The Great Reset / World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international organization founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, a German-Swiss engineer and economist, under the name 'European Management Forum.' Its headquarters are in Cologny, near Geneva, Switzerland. The WEF organizes the Davos Forum each January, bringing together heads of state, CEOs, bankers, intellectuals, and journalists.

In June 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the WEF launched the 'The Great Reset' initiative with Prince Charles (who became Charles III) as patron. In July 2020, Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret published the book 'COVID-19: The Great Reset,' which proposes taking advantage of the pandemic crisis to 'reset' global capitalism towards a more sustainable, inclusive, and digital model. The book addresses ecological transition, digitization, 'stakeholder capitalism' (stakeholder capitalism vs. shareholder capitalism), and reform of global governance.

A WEF video from November 2016 (revisited in 2020) titled '8 predictions for the world in 2030' includes the prediction: 'You'll own nothing and you'll be happy. Whatever you want you'll rent, and it'll be delivered by drone.' This prediction, attributed to the Danish Member of Parliament Ida Auken (who subsequently distanced herself from it, qualifying her description as a 'scenario' and not a wish), has become the symbol of the conspiracy theory.

The WEF's 'Young Global Leaders' program (formerly 'Global Leaders for Tomorrow'), which has been training young leaders since 1993, is also at the center of suspicions. Among its former participants are: Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau, Jacinda Ardern, Angela Merkel, Tony Blair, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page. Conspiracy theorists claim that these leaders are 'agents' of the WEF placed in positions of power to execute the Great Reset agenda.

Klaus Schwab had previously published 'The Fourth Industrial Revolution' (2016), in which he described the convergence of digital, biological, and physical technologies, including implantable chips. This book is cited as 'evidence' of the WEF’s transhumanist agenda.

The Great Reset theory merges with other conspiratorial narratives: COVID vaccines as tools of control (5G chips), central bank digital currencies (CBDC) as surveillance tools, '15-minute cities' as open-air prisons, the UN’s Agenda 2030 as a program of global governance.

The theory is promoted by both the conservative/libertarian right (Fox News, Tucker Carlson, Glenn Beck) and by some left-wing anti-capitalist movements, as well as by the far right.