Minor parties policies target imaginary “globalist” plots. WHY?

The Claim

The United Nations, the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other international institutions are under the control of a small cabal of sinister Globalists. These shadowy figures are drafting policies to destroy your community and prepare your country for a New World Order.  They are using global initiatives such as 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Global Compact for Migration and the WEF’s Great Reset to destroy the Western way of life.

The Facts

Despite what our fringe parties claim, these initiatives are usually entirely voluntary, non-binding and aspirational policy goals with no meaningful enforcement mechanisms. These agreements have been openly negotiated by national governments who are free to decide whether or not to sign up, ignore or withdraw from them.

In the case of binding treaties, these are subject to the normal foreign policy and governmental processes of the member nation states – not something the United Nations or any other institutions can impose unilaterally.

They are not secret, as information about them is made freely available on the internet and in the media – that’s how conspiracy theorists are aware they exist!

Politicians such as Churchill, Woodrow Wilson and George Bush Snr have used the term “new world order” to describe idealistic plans to address worldwide problems that are beyond the capacity of individual nation-states to resolve, while respecting the right of nations to self-determination. None of them have led to a totalitarian world government.

• Conspiracy theory aligned parties are seeking support from believers in New World Order conspiracy theory
• This conspiracy theory has deep historical roots going back to an antisemitic original
• Real international initiatives are being misrepresented as evidence of the conspiracy theory
• People who push this theory rely on their audience not checking their sources

Going Deeper

In this general election, some politicians are seeking support from believers in this conspiracy theory by claiming that their policies will take power back from “globalists”. These policies themselves can be seen as dog-whistles, the use of coded or suggestive language to garner support without provoking opposition. The aim is to indicate sympathy with New World Order conspiracy theories to true believers while presenting a sanitised version to mainstream voters who would otherwise reject them as outlandish or ridiculous.

The idea that a sinister group of powerful elites is secretly manipulating events with the end-goal of forming a global one-world government goes back centuries. The current formulation can be traced back to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a piece of disinformation published in 1902 by Tsar Nicholas II’s secret police to divert discontent towards Russia’s Jewish population. It has been recycled and repackaged so many times with so many different groups accused of being the evil cabal – Freemasons, Jesuits, the Illuminati, Satanists, even aliens from other dimensions – that many people repeat its core message without realising its origins.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion were publicised and distributed in the United States of America throughout the 1920s by prominent businessmen such as Henry Ford, whose book The International Jew and issues of his antisemitic newspaper The Dearborn Independent were distributed in Ford car dealerships throughout the country.

From there, the theory was picked up and promulgated by the John Birch Society, a 1950s far-right group that asserted a global world-wide Communist conspiracy was being led by the United Nations to destroy the Western way of life. In this way, they were able to use the same themes, allegations and framing of the Protocols but substitute a new group to serve as the scapegoat for everything they opposed: racial equality, women’s rights, same-sex marriage and other social justice causes became tendrils of the Communist plot.

In the 1990s, the conspiracy theory mutated again: far-right radio host Bill Cooper republished the Protocols in their entirety in his best-selling book, Behold a Pale Horse – but with a note asking his readers to mentally substitute “the globalists” in place of “the Jews.” Bill was influential in the far-right Militia movement of the 1990s, and his work today is carried on by new media personalities such as Alex Jones or Tucker Carlson – who are usually too media savvy to directly mention either the Protocols or the Jews directly.

In this way, the claims, themes and tropes of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion have been laundered and repeated so many times that most believers in a globalist New World Order have no idea where these claims originated and will sincerely believe that their enemies really are whoever they have decided best fits the role of the shadowy puppet masters.

Much like the Birchers blamed the social justice issues of their day on the imaginary Communists in the United Nations, today’s conspiracists attribute social justice causes of today to the imaginary Globalists in the United Nations and other international organisations. Issues like Climate Change are not a real concern – they are fronts for measures to impose a world-wide totalitarianism.

Conspiracists have latched on to the UN’s Agenda 2030 ¹, the World Economic Forum’s vision of post-Covid capitalism “The Great Reset,”² and even urban planning concepts like 15 Minute Cities ³ as ways the imaginary shadowy global cabal is exerting control over sovereign nations.

In reality, these international policy proposals, think pieces and agreements do not have the force of law. Any power they have is mostly soft power – that is to say, they are used by diplomats and politicians as rhetorical props or inspiration for local policies subject to the democratic and governmental processes of their domestic government.

Tactically, conspiracy theory groups take published information about international initiatives and concoct stories about “what’s really going on” by misinterpreting or lying about the contents: pretty much any international agreement can be twisted to suit the narrative that “they” want to control you. Most people won’t read the original documents, and with the vast amount of content conspiracists create, any attempt to “do your own research” will turn up corroborating fictionalisations before the facts.

Using real documents in this way lends their fables an air of credibility – as opposed to using an entirely fabricated document like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

There are legitimate questions and debates to be had about issues covered by international organisations like the United Nations, World Economic Forum and so on: How best to respond to the climate crisis, questions around international free trade agreements and the multinational corporations who influence their terms and stand to benefit from them, even how best to make our towns and cities decent places to live, for example.

These issues are important and urgent enough that they deserve to be debated, especially in an election campaign. But any debate needs to be grounded in reality. The fear, uncertainty and doubt created by conspiracy theories is a barrier to the free and open debate conspiracists claim to want – it’s hard to rationally discuss local urban planning when the loudest voices in the room insist the United Nations will be sending in troops to occupy your town and enforce congestion charges.

1. Agenda 2030^ for Sustainable Development is the latest iteration of a rolling set of United Nations policy documents that seek to outline how capitalist investment and development can be conducted in a way that might be less environmentally damaging and theoretically alleviate poverty in impoverished countries. It develops and succeeds Agenda 21, which was the previous scapegoat for conspiracists looking for ‘proof’ of the United Nations’ sinister intentions.
2. The Great Reset ^ is simply a brand name the WEF has given to “stakeholder capitalism,” a proposed vision of capitalism that tries to advocate for businesses to take into account the needs of the environment and local communities impacted by their businesses instead of solely focusing on shareholder returns.
3. An urban planning concept ^ which asks “what if services, amenities and recreation were available to people within 15 minutes’ walk or cycle from their home?” City planners are encouraged to think of ways of making urban living more accessible and emphasising community engagement

More FACTs