The World Economic Forum (WEF), perhaps best known for its annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland, which brings together the who’s who of the global liberal elite, has canceled all public events that were set to coincide with January’s meeting, citing security concerns and death threats.
The Open Forum, a series of panel discussions that allow for a wider audience to participate in the activities of the World Economic Forum, had to be called off as a result of members and employees of the forum being subjected to intimidation and death threats from ‘conspiracy theorists,’ Die Welt reports.
Next January will mark the first time the Open Forum has been canceled since it began in 2003.
“We receive dozens of threats every day on social media and by email. But it also happens that employees and attendees of the forum are approached personally,” Yann Zopf, the WEF’s communications director, said.
“Death threats are the order of the day, it became uncomfortable. We couldn’t imagine that we could end up in the crosshairs of conspiracy theorists,” WEF spokesman Alois Zwinggi said.
Although the World Economic Forum has been operating since 1971, most people were wholly unaware of its existence before the fall of 2020, when it released a slick promotional video, which among other things, introduced the concept of the “Great Reset” and predicted that by 2030 the majority of humanity would “own nothing and be happy.”
The vision of a “Great Reset” has been met with enmity and, since the video’s release, the WEF has faced widespread publish backlash.
“Every country, from the United States to China, must participate [in the Great Reset], and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed,” Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the WEF, wrote in an article published to the WEF’s website.
“In short, we need a ‘Great Reset’ of capitalism,” Schwab added.
As the world faces a slew of unprecedented challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Klaus Schwab’s World Economic Forum views itself as the sole institution which has both the resources and human capital needed to meet these challenges.
Vast swaths of citizens around the world, however, clearly do not share Klaus’ vision for the future.
