Switzerland and Germany need Italy for gas deal
A wide variety of assertions then fit into the belief in a forced transformation of the world: an appeal to share vehicles more often, known as the “sharing economy”, becomes the lie that the WEF wants to ban private cars. In a WEF patch on the uniform of Swiss police officers, conspiracy supporters see evidence that the economic gathering has its own police force, much like a state.
Especially in the focus of the disinformation: the German WEF founder Klaus Schwab. For example, a fake Twitter account under Schwab’s name that only vaccinated people would get food packages in the event of shortages. A fictional statement. Sometimes his father is accused of having been a confidant of Adolf Hitler, sometimes the economist is said to be part of the Rothschild banking family – an anti-Semitic cipher for Jewish rulers who are supposedly acting in secret.
But not all resentment about the World Economic Forum is a myth. «It is important to distinguish between conspiracy ideologies and criticism», says political scientist Rathje. Criticism of the ruling and powerful is important for liberal democracies. However, they cannot reduce the complexity of events to such an extent that it can only be a matter of a conspiracy of elites.