Editing Bilderberg Meeting (section)

==Conspiracy theories ==
The secrecy of the proceedings has led not only to varied criticism of the group and its activities from across the political spectrum but also to a number of [[Conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]],<ref name=Gowen>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/is-bilderberg-a-conference-on-world-affairs-or-a-powerful-global-cabal-depends-on-who-you-ask/2012/06/01/gJQA5uqx7U_story.html|title=Is Bilderberg a conference on world affairs or a powerful global cabal? Depends on who you ask.|author=Gowen, Annie|date=2 June 2012|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref><ref name="The Economist 2011" /><ref name="Hayton 2005">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4290944.stm |title=Inside the secretive Bilderberg Group |author=Bill Hayton |work=[[BBC News]] |date=29 September 2005 |access-date=19 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110208095916/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4290944.stm |archive-date=8 February 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> which have grown especially popular within certain political movements, although the  different factions of theorists often disagree about the exact nature of the group's intentions and use different sources and levels of evidentiary rigor to back up their conjectures. Some on the left, or of less specific political affiliations, accuse the Bilderberg group either of covertly imposing or generally propping up capitalist domination and corporate power,<ref name="Weissert 2010">{{cite news |author=Weissert, Will |title=Fidel Castro fascinated by Bilderberg Club conspiracy theory |date=10 August 2010 |newspaper=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |location=Boston |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0820/Fidel-Castro-fascinated-by-Bilderberg-Club-conspiracy-theory |access-date=16 October 2010}}</ref> while some on the right have accused the group of imposing or helping to prepare the way for a [[world government]] and a global [[planned economy]]. The right-wing theorists tend to treat the group as the central directorate or planning arm of the conspiracy or at least attribute considerable importance to its role, whereas most of the left-wing and more loosely-affiliated or apolitical theorists treat it as just one of a set of institutions that help to advance international corporate interests and ideology.<ref name="Wallechinsky and Wallace 1975">{{cite book |author=Wallechinsky, David |author-link1=David Wallechinsky |author2=Wallace, Irving |author-link2=Irving Wallace |chapter=The Bilderberg Group Part 2 |title=[[The People's Almanac]] |publisher=Doubleday |year=1975 |isbn=978-0385040600 |at=[https://archive.org/details/peoplesalmanac00wall/page/ cited paragraphs] |chapter-url=http://www.trivia-library.com/c/most-powerful-in-the-world-the-bilderberg-group-part-2.htm }}</ref>

In 2005, Davignon discussed accusations of the group striving for a one-world government with the [[BBC]]: "It is unavoidable and it doesn't matter. There will always be people who believe in conspiracies but things happen in a much more incoherent fashion. ... When people say this is a secret government of the world I say that if we were a secret government of the world we should be bloody ashamed of ourselves."<ref name="Hayton 2005" />

In a 1994 report, ''Right Woos Left'', published by the [[Political Research Associates]], investigative journalist [[Chip Berlet]] argued that [[right-wing populism|right-wing populist]] conspiracy theories about the Bilderberg group date back to as early as 1964 and can be found in [[Phyllis Schlafly]]'s self-published book ''A Choice, Not an Echo'',<ref>Phyllis Schlafly, ''A Choice Not an Echo: The Inside Story of How American Presidents Are Chosen'' (Pere Marquette Press, 1964) {{ISBN|0686114868}}</ref> which promoted a [[conspiracy theory]] in which the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] was secretly controlled by elitist intellectuals dominated by members of the Bilderberg group, whose [[neoliberalism|internationalist]] policies would pave the way for [[world communism]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.publiceye.org/rightwoo/rwooz9-03.html |title=The New Right & the Secular Humanism Conspiracy Theory|author=Chip Berlet |year=1994}}</ref>

In August 2010, former Cuban president [[Fidel Castro]] wrote an article for the [[Communist Party of Cuba|Cuban Communist Party]] newspaper ''[[Granma (newspaper)|Granma]]'' in which he cited [[Daniel Estulin]]'s 2006 book ''The Secrets of the Bilderberg Club'',<ref>Daniel Estulin, ''Los secretos del club Bilderberg'' (Ediciones del Bronce, 2006).</ref> which, as quoted by Castro, describes "sinister cliques and the Bilderberg lobbyists" manipulating the public "to install a world government that knows no borders and is not accountable to anyone but its own self."<ref name="Weissert 2010" />

Proponents of Bilderberg conspiracy theories in the United States include such groups and individuals such as the [[John Birch Society]],<ref name="Wallechinsky and Wallace 1975" /><ref name="Berlet 2000">{{cite web|author=Berlet, Chip |title=John Birch Society |year=2000 |url=http://www.publiceye.org/tooclose/jbs.html |access-date=6 October 2010 |author-link=Chip Berlet}}</ref> political activist Phyllis Schlafly,<ref name="Berlet 2000" /> writer [[Jim Tucker (journalist)|Jim Tucker]],<ref name="Hollingshead 2011">{{Cite news|author=Iain Hollingshead |title=The Bilderberg Group: fact and fantasy |date=4 June 2010 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7804197/The-Bilderberg-Group-fact-and-fantasy.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7804197/The-Bilderberg-Group-fact-and-fantasy.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=20 June 2011 |location=London |work=The Daily Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref> political activist [[Lyndon LaRouche]],<ref name="King 1979">{{cite news |first=Dennis |last=King |title=NCLC'S Private Intelligence Agency |year=1979 |url=http://lyndonlarouchewatch.org/ourtown3.htm |work=Our Town |access-date=14 May 2009 |location=New York}}</ref> conspiracy theorist [[Alex Jones]],<ref name="BBC News Magazine 2011" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10108702/Idiot-Bilderberg-conspiracy-theorist-disrupts-BBC-politics-show.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130616013639/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10108702/Idiot-Bilderberg-conspiracy-theorist-disrupts-BBC-politics-show.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 June 2013 |title={{-'}}Idiot' Bilderberg conspiracy theorist disrupts BBC politics show |author=Dixon, Hayley|date=9 June 2013 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London}}</ref><ref name=Taylor>{{cite web |title=Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones Goes Berserk During BBC Show |last=Taylor|first=Adam |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/alex-jones-goes-beserk-during-bbc-show-2013-6 |newspaper=[[Business Insider]] |date=9 June 2013 |access-date=9 June 2013}}</ref> and politician [[Jesse Ventura]], who made the Bilderberg group a topic of a 2009 episode of his [[TruTV]] series ''[[Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trutv.com/shows/conspiracy_theory/episodes/season1.html |title=List of Season 1 episodes for Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura |publisher=truTV |date=30 December 2009 |access-date=11 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101008183742/http://www.trutv.com/shows/conspiracy_theory/episodes/season1.html |archive-date=8 October 2010 }}</ref> Although conspiracy theories about the Bilderberg Group have gained the most widespread credence by far in the United States, some high-profile non-American proponents have raised them as well, including Moldovan-Italian writer [[Nicolai Lilin]],<ref>{{cite web |last=Garros|first=Aleksandr|url=https://snob.ru/selected/entry/7841/ |title=Непереводимая игра слов|language= ru|date= 10 October 2009|publisher=Snob.ru |access-date=24 September 2024 }}</ref> Lithuanian writer [[Daniel Estulin]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/that-bilderberg-book/ |title=That Bilderberg Book |author=Bruce Ramsey |date=30 July 2009 |access-date=23 January 2011 |newspaper=The Seattle Times}}</ref> and British politician [[Nigel Farage]].<ref name="Farage">{{cite web |last1=Walker |first1=Peter |title=Nigel Farage under fire over 'antisemitic tropes' on far-right US talkshow |date=6 May 2019 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/06/nigel-farage-under-fire-alleged-antisemitic-tropes-far-right-us-talkshow-alex-jones |publisher=Guardian News & Media Limited |access-date=6 May 2019}}</ref>