Occupy Bilderberg: The Fight for Transparency

A new branch of Occupy emerged this summer, outside a luxury hotel conference centre not far from Washington DC. Occupy London was there…

The black limos glide past the placards, the fingers pointing, the furious bullhorns, past the lines of security, and into the calm and leafy interior of the Westfield Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia. A limo slows at the gates and Henry Kissinger is spotted inside, the protestors start booing and cries of “war criminal” rise from the crowd. Another car approaches, flanked by security, and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands bows her head to avoid the cameras. Peter Brabeck-Lemanthe, CEO of Nestlé smirks and Bill Gates hides his face with his slender fingers.

CEO after CEO, Chairman after Chairman. From the CEO of Airbus to the Chairman of the Washington Post to the Lord Chancellor, Kenneth Clarke. All here for the annual three-day Bilderberg conference at the beginning of June. Around 130 powerful participants, cherry-picked from the highest levels of banking, diplomacy, government and commerce have cleared their schedules to attend. Ministers of Finance from Finland, Ireland, Poland. All the top people from Royal Dutch Shell, and the Chief Executive of BP. The summit is hosted in Europe for two to three years and then goes to North America – usually in an election year. Rumour has it that the UK’s been tipped to host the conference in 2013.

Most of the 800-strong crowd outside were Americans, but protesters had flown in from Germany and the UK. There were occupiers from Occupy Portland, Occupy Denver and Occupy London – people wore ‘Occupy Bilderberg’ T-shirts that proclaimed: “More like the 0.01%”. Many of the signs railed against the distasteful union of business and politics that was going on behind the security cordon.

The mood in the crowd was cheerful and good-humoured, except when a limo arrived and the catcalls began. The US protesters were incensed that their elected representatives were present, which meant they were violating the Logan Act which forbids US government officials to meet foreign representatives to discuss policy without the express permission of congress.

The UK had two elected representatives at this year’s conference – our Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke and Nick Boules MP, of the hawkish Henry Jackson Society. Ken Clarke was snapped sneaking out of the conference after most of the protesters had gone home. Clarke is a longtime member of the Bilderberg Steering Committee, alongside Peter Sutherland (Chairman of Goldman Sachs International), Marcus Agius (Chairman of Barclays) and Daniel Vasella (the Chairman of pharmaceutical giant Novartis). The steering committee meets in absolute secret several times a year. What long-term goals does Clarke hold in common with these bankers and CEOs? It is time to subject these kind of extracurricular roles to closer scrutiny.

A statement of support for Occupy Bilderberg had been prepared by members of the Economics Working Group and endorsed by the Occupy London GA. The statement condemned “the profound denial of a participatory, direct democracy” that Bilderberg represents. And warned against “the ever-increasing influence of unaccountable international bankers over our economic and democratic system”. It was read out on the grass slopes outside the Westfields Marriott through a loudhailer, and livestreamed back around the world. A small blow for transparency was struck. When enough of these blows land, the security fences will fall. Until then, in the closing words of the statement of support: “stay strong!”

By Hannah Borno