Conspiracy Theories, Some with Antisemitic Roots, Crop Up in 2023 Shareholder Proposals
The 2023 shareholder season heralded a new element of shareholder proposals: conspiracy theories. The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) and National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) each filed such proposals; both are self-described conservative watchdog organizations. NCPPR’s primary focus is public policy research and education, while NLPC promotes ethics in government, advocating for limitations on “big government.”
NCPPR filed at least seven shareholder proposals containing conspiracy theories or conspiratorial language, demanding a “congruency report” on relationships between companies and “globalist organizations” — a demand that could be interpreted as an antisemitic dog whistle. In the supporting statement of its shareholder proposals, NCPPR claims these companies work with “globalist organizations,” namely the World Economic Forum, who “openly advocates for transhumanism, abolishing private property, eating bugs, social credit systems, “The Great Reset” and a host of other blatantly Orwellian objectives.”
NCPPR filed these proposals at Alphabet/Google, Pfizer, Bank of America, Boeing, Marriot, Merck and Johnson & Johnson. Three of these proposals (at Alphabet, Marriott and Merck) made it onto the proxy ballots, while three companies successfully petitioned the SEC to have the proposals excluded (Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Bank of America) and one was withdrawn by NCPPR (Boeing).
NLPC also filed a similar proposal with Johnson & Johnson, though the company successfully argued it should not be included on the proxy ballot.
“Globalist” is a term used by many on the right and the far right. It has been used by mainstream personalities and politicians to refer to people or entities that support multilateralism and cross-border cooperation, but in extremist contexts, “globalist” is used by white supremacists and other antisemites as an antisemitic dog whistle, wielding it as a codeword for Jews or as a pejorative term for people whose interests in international commerce or finance ostensibly make them disloyal to the country in which they live.
Primary conspiracy theories
Several prominent conspiracy theories surfaced repeatedly in these proposals. The first, the Great Reset, is a conspiracy theory that can be used to espouse antisemitism. It warns that “global elites” used the pandemic (or other newsworthy events) to advance their interests and push a globalist plot to destroy American sovereignty and prosperity in favor of a global totalitarian regime. Adherents sometimes promote antisemitism as part of the conspiracy theory. Before it was adopted by conspiracy theorists, the phrase originally referred to an initiative introduced by the World Economic Forum.
The second primary conspiracy theory focuses on transhumanism, the idea that humans can transcend the physical limitations of our bodies — perhaps even death itself. In its more conspiratorial form, proponents believe a “Satanist” or elite cabal of humans, on a mission to replace humans with machines/governments, are modifying bodies and DNA via secretly inserted chips. It can be and often is seen in conjunction with Great Replacement and Great Reset theory. This conspiracy theory has both antisemitic and anti-LGTBQ undertones, due to the associations proponents make with “Satanist” transhumanists’ alleged connections to George Soros and numerous references to the “globalists” behind the mov. Anti-LBGTQ authors such as Jennifer Bilek claim that transgender folks especially are the vanguard of this foundationally anti-humanity movement to transform the essence of what it means to be a person.
This kind of conspiratorial activism was also evident in the 2023 NCPPR shareholder proxy guide, in which the organization claims, “We sometimes forget the UN is the institutional originator of climate nonsense and that the US government – and by extension, the American taxpayer – is the largest funder of the most prevalent globalist organization on Earth, whose very explicit purpose is to be the one-world government that globalists are trying to bring to fruition.”
The NLPC also echoes this sentiment in a blog post attacking Brian Moynihan, Bank of America CEO and detailing their shareholder activism: “Moynihan has been more than willing to place Bank of America in a globalist posture, subjugating shareholders’ interests under those of the World Economic Forum agenda of transhumanism, abolition of private property, consumption of bugs, social credit systems, and other ‘Great Reset’ priorities.” Paul Chesser, director of the Corporate Integrity Project for NLPC gave remarks at the Bank of America annual general meeting promoting fear of a “one world government,” a conspiracy theory with roots in the 1990s.
NCPPR’s 2022 proxy voter guide is much more explicit, going so far as to detail the organization’s understanding of these conspiracies, with subheadings about transhumanism and the Great Reset. Ethan Peck, a Free Enterprise Institute fellow (project of NCPPR), also commented while presenting a 2022 proposal that “[Pfizer CEO Albert] Bourla is a globalist leech… And he is using shareholder money to finance his free trips to Davos where he advances the transhumanist agenda.”
At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that either organization’s agents espouse overt antisemitism, or that these proposals were filed with antisemitic intentions. However, the conspiracies espoused fit neatly into a broadly conