Ivan Wecke has written an interesting article on OpenDemocracy about the Great Reset. The Great Reset was the theme of the 2021 World Economic Forum (WEF) summit and the starting point of numerous conspiracy theories amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For conspiracy theorists, the Great Reset is the global elite’s plan to instate a new world order while using COVID-19 to solve overpopulation and enslaving what remains of humanity with vaccines.
The magic words to get the spirit of the Great Reset are ‘stakeholder capitalism‘, a concept promoted by WEF chairman Klaus Schwab. The idea is that global capitalism should be transformed so that corporations become custodians of society by creating value for customers, suppliers, employees, communities, and other ‘stakeholders.’ Stakeholder capitalism is implemented through a range of ‘multi-stakeholder partnerships’ bringing together the private sector, governments, and civil society across all areas of global governance. Corporations would rule the world while governments take a backseat role,
WEF partners include some of the biggest companies in oil (Saudi Aramco, Shell, Chevron, BP), food (Unilever, The Coca-Cola Company, Nestlé), technology (Facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple), and pharmaceuticals (AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna).
Civil society organizations fear that stakeholder capitalism will lead to Big Tech creating a global body to govern itself. This scenario would institutionalize the Big Tech’s resistance against effective regulation both globally and nationally and increase their power over governments. Such a body would be a decisive victory in the ongoing war GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft) is waging with governments over tax evasion, antitrust rules, and their ever-expanding power over society.
As a part of his 2020 Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, the UN Secretary-General called for the formation of a new ‘strategic and empowered multi-stakeholder high-level body.’ More than 170 civil society groups worldwide have signed another open letter to the secretary general of the UN – this time to prevent the digital governance body from forming.
