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As on January 10, 2011 Taken from: Wikipedia - Bilderberg Group Introduction The Bilderberg Group, Bilderberg conference, or Bilderberg Club is an annual, unofficial, invitation-only conference of approximately 130 guests, most of whom are people of influence in the fields of politics, banking, business, the military and media. The names of attendees are made available to the press. The conferences are closed to the public and the media, and no press releases are issued. Origin The original conference was held at the Hotel de Bilderberg, near Arnhem in the Netherlands, from 29 May to 31 May 1954. It was initiated by several people, including Polish politician Józef Retinger, concerned about the growth of anti-Americanism in Western Europe, who proposed an international conference at which leaders from European countries and the United States would be brought together with the aim of promoting atlanticism – better understanding between the cultures of the United States and Western Europe to foster cooperation on political, economic, and defense issues. Retinger approached Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, who agreed to promote the idea, together with Belgian Prime Minister Paul Van Zeeland, and the head of Unilever at that time, Dutchman Paul Rijkens. Bernhard in turn contacted Walter Bedell Smith, then head of the CIA, who asked Eisenhower adviser Charles Douglas Jackson to deal with the suggestion. The guest list was to be drawn up by inviting two attendees from each nation, one of each to represent conservative and liberal points of view. Fifty delegates from 11 countries in Western Europe attended the first conference, along with 11 Americans. 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. Conferences were held in France, Germany, and Denmark over the following three years. In 1957, the first US conference was held in St. Simons, Georgia, with $30,000 from the Ford Foundation. The foundation supplied further funding for the 1959 and 1963 conferences. Organizational structure Meetings are organized by a steering committee with two members from each of approximately 18 nations. Official posts, in addition to a chairman, include an Honorary Secretary General. 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". In addition to the committee, there also exists a separate advisory group, though membership overlaps. Dutch economist Ernst van der Beugel 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 Lockheed affair. The position of Honorary American Secretary General has been held successively by Joseph E. Johnson of the Carnegie Endowment, William Bundy of Princeton, Theodore L. Eliot, Jr., former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, and Casimir A. Yost of Georgetown's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. 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. The Bilderberg group's unofficial headquarters is the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. According to the American Friends of Bilderberg, the 2008 agenda dealt "mainly with a nuclear free world, cyber terrorism, Africa, Russia, finance, protectionism, US-EU relations, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Islam and Iran". Chairmen of the Steering Committee - Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (1954–1975) - Walter Scheel (1975–1977) - Alec Douglas-Home (1977–1980) - Eric Roll (1986–1989) - Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington (1990–1998) - Étienne Davignon (since 1998) Participants Historically, attendee lists have been weighted towards bankers, politicians, and directors of large businesses. Heads of state, including Juan Carlos I of Spain and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, have attended meetings. Prominent politicians from North America and Europe are past attendees. In past years, board members from many large publicly-traded corporations have attended, including IBM, Xerox, Royal Dutch Shell, Nokia and Daimler. The 2009 meeting participants in Greece included: Greek prime minister Kostas Karamanlis; Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen; Sweden foreign minister Carl Bildt; United States Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg; U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; World Bank president Robert Zoellick; European Commission head José Manuel Barroso; Queen Sofia of Spain; and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. European Union In a European Parliament session in Brussels, Mario Borghezio, an Italian member of the European Parliament, questioned the nominations of Bilderberg and Trilateral attendees for the posts of EU President and EU foreign minister. In 2009 the group had a dinner meeting at Castle of the Valley of the Duchess in Brussels on 12 November with the participation of Herman Van Rompuy, who later became the President of the European Council. Claims of political conspiracy Because of its secrecy and refusal to issue news releases, the Bilderberg group is frequently accused of political conspiracies. 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 capitalist domination, while some right-wing groups such as the John Birch Society have accused the group of conspiring to impose a world government and planned economy. For decades, the exclusive roster of globally influential figures who attend Bilderberg conferences has captured the interest of an international network of conspiracists, who are convinced powerful elites and secret societies are moving the planet toward a “new world order”. Their populist worldview, characterized by a deep and angry suspicion of the ruling class 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 YouTube alone is home to thousands of Bilderberg-related videos. Proponents of Bilderberg conspiracy theories in the United States include individuals and groups such as the John Birch Society, political activist Phyllis Schlafly, writer Jim Tucker, political activist Lyndon LaRouche, radio host Alex Jones, and politician Jesse Ventura, who made the Bilderberg group a topic of a 2009 episode of his TruTV series Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura. Other proponents include Russian-Canadian writer Daniel Estulin, British writer David Icke, and former Cuban president Fidel Castro. Denis Healey, a Bilderberg founder and, for 30 years, a steering committee member, has said:
In 2005 then-chairman Étienne Davignon discussed these accusations with the BBC:
Before the 2001 meeting, a report in The Guardian stated:
Jonathan Duffy, writing in BBC News Online Magazine, states:
Investigative journalist Chip Berlet argues that right-wing populist conspiracy theories about the Bilderberg group date back as early as 1964 and can be found in the writings of Schlafly. In Berlet's 1994 report Right Woos Left, published by Political Research Associates, he writes:
In late August 2010, the Bilderberg group and conspiracy theories about its real purpose were featured in international news because of the visit of Estulin to Cuba on August 26. Estulin has written two books about the Bilderberg Group in which he accuses them of manipulating the public "to install a world government that knows no borders and is not accountable to anyone but its own self." When in Cuba, Estulin met with Cuban president Castro, who had just written several articles for the newspaper Granma citing Estulin’s work. The meeting and Estulin’s writings have been given extensive coverage in the Cuban press. This coverage has, in turn, been picked up by media outlets worldwide. Some Marxists, such as the members of the U.S. Party for Socialism and Liberation, are concerned, however, that the publicity given to Estulin and his ideas could have a disorienting effect on some in socialist and progressive movements around the world. They view Estulin’s writings as anti-Marxist, truly reductive of history, and rooted in extreme right-wing conspiracy theories that lack factual support. G. William Domhoff, a research professor in psychology and sociology who studies theories of power, sees the role of social clubs such as the Bilderberg group as being nothing more than a means to create social cohesion within a power elite. He adds that this understanding of clubs such as the Bilderberg group fits with the perceptions of the members of the elite. In a 2004 interview with New Internationalist magazine, Domhoff warns progressives against getting distracted by conspiracy theories which demonize and scapegoat such clubs. He argues that the opponents of progressivism are conservatives within the corporate elite and the Republican Party. It is more or less the same people who belong to clubs such as the Bilderberg group, but it puts them in their most important roles, as capitalists and political leaders, which are visible and therefore easier to fight. Recent meetings Wikileaks has reportedly published minutes from meetings of the Bilderberg group. Recent meetings: 2005 (5–8 May) at the Dorint Sofitel Seehotel Überfahrt in Rottach-Egern, Germany 2006 (8–11 June) at the Brookstreet Hotel in Kanata, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 2007 (31 May – 3 June) at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, in Şişli, Istanbul, Turkey. 2008 (5–8 June) at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia, United States 2009 (14–16 May) at the Astir Palace resort in Athens, Greece 2010 (3–7 June) at the Hotel Dolce in Sitges, Spain |