Prince Bernhard continued to serve as the meeting's chairman until 1976, the year of his involvement in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_bribery_scandals" title="Lockheed bribery scandals">Lockheed affair</a>. The position of Honorary American Secretary General has been held successively by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_E.Johnson" title="Joseph E. Johnson">Joseph E. Johnson</a> of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Endowment_for_International_Peace" title="Carnegie Endowment for International Peace">Carnegie Endowment</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bundy" title="William Bundy">William Bundy</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_University" title="Princeton University">Princeton</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_L.Eliot,_Jr." title="Theodore L. Eliot, Jr.">Theodore L. Eliot, Jr.</a>, former <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Ambassador_to_Afghanistan" title="United States Ambassador to Afghanistan">U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan</a>, and Casimir A. Yost of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_University" title="Georgetown University">Georgetown's</a> Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-10">[11]</a>

A 2008 press release from the 'American Friends of Bilderberg' stated that "Bilderberg's only activity is its annual Conference. At the meetings, no resolutions are proposed, no votes taken, and no policy statements issued" and noted that the names of attendees were available to the press.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-bwire-11">[12]</a> The Bilderberg group's unofficial headquarters is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Leiden" title="University of Leiden" class="mw-redirect">University of Leiden</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands" title="Netherlands">Netherlands</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-12">[13]</a>

According to the 'American Friends of Bilderberg', the 2008 agenda dealt "mainly with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon" title="Nuclear weapon">nuclear</a> free world, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberterrorism" title="Cyberterrorism">cyber terrorism</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa" title="Africa">Africa</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia" title="Russia">Russia</a>, finance, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protectionism" title="Protectionism">protectionism</a>, US-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU" title="EU" class="mw-redirect">EU</a> relations, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan" title="Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan" title="Pakistan">Pakistan</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam" title="Islam">Islam</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran" title="Iran">Iran</a>".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-bwire-11">[12]</a>

<h3>Chairmen of the Steering Committee</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Bernhard_of_Lippe-Biesterfeld" title="Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld">Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld</a> (1954–1975)<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-ADH-13">[14]</a></li>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Scheel" title="Walter Scheel">Walter Scheel</a> (1975–1977)<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-rockefeller-5">[6]</a></li>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Douglas-Home" title="Alec Douglas-Home">Alec Douglas-Home</a> (1977–1980)<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-ADH-13">[14]</a></li>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Roll,_Baron_Roll_of_Ipsden" title="Eric Roll, Baron Roll of Ipsden">Eric Roll, Baron Roll of Ipsden</a> (1986–1989)<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-whoswho99-14">[15]</a></li>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Carington,_6th_Baron_Carrington" title="Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington">Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington</a> (1990–1998)<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-rockefeller-5">[6]</a></li>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_Davignon" title="Étienne Davignon">Étienne Davignon</a> (since 1998)<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-bbc05-6">[7]</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>Participants</h2>

<div class="rellink relarticle mainarticle">Main article: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bilderberg_participants" title="List of Bilderberg participants">List of Bilderberg participants</a></div>

Historically, attendee lists have been weighted towards bankers, politicians, and directors of large businesses.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Moorehead_1977-15">[16]</a>

Heads of state, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carlos_I_of_Spain" title="Juan Carlos I of Spain">Juan Carlos I of Spain</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrix_of_the_Netherlands" title="Beatrix of the Netherlands">Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands</a>, have attended meetings.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-prweb97-7">[8]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-16">[17]</a> Prominent politicians from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America" title="North America">North America</a> and Europe are past attendees. In past years, board members from many large publicly-traded corporations have attended, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM" title="IBM">IBM</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox" title="Xerox">Xerox</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Dutch_Shell" title="Royal Dutch Shell">Royal Dutch Shell</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia" title="Nokia">Nokia</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_AG" title="Daimler AG">Daimler</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-prweb97-7">[8]</a>

The 2009 meeting participants in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece" title="Greece">Greece</a> included: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Greece" title="List of Prime Ministers of Greece">Greek prime minister</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kostas_Karamanlis" title="Kostas Karamanlis">Kostas Karamanlis</a>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_Finland" title="Prime Minister of Finland">Finnish prime minister</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matti_Vanhanen" title="Matti Vanhanen">Matti Vanhanen</a>;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-17">[18]</a> Sweden foreign minister <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Bildt" title="Carl Bildt">Carl Bildt</a>; United States <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Deputy_Secretary_of_State" title="United States Deputy Secretary of State">Deputy Secretary of State</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Steinberg" title="James Steinberg">James Steinberg</a>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_the_Treasury" title="United States Secretary of the Treasury">U.S. Treasury Secretary</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Geithner" title="Timothy Geithner">Timothy Geithner</a>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Bank" title="World Bank">World Bank</a> president <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Zoellick" title="Robert Zoellick">Robert Zoellick</a>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Commission" title="European Commission">European Commission</a> head José <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Barroso" title="Manuel Barroso" class="mw-redirect">Manuel Barroso</a>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Sofia_of_Spain" title="Queen Sofia of Spain" class="mw-redirect">Queen Sofia of Spain</a>; and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Beatrix" title="Queen Beatrix" class="mw-redirect">Queen Beatrix</a> of the Netherlands.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-18">[19]</a>

In 2009 the group hosted a dinner meeting at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_of_the_Valley_of_the_Duchess" title="Castle of the Valley of the Duchess" class="mw-redirect">Castle of the Valley of the Duchess</a> in Brussels on 12 November to promote the candidacy of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Van_Rompuy" title="Herman Van Rompuy">Herman Van Rompuy</a> for President of the European Council.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-19">[20]</a>

According to policy analyst and strategist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holly_Sklar" title="Holly Sklar">Holly Sklar</a>, Western elites have grown increasingly upset with the idea that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations" title="United Nations">United Nations</a> is no longer ruled by Western powers (led by the United States) and this frustration is registered in the Bilderberg group.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Sklar_1975-20">[21]</a> About the Bilderberg's participant selection process, human rights journalist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Moorehead" title="Caroline Moorehead">Caroline Moorehead</a> observes: "No invitation go out to representatives of the developing countries. 'Otherwise you simply turn us into into a mini-United-Nations, said one person [a Bilderberger] with scorn. And more revealingly, 'we are looking for like-thinking people and compatible people. It would be worse to have a club of dopes.'"<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Moorehead_1977-15">[16]</a>

<h2>Recent meetings</h2>

<div class="rellink relarticle mainarticle">Main article: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bilderberg_meetings" title="List of Bilderberg meetings">List of Bilderberg meetings</a></div>

Recent meetings:

<ul>

<li>2005 (5–8 May) at the Dorint Sofitel Seehotel Überfahrt in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rottach-Egern" title="Rottach-Egern">Rottach-Egern</a>, Germany<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-atimes2007-08-22-21">[22]</a></li>

<li>2006 (8–11 June) at the Brookstreet Hotel in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanata,_Ontario" title="Kanata, Ontario">Kanata</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa" title="Ottawa">Ottawa</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario" title="Ontario">Ontario</a>, Canada<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Alexander2006-22">[23]</a></li>

<li>2007 (31 May–3 June) at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritz-Carlton" title="Ritz-Carlton">Ritz-Carlton</a> Hotel,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-tdn-23">[24]</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Ei%C5%9Fli" title="Şişli">Şişli</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul" title="Istanbul">Istanbul</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey" title="Turkey">Turkey</a>.</li>

<li>2008 (5–8 June) at the Westfields Marriott in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chantilly,_Virginia" title="Chantilly, Virginia">Chantilly</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia" title="Virginia">Virginia</a>, United States<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-bwire-11">[12]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-nis-24">[25]</a></li>

<li>2009 (14–16 May) at the Astir Palace resort in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens" title="Athens">Athens</a>, Greece<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-grrep-25">[26]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-skelton-26">[27]</a></li>

<li>2010 (3–7 June) at the Hotel Dolce in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitges" title="Sitges">Sitges</a>, Spain<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-skelton2-27">[28]</a></li>

<li>2011 (9–12 June) at the Suvretta House in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Moritz" title="St. Moritz">St. Moritz</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland" title="Switzerland">Switzerland</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>Privacy</h2>

The meeting hotels are inaccessible for any other guest for the full period of the conferences and sentineled by private security staffs as well as by local police authorities and secret services. Journalists attempting to report from the conferences are often subject to reprisal. During the Bilderberg Meeting at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vouliagmeni" title="Vouliagmeni">Vouliagmeni</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece" title="Greece">Greece</a>) in 2009, for instance, the British <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian" title="The Guardian">Guardian</a> reporter <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Skelton" title="Charlie Skelton">Charlie Skelton</a> was arrested twice after having taken pictures of vehicles.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-28">[29]</a> On June 9, 2011 the Italian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lega_Nord" title="Lega Nord">Lega Nord</a> member of the European Parliament <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Borghezio" title="Mario Borghezio">Mario Borghezio</a> was arrested by the police, remanded for some hours and then banished from the Canton of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graub%C3%BCnden" title="Graubünden">Graubünden</a> for the full period of the conference. Thereupon the Italian embassy at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne" title="Berne" class="mw-redirect">Berne</a> appealed to the Swiss government and demanded investigations on that subject.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-29">[30]</a>

<h2>Conspiracy theories</h2>

According to chairman <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_Davignon" title="Étienne Davignon">Étienne Davignon</a>, a major attraction of Bilderberg group meetings is that they provide an opportunity for participants to speak and debate candidly and to find out what major figures really think, without the risk of off-the-cuff comments becoming fodder for controversy in the media.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-ReferenceA-30">[31]</a> However, because of its working methods to ensure strict privacy, the Bilderberg group is frequently accused of conspiracies, ranging from the plausible to the absurd.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-D.26S_2003-2">[3]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-ReferenceA-30">[31]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-guardian-31">[32]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Duffy-32">[33]</a> This outlook has been popular on both extremes of the ideological spectrum, even if they disagree on what the group wants to do. Left-wingers accuse the Bilderberg group of conspiring to impose <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism" title="Capitalism">capitalist</a> domination,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Weissert_2010-33">[34]</a> while some right-wing groups have accused the group of conspiring to impose a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_government" title="World government">world government</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_economy" title="Planned economy">planned economy</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Wallechinsky_and_Wallace_1975-34">[35]</a>

For decades, the exclusive roster of globally influential figures who attend Bilderberg conferences has captured the interest of an international network of conspiracy theorists, who are convinced <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_elite" title="Power elite">powerful elites</a> are moving the planet toward a political and economic “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_world_order_%28politics%29" title="New world order (politics)">new world order</a>”.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Vogel_2009-35">[36]</a> Their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism" title="Populism">populist</a> worldview, characterized by a deep and angry suspicion of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruling_class" title="Ruling class">ruling class</a> rather than any prevailing partisan or ideological affiliation, is widely articulated on overnight AM radio shows and a collection of Internet websites. The video sharing website <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube" title="YouTube">YouTube</a> alone is home to thousands of Bilderberg-related videos.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Vogel_2009-35">[36]</a>

Proponents of Bilderberg <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theory" title="Conspiracy theory">conspiracy theories</a> in the United States include individuals and groups such as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society" title="John Birch Society">John Birch Society</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Wallechinsky_and_Wallace_1975-34">[35]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Berlet_2000-36">[37]</a> political activist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Schlafly" title="Phyllis Schlafly">Phyllis Schlafly</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Berlet_2000-36">[37]</a> writer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Tucker%28journalist%29" title="Jim Tucker (journalist)">Jim Tucker</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-37">[38]</a> political activist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_LaRouche" title="Lyndon LaRouche">Lyndon LaRouche</a>, radio host <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Jones%28radio_host%29" title="Alex Jones (radio host)">Alex Jones</a>, and politician <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura" title="Jesse Ventura">Jesse Ventura</a>, who made the Bilderberg group a topic of a 2009 episode of his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TruTV" title="TruTV">TruTV</a> series <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_Theory_with_Jesse_Ventura" title="Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura">Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-38">[39]</a> Non-American proponents include <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russians_in_Canada" title="Russians in Canada">Russian-Canadian</a> writer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Estulin" title="Daniel Estulin">Daniel Estulin</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-39">[40]</a>

In 2001, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Healey" title="Denis Healey">Denis Healey</a>, a Bilderberg group founder and, for 30 years, a steering committee member, said: "To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair. Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn't go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-N000300-40">[41]</a> In 2005 Davignon discussed these accusations with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC" title="BBC">BBC</a>: "It is unavoidable and it doesn't matter. There will always be people who believe in conspiracies but things happen in a much more incoherent fashion... When people say this is a secret government of the world I say that if we were a secret government of the world we should be bloody ashamed of ourselves."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-hayton-41">[42]</a>

In a 1994 report Right Woos Left, published by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_Research_Associates" title="Political Research Associates">Political Research Associates</a>, investigative journalist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_Berlet" title="Chip Berlet">Chip Berlet</a> argued that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_populism" title="Right-wing populism">right-wing populist</a> conspiracy theories about the Bilderberg group date back as early as 1964 and can be found in Schlafly's self-published book A Choice, Not an Echo<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-42">[43]</a>, which promoted a conspiracy theory in which the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party%28United_States%29" title="Republican Party (United States)">Republican Party</a> was secretly controlled by elitist intellectuals dominated by members of the Bilderberger group, whose <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism" title="Neoliberalism">internationalist</a> policies would pave the way for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_communism" title="World communism">world communism</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-43">[44]</a> Paradoxically, in August 2010 former Cuban president <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro" title="Fidel Castro">Fidel Castro</a> wrote an article for the Cuban Communist Party newspaper <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granma%28newspaper%29" title="Granma (newspaper)">Granma</a> in which he cited Estulin’s 2006 book The Secrets of the Bilderberg Club <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-44">[45]</a>, which, as quoted by Castro, describes "sinister cliques and the Bilderberg lobbyists" manipulating the public "to install a world government that knows no borders and is not accountable to anyone but its own self."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Weissert_2010-33">[34]</a>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.William_Domhoff" title="G. William Domhoff">G. William Domhoff</a>, a research professor in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology" title="Psychology">psychology</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology" title="Sociology">sociology</a> who studies theories of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power%28philosophy%29" title="Power (philosophy)">power</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Domhoff_2005-45">[46]</a> sees the role of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_policy" title="Public policy">policy</a> discussion forums and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_club" title="Social club">social clubs</a> such as the Bilderberg group as being nothing more than a means to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorming" title="Brainstorming">brainstorm</a>, reach <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus" title="Consensus" class="mw-redirect">consensus</a>, and create <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_cohesion" title="Social cohesion">social cohesion</a> within a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_elite" title="Power elite">power elite</a>. He adds that this understanding of forums and clubs such as the Bilderberg group fits with the perceptions of the members of the elite. In a 2004 interview with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Internationalist" title="New Internationalist">New Internationalist</a> magazine, Domhoff warns <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressivism_in_the_United_States" title="Progressivism in the United States">progressives</a> against getting distracted by conspiracy theories which <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonization" title="Demonization">demonize</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoating" title="Scapegoating">scapegoat</a> such forums and clubs. He argues that the opponents of progressivism are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism_in_the_United_States" title="Conservatism in the United States">conservatives</a> within the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class_in_the_United_States#Corporate_elite" title="Social class in the United States">corporate elite</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29" title="Republican Party (United States)">Republican Party</a>. It is more or less the same people who belong to forums and clubs such as the Bilderberg group, but it puts them in their most important roles, as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism" title="Capitalism">capitalists</a> and political leaders, which are visible and therefore easier to fight.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-New_Internationalist_2_2004-1">[2]</a>

Author James McConnachie comments that conspiracy theorists have a point, but that they fail to communicate it effectively. He argues that the Bilderberg group acts in manner consistent with a global conspiracy, but does so without the same "degree of nefariousness", a difference not appreciated by conspiracy theorist, who "...tend to see this cabal as outright evil."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-BBC_News_Magazine_2011-0">[1]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-46">[47]</a> McConnachie concludes: "Occasionally you have to give credit to conspiracy theorists who raise issues that the mainstream press has ignored. It's only recently that the media has picked up on the Bilderbergers. Would the media be running stories if there weren't these wild allegations flying around?"<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-BBC_News_Magazine_2011-0">[1]</a>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilateral_Commission" title="Trilateral Commission">Trilateral Commission</a>, established by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rockefeller" title="David Rockefeller">David Rockefeller</a> in 1972 after the Bilderberg Group refused to include Japan.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_note-Yomiuri1991-47">[48]</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>References</h2>

<li id="cite_note-BBC_News_Magazine_2011-0">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-BBC_News_Magazine_2011_0-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-BBC_News_Magazine_2011_0-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-BBC_News_Magazine_2011_0-2">c</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-BBC_News_Magazine_2011_0-3">d</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-BBC_News_Magazine_2011_0-4">e</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-BBC_News_Magazine_2011_0-5">f</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_News_Online" title="BBC News Online">BBC News Online</a> (7 June 2011). <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13682082" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Bilderberg mystery: Why do people believe in cabals?</a>. Retrieved 14 June 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-New_Internationalist_2_2004-1">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-New_Internationalist_2_2004_1-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-New_Internationalist_2_2004_1-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_Berlet" title="Chip Berlet">Berlet, Chip</a> (September 2004). <a href="http://www.publiceye.org/antisemitism/nw_domhoff.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Interview: G. William Domhoff</a>. Retrieved 1 October 2009.</li>

<li id="cite_note-D.26S_2003-2">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-D.26S_2003_2-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-D.26S_2003_2-1">b</a> Wilford, Hugh (September 2003). <a href="http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content%7Edb=all%7Econtent=a714039710" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"CIA plot, socialist conspiracy, or new world order? the origins of the Bilderberg group, 1952-55"</a>. Diplomacy & Statecraft, Volume 14, Issue 3, pages 70 - 82. Retrieved 28 March 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-hatch2-3">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-hatch2_3-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-hatch2_3-1">b</a> Hatch, Alden (1962). "The Hôtel de Bilderberg". H.R.H.Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands: An authorized biography. London: Harrap. ISBN B0000CLLN4. "The idea was to get two people from each country who would give the conservative and liberal slant"</li>

<li id="cite_note-Aubourg-4">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Aubourg_4-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Aubourg_4-1">b</a> Valerie Aubourg (June 2003). Organizing Atlanticism: the Bilderberg Group and the Atlantic Institute 1952–63.</li>

<li id="cite_note-rockefeller-5">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-rockefeller_5-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-rockefeller_5-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-rockefeller_5-2">c</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rockefeller" title="David Rockefeller">Rockefeller, David</a> (2002). Memoirs. Random House. p. 412. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-679-40588-7" title="Special:BookSources/0-679-40588-7">0-679-40588-7</a>.</li>

<li id="cite_note-bbc05-6">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-bbc05_6-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-bbc05_6-1">b</a> <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4290944.stm" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Inside the secretive Bilderberg Group"</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_News" title="BBC News">BBC News</a>. 29 September 2005. Retrieved 5 August 2008.</li>

<li id="cite_note-prweb97-7">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-prweb97_7-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-prweb97_7-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-prweb97_7-2">c</a> <a href="http://www.prnewswire.de/cgi/release?id=42594" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Bilderberg Meeting of 1997 Assembles"</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PR_Newswire" title="PR Newswire">PR Newswire</a>. 13 June 1997.</li>

<li id="cite_note-8"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-8">^</a> <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getAllAnswers.do?reference=P-2003-1370&language=EN" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Parliamentary questions: Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission"</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament" title="European Parliament">European Parliament</a>. 15 May 2003.</li>

<li id="cite_note-iww-9"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-iww_9-0">^</a> Entry for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Black" title="Conrad Black">Conrad Black</a>, The International Who's Who. Europa Publications. 2000.</li>

<li id="cite_note-10"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-10">^</a> <a href="http://www.dod.gov/pubs/foi/reading_room/824.pdf" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Bilderberg: List of Invitees"</a>. United States Department of Defense. 31 January 1996. Retrieved 6 June 2009.</li>

<li id="cite_note-bwire-11">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-bwire_11-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-bwire_11-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-bwire_11-2">c</a> <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080605006246&newsLang=en" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Bilderberg Announces 2008 Conference"</a>. businesswire.com. BusinessWire. 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2008.</li>

<li id="cite_note-12"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-12">^</a> Marcus Klöckner (17 May 2009). <a href="http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=62737" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Bilderberg meetings remain a mystery"</a>. Stars and Stripes.</li>

<li id="cite_note-ADH-13">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-ADH_13-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-ADH_13-1">b</a> "Twenty-fifth Bilderberg meeting held in St joseph MO". Facts on File World News Digest. 14 May 1977.</li>

<li id="cite_note-Moorehead_1977-15">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Moorehead_1977_15-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Moorehead_1977_15-1">b</a> Caroline Moorehead (18 April 1977). "An exclusive club, perhaps without power, but certainly with influence: The Bilderberg group". The Times.</li>

<li id="cite_note-16"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-16">^</a> Mark Oliver (4 June 2004). <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2004/jun/04/netnotes.markoliver" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"The Bilderberg group"</a>. The Guardian (London).</li>

<li id="cite_note-17"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-17">^</a> <a href="http://www.vn.fi/ajankohtaista/tiedotteet/tiedote/en.jsp?oid=261475" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Prime Minister Vanhanen and Minister of Finance Katainen to attend Bilderberg Conference"</a>. Finnish Government. 13 May 2009.</li>

<li id="cite_note-18"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-18">^</a> <a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200905140722dowjonesdjonline000365&title=bilderberg-group-meets-in-athens-amid-tight-security" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Bilderberg Group Meets In Athens Amid Tight Security"</a>. NASDAQ.</li>

<li id="cite_note-19"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-19">^</a> Bruno Waterfield (16 Nov 2009). <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/6582837/EU-Presidency-candidate-Herman-Van-Rompuy-calls-for-new-taxes.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"EU Presidency candidate Herman Van Rompuy calls for new taxes"</a>. "during a secret dinner to promote his candidacy hosted by the elite Bilderberg Group."</li>

<li id="cite_note-Sklar_1975-20"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Sklar_1975_20-0">^</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holly_Sklar" title="Holly Sklar">Sklar, Holly</a> (1999). Trilateralism: The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management. South End Press. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0896081036" title="Special:BookSources/0896081036">0896081036</a>.<a href="http://www.trivia-library.com/c/most-powerful-in-the-world-the-bilderberg-group-part-2.htm" class="external autonumber" rel="nofollow">[1]</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-atimes2007-08-22-21"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-atimes2007-08-22_21-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/GE10Aa02.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Asia Times Online :: Asian News, Business and Economy."</a>. Retrieved 22 August 2007.</li>

<li id="cite_note-Alexander2006-22"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Alexander2006_22-0">^</a> Panetta, Alexander (2006). <a href="http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1149803410449&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Secretive Bilderbergers meet"</a>. www.thestar.com (Toronto Star Newspapers Limited). Retrieved 12 June 2006.</li>

<li id="cite_note-tdn-23"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-tdn_23-0">^</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20071201041949/http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=74966" class="external text" rel="nofollow">What was discussed at Bilderberg?</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Daily_News" title="Turkish Daily News" class="mw-redirect">Turkish Daily News</a>, 5 June 2007. Retrieved 18 August 2007.</li>

<li id="cite_note-nis-24"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-nis_24-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.nisnews.nl/public/200508_2.htm" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Balkenende to Meet Bush in Washington"</a>. nisnews.nl. NIS News Bulletin. 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2008.</li>

<li id="cite_note-grrep-25"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-grrep_25-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.grreporter.info/en/node/557" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"The most powerful elite will meet in Athens"</a>. GRReporter. 23 March 2009. "the club will organize its meeting in Athens between 14 and 16 May"</li>

<li id="cite_note-skelton-26"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-skelton_26-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/charlie-skeltons-bilderberg-files" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Charlie Skelton's Bilderberg files"</a>. The Guardian (London). 15 May 2009. Retrieved 15 May 2009.</li>

<li id="cite_note-skelton2-27"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-skelton2_27-0">^</a> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2010/jun/02/charlie-skelton-bilderberg-spain" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Bilderberg 2010: Plutocracy with palm trees"</a>. The Guardian (London). 2 June 2010. Retrieved 2 June 2010.</li>

<li id="cite_note-28"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-28">^</a> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/18/bilderberg-charlie-skelton-dispatch1" class="external text" rel="nofollow">The Guardian</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-29"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-29">^</a> <a href="http://www.tagesschau.sf.tv/Nachrichten/Archiv/2011/06/11/Schweiz/Italien-fordert-Aufklaerung-nach-Bilderberg-Vorfall" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Schweizer Fernsehen am 11.06.11 - Italien fordert Aufklärung nach Bilderberg-Vorfall</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-ReferenceA-30">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-ReferenceA_30-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-ReferenceA_30-1">b</a> <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/17928993" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"A special report on global leaders"</a>. The Economist: pp. 12-14. 22 January 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-guardian-31"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-guardian_31-0">^</a> Madeleine Bunting (25 May 2001). <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/may/25/globalisation.madeleinebunting" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Weekend break for the global elite"</a>. London: The Guardian.</li>

<li id="cite_note-Duffy-32"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Duffy_32-0">^</a> Duffy, Jonathan (3 June 2004). <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4290944.stm" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Bilderberg: The ultimate conspiracy theory"</a>. BBC News.</li>

<li id="cite_note-Weissert_2010-33">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Weissert_2010_33-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Weissert_2010_33-1">b</a> Weissert, Will (10 August 2010). <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0820/Fidel-Castro-fascinated-by-Bilderberg-Club-conspiracy-theory" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Fidel Castro fascinated by Bilderberg Club conspiracy theory</a>. Retrieved 16 October 2010.</li>

<li id="cite_note-Wallechinsky_and_Wallace_1975-34">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Wallechinsky_and_Wallace_1975_34-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Wallechinsky_and_Wallace_1975_34-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wallechinsky" title="David Wallechinsky">Wallechinsky, David</a>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Wallace" title="Irving Wallace">Wallace, Irving</a> (1975). <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People%27s_Almanac" title="The People's Almanac">The People's Almanac</a>. Doubleday. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0385040601" title="Special:BookSources/0385040601">0385040601</a>.<a href="http://www.trivia-library.com/c/most-powerful-in-the-world-the-bilderberg-group-part-2.htm" class="external autonumber" rel="nofollow">[2]</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-Vogel_2009-35">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Vogel_2009_35-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Vogel_2009_35-1">b</a> Vogel, Kenneth P. (15 March 2009). <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20010.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Bilderbergers excite conspiracists</a>. Retrieved 3 November 2010.</li>

<li id="cite_note-Berlet_2000-36">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Berlet_2000_36-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Berlet_2000_36-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_Berlet" title="Chip Berlet">Berlet, Chip</a> (2000). <a href="http://www.publiceye.org/tooclose/jbs.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">John Birch Society</a>. Retrieved 6 October 2010.</li>

<li id="cite_note-37"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-37">^</a> Jim Tucker, Jim Tucker's Bilderberg Diary: Reporter's 25year Battle to Shine the Light on the world Shadow Government (American Free Press, 2005). <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0974548421" class="internal mw-magiclink-isbn">ISBN 0974548421</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-38"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-38">^</a> <a href="http://www.trutv.com/shows/conspiracy_theory/episodes/" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"List of episodes for Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura"</a>. truTV. Retrieved 2011-01-11.</li>

<li id="cite_note-39"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-39">^</a> Bruce Ramsey (2009-07-30). <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/edcetera/2009571170_that_bilderberg_book.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"That Bilderberg Book"</a>. The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2011-01-23.</li>

<li id="cite_note-N000300-40"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-N000300_40-0">^</a> Ronson, Jon (10 March 2001). <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/mar/10/extract1" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Who pulls the strings? (part 3)"</a>. The Guardian. Retrieved 14 May 2009.</li>

<li id="cite_note-hayton-41"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-hayton_41-0">^</a> <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4290944.stm" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Inside the secretive Bilderberg Group"</a>. BBC News. 29 September 2005. Retrieved 19 March 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-42"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-42">^</a> Phyllis Schlafly, A Choice Not An Echo: The Inside Story of How American Presidents Are Chosen (Pere Marquette Press, 1964) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0686114868" class="internal mw-magiclink-isbn">ISBN 0-686-11486-8</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-43"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-43">^</a> Chip Berlet (1994). <a href="http://www.publiceye.org/rightwoo/rwooz9-03.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"The New Right & The Secular Humanism Conspiracy Theory"</a>.</li>

<li id="cite_note-44"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-44">^</a> Daniel Estulin, Los secretos del club Bilderberg (Ediciones del Bronce, 2006).</li>

<li id="cite_note-Domhoff_2005-45"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Domhoff_2005_45-0">^</a> Domhoff, G. William (2005). Who Rules America? Power, Politics, and Social Change. McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 5 edition. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0072876255" title="Special:BookSources/0072876255">0072876255</a>.</li>

<li id="cite_note-46"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-46">^</a> James McConnachie, Robin Tudge, The Rough Guide to Conspiracy Theories (London: Rough Guides Ltd, 2005) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781843534457" class="internal mw-magiclink-isbn">ISBN 9781843534457</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-Yomiuri1991-47"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group#cite_ref-Yomiuri1991_47-0">^</a> "Japan–U.S. Relations—Past, Present and Future". The Daily Yomiuri. 8 December 1991. "Rockefeller: The idea (of creating the Trilateral Commission) was incorporated in a speech that I made in the spring of 1972 for the benefit of some industrial forums that the Chase held in different cities around Europe,... Then Zbig (Zbig Brzezinski) and I both attended a meeting of the Bilderberg Group ... and was shot down in flames. There was very little enthusiasm for the idea. I think they felt that they had a very congenial group, and they didn't want to have it interfered with by another element that would—I don't know what they thought, but in any case, they were not in favor."</li>

</ol>

</div>

<h2>Further reading</h2>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Ronson" title="Jon Ronson">Ronson, Jon</a> (2001). <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Them:_Adventures_with_Extremists" title="Them: Adventures with Extremists">Them: Adventures with Extremists</a>. London: Picador. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-330-37546-6" title="Special:BookSources/0-330-37546-6">0-330-37546-6</a>.</li>

<li>Eringer, Robert (1980). The Global Manipulators. Bristol, England: Pentacle Books. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Computer_Library_Center" title="Online Computer Library Center">OCLC</a> <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26551991" class="external text" rel="nofollow">26551991</a>.</li>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Estulin" title="Daniel Estulin">Estulin, Daniel</a> (2007). The True Story of the Bilderberg Group. Oregon, United States of America: Trine Day. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0977795349" title="Special:BookSources/0977795349">0977795349</a>.</li>

<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hodapp" title="Christopher Hodapp" class="mw-redirect">Hodapp, Christopher</a>; Alice Von Kannon (2008). Conspiracy Theories & Secret Societies For Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0470184086" title="Special:BookSources/0470184086">0470184086</a>.</li>

<li>Richardson, Ian N.; Andrew P. Kakabadse, Nada K. Kakabadse (2011). Bilderberg People: Elite power and consensus in world affairs. Hoboken, NJ: Routledge. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780415576352" title="Special:BookSources/9780415576352">9780415576352</a>.</li>

<li>Klimczuk, Stephen; Gerald Warner (2010). <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Places,_Hidden_Sanctuaries" title="Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries">Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries</a>: Uncovering Mysterious Sites, Symbols and Societies. Sterling. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1402762070" title="Special:BookSources/1402762070">1402762070</a>.</li>

</ul>

<h2>External links</h2>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Official website</a></li>

</ul>

<table class="metadata mbox-small plainlinks" style=" border: 1px solid #aaa; background-color: #f9f9f9;"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><img src="/d6a093e6-f78e-59c3-a997-37f70ea01c55.png"/></td><td class="mbox-text">Wikimedia Commons has media related to: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Bilderberg_Group" class="extiw" title="commons:Category:Bilderberg Group">Bilderberg Group</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13682082" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Bilderberg mystery: Why do people believe in cabals?</a></li>

<li><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3031717.stm" class="external text" rel="nofollow">"Elite power brokers meet in secret"</a>. news.bbc.co.uk (BBC News). 15 May 2003. Retrieved 5 August 2008.</li>

<li><a href="http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,449284,00.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Guardian article on the group – an excerpt from Jon Ronson's book Them</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7804197/The-Bilderberg-Group-fact-and-fantasy.html" class="external text" rel="nofollow">Iain Hollingshead, The Bilderberg Group: fact and fantasy </a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Telegraph" title="Daily Telegraph" class="mw-redirect">Daily Telegraph</a> 4 June 2010</li>

</ul>

-------<div class="print-logo"><img id="logo" alt="Alternet" src="http://www.alternet.org/files/story_images/alternet_logo_dark.gif" class="print-logo" style="border: 0px;" /></div><div class="print-site_name">Published on Alternet (<a href="http://www.alternet.org/" style="">http://www.alternet.org</a>)</div><div class="print-breadcrumb" style=""><a href="http://www.alternet.org/" style="">Home</a> > Meet the Elite Business and Think-Tank Community That's Doing Its Best to Control the World</div><hr class="print-hr" style="border: 0px; height: 1px; width: 1047.2px; background-color: rgb(158, 158, 158);" /><div class="print-content"><div id="node-857502" class="node node-story view-mode-print clearfix" about="/occupy-wall-street/elite-business-and-think-tank-attempts-control-world" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document" style="position: relative;"><div class="byline story"><a href="http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/" style="">Andrewgavinmarshall.com</a> [1] / By <a href="http://www.alternet.org/authors/andrew-gavin-marshall" style="">Andrew Gavin Marshall</a> [2]</div><div class="story_comments"><img border="0" alt="comments_image" src="http://www.alternet.org/sites/all/themes/custom/alternet/images/talk_box_story.jpg" style="border: 0px;" /></div><div class="headline"><h1 property="dc:title" datatype="" class="node-title">Meet the Elite Business and Think-Tank Community That's Doing Its Best to Control the World</h1></div><div class="the_body body_story clearfix"><div class="story-date">June 19, 2013  |  </div>Read more at <a href="http://www.occupy.com/" style="">Occupy.com</a> [3]."The corporate-policy network is highly centralized, at both the level of individuals and that of organizations. Its inner circle is a tightly interwoven ensemble of politically active business leaders..." -- Academics <a href="http://iss.sagepub.com/content/25/4/501" style="">William K. Carroll and Jean Philippe Sapinski</a> [4]In <a href="http://www.sagepub.com/dicken6/Sage%20articles/Chap%203/chap%203%20-%20Carroll.pdf" target="blank" style="">an article</a> [5] titled "The Global Corporate Elite" in the journal International Sociology, William K. Carroll and Jean Philippe Sapinski examined the relationship between the corporate elite and the emergence of a “transnational policy-planning network,” beginning with its formation in the decades following World War II and speeding up in the 1970s with the creation of “global policy groups” and think tanks such as the World Economic Forum, in 1971, and the Trilateral Commission, in 1973, among many others.The function of such institutions was to help mobilize and integrate the corporate elite beyond national borders, constructing a politically “organized minority.” These policy-planning organizations came to exist as “venues for discussion, strategic planning, discourse production and consensus formation on specific issues,” as well as “places where responses to crises of legitimacy are crafted,” such as managing economic, political, or environmental crises where elite interests might be threatened. These groups also often acted as “advocates for specific projects of integration, often on a regional basis.” Perhaps most importantly, the organizations “provide bridges connecting business elites to political actors (heads of states, politicians, high-ranking public servants) and elites and organic intellectuals in other fields (international organizations, military, media, academia).”One important industry association, according to researchers Carroll and Carson in the journal Global Networks (Vol. 3, No. 1, 2003), is the International Chamber of Commerce. Launched by investment bankers in 1919, immediately following WWI, the Paris-based Chamber groups roughly 7,000 member corporations together across 130 countries, adhering to largely conservative, “free market” ideology. The “primary function” of the ICC, write Carroll and Carson, “is to institutionalize an international business perspective by providing a forum where capitalists and related professionals... can assemble and forge a common international policy framework.”Another policy group with outsized global influence is the Bilderberg group, founded between 1952 and 1954, which provided “a context for more comprehensive international capitalist coordination and planning.” Bringing together roughly 130 elites from Western Europe and North America at annual closed meetings, “Bilderberg conferences have furnished a confidential platform for corporate, political, intellectual, military and even trade-union elites from the North Atlantic heartland to reach mutual understanding.”As Valerie Aubourg examined in an article for the journal Intelligence and National Security (Vol. 18, No. 2, 2003), the Bilderberg meetings were organized largely at the initiative of a handful of European elites, with heavy financial backing from select American institutions including the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the CIA. The meetings incorporate leadership from the most prominent national think tanks, such as the Council on Foreign Relations, Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment and others from across the North Atlantic ‘community.’Hugh Wilford, writing in the journal Diplomacy & Statecraft (Vol. 14, No. 3, 2003), identified major philanthropic foundations such as the Rockefeller, Ford, and Carnegie foundations as not only major sources of funding but also providers for much of the leadership of the Bilderberg meetings, which saw the participation of major industrial and financial firms in line with those foundations (David Rockefeller of Chase Manhattan is a good example). Bilderberg was a major force in helping to create the political, economic and strategic consensus behind constructing a common European market.With the support of these major foundations and their leadership, the Bilderberg meetings became a powerful global tool of the elites, not only in creating the European Union but in designing the process of globalization itself. Will Hutton, a former Bilderberg member, once referred to the group as “the high priests of globalization,” and a former Bilderberg steering committee member, Denis Healey,<a href="http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2011/07/15/bilderberg-2011-the-rockefeller-world-order-and-the-high-priests-of-globalization/" target="blank" style="">once noted</a> [6]: “To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair...we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing.”The large industrial foundations have played a truly profound – and largely overlooked – role in the shaping of modern society. The ‘Robber Baron’ industrial fortunes of the late 19th century – those of Morgan, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Harriman, Vanderbilt, etc. – sought to shape a new order in which they would maintain a dominant influence throughout society. They founded major American universities (often named after themselves) such as Vanderbilt, or the University of Chicago which was founded by John D. Rockefeller.It was through their institutions that they sought to produce new elites to manage a new society, atop of which they sat. These universities became the harbingers of modern social sciences, seeking to "reform" society to fit the needs of those who dominated it; to engage in social engineering with the purpose of social control. It was in this context that the Carnegie Corporation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and later the Ford Foundation and others were founded: as engines of social engineering. One of their principal aims was to shape the development of the social sciences – and their exportation around the world to other industrial and imperial powers like Great Britain, and beyond. The social sciences were to facilitate the “scientific management” of society, and the foundations were the patrons of "<a href="http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2012/04/08/the-purpose-of-education-social-uplift-or-social-control/" target="blank" style="">social control</a> [7]."The Rockefeller, Carnegie and Ford foundations were instrumental in providing funding, organization and personnel for the development of major American and international think tanks such as the Council on Foreign Relations, which became essential to the emergence of a dominant and entrenched U.S. business class linking academia, political, strategic, corporate and financial elites. The Rockefeller and Ford foundations in particular constructed the field of modern political science and "Area Studies" with a view to educating a <a href="http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2011/10/18/an-education-for-empire-the-rockefeller-carnegie-and-ford-foundations-in-the-construction-of-knowledge/" target="blank" style="">class of people</a> [8] who would be prepared to help manage a global empire.They were also prominent in developing the educational system for black Americans designed to keep them relegated to labor and “vocational” training. They helped found many prominent universities in Africa, Asia and Latin America to train indigenous elites with a "Western" education in the social sciences, to <a href="http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2011/10/21/education-or-domination-the-rockefeller-carnegie-and-ford-foundations-developing-knowledge-for-the-developing-world/" target="blank" style="">ensure continuity</a> [9] between a domestic and international elite, between core and periphery, empire and protectorate.Another major policy planning group is the Trilateral Commission, created out of the Bilderberg meetings as a separate transnational think tank and founded by Chase Manhattan CEO (and Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations) David Rockefeller along with academic-turned-policymaker Zbigniew Brzezinski in 1973. The Trilateral Commission linked the elites from Western Europe, North America and Japan (hence “trilateral”), and it now also includes members from China, India and a range of other Pacific-East Asian countries.Consisting of a membership of roughly 350 individuals from finance, corporations, media, think tanks, foundations, academia and political circles, the Trilateral Commission (TC) has been immensely influential as a forum facilitating the development and integration of a "transnational elite." The aim of the TC was “to <a href="http://www.trilateral.org/go.cfm?do=Page.View&pid=5" target="blank" style="">foster closer cooperation</a> [10] among these core industrialized areas of the world with shared leadership responsibilities in the wider international system.”The most famous report issued by the Trilateral Commission in the mid-1970s suggested that due to the popular activism of the 1960s, there was a “crisis of democracy” that it defined as an “<a href="http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2012/04/02/class-war-and-the-college-crisis-the-crisis-of-democracy-and-the-attack-on-education/" target="blank" style="">excess of democracy</a> [11],” which needed to be reduced in order for “democracy to function effectively.” According to the Trilateral Commission, what was needed was increased “apathy and noninvolvement on the part of some individuals and groups” to counter the “crisis” being caused by “a highly educated, mobilized, and participant society.”Moving elsewhere, the World Economic Forum, founded in 1971, convenes annually in Davos, Switzerland and was originally designed “to secure the patronage of the Commission of European Communities, as well as the encouragement of Europe’s industry associations” and “to discuss European strategy in an international marketplace.” The WEF has since expanded its membership and mandate, as Carroll and Carson noted, “organized around a highly elite core of transnational capitalists (the 'Foundation Membership') – which it currently limits to '1000 of the foremost global enterprises’.” The meetings include prominent individuals from the scientific community, academics, the media, NGOs and many other policy groups.Another major policy planning group emerged in the mid-1990s with an increased focus on environmental issues, called the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), which “instantly became the pre-eminent business voice on the environment” with a 1997 membership of 123 top corporate executives, tasked with bringing the “voice” of big business to the process of international efforts to address environmental concerns (and thus, to secure their own interests).Among other prominent think tanks and policy-planning boards helping to facilitate and integrate a transnational network of elites are many nation-based organizations, particularly in the United States, such as with the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brookings Institution and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), among many others. The advisory boards to these organizations provide an important forum through which transnational elites may help to influence the policies of many separate nations, and most importantly, the world’s most powerful nation: the United States.The Council on Foreign Relations, founded in 1921, refers to itself as “an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher,” with roughly 4,700 members. It is largely based in New York with affiliate offices in Washington D.C. and elsewhere. The CFR is, and has been, at the heart of the American foreign policy establishment, bringing together elites from academia, government, the media, intelligence, military, financial and corporate institutions.The CFR worked in close cooperation with the U.S. government during World War II to design the post-War world over which America would reign supreme. The Council was active in establishing the “<a href="http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2011/12/13/the-council-on-foreign-relations-and-the-grand-area-of-the-american-empire/" target="blank" style="">Grand Areas</a> [12]” of the American Empire, and in <a href="http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2011/11/30/sneak-peak-at-my-book-the-rockefeller-world-council-on-foreign-relations-and-the-trilateral-commission/" target="blank" style="">maintaining extensive influence</a> [13] over the foreign policy of the United States.As Carroll and Carson noted, there is a prominent relationship between those individuals who sit on multiple corporate boards and those who sit on the boards of prominent national and transnational policy-planning groups, “suggesting a highly centralized corporate-policy network.”Studying 622 corporate directors and 302 organizations (five of which were the major policy-planning groups: ICC, Bilderberg, Trilateral Commission, World Economic Forum and World Business Council for Sustainable Development), Carroll and Carson assessed this network of transnational elites with data leading up to 1996, and concluded: “The international network is primarily a configuration of national corporate networks, integrated for the most part through the affiliations of a few dozen individuals who either hold transnational corporate directorships or serve on two or more policy boards.”Out of the sample of 622 individuals, they found roughly 105 individuals (94 “transnational corporate linkers” and 11 others “whose corporate affiliations are not transnational but who sit on multiple global policy boards”) making up “the most immediate structural contributions to transnational class formation.” At the “core” of this network were 17 corporate directors, primarily European and North American, largely linked by the transnational policy groups, with the Trilateral Commission as “the most centrally positioned.” This network, they noted, “is highly centralized in terms of the individuals and organizations that participate in it.”In undertaking a follow-up study of data between 1996 and 2006, published in the journal International Sociology (Vol. 25, No. 4, 2010), Carroll and Sapinski expanded the number of policy-planning groups from five to 11, including the original five (ICC, Bilderberg, TC, WEF, and WBCSD), but adding to them the Council on Foreign Relations (through its International Advisory Board), the UN Global Compact (through its advisory board), the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT), founded in 1983, the EU-Japan Business Round Table, the Transatlantic Business Dialogue, and the North American Competitiveness Council.The results of their research found that among the corporate directors, “policy-board membership has shifted towards the transnationalists, who come to comprise a larger segment of the global corporate elite,” and that there was a growing group of elites “made up of individuals with one or more transnational policy-board affiliations.” As Carroll and Sapinski concluded:"The corporate-policy network is highly centralized, at both the level of individuals and that of organizations. Its inner circle is a tightly interwoven ensemble of politically active business leaders; its organizational core includes the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Conference, the European Round Table of Industrialists and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, surrounded by other policy boards and by the directorates of leading industrial corporations and financial institutions based in capitalism’s core regions."Organizations like the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT) are not think tanks, but rather, industry organizations (exclusively representing the interests and individuals of major corporations), wielding significant influence over political and social elites. As Bastiaan van Apeldoorn wrote in the journal New Political Economy (Vol. 5, No. 2, 2000), the ERT “developed into an elite platform for an emergent European transnational capitalist class from which it can formulate a common strategy and – on the basis of that strategy – seek to shape European socioeconomic governance through its privileged access to the European institutions.”In 1983, the ERT was formed as an organization of 17 major European industrialists (which has since expanded to several dozen members), with the proclaimed objective being “to revitalize European industry and make it competitive again, and to speed up the process of unification of the European common market.” Wisse Dekker, former Chairman of the ERT, once stated: “I would consider the Round Table to be more than a lobby group as it helps to shape policies. The Round Table’s relationship with Brussels [the EU] is one of strong co-operation. It is a dialogue which often begins at a very early stage in the development of policies and directives.”The ERT was a central institution in the re-launching of European integration from the 1980s onward, and as former European Commissioner (and former ERT member) Peter Sutherland stated, “one can argue that the whole completion of the internal market project was initiated not by governments but by the Round Table, and by members of it... And I think it played a fairly consistent role subsequently in dialoguing with the Commission on practical steps to implement market liberalization.” Sutherland also explained that the ERT and its members “have to be at the highest levels of companies and virtually all of them have unimpeded access to government leaders because of the position of their companies... So, by definition, each member of the ERT has access at the highest level to government.”Other notable industry associations include the <a href="http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2012/04/24/canadas-economic-collapse-and-social-crisis-class-war-and-the-college-crisis-part-5/" target="blank" style="">Canadian Council of Chief Executives</a> [14] (CCCE), formerly called the Business Council on National Issues (BCNI), a group comprised of Canada’s top 150 CEOs who were a major force for the promotion and implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The CCCE remains one of the most influential “interest groups” in Canada.In the United States there are prominent industry associations like the Business Council, the Business Roundtable, and the Financial Services Forum. The Business Council describes itself as “a voluntary association of business leaders whose members meet several times a year for the free exchange of ideas both among themselves and with thought leaders from many sectors.”Likewise, the <a href="http://businessroundtable.org/about-us/" target="blank" style="">Business Roundtable</a> [15] describes itself as “an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with more than $7.3 trillion in annual revenues,” which believes that “businesses should play an active and effective role in the formation of public policy.”Finally, the <a href="http://www.financialservicesforum.org/index.php/about-the-forum/forum-mission" target="blank" style="">Financial Services Forum</a> [16] proclaims itself to be “a non-partisan financial and economic policy organization” which aims “to pursue policies that encourage savings and investment, promote an open and competitive global marketplace, and ensure the opportunity of people everywhere to participate fully and productively in the 21st-century global economy.”</div><div class="big_story_tools_bottom_container"><div class="talk_box"></div></div><div class="story_tools_bottom"><div class="text-size"><div class="story_tools_email"><div class="story_tools_print"><div class="story_tools_share"><div class="story_tools_social_buttons"><div class="tags">See more stories tagged with:<div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/africa-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">africa</a> [17],</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/america" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">america</a> [18],</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/american-competitiveness-council" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label 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property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">Hugh Wilford</a> [51],</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/india-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">india</a> [52],</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/industrialists" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">Industrialists</a> [53],</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/international-advisory-board" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">International Advisory Board</a> [54],</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/international-chamber-commerce" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">International Chamber of Commerce</a> [55],</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/international-business" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">International business</a> [56],</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/japan-korea-relations" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">Japan</a> [57],</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/jean-philippe-sapinski" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">Jean Philippe Sapinski</a> [58],</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/john-d-rockefeller" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">John D. Rockefeller</a> [59],</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/latin-america" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">latin america</a> [60],</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/new-york" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">new york</a> [61],</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/north-america" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">north america</a> [62],</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/north-american-free-trade-agreement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">North American Free Trade Agreement</a> [63],</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/north-atlantic" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">North Atlantic</a> [64],</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/paris" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">paris</a> [65],</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/person-career" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">Person Career</a> [66],</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/person-location" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">Person Location</a> [67],</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/peter-sutherland" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">Peter Sutherland</a> [68],</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/quotation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">Quotation</a> [69],</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/rockefeller-foundation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">Rockefeller Foundation</a> [70],</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/rockefeller-family" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">Rockefeller family</a> [71],</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/switzerland-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">switzerland</a> [72],</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/tc" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">TC</a> [73],</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/round-table" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">The Round Table</a> [74],</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/think-t" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="">Think t</a> [75]</div></div></div></div><div class="comment_button"><div class="print-footer" style="text-align: center;"><hr class="print-hr" style="border: 0px; height: 1px; width: 1047.2px; background-color: rgb(158, 158, 158);" /><div class="print-source_url" style="">Source URL: <a href="http://www.alternet.org/occupy-wall-street/elite-business-and-think-tank-attempts-control-world" style="">http://www.alternet.org/occupy-wall-street/elite-business-and-think-tank-attempts-control-world</a></div><div class="print-links" style="">Links:
[1] http://andrewgavinmarshall.com
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/andrew-gavin-marshall
[3] http://www.occupy.com/
[4] http://iss.sagepub.com/content/25/4/501
[5] http://www.sagepub.com/dicken6/Sage%20articles/Chap%203/chap%203%20-%20Carroll.pdf
[6] http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2011/07/15/bilderberg-2011-the-rockefeller-world-order-and-the-high-priests-of-globalization/
[7] http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2012/04/08/the-purpose-of-education-social-uplift-or-social-control/
[8] http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2011/10/18/an-education-for-empire-the-rockefeller-carnegie-and-ford-foundations-in-the-construction-of-knowledge/
[9] http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2011/10/21/education-or-domination-the-rockefeller-carnegie-and-ford-foundations-developing-knowledge-for-the-developing-world/
[10] http://www.trilateral.org/go.cfm?do=Page.View&pid=5
[11] http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2012/04/02/class-war-and-the-college-crisis-the-crisis-of-democracy-and-the-attack-on-education/
[12] http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2011/12/13/the-council-on-foreign-relations-and-the-grand-area-of-the-american-empire/
[13] http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2011/11/30/sneak-peak-at-my-book-the-rockefeller-world-council-on-foreign-relations-and-the-trilateral-commission/
[14] http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2012/04/24/canadas-economic-collapse-and-social-crisis-class-war-and-the-college-crisis-part-5/
[15] http://businessroundtable.org/about-us/
[16] http://www.financialservicesforum.org/index.php/about-the-forum/forum-mission
[17] http://www.alternet.org/tags/africa-0
[18] http://www.alternet.org/tags/america
[19] http://www.alternet.org/tags/american-competitiveness-council
[20] http://www.alternet.org/tags/asia-0
[21] http://www.alternet.org/tags/bilderberg-group
[22] http://www.alternet.org/tags/bilderberg
[23] http://www.alternet.org/tags/brookings-institution-0
[24] http://www.alternet.org/tags/brussels-0
[25] http://www.alternet.org/tags/business-council-national-issues
[26] http://www.alternet.org/tags/business-council
[27] http://www.alternet.org/tags/business-0
[28] http://www.alternet.org/tags/ceo
[29] http://www.alternet.org/tags/canada-0
[30] http://www.alternet.org/tags/canadian-council-chief-executives
[31] http://www.alternet.org/tags/carnegie-corporation
[32] http://www.alternet.org/tags/carnegie-endowment-0
[33] http://www.alternet.org/tags/carson
[34] http://www.alternet.org/tags/center-strategic-and-international-studies
[35] http://www.alternet.org/tags/central-intelligence-agency
[36] http://www.alternet.org/tags/chairman-0
[37] http://www.alternet.org/tags/chase-manhattan
[38] http://www.alternet.org/tags/china-turkey-relations
[39] http://www.alternet.org/tags/commissioner
[40] http://www.alternet.org/tags/company-founded
[41] http://www.alternet.org/tags/council-foreign-relations
[42] http://www.alternet.org/tags/david-rockefeller
[43] http://www.alternet.org/tags/davos
[44] http://www.alternet.org/tags/denis-healey
[45] http://www.alternet.org/tags/europe-0
[46] http://www.alternet.org/tags/european-round-table-industrialists
[47] http://www.alternet.org/tags/european-union
[48] http://www.alternet.org/tags/ford-foundation
[49] http://www.alternet.org/tags/ford-0
[50] http://www.alternet.org/tags/globalization
[51] http://www.alternet.org/tags/hugh-wilford
[52] http://www.alternet.org/tags/india-0
[53] http://www.alternet.org/tags/industrialists
[54] http://www.alternet.org/tags/international-advisory-board
[55] http://www.alternet.org/tags/international-chamber-commerce
[56] http://www.alternet.org/tags/international-business
[57] http://www.alternet.org/tags/japan-korea-relations
[58] http://www.alternet.org/tags/jean-philippe-sapinski
[59] http://www.alternet.org/tags/john-d-rockefeller
[60] http://www.alternet.org/tags/latin-america
[61] http://www.alternet.org/tags/new-york
[62] http://www.alternet.org/tags/north-america
[63] http://www.alternet.org/tags/north-american-free-trade-agreement
[64] http://www.alternet.org/tags/north-atlantic
[65] http://www.alternet.org/tags/paris
[66] http://www.alternet.org/tags/person-career
[67] http://www.alternet.org/tags/person-location
[68] http://www.alternet.org/tags/peter-sutherland
[69] http://www.alternet.org/tags/quotation
[70] http://www.alternet.org/tags/rockefeller-foundation
[71] http://www.alternet.org/tags/rockefeller-family
[72] http://www.alternet.org/tags/switzerland-0
[73] http://www.alternet.org/tags/tc
[74] http://www.alternet.org/tags/round-table
[75] http://www.alternet.org/tags/think-t
[76] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B</div>

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Bilderberg Group

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