We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore LappĂ©, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, June 4, 2010

Bilderberg Group Conspiring in Latin America

from the Strategic Culture Foundation. (Scroll down to the article)

I have a some problems with an article like this. It purports to have a lot of knowledge about this organization called the Bilderberg Group which has been the subject of so much speculation over the years. Because it is a highly secretive organization and consists of the major capitalist power players in the world, it is easy to imagine all kinds of mischief that they are up to. But to a careful reader, one should always require some kinds of supporting evidence and sources of information. 

I have no doubt that this organization is a key governing center of the global capitalist elites. There are also many other organizations that function to make the real decisions that governments dutifully support with legislation and policies, but this one appears to serve elites at the international level. They all mostly function in secret with any public exposure carefully crafted by public relations considerations. The Bilderberg Group practices total secrecy, or at least, they try to.

Hence, one is always on rather shaky grounds to assert too much knowledge about what they are actually doing. We can mostly infer this from indirect evidence and confidential sources which is what most investigative journalists do. I have doubts that this article meets many rigorous tests of journalistic credibility while, at the same time, feel that many of their observations are likely correct.