"We are basically here to bring
down the parasites who are drug dealers and bank collapsers who seem to
want to destroy this world," a protester said.
 |
| luxury Grove Hotel; venue of the secret meeting |
LONDON (AP) — It's a
busy weekend at the luxury Grove Hotel, favored haunt of British soccer
players and their glitz-loving spouses.
More than 100 of the world's most powerful people are at the former manor house near London
for a secretive annual gathering that has attained legendary status in
the eyes of anti-capitalist protesters and conspiracy theorists.
The guest list for the Bilderberg meeting includes Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. British Prime Minister David Cameron is due to drop by Friday.
The Bilderberg Group was set up in 1954 to support military and economic co-operation between Europe and North America during the Cold War.
Named for the site of its first meeting — the Bilderberg Hotel
in Oosterbeek, Holland — the forum for prominent politicians, thinkers
and business leaders has been held annually at a series of secluded
venues in Europe and North America.
What happens at Bilderberg, stays at Bilderberg. There is no media
access and the public is kept away by a large security operation. The
group says that "there is no detailed agenda, no resolutions are
proposed, no votes are taken, and no policy statements are issued."
But in a move toward slightly more openness, the group now has a
website, which lists attendees and key topics for discussion, including
the economy, U.S. foreign policy, "cyber warfare and the proliferation
of asymmetric threats" and "major trends in medical research."
Invitees include British Treasury chief George Osborne, Goldman Sachs
chairman Peter Sutherland and Thomas Enders, CEO of aerospace company
EADS.
Publication of these details has done little to ease the concerns of
protesters, who sense a shadowy global elite at work in the secretive
meeting.
"When 130 of the leaders from all across the West get together, and
many of these are billionaires, they are people who are immensely
wealthy and immensely powerful," said Michael Meacher, a lawmaker from
Britain's Labour Party.
"And when they all get together, it's not just to have a chat about
the latest problem, it is to concert plans for the future of capitalism
in the West. That is on a very different scale."
Others go even further, putting Bilderberg at the heart of a global
web of conspiracy. The protesters in Watford include U.S. talk-radio
host and Sept. 11 "truther" Alex Jones, and former professional soccer
player David Icke, who believes the world is run by a race of reptiles
in human form.
Demonstrators plan to hold a "Bilderberg fringe" festival outside the hotel until the conference ends Sunday.
A Bilderberg spokesman — reached by email since no phone number is listed — said there is nothing sinister about the gathering.
"We disclose the date, the location, the participants and the key
topics of the conference," Xander Heijnen said. "Many groups of people
meet without announcing it publicly at all, without disclosing who is
taking part and without giving any key topics.
"The meetings broaden the participants' range of viewpoints, help
them to gain insights and exchange views," he said. "It seems illogical
to argue that a meeting of individuals designed to give and obtain fresh
insights, somehow 'undermines democracy.'"
 |
| Protesters stand behind a security barrier in the grounds of the Grove Hotel, which is hosting the Bilderburg meetings in Watford, near London June 6, 2013. Bilderberg is an annual conference |
That message has not swayed protesters like Judd Charlton, a
ventriloquist from London who showed up Thursday to jeer at cars with
blacked-out windows entering the hotel compound.
"We are basically here to bring down the parasites who are drug
dealers and bank collapsers who seem to want to destroy this world," he
said.
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