Great Reset  

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The Great Reset is the name of the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), held in June 2020. It brought together high-profile business and political leaders, convened by the Prince of Wales and the WEF, with the theme of rebuilding society and the economy in what is claimed to be a more sustainable way following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conspiracy theories

The term "Great Reset" also known as "Liberal World Order" and "Global Liberal Order", can also refer to a conspiracy theory called New World Order.

Schwab wrote the preface to a 2010 report of the World Economic Forum's "Global Redesign Initiative", which postulates that a globalized world is best managed by stronger multinational institutions.

According to the Transnational Institute (TNI), the WEF is hence planning to replace a recognised democratic model with a model where a self-selected group of "stakeholders" make decisions on behalf of the people. The think tank summarises that we are increasingly entering a world where gatherings such as Davos are "a silent global coup d'état" to capture governance.

In 2019, WEF conducted a simulated Global pandemic called "Event 201" where world leaders discussed what actions would be taken if such a situation were to occur. This initiative triggered a range of diverse conspiracy theories spread by the American far-right and conservative commentators on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Such theories include claims that the COVID-19 pandemic was created by a secret group in order to seize control of the global economy, that lockdown restrictions were deliberately designed to induce economic meltdown, or that a global elite was attempting to abolish private property while using COVID-19 to enslave humanity with vaccines.

According to a November 22, 2020 article as part of BBC's "Reality Check" series debunking the theory, those spreading the Great Reset conspiracy theory claim, without evidence, that a "group of world leaders orchestrated the pandemic to take control of the global economy".

A November 2020 article in The Daily Beast said that even before Biden became president, his "incoming White House already ha[d] its first conspiracy theory to deal with"Template:Emdashthe Great Reset conspiracy theory. Mainstream media outlets such as The New York Times, the BBC, and The Guardian traced the spread of the latest conspiracy theory on the Great Reset, which had integrated anti-lockdown conspiracies, to internet personalities and groups, including Candace Owens, Glenn Beck, Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, the UK-based editor of Alex Jones' website Infowars, where he advanced the New World Order conspiracy theory. Ben Sixsmith wrote that the conspiracy theory had been spread by "fringes of Right-Wing Twitter", as well as by Australia's One Nation party leader Pauline Hanson (a "socialist left Marxist view of the world") and UK conservative writer James Delingpole (a "global communist takeover plan"). However, Sixsmith observed the WEF's partners include such capitalist enterprises as Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, IBM, IKEA, Lockheed Martin, Ericsson and Deloitte.

Many critics have coalesced other grievances with the WEF into allegations about the Great Reset, compounding both the conspiracy theory and more innocuous criticism. Many detractors commonly cite Ida Auken's article on a potential 2030, as well as a 2016 WEF video in which the article was presented alongside other predictions for 2030 and summarized as "You'll own nothing. And you'll be happy. Whatever you want you'll rent and it'll be delivered by drone", as evidence of the Great Reset having malicious intent.

An October 2020 article by Snopes traced the origins of a chain email posted on conspiracy forums from a member of a non-existent committee within the Liberal Party of Canada that leaked Canada's secret "COVID Global Reset Plan" to the QAnon-dedicated "Q Research" board on 8chan.

By November 17, 2020, a short video of Trudeau's speech in which he described key points of the concept of an economic "reset" had gone viral, as it reignited fervor over the Great Reset conspiracy theory that had taken on a new life with the launching of the forum in May. By November 2020, Maxime Bernier, leader of the People's Party of Canada lamented on his webpage on November 17 that he was the only Canadian politician along with Pierre Poilievre and Colin Carrie, an MP, speaking up against the globalist threat with Trudeau as the "world's most prominent defender" of this Great Reset. Other critics included Canadian conservative political commentators such as Ezra Levant and Alberta's Premier at that time Jason Kenney. They claimed that Trudeau's rhetoric resembled that of the Great Reset conspiracy. Conservative Spencer Fernando stated that, "We want our lives to get back to normal... Instead they offer only more fear, more control, more centralization, and a reshaping of our lives and our economy without even asking us." When Poilievre circulated a petition to "Stop the Reset", Le Devoir headlined an article saying that the Conservative Party was embracing conspiracy theories. The Toronto Star editorial board criticized Poilievre for "giving oxygen" to the conspiracy theory, with some suggesting his post was related to a possible federal election.

A May 2022 article in The Globe and Mail said that "WEF conspiracy theory" was being spread to "Canada's main streets" and was brought up during the leadership race of the Conservative Party of Canada. When Schwab "brags" about Canadian politicians' connections to the WEF, this feeds into "theories of cabals". In 2021, when Schwab said that "half of Canada's cabinet were Young Global Leaders" Template:Emdashincluding Calgary Conservative MP Michelle Rempel GarnerTemplate:Emdashconspiracy theorists interpreted that to mean that Canadian cabinet ministers are "minions" controlled by Schwab. The article called on politicians in Canada who had been "flirting" with the Great Reset conspiracy theories through TwitterTemplate:EmdashConservative leadership candidates Poilievre and Leslyn Lewis quell the distrust by admitting that "there is no such cabal". In September 2022, CBC News tracked the spread of related disinformation and conspiracy theories in Canada.

On December 13, 2020, Australian advertising executive Rowan Dean promoted the conspiracy theory on Sky News Australia, claiming that "This Great Reset is as serious and dangerous a threat to our prosperity – to your prosperity and your freedom – as we have faced in decades".

The conspiracy theory has also been disseminated by Russian propaganda outlets. According to Oliver Kamm, in a 2020 article for the CapX website: "The propaganda apparatus of the Putin regime has for many months published wild allegations from obscure bloggers that the Great Reset is code for oligarchs to amass wealth and control populations." In 2021, the British anti-disinformation organization Logically reported that the website The Exposé has promoted Great Reset conspiracy theories framed as breaking news since its establishment in November 2020.

Great Reset conspiracy theories were a major theme in the 2022 anti-vaccine film Died Suddenly which appeared on the Stew Peters Network channel on the Rumble website.

See also

• Sustainable Development Goals
• Great Awakening (Against the Great Reset)
• The Great Reset (book)