Who is Klaus Schwab, the WEF organizer becoming a bogeyman to conservatives?
Ryan King
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As business tycoons converge on the snow-covered ski town of Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, some conservatives are engrossed with its leader, Klaus Schwab.
In 1971, Schwab founded the WEF, famous for its annual gathering of the world’s elite, and has served as its chairman since. An engineer and economist who fled Nazi Germany during his youth, Schwab formed the WEF as a forum for dialogue on international disputes and initially to introduce European companies to American-style business practices.
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Over time, the annual WEF meeting broadened its mandate to cultivate a globalized business environment and invited political leaders to its summits, keen on attracting more business back home. Leaders now converge upon the Swiss alpine resort town to discuss pressing matters such as climate change and international tax policy.
Focus on the 84-year-old mogul intensified around the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the WEF theme was “The Great Reset” — terminology that has fueled conspiracy theories of an elitist cabal seizing upon global catastrophes like the pandemic to reengineer society.
Schwab described “The Great Reset” as a means of reforming the global economy in the wake of COVID-19 so that it was more environmentally sustainable and equitable. Many conspiracy theorists have shrugged that off as a ruse concealing a nefarious hidden agenda, though details of what the goal truly entails vary from theory to theory.
Last August, InfoWars host and famed conspiracy theorist Alex Jones released a book titled The Great Reset: And The War For the World, which outlined the “global elite’s international conspiracy to enslave humanity and all life on the planet.”
Given his role in the WEF, Schwab is often depicted as the ultimate puppetmaster in the global cabal. For example, whiskey brand Redneck Riviera founder John Rich recently tweeted a video of several former presidents of the United States urging the public to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“This disturbing message brought to you by Klaus Schwab, George W. Bush, Pfizer, Clinton, the WEF, and Obama,” Rich tweeted, insinuating that the COVID-19 vaccine inflicts harm on its recipients.
https://twitter.com/johnrich/status/1613263897611345926?s=20&t=-LDXIPv3W_HCRxT7FEj9cQ
Oftentimes, Schwab and the WEF are accused of orchestrating global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic to further their agenda.
“Ready to spin the wheel to find out the crisis of 2023 ? #WEF #KlausSchwab,” read a post on Wall Street Silver’s Twitter account.
https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1609837030673874947
On occasion, false claims about Schwab swirling the internet have become laced with QAnon-adjacent allegations. One of those assertions falsely alleged that Schwab has sought to decriminalize sex between adults and minors and that the WEF has declared “pedophiles will save humanity.”
Even some mainstream conservatives and liberals who eschew conspiracy-mongering have voiced revulsion at the WEF and Schwab for promulgating globalist policies that favor corporate interests over individual rights.
“Things like the World Economic Forum: those policies are dead on arrival in the state of Florida,” Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said late last year.
But not all conservatives have been enthused about the rancor over the WEF and Schwab.
“Unpopular opinion: the obsession with Klaus Schwab, Davos, and the WEF is misguided, as they have little real power over life in America. It’s also enervating, as it shifts the locus of control to far-away figures, while constructive action can be taken at home. Stay focused,” Manhattan Institute fellow Christopher Rufo tweeted.
https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1615137622715953153
There are also questions about how Schwab’s WEF sister organization, the Klaus Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, invests its money. The foundation seeks to promote “social innovation,” but critics such as investigative author Michael Shellenberger have argued the organization lacks transparency.
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WEF officials have roundly rejected conspiratorial-laced accusations levied against the organizations and Schwab.
The 2023 World Economic Forum’s annual meeting commenced Sunday and will carry on until Friday. This year’s theme is “Cooperation in a Fragmented World” and features many of the typical speeches, as well as a continuation of its metaverse initiative called “A vision for a Global Collaboration Village,” which is aimed at using technology to “unite people across borders.”
This year, concerns about a recession have loomed over the summit as Europe and the U.S. grapple with the fallout from inflation and the energy crisis catalyzed by Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine.