Economic summits create usually a lot of attention, both from the media and protesters. Last years G20 summit in Melbourne is a good example, like this years G8 summit in Germany, where democracy has been abolished to protect the participating politicians. Hearsay provided enough evidence for the German police for lots of unwarranted searches and arrests, the demonstrations planned for this events can't take place at the events site, but miles away from it.
German chancellor Merkel felt quite uneasy, when Putin reminded her that the way Russia deals with dissent is remarkably similar to Germanys stance towards G8 protests.
Though they are still two weeks to go before the G8 summits starts, it has raised already some attention. 146 article pop up on factiva with the keyword G8 for Australia in the last three months, yet not all of them related to the summit.
But if you search the Australian media for information about the Bilderberg group, you will find only one article, and it doesn't even mention that the next meeting of this mysterious group will take place next weekend in Istanbul, Turkey.
Is there no public interest in a meeting with the Queen of the Netherlands, Henry Kissinger, David Rockefeller, Jean Claude Trichet, and other noteable figures from politics, and the oil-, telecommunication-, media- and banking industry?
Paul Wolfowitz was initially invited to this event, but might not attend as his reputation suffered a little lately. But his planned successor as World Bank president, Bob Zoellick will be there for sure, like in 2003 and 2006.
And Gordon Brown will be there as well, and not for the first time. Did I mention that Blair attended some Bilderberg conferences, before he was elected? Even Angela Merkel was invited in 2005, some months before the German elections.
Of course, probably the participants simply enjoy meeting up with old mates, well protected by the CIA, and exchange stories about family, food and vacation. Yet in this case the extreme secrecy about this meeting would not be neccessary.
However, participants from the media (Economist, Le Figaro, NYT to name a few insignificant ones) are obliged not to report about this event. But then, does the public has any right to know what happens behind closed doors, when the World Bank president and the head of the European Central Bank have a friendly chat with the CEOs of the biggest commercial banks?
I think there is significant public interest in this meeting. But then, I'm sure it will go relatively unnoticed by the global mass media. And you, my dear friends from the PIS, can feel free to label this post as conspiracy, and go back to sleep, dreaming about democracy.
The presidential election in the US in 2008 will show much democracy remains in the western world. If the currently most popular Republican candidate (Ron Paul, in case you didn't know) is allowed to run against Hillary, there might be hope. If it's Rudi Guiliani, the man who is responsible for the death and disease of thousands of rescue workers (he sent them knowingly unprotected in the toxic waste pit of Ground Zero), the US empire will strike even more.
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The list of Bilderberg attendees is published and well known, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bilderberg_attendees
The dates and locations of their meetings, known and available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg#Meetings
There is no law (fortunately) requiring any private invitation-only group to publish its minutes. Indeed it would fly against all common forms of what we call privacy.
There is no ban on mainstream media to report on Bilderberg. Just as an example, here is a recent BBC article on the group:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3773019.stm
unless you don't count BBC as mainstream.
You are perfectly within your rights to go and stage demonstrations against Bilderberg meetings, have you ever tried and be stopped?
Fact: existence of private invitation-only groups and societies are not against democracy, if anything they are a requirement of it. Unlike what conspiracy theorists would like you to believe.
Cheers
--
Aryan
List of Bilderbergers well known?
Not really. The wikipedia entree is far from being complete, and until one day before the meeting the location was unknown (a Turkish newspaper reported a different location, which made potential protests difficult).
Well, to quote a three year old document as evidence that the main stream media doesn't ignore Bilderberg, is a bit far stretched. (The BBC article is dated 2004)
G8, thought it's a week away, raises media attention worldwide, but Bilderberg hasn't been reported at all in Australia this year. In total, Factiva has 51 articles for the last week mentioning Bilderberg, mostly Turkish newspapers.
In comparison, there were 1443 articles with a mentioning of Paris Hilton for the same period of time.
I still think the rare meeting of the World Bank president, Federal Reserve Bank president, IMF president and the governor of the European Central Bank with heads of other big banking institutions is more newsworthy than Paris Hilton.
The meeting of Solana with Gordon Brown and Matti Valonen might be less newsworthy from an Australian perspective, but then, when do Queen Beatrix, Juan Carlos of Spain and Prince Bernhard of Belgium meet?
I don't mind privacy, far from it, but the people meeting at Bilderberg conferences are far from regular citizens.
I simply don't feel naive enough to assume that people in positions of power are automatically morally impeccable.
Our global economic system is not build on fairness or equal opportunities. You don't get rich by caring about your neighbour or society, you have to fight on the marketplace.
Democratic values are certainly not the key qualification for leaders in banking, politics or energy.
Considering the fact that our economic system is utterly unjust and based on the crimes of Europeans some centuries ago, I have severe doubts that the Bilderbergers have our best interests at heart.
Fact is the Bilderbergers envisaged a European Union and a common European currency, both of which happened. David Rockefeller, one of the steering committee members, dreams of a global government, and we are seeing steps being taken in that direction.
Governments tell us, that terrorists conspire against our society because they despise our lifestyle. That's a commonly accepted conspiracy theory.
But what if governments and industry conspired against society? I can only base this theory on assumptions, but this differs in no way from the evidence presented so far to "prove" Al-Qaeda did 911, 311 and 77 (adds up to 1299, btw).
Do people in positions of power have special qualities, that distinguish them from the rest of mankind? I don't think so.
Politicians demand our trust, but do they deserve it? Australia had it corruption and nepotism scandals, and it depends on your political perspectives whether you see that as "bad apples" or "tip of the iceberg".
The only way to find out would be systematic controls. But instead of checking elected representatives in power those in power want to control everyone else. Wouldn't it be easier, cheaper and more efficient to control those in power?
Abuse of power can cause more damage than anything else. A team of terrorists can kill 3000 people in a day, but only a president can kill more than a million people in two wars.
The decline in civil rights world wide concerns me a lot. Civil rights movements have changed society to the better, without women couldn't vote, african-americans couldn't vote, or indigenious people here in Australia.
The right to rally, strikes and free speech get more and more restricted, which means democratic influence is reduced to voting.
Lobbying for public interest, also known as demonstration, ceases to happen, choose the policy that annoys you least.
Probably that's why television now reminds you that your vote is one the most valuable things you have. If that's right, I want to have one and makes lots of money with it.
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