Is the decision by British voters to exit the European Union last night actually a sober lesson for progressive movements around the world?
Then immediate results are there for all to see; the longer term has yet to be determined.
Economically:
– The equivalent of ten New Zealand economies were wiped off global markets in the first day;
– The UK faces a credit rating downgrade and a currency “collapse”. This will feed through to a risk premium on global credit and higher mortgage costs in New Zealand. We may offset some of this with new trade and migration opportunities into the UK;
– The fallout has only just begun, and there is a real chance of a tip to a global recession, at least in the Eurozone and US. European bank risk is already high after Greece and this could be a major blow.
– Western recession will reduce demand for Chinese exports at a time when Chinese assets are already in a bubble. Economic dominoes may tumble despite concerted central bank intervention to print money like there’s no tomorrow.
Politically:
– Massive geo-strategic shifts are inevitable. Scotland and possibly Northern Ireland will stay in the EU. Britain will fracture. NATO will be weakened. The Russia-China relationship will strengthen.
– Domestic politics in the UK is in turmoil. Cameron is gone. Johnson has split from Farage. Corbyn faces a leadership revolt. There will be immense pushback against Brexit even after the vote.
Pundits will analyse the causes of the Brexit vote and what it means for other polities, including our own.
The fact is, the vote was predicted by almost no pollster or expert in the days prior. In that respect it echoes Trump’s largely unpredicted populist campaign in the United States.
Trump was quick to seize on the parallel; and many Brexit voters also took pleasure in ambushing the conventional wisdom among the privileged that they were about to lose.
This is a victory that the most unsavoury parts of politics, not just in the United Kingdom but across Europe, will be celebrating, whether it is Farage, Le Pen or Trump.
The Brexit vote represents the current progressive paradox: the left should be able to represent the many marginalised by neo-liberal capitalism; but is struggling to connect with them in reality, particularly young people and males.
The result is that extremist nationalist figures are converging far right and left wing dissatisfaction thinking under a nationalistic, populist banner.
The duality between elitism and democracy, between highly-educated globalists and less-privileged voters, is becoming a growing force in global politics. As one commentator said, it’s either “an uprising of real people against out-of-touch economic and political elites”. Or throwing their country under a bus, or both.
The conundrum is how to we fix it? This must been seen as a wake-up call by all who believe in progress and recognise the interpendance of the global system.
The message from Brexit and Trump, Sanders and Corbyn is (ironically) the same: ignore working people at your peril. Wealth can only be concentrated for so long until popular backlash hits. High grade PR may delay but cannot avoid that reality.
People want to feel good about their country. They want to feel proud and connected. The need to feel their country is progressive and has a plan. We can and will deliver on that, but in the meantime there are things that everyone in the left movement can be doing to connect and respect.
In Labour we call that restoring the “Kiwi dream’. First, attend to the basics:
– A warm dry home that every family can afford to own or rent. No more kids sleeping in cars or garages for goodness sake!
– Free or affordable education that underpins the economy of the future and provides opportunity and social mobility for all;
– First class health care that is there when you need it not just when you can afford it;
– A welfare safety net to bounce back off when misfortune strikes;
– A plan for the future of our country that is inclusive and understood; and
– A society that is tolerant, outward looking and celebrates diversity and talent.
As progressives who believe in a non-racist, anti-xenophobic future we should be very, very worried by what has happened in the UK. We’ve now got a world in which it is much scarier place to be a migrant and much harder to advance the values we hold dear – the equality of people, the rights of the individual, accountable and democratic Government.
Good post David. The dynamics of this are all very interesting and the future unknown.
Personally my view is that the decision is mad and driven by a complete loss of faith in the political class who’ve failed us over the past decade or more.
People are basically pissed of with hegemony at all levels.
For me, democracy exists FIRSTLY at the community and regional level, then at a nation-state level, THEN within an international region (in our case with our Pacific neighbours), and finally at the global level.
Sounds a bit naiive and idealistic maybe, but in NZ we’ve seen our local bodies shat on (such as ECAN and others), and with unelected administrators within various councils often ignoring the will of elected council members; underfunding of democratic institutions (such as Ombudsman’s Office et al), governments with an ‘elected dictatorship’ mentality ignoring the public’s will (asset sales, TPPA, et al); some of our Pacifica being treated like shit; and a complete subservience to the markets the shmarkets no matter what the social cost.
We shouldn’t really be surprised at the outcome. The natives eventually get restless and it’s all been building up since the 80’s greed-is-good neo-liberal programme.
Hi David,
THERE SHOULD BE SOME SWIFT REACTION FROM THE EU COMMISSIONERS ON RELAXING THE RULES AROUND THE WHOLE MEMBERSHIP OF THIS EU BECAUSE AFTER THE UK PEOPLE SPOKE FOR AN EXIT CLEAR EVIDENCE IS EMERGING THAT THOSE BEAUROCRATS THAT ADMINSTRATE THIS FAILED EXPERIMENT ARE NOW FEEDING DISENTION AMOGST THE UK BY SETTING IT UP FOR A YUGISLAVIA STYLE FRACTURING AS A OHONY PETITION BEGAN IN LONDON FOR ANOTHER REFERENDUM CLAIMING THE REFERENDUM WAS PHONEY AND NOW ON RT OF THE THREE MILLION VOTES FOR ANOTHER REFERENDUM A THIRD CAME FROM THE VATICAN AND MANY MORE CAME FROM FRANCE!!!!!!!!
ALL THIS WHILE SCOTLAND WHO WANT TO EXIT FROM THE UK MEMBERS OF THE SCOTISH PARLIAMENT ATTENDED THE RECENTLY SECRETLY HELD NAZI FOUNDED BILDERBERG GROUP DRESDEN MEETING WHY?
