AMAC Exclusive – By Shane Harris
A letter to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte from World Economic Forum (WEF) Chairman Klaus Schwab making the rounds on social media this week has re-ignited concerns about a globalist agenda to “reimagine” capitalism and restrict individual freedoms throughout the West.
The correspondence, dated October 21, 2020, shows Schwab praising Rutte and the Netherlands for “taking a leading role… in steering Europe’s recovery efforts [from COVID-19]” before requesting Rutte’s input on “building the Great Reset at a global level with the international community.” While Americans are right to worry about liberal ambitions to enact radical changes like a “phase-out” of gas gars or limiting meat consumption in the United States, these efforts have also been identified to be part of a worldwide agenda – much of which is outlined in what Schwab refers to as the “Great Reset” – driven by globalist organizations like the WEF.
The letter is particularly concerning in light of new Dutch government policies that effectively force farmers off their land, as it seems to confirm fears that the globalist left-wing interests represented by the WEF are indeed committed to exporting radical policies like these to other Western countries, including the U.S.
The letter was posted to Twitter on Monday by Pepijn van Houwelingen, a member of Forum for Democracy, a Dutch conservative party. Eva Vlaardingerbroek, an independent Dutch journalist who has been a leading vocal opponent of Rutte, called the letter “undeniable proof that the Netherlands is a pilot country for the WEF’s Great Reset and the 2030 agenda.”
The “Great Reset” is a phrase coined by Schwab in his 2020 book COVID-19: The Great Reset. In it, Schwab argues, “the pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world.”
A summary article penned by Schwab and posted to the WEF website provides more details on the Great Reset – and is rife with terminology straight out of the far-left dictionary. Schwab explicitly calls for “industries to improve their track record on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics” and demands governments “promote more equitable outcomes.”
Most mainstream media outlets have dismissed concerns about the WEF and the Great Reset as “conspiracy theories.” An opinion piece from The Guardian accuses “conspiracy theorists” of “imagining that a global elite is using COVID-19 as an opportunity to roll out radical policies such as forced vaccinations [and] digital ID cards.” The BBC, meanwhile, has accused opponents of the Great Reset of “[spinning] dark tales about an authoritarian socialist world government run by powerful capitalists and politicians.”
But despite the media’s insistence that those policies are pure fantasy, in a graphic at the bottom of Schwab’s article, both “Global Governance” and “Digital Identity” are included as aspects of the Great Reset.
As Schwab himself says in his letter to Rutte, the Netherlands offer a glimpse into what this “Great Reset” might look like in practice.
Following some of the most stringent COVID lockdown policies anywhere in the world, the Dutch government’s “reimagining” of their economy has started with an all-out war on the country’s family farms.
As AMAC Newsline reported last year, in order to meet new government emissions regulations, livestock herds in the country would have to be reduced by more than 30 percent in the next eight years, while farmers would be able to use only a fraction of the fertilizer they currently use on crops – inevitably leading to a dramatic decline in overall yields.
According to one Dutch scientist, some farmers would have to reduce their emissions by up to 70 percent, meaning lower production and thus lower revenue. As a result of these changes, up to 11,200 farms will have to close in the near future, while 17,600 others will have to significantly decrease their livestock numbers.
The new policies have also sparked mass protests across the country as families who have owned their farms in many cases for generations suddenly face the prospect of being forced out of business by government fiat. Thousands of farmers have blocked roadways with tractors and other equipment to draw attention to the issue, a movement which many commentators viewed as helping the conservative Farmer Citizen Movement party win big in provincial elections in March.
Although the Rutte administration has denied that their agenda is influenced by the WEF, the personal ties between Rutte and Schwab are undeniable. In a tense questioning during a session of the Dutch parliament last year, Forum for Democracy member Gideon van Meijeren revealed another letter, this time from Rutte to Schwab, where Rutte calls The Great Reset book “a hopeful analysis for a better future.”
A clearly flustered Rutte says that he didn’t actually read the book, and was only responding as a courtesy. But the specificity of the letter appears to suggest otherwise, and Rutte is a frequent attendee of the WEF’s annual meetings in Davos, where global elite gather behind closed doors to “address the state of the world and discuss priorities for the year ahead.”
Policies like those implemented by the Dutch government have also been advanced by other liberal politicians throughout the West.
In the United States, environmental platforms like the “Green New Deal” are even more extreme. Although the Dutch policy sets a goal of reducing nitrogen and ammonia emissions by 50 percent by 2030, the Green New Deal demands “net zero” emissions in just 10 years. During the debate over Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan, Democrats and liberal activist groups also called for more emissions regulations on farmers and ranchers.
It may or may not be the case that powerful global organizations like the WEF are orchestrating the introduction and passage of specific policies in various countries around the world. But it certainly seems as if political leaders are taking inspiration from platforms like the WEF’s “Great Reset” agenda – something voters in democratic nations, should, at the very least, be aware of.
Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on Twitter @ShaneHarris513.