I THINK EVIL IS AT PLAY HERE AS WAS DURING THE BREAKUP OF YUGOSLAVIA AND UKRANE AS A BILDERBERG AGENDA TO WEAKEN THE WHOLE EROPEAN CONSTRUCT SO THEY CAN FINALLY RULE.
THIS IS WHY SEVERAL COUNTRIES WILL ALSO VOTE TO EXIT THE MONSTER NOW CALLED THE EU. IT IS RUN BY DARK FORCES AND BILDERBERG ELITISTS, AND THAT IS WHY IT IS ALWAYS HELD IN SERCRET.
NZ/AUSTRALIA/CANADA SHOULD NOW DECLARE ITS INTENTION TO REQUEST ANOTHER COMMONWEALTH ALLIANCE WITH THE UK,
This may help save the UK before it breaks apart as this action may change Scotland and Northern Ireland from seeking separation from the Commonwealth via UK seperation.
Masks of Global Tyranny —
Telling the surfs what to do —–
Dark Suited bureaucrats — self appointed arrogance and corruption
No more tyrannical trade agreements to benefit corporations and further enslave people —– GONE gone GONE ! ! ! !
https://www.davidicke.com/news-by-david?mc_cid=cbfb228625&mc_eid=22efe48d28
” Politics is manipulated from the shadows.” — D. Icke
Take our power back ! ! ! They want us in their noose – frighten people with their
stock market and monetary value horror stories. Rothschilds moving trillions around to push the pound up or pound down. Fear fear, they will try and manipulate us. Thanks to all the truth seekers; truth tellers and whistleblowers.
The EU backers will fight and fight, more negotiations and more referendums etc. to try and manipulate us.
‘Telling the surfs what to do’..heh..!
‘surfs’ never like being told what to do..rebellious wretches..with their waves..
..and david icke..and anti-semitic-conspiracy-theories..
..that is quite the package..
Disagree with you Phillip. The package needing exposure are the very greedy pro-war elitists; power hungry multi-national corporatists and criminal bankers who are quivering as they are slowly loose power over the people. BREXIT ! ! Oh how they hate that word.
The term ” conspiracy theorist ” was coined by these same idiots to discredit the truth speakers. These corporate / lobbyists / criminal bankers and upper 1 % ers are the real conspiracy nutters, not the people who voted them out in England and surely not David Icke, who has been lied about and misrepresented for a long time.
Power to the people, not the corporate elite who wanted to stay in the EU.
— PEOPLE — BEFORE — PROFITS.
David Icke is only telling the truths that many find hard to hear and so they discredit him. He is being proven right more and more as time goes on. Take a moment and listen to someone who is ethical and honest.
is that you david..?..icke..?
Well said, David.
In-your-face iconoclasts take note.
There is a way forward, but that way is by the restoration and restatement of the social contract, not a wholesale rejection of an interrelated world, no matter how challenging that world might be.
“The Brexit vote represents the current progressive paradox: the left should be able to represent the many marginalised by neo-liberal capitalism; but is struggling to connect with them in reality, particularly young people and males.”
I think one of the real elephants in the room as far as the left connecting with voters, is the media.
If your political ideology is socially divisive and blows hard on the racial dog whistle, main stream media can’t seem to get enough of you, which of course equals free instant profile and air time.
If on the other hand, your platform is one of progressive social equality, labour rights etc…well as we all know, when it comes to media coverage, you can hear a pin drop.
Politically aware NZ Citizens need to constantly remind their main stream media sources, of their obligations to provide fair and even coverage when ever they see this lack of, or biased reporting.
Our media need to hear this dissatisfaction relentlessly, or nothing will ever change.
I know it probably seems like a hassle to contact and complain (gently) to your local newspaper, RNZ or TVNZ once a week, but over time, if programmers, editors and reporters feel like enough people are really watching or listening to them, and really caring about what is covered or said…who knows, maybe a little more balance might start appearing.
100% Adrian,
“I think one of the real elephants in the room as far as the left connecting with voters, is the media.
If your political ideology is socially divisive and blows hard on the racial dog whistle, main stream media can’t seem to get enough of you, which of course equals free instant profile and air time.”
THIS MEDIA LOSS OF INVERSTIGATIVE JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY, is planned after the Corporations elitist cabal took over the entire former free press with the blessing of docile Governments around the globe.
At the secretive Bilderberg meeting two weeks ago (9-12th June 2016)the heavy weights of the global media were in attendance as they planned the Brexit strategy and how they could actually capitalise of weakening the UK Government to take it over and guess what, we never heard a peep from the lapdog of the Elitist’s/Bilderberg cabal, we call a free media???
“I think one of the real elephants in the room as far as the left connecting with voters, is the media.
If your political ideology is socially divisive and blows hard on the racial dog whistle, main stream media can’t seem to get enough of you, which of course equals free instant profile and air time.”
By that I’m assuming you mean the COMMERCIAL MSM such as it exists in Nu Zull – there’s SFA else.
And of course the ‘free marketeers’ and the neo-liberals* are busy trying to bury anything that resembles P U B L I C broadcasting services.
(They brand it in negative terms at every opportunity they get – Oh the irony when Bill Ralston of “The Ralston Group” used to refer to ‘state TV’ – right up until the time it began to provide him with an over-inflated income.)
One day, people will wake up (as many are starting to) and realise that the neo-liberal programme and its agenda, bubble politics (both on the left and right), free markets (that aren’t actually free and always come with strings attached) are antithetical to democratic principles and what we supposedly subscribe to as a right to self-determination.
In the case of Britain – I’m waiting for those advocating for Corbyn’s demise to see the consequences of that. They’re busy trying to drum up reasons why he’s supposedly no good – such as “he didn’t try hard enough”, just as the Labour Right in NZ formed an ‘ABC’. If they didn’t subscribe to the principles under which the party was formed – then fuck off and start your own party and see where you get instead of riding on the coat tails of the efforts of others (and now what we refer to as ‘branding’) in order to further your own agendas!. Here’s looking at you Tony Blair, ABCers, Paganis (and dare I say it – Kitteridges, Jagosies and all).
They’ve been reluctant to risk the SUV and flat screen TV on it though, and it might mean they have to acquaint themselves with concepts such as empathy and compassion.
You’re entirely correct @ Adrian. Our media is our 20th and 21st C public sphere where once there were soap boxes, Town Halls and venues where the people’s voice would be heard. It’s now almost completely absent, and as a result – we have scenarios like Brexit to mull over.
I have no problem with a diverse commercial media representing various interests JUST AS LONG as it can be matched with a strong electronic public sphere – and that’d be something more than just one TVNZ7 type operation. It’d include a venue for the non-commercial dissemination of News and Current affairs, a venue for the intellectual property we all paid for (such as the Heartland available to all and now defunct – providing our cultural endeavours), a Childrens TV/Educational outlet, a National Radio, a Concert Radio, a The Wireless Radio, Access Radio, and at the very least a guaranteed and paid for platform providing IWI radio services and MTS.
Just as with water, these airwaves and this ‘ether’ is actually OURS. We’ve signed it all over to commercial interests to make money for a very few, without so much as a whimper.
Well said ONCEWASTIM.
We are in the last attempt by greedy Elitists to throttle our freedom to speak out in the so call “free press” which is now a memory.
When the revolution arrives these tumpets & stool pigeons of the Elitists will be taken over by revolutionists as the first public reaction to this enslavement of our democracy and free speak by these conspiring people paid for keeping the truth from us.
History will repeat itself after suppression has forced revolution, as simple as that, they cannot kill the human spirit and the will to fight for their democracy.
The Cabal fiat banking system is, it would appear, dead:
http://www.ascensionwithearth.com/2016/06/rvgcr-intel-report-dow-futures-monday.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ascensionwithearth%2FkRNq+%28Ascension+with+Mother+Earth+and+Current+State+of+Affairs%29
Let’s hope that eventually New Zealanders choose “leaders” who realize that control and power over others no longer works. Perhaps Labour can be that leader but only if the pseudo scare tactics and rhetoric is dropped. What was intended to be a military weapon of the Cabal, the internet, has helped humanity to grow up and we are all a lot wiser today than those who went before.
With respect, I think it would behoove the Labour Party to realize that “education” from the beginning to university end was laid out by the Cabal and humanity has been kept largely ignorant of literally thousands of technological breakthroughs, all intended to keep groundhog day perpetuated through the generations. This, of course, helped the Cabal to keep their coffers full to overflowing. The same applies to medicine. There are no diseases which cannot be cured. If Labour were to succeed and lead New Zealanders into the prosperous years, I believe it, and its partners, need to take us into peace and withdraw all troops from wherever. All wars are bankers’ wars. Good luck, Mr Cunliffe. I wish you and your Party well.
+100%
It is a nobrainer feeding the cabal who are so destructive to the environment and inhuman to their fellows.
Fear of backlash from the Cabal is a politicians nightmare but cowards never faced their fears and overcame them.
We had “free” education and health care as well as pensions and state housing. Yet we are going backwards as power to loot has become more organised.
Us too HELENA,
Great work David, we need your sanity during this stormy time in our history.
I second that Cleangreen.
@ Helena … excellent post. Agree 100%.
Well said Helena – thanks ! – time for new and ethical leadership and the people taking back their country and we have a very fine country in deed.
Nicely said Helena.
As we’re talking about the UK Ill use a football analogy: to kick off the discussion.
A Blow for Peace and Democracy: Why the British Said No to Europe
by John Pilger
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/06/24/a-blow-for-peace-and-democracy-why-the-british-said-no-to-europe/
“The majority vote by Britons to leave the European Union was an act of raw democracy. Millions of ordinary people refused to be bullied, intimidated and dismissed with open contempt by their presumed betters in the major parties, the leaders of the business and banking oligarchy and the media.
This was, in great part, a vote by those angered and demoralised by the sheer arrogance of the apologists for the “Remain” campaign and the dismemberment of a socially just civil life in Britain. The last bastion of the historic reforms of 1945, the National Health Service, has been so subverted by Tory and Labour-supported privateers it is fighting for its life.”
Or as David Icke might say: it’s a giant ” Up Yours! ” to the faceless black suited bureaucrats of Brussels and also to the extreme class divided society the UK is now.
Stunningly true that is JAY1,
Questions swirl around these *** people whom attended the secretive Bilderberg meeting.
Those are from EU faceless black suited bureaucrats of Brussels, Finance, media along with Scotland & Ireland who currently now oppose British Brexit now and are planning to possibly break away from UK?
Ask yourself if the media attended the Bilderberg meeting why did you not hear about what went on or who from UK attend the secretive meetings?
2016 Bilderberg Meeting
Dresden, Germany 9-12 June
Final list of Participants
https://www.intellihub.com/bilderberger-henry-kissinger-wheelchair/
DRESDEN, Germany (INTELLIHUB) — Key Bilderberg figurehead Henry Kissinger was captured on film walking slowly while clinching to a wheelchair as protestors tore into him verbally from behind a security fence at the 2016 Bilderberg conference which end Sunday.
Germans protest in Dresden “Biderberg is not welcome in Dresden in 2016 NAZI they call to them!!!!!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=384sCGM-wSU
Most observers agree that the attendee list is pro-European Union, anti-Brexit, pro-migration, pro-Hillary Clinton (a regular of Bilderberg meetings) and pro-high-tech surveillance. In short, it is pro-NWO. The very existence of these meetings reflect the elite’s lack of respect for the democracy.
Even a cursory comparison between the guest list and the conference agenda raises red flags. All those finance ministers sitting round discussing the “geopolitics of energy and commodity prices” with the group chief executive of BP, the vice-chairman of Portuguese petroleum giant Galp Energia, and the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell. And then afterwards saying nothing to their respective parliaments about what they discussed. It’s so off-the-chart inappropriate that it beggars comprehension
CHAIRMAN
Castries, Henri de (FRA), Chairman and CEO, AXA Group
Aboutaleb, Ahmed (NLD), Mayor, City of Rotterdam
Achleitner, Paul M. (DEU), Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG
***Agius, Marcus (GBR), Chairman, PA Consulting Group
Ahrenkiel, Thomas (DNK), Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence
Albuquerque, Maria Luís (PRT), Former Minister of Finance; MP, Social Democratic Party
Alierta, César (ESP), Executive Chairman and CEO, Telefónica
Altman, Roger C. (USA), Executive Chairman, Evercore
Altman, Sam (USA), President, Y Combinator
Andersson, Magdalena (SWE), Minister of Finance
Applebaum, Anne (USA), Columnist Washington Post; Director of the Transitions Forum, Legatum Institute
Apunen, Matti (FIN), Director, Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA
Aydin-Düzgit, Senem (TUR), Associate Professor and Jean Monnet Chair, Istanbul Bilgi University
Barbizet, Patricia (FRA), CEO, Artemis
***Barroso, José M. Durão (PRT), Former President of the European Commission
Baverez, Nicolas (FRA), Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
Bengio, Yoshua (CAN), Professor in Computer Science and Operations Research, University of Montreal
Benko, René (AUT), Founder and Chairman of the Advisory Board, SIGNA Holding GmbH
Bernabè, Franco (ITA), Chairman, CartaSi S.p.A.
Beurden, Ben van (NLD), CEO, Royal Dutch Shell plc
Blanchard, Olivier (FRA), Fred Bergsten Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute
Botín, Ana P. (ESP), Executive Chairman, Banco Santander
Brandtzæg, Svein Richard (NOR), President and CEO, Norsk Hydro ASA
***Breedlove, Philip M. (INT), Former Supreme Allied Commander Europe
Brende, Børge (NOR), Minister of Foreign Affairs
Burns, William J. (USA), President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Cebrián, Juan Luis (ESP), Executive Chairman, PRISA and El País
Charpentier, Emmanuelle (FRA), Director, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology
***Coeuré, Benoît (INT), Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank
Costamagna, Claudio (ITA), Chairman, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti S.p.A.
Cote, David M. (USA), Chairman and CEO, Honeywell
Cryan, John (DEU), CEO, Deutsche Bank AG
Dassù, Marta (ITA), Senior Director, European Affairs, Aspen Institute
Dijksma, Sharon A.M. (NLD), Minister for the Environment
Döpfner, Mathias (DEU), CEO, Axel Springer SE
Dyvig, Christian (DNK), Chairman, Kompan
Ebeling, Thomas (DEU), CEO, ProSiebenSat.1
Elkann, John (ITA), Chairman and CEO, EXOR; Chairman, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
Enders, Thomas (DEU), CEO, Airbus Group
Engel, Richard (USA), Chief Foreign Correspondent, NBC News
Fabius, Laurent (FRA), President, Constitutional Council
Federspiel, Ulrik (DNK), Group Executive, Haldor Topsøe A/S
Ferguson, Jr., Roger W. (USA), President and CEO, TIAA
Ferguson, Niall (USA), Professor of History, Harvard University
***Flint, Douglas J. (GBR), Group Chairman, HSBC Holdings plc
Garicano, Luis (ESP), Professor of Economics, LSE; Senior Advisor to Ciudadanos
***Georgieva, Kristalina (INT), Vice President, European Commission
Gernelle, Etienne (FRA), Editorial Director, Le Point
Gomes da Silva, Carlos (PRT), Vice Chairman and CEO, Galp Energia
***Goodman, Helen (GBR), MP, Labour Party
***Goulard, Sylvie (INT), Member of the European Parliament
Graham, Lindsey (USA), Senator
Grillo, Ulrich (DEU), Chairman, Grillo-Werke AG; President, Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie
Gruber, Lilli (ITA), Editor-in-Chief and Anchor “Otto e mezzo”, La7 TV
Hadfield, Chris (CAN), Colonel, Astronaut
Halberstadt, Victor (NLD), Professor of Economics, Leiden University
***Harding, Dido (GBR), CEO, TalkTalk Telecom Group plc
***Hassabis, Demis (GBR), Co-Founder and CEO, DeepMind
Hobson, Mellody (USA), President, Ariel Investment, LLC
Hoffman, Reid (USA), Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, LinkedIn
Höttges, Timotheus (DEU), CEO, Deutsche Telekom AG
Jacobs, Kenneth M. (USA), Chairman and CEO, Lazard
Jäkel, Julia (DEU), CEO, Gruner + Jahr
Johnson, James A. (USA), Chairman, Johnson Capital Partners
Jonsson, Conni (SWE), Founder and Chairman, EQT
Jordan, Jr., Vernon E. (USA), Senior Managing Director, Lazard Frères & Co. LLC
Kaeser, Joe (DEU), President and CEO, Siemens AG
Karp, Alex (USA), CEO, Palantir Technologies
Kengeter, Carsten (DEU), CEO, Deutsche Börse AG
***Kerr, John (GBR), Deputy Chairman, Scottish Power
Kherbache, Yasmine (BEL), MP, Flemish Parliament
Kissinger, Henry A. (USA), Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc.
Kleinfeld, Klaus (USA), Chairman and CEO, Alcoa
Kravis, Henry R. (USA), Co-Chairman and Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Kravis, Marie-Josée (USA), Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
Kudelski, André (CHE), Chairman and CEO, Kudelski Group
***Lagarde, Christine (INT), Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
Levin, Richard (USA), CEO, Coursera
Leyen, Ursula von der (DEU), Minister of Defence
Leysen, Thomas (BEL), Chairman, KBC Group
Logothetis, George (GRC), Chairman and CEO, Libra Group
Maizière, Thomas de (DEU), Minister of the Interior, Federal Ministry of the Interior
Makan, Divesh (USA), CEO, ICONIQ Capital
Malcomson, Scott (USA), Author; President, Monere Ltd.
Markwalder, Christa (CHE), President of the National Council and the Federal Assembly
McArdle, Megan (USA), Columnist, Bloomberg View
Michel, Charles (BEL), Prime Minister
Micklethwait, John (USA), Editor-in-Chief, Bloomberg LP
***Minton Beddoes, Zanny (GBR), Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
***Mitsotakis, Kyriakos (GRC), President, New Democracy Party
Morneau, Bill (CAN), Minister of Finance
Mundie, Craig J. (USA), Principal, Mundie & Associates
Murray, Charles A. (USA), W.H. Brady Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
Netherlands, H.M. the King of the (NLD)
***Noonan, Michael (IRL), Minister for Finance
Noonan, Peggy (USA), Author, Columnist, The Wall Street Journal
***O’Leary, Michael (IRL), CEO, Ryanair Plc
Ollongren, Kajsa (NLD), Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam
Özel, Soli (TUR), Professor, Kadir Has University
Papalexopoulos, Dimitri (GRC), CEO, Titan Cement Co.
Petraeus, David H. (USA), Chairman, KKR Global Institute
Philippe, Edouard (FRA), Mayor of Le Havre
Pind, Søren (DNK), Minister of Justice
Ratti, Carlo (ITA), Director, MIT Senseable City Lab
Reisman, Heather M. (CAN), Chair and CEO, Indigo Books & Music Inc.
Rutte, Mark (NLD), Prime Minister
***Sawers, John (GBR), Chairman and Partner, Macro Advisory Partners
Schäuble, Wolfgang (DEU), Minister of Finance
Schieder, Andreas (AUT), Chairman, Social Democratic Group
Schmidt, Eric E. (USA), Executive Chairman, Alphabet Inc.
Scholten, Rudolf (AUT), CEO, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG
***Schwab, Klaus (INT), Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum
Sikorski, Radoslaw (POL), Senior Fellow, Harvard University; Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
Simsek, Mehmet (TUR), Deputy Prime Minister
Sinn, Hans-Werner (DEU), Professor for Economics and Public Finance, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Skogen Lund, Kristin (NOR), Director General, The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise
***Standing, Guy (GBR), Co-President, BIEN; Research Professor, University of London
Svanberg, Carl-Henric (SWE), Chairman, BP plc and AB Volvo
Thiel, Peter A. (USA), President, Thiel Capital
Tillich, Stanislaw (DEU), Minister-President of Saxony
Vetterli, Martin (CHE), President, NSF
Wahlroos, Björn (FIN), Chairman, Sampo Group, Nordea Bank, UPM-Kymmene Corporation
Wallenberg, Jacob (SWE), Chairman, Investor AB
Weder di Mauro, Beatrice (CHE), Professor of Economics, University of Mainz
***Wolf, Martin H. (GBR), Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times
Most observers agree that the attendee list is pro-European Union, anti-Brexit, pro-migration, pro-Hillary Clinton (a regular of Bilderberg meetings) and pro-high-tech surveillance. In short, it is pro-NWO. The very existence of these meetings reflect the elite’s lack of respect for the democracy.
Even a cursory comparison between the guest list and the conference agenda raises red flags. All those finance ministers sitting round discussing the “geopolitics of energy and commodity prices” with the group chief executive of BP, the vice-chairman of Portuguese petroleum giant Galp Energia, and the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell. And then afterwards saying nothing to their respective parliaments about what they discussed. It’s so off-the-chart inappropriate that it beggars comprehension.
– Ibid.
According to this Infowars article, an “insider source” claims that the meeting will discuss the implementation of an Internet ID and global tax.
The secretive Bilderberg Group is set to discuss plans to implement an Internet ID to eviscerate anonymity on the web as well as a global tax on financial transactions and air travel, according to an inside source who spoke to Infowars.
According to our source, the creation of a virtual passport that web users will need to obtain before they can use many Internet services is high on the agenda.
The Internet ID will be justified under the guise of “cybersecurity” and creating a convenient method for citizens to access government services, but free speech advocates will view the proposal with deep suspicion as it would threaten online anonymity and possibly chill dissent.
Services such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter could also use the online passport to revoke posting permission if a user violates terms of agreement, another obvious threat to the free flow of information that has made the web what it is today.
– Infowars, Bilderberg Leak: Secretive Group To Discuss Internet ID, Global Tax.
In short, this year’s meeting is all about keeping course on the ultimate goal: one world government, one world currency and total control of the masses through insidious policies and high technology.
bilderberg
Share.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=384sCGM-wSU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQn3h1foScQ
EU REFERENDUM- The Real Face of the European Union
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0WeURiShfU
This info has never been shown or never will be shown. The corruption runs deep. Perhaps the BBC might be interested in running this here production. – NOT. Serious when you have to come to youtube for your education…Fuck the EU.
MIND BLOWING VODEO THANK YOU MR DAY FOR ENLIGHTENING US ALL TO THE EU BEING A RORT.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/26/the-eu-will-treat-britain-like-greece/
The EU will treat Britain like Greece
Matthew Holehouse, BRUSSELS
26 June 2016 • 3:40pm
“I arrived in Brussels as the Daily Telegraph’s correspondent in early June, 2015.
A fortnight later, Alexis Tsipras snubbed Brussels, and called a referendum on the third bailout that was designed to save the Eurozone from collapse.
The terms he was later given – €50bn of assets sold and a de facto control of economic policy surrendered – were so harsh they were later denounced as a “coup”.
It taught me two things: that in the cause of its salvation the European Union can be profoundly flexible and exceptionally brutal, and that events can swiftly take a momentum that is hard to control.
Nothing of that experience gives me hope for the years that now await our country.
Britain is almost certainly out the European Union
As far as Brussels is concerned, Britain has left.
At home on Friday morning, Britons were dumbstruck, agog at the result, or chuffed at having taught Brussels a lesson.
The EU will treat Britain like Greece
Can’t happen because the UK has its own currency the pound not the euro as Greece does to its ruin. Basically the UK can tell the EU to F off and no problems.
Jay 1 good point, thanks for the feedback.
Thanks Cleangreen for your posts, We appreciate your taking the time to clarify things and your passion.
I second that. I am most impressed with Cleangreen’s expose of corrupt electoral voting systems.
+100 to John Pilger…said it all!
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34763986
TIME TO REFLECT ON WHAT WAS REQUESTED FROM CAMERON UK PM DURING THE LAST STOUSH WITH EU in 2015 before he called for the referendum.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34763986
So what are the key demands?
◾sovereignty – an optout from “ever closer union” and more power for national parliaments
◾safeguarding the interests of those countries outside the eurozone and, in particular, protecting the City
◾migration – preventing the welfare system from being a magnet to EU migrants
◾less regulation – extending the single market and new trade deals
So this is not radical stuff is it?
One needs to ask Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland and the leader of Ireland WHY they never signalled their WISH/need to leave UK at this time???????
We say it is not fair to now stab the voters in the back after a legitimate democratic vote to leave was enacted when the PM did not get those changes he requested now.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34763986
‘Brexit?’ Everything now at stake for Cameron
Gavin Hewitt
Chief correspondent
9 November 2015
From the section Europe
comments
David Cameron talks to European Council President Donald Tusk during the EU summit in Brussels, Belgium on 15 Oct 2015Image copyright AP
David Cameron will spell out his stance in a letter to Donald Tusk
The shadow boxing is over.
On Tuesday, David Cameron will send a letter to Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council.
It will set out the government’s ambitions for renegotiating its relationship with the EU.
The letter will not reveal the minute detail of the government’s case.
Rather, it will establish the broad themes framed in four or five policy baskets.
The government wants to avoid declaring a wish list by which it can be judged.
What it wants is to present the British people with a package deal after it has been agreed.
But there will be no avoiding instant judgement calls.
The Eurosceptics will question whether the government’s demands amount to the “negotiation for fundamental change” that David Cameron promised.
The heckling of Mr Cameron at the CBI conference is just a foretaste of what is almost certain to be a tough, bruising referendum campaign.
The prime minister conceded a vote to keep his party together. Now, that unity will be tested.
The polls suggest a narrow majority for remaining in the EU, but they are close enough to indicate a real contest.
Detailed negotiations begin
So what is the timetable?
Next week, the detailed negotiations will begin in Brussels. On the UK side, the team will be led by the British ambassador to the EU, Ivan Rogers.
At the same time, the prime minister will embark on a diplomatic offensive to persuade 27 heads of government of the merits of the British case.
The aim is to conclude negotiations in time for the European Council meeting on 17 December, when Europe’s leaders will deliver their verdict.
In the event of a smooth summit, the government would like to hold the referendum in either June next year or in the autumn.
Mr Cameron was given a rough ride by protesters at the CBI conference
A government minister told me the plan was to move as fast as possible – partly to limit the impact of uncertainty on the economy.
Few things in Brussels, however, are that straightforward. There is already speculation about British tactics.
Some expect David Cameron to stage a fight to convince sceptics in his party he has wrung concessions from the EU leaders, and that, of course, could delay a deal until the spring.
So what are the key demands?
◾sovereignty – an optout from “ever closer union” and more power for national parliaments
◾safeguarding the interests of those countries outside the eurozone and, in particular, protecting the City
◾migration – preventing the welfare system from being a magnet to EU migrants
◾less regulation – extending the single market and new trade deals
Some of these demands can be more easily delivered than others.
The EU Commission is already committed to less regulation.
As regards “ever closer union”, last June the European Council described the words as “allowing for different paths of integration for different countries”.
There is already a “yellow card” mechanism for national parliaments putting a brake on EU legislation, and that could be toughened up.
Two-speed Europe
Restricting benefits to EU migrants is a much tougher demand.
It risks undermining the principle of free movement.
It might, however, just be possible to introduce a residency test that would apply to British nationals and non-nationals alike.
The government does have an overall vision of what it wants from its relationship with the EU.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed sympathy with the UK position
It wants a two-speed Europe, a Europe that accepts there are multiple currencies with different layers of integration.
There is a grand bargain on offer. The UK will not stand in the way of those who want to integrate further – but, in return, it wants its rights and interests protected.
What the UK is looking for are binding principles embedded in EU law, which, at a later date, would be written into the EU treaties.
What will the referendum question be?
The question is always crucial in any referendum. The 2013 suggestion from the Conservatives was: “Do you think that the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union. Yes or no”.
Some people thought this phrasing leaned too far towards the status quo – the current state of affairs – and the Electoral Commission, which has to approve the question, said it was not clear enough, and proposed: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”
The final decision will be made by MPs, but Downing Street has accepted the amended wording.
A guide to the UK’s planned in-out EU referendum
Does the UK have allies?
The Germans are broadly sympathetic.
Only last week, Chancellor Angela Merkel said: “The Europe of today is no longer a one-speed Europe.”
France is against anything that smacks of an a-la-carte Europe.
Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands are allies.
The Central and Eastern European countries care deeply about freedom of movement. Belgium and Spain don’t want a retreat from “ever closer union”.
Campaign themes
So what will be the main themes of the campaign?
The “out” campaign will offer to take back control “of our economy, our border and our democracy”.
The “in” campaign will warn of endangering the economy, of investors staying away, of risks to sterling and the equity markets..
So what would a Brexit look like?
Unwinding the relationship with the EU would take time.
A transitional relationship would have to be negotiated, securing access to the single market.
Already, some US investment banks are warning there would be a run on the pound and less growth.
Businesses would need to know what regulations they would be working with.
What model would UK follow?
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will be watching closely for any political advantage
We don’t know, but outside the EU there are four models: Norway, Switzerland, operating under World Trade Organisation rules, and a free trade agreement.
David Cameron says: “Norway has no say in setting EU rules: it just has to implement its directives.”
Switzerland took years to negotiate its trade deals with the EU. Operating under other rules would see tariffs.
But those who want to leave the EU counter by saying the rest of the world would want to do business with the fifth largest economy on the planet.
All of this will be argued over.
A referendum is always unpredictable. It may turn on the popularity or unpopularity of the government.
It may be held just at the moment the migrant crisis is deepening.
It may well be that the voters don’t focus on the terms of the renegotiation but follow their gut instincts as to what they feel about Europe.
Everything is at stake for David Cameron.
It is presumed that he wants to stay in a reformed EU.
If the vote went against him, it could spur another vote for Scottish independence, split his party and define his legacy.
This result is exactly why we need a strong government running the country, one not afraid to make decisions, not one run like a committee which is exactly what a labour/Green coalition would be, a committee. Ii dont mind if Labour win by a majority or National, but the majority has to be real and the party united.
Be careful what you wish for, Dave. Stalinist Russia, Nazi Germany, Franco’s Spain, Pinochet’s Chile, Gaddafi’s Libya, Amin’s Uganda, Nth Korea, Syria, et al, have/had “strong governments” – but I seriously doubt you’d want to live in one.
Dave – a strong and ethical govt. is not what is running the show here.
How can a strong govt. be led by such an unethical and serial lying leader ?
They are a bunch of pro-corporate elitists who are out of touch with the people and just watch the people here slowly take back our country just as Brexit is beginning to do. The domino effect and the ” HUNDRETH MONKEY THEORY ” are growing and thats a good thing for the people worldwide.
It is delusional to think that this present NZ govt. is by, for and about the people.
The Bilderberg group and etc. dictate to most govts. so lets wake up and stop with the untruths and the nonsense and the fear mongering and media brainwashing. We still are many and they still are few.
Weak people need strong leaders.
Well its the old English ‘ stick it to them ‘ thing going on here…
John Oliver mentioned it… its an old English tradition… a bit like the scene in the Eagle has Landed …a couple of rural English old timers saw a few Nazi paratroopers land and in the ensuing mayhem… one mutters… ‘bloody foreigners’…
England has always been a bit that way… despite what ever economic or political climate.. they are an island nation… not quite Europe but tied to it.
I cant blame them for voting as they did. And.. its their right to, no matter what the rest of us think. I find this interesting :
” The message from Brexit and Trump, Sanders and Corbyn is (ironically) the same: ignore working people at your peril. Wealth can only be concentrated for so long until popular backlash hits. High grade PR may delay but cannot avoid that reality.”
These globalists… have been having a free run and glibly carrying on as if the rest of us didn’t exist.
Their day of reckoning has come.
It has been the height of arrogance of the elite, the 1% crowd to act as if the other several billion of us were to be treated as mere chattels, units to generate their incomes and their personal fiefdoms.
That is an insult to those whose forbears came from the UK to escape that sort of rude class system.
And in some ways… I can sympathize with the people who voted in a nationalistic mindset. And I might add we could jolly well do with a lot more nationalistic / patriotic attitude from our current neo liberal politicians. For one.. I am heartily sick and tired of their shorn off , runt like approach to what was our once great country.
They have destroyed any semblance of the NZ we once held dear and turned it into a cesspit of greed, poverty and avarice. And I am not ashamed to say also that no – I do not want any more immigrants pouring into this country unchecked.
It is sheer lunacy to expect that a country as small as ours can accept such an irresponsible and unbridled immigration policy as this govt has forced on us. Were we ever consulted?
No.
Were we ever listened to after 32 years of treasonous neo liberalism?
No.
I do not call myself Left nor do I call myself right. I just want a fair shake for our country. I am sick and tired of so many of these greedy, vain politicians raping our country and giving nothing back , privatizing what shouldn’t , ignoring the opinions of the electorates, passing legislation that harms family’s and the poor , the workers and the unemployed – and all for their personal ego and financial gains.
So maybe I have a bit in common with the English voters… it could have been summed up by the phrase .. ‘ Enough is enough’.
Daily Telegraph UK says EU was a CIA project from the start. Question: why did it take the Telegraph so long to print the information.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/04/27/the-european-union-always-was-a-cia-project-as-brexiteers-discov/
Yeah hi David Cunliffe.
Brexit reminds me of Monty Python’s Black Barron. I’ve lost my industrial base, my Empire and will lose Scotland but I’m going to keep fighting even if it means weakening the main part left of the economy, the London Financial sector.
George Orwell is no doubt turning in his grave at NewSpeak neologisms like “Brexit” and “IndyRef”. Such contractions get in the way of clear thinking, he maintained.
“The conundrum is how to we fix it? This must been seen as a wake-up call by all who believe in progress and recognise the interpendance of the global system.”
This is the critical question, and answers are being offered by a wide range of research groups like the New Economics Foundation and the Peer-to-Peer Foundation, and authors like Douglas Rushkoff writing books like ‘Life Inc.’ and ‘Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus’. We need to combine workplace democracy and economic independence *and* interdependence, and if representative states remain relevant, which I’m not convinced they are, they need to work in this way to create these outcomes.
Oncewastim is right David :
‘Just as with water, these airwaves and this ‘ether’ is actually OURS. We’ve signed it all over to commercial interests to make money for a very few, without so much as a whimper.’
The left needs a voice – presently it is ‘owned’ by the right.
Remember
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/europes-current-economy/why-britain-joined-the-eu-back-in-1973/
Educated globalists eh – you know judging by their results I think they’re more dilettantes than technocrats.
We need to rebuild an enlightened nationalism because the nation state is the unit of political accountability, and look what a pig’s breakfast globalists have made of it.
Key is barely fit for prison, much less running a democracy. The people will support a government that works for them – read boule de suif – Flaubert knew the people. The rich have no country.
that seems to be a solid raft of policies..mr cunnliffe..
..my eyes perked up/eyebrows lifted @ the reference to social welfare..
..’cos correct me if i’m wrong..but wasn’t labour party policy @ the last election to do the same as the tories re welfare..?
..namely..to continue what labour and national have done for the previous 47 years..to only raise it by the rate of inflation..?..(47 yrs..eh..?…that’s a long time between drinks in anyones’ terms..eh..?..consider how much the cost of everything has gone up in the last 47 yrs…then weep for the poor.)
..could you talk us thru what has changed since then..
..and perhaps more importantly..by how much…?..(as in dollar terms..)
No, it wasn’t Labour party policy @ the last election to do the same as the tories re welfare.
Would have thought details re policies and costings if relevant, shouldn’t be disclosed until election time for various and obvious reasons.
How come people never call for National to show the money or provide detailed costings of it’s “punitive reforms” that National hide and do not campaign on.
factcheck:..they kept it quiet for as long as possible – but in the week before the election david cunnliffe – under questioning from john campbell – admitted that labour would only be raising benefits by the rate of inflation..(i remember the moment well..my dismay was palpable..)
..to his credit – he seems not to have enjoyed it..
..should you doubt me i am sure the campbell show archives from that time will clarify that for you..
..and as a – by the way – words – i don’t make shit up..eh..?
If true, I have to say, so what? at least he was prepared to do something, and if memory serves there were other policies in line to help people in need, and given that welfare is a toxic topic at the best of times, with the Nats, it’s media friends, and supporters at the ready to viciously attack and bene bash at every opportunity, I can understand why Cunliffe, who was already under siege, had to be cautious and say as little as possible.
You will have to provide the link to the John Campbell segment, details are too vague, and the search would take up way too much time. You seem to have a better idea about it, so it would be easier if you found the link please?
seeing as you are a serious fanboy/girl why don’t u ask david cunnliffe..
..and the reality of why he had to do that is because the neoliberals/rightwing within labour had control of the election-budget promises…(we’re looking @ you..david parker..)
..and as you ‘rember’ these other policies to help the poorest..
..could you list just one of these ‘remembered’ policies..?
details to vague..?..campbell show..in week before last election..appearance by cunnliffe..
..(that’s all the hand-holding you’ll get from me..)
..and ‘if that’s true’..?…get fecked..!..don’t call me a bloody liar..anonymous commenter..i use my own name and will stand behind everything i say..
..whereas you..?
..how are you going with that ‘memory’..?
..just one of them will do..
I never called you a “bloody liar” so in other words you are just all mouth and you can’t back yourself up. Why don’t you post the link if you know it? Why should I do your homework for you? You are the one on a senseless and pointless time wasting attack Philip, what you are banging on about is completely irrelevant to what is happening now under John key, you can always contact Mr Cunliffe yourself if it is so important to you.. And it wasn’t just the self interested faction within Labour that Cunliffe had to contend with, it was thee most vicious onslaughts from the msm as well, and it was the worst msm hatefest I have ever seen. All credit to David Cunliffe that he is still standing, and is still doing a great job. A far lesser person like John key, would have just withered away.
Nothing wrong in using a pseudonym, look around you, most people on blog sites do, and it shows you don’t have much of an argument when you try and wield that as a weapon. That’s was feeble and pathetic of you to do so. I stand behind what I say too, and it doesn’t matter one bit that I use a pseudonym.
I so easily found a list for you.
Labour Policy vs National Policy
By Martyn Bradbury / August 28, 2014
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/08/28/labour-policy-vs-national-policy/
The US and NZ ( etc. ) should consider getting out of the UN as soon as possible.
Many lessons to learn from Brexit.
http://allnewspipeline.com/Brexit_Lesson_For_The_US.php
NATO is heavily alligned with the EU and of course with the UN as well.
Another excellent article there Mr Cunliffe, thank you.
That nationalist party in New Zealand would be New Zealand First. The only party in Parliament whose principles from the outset and first and foremost say “To put New Zealand and New Zealanders first”.
New Zealand First is pro-Brexit without any of the rampant xenophobia accompanying the U.K.I.P., Trump or the European far right parties. That is why I am a member.
‘…New Zealand First is pro-Brexit without any of the rampant xenophobia accompanying the U.K.I.P., Trump or the European far right parties..’
whoar..!..are you trying to tell us that nz first members embrace feminism/green politics/multiculturalism/immigration..?
..hilarious..!
In 3 months time no one will give a flying fuck about Brexit . Jacinda Ardern will be the Labour leader so they will have a chance come election time, Andrew who? looking forward to it.
What a load of rubbish Dave. Andrew Little that’s who, and he will still be Labour’s leader. You should be more concerned about your tanking National government and the infighting on who will replace John key. And you won’t get a say in it either.
Angry Andrew, or is that Adam Ant cant even be bothered to have a shave before appearing on TV. Jacinda on the other hand looks quite stately. I think she would do ok as leader. Compare her with Helen or Jen.
Wake up Dave, you’re dreaming, it’s not going to happen.
looking at yr 2.04 pm comment i realised i cd spend half my day correcting you..you just make shit up on the hoof..
..so i will now respectfully disengage..
..someone else can take up the task..if they can be bothered..
..i’ll just file you over with cleangreen…
..have you two met..?..i can see you getting on like a house on fire..
..you should reach out to each other..
..maybe hook up..?
Making shit up is your department Philip. Get over yourself, you’re being rude and pathetic.
Comments are closed.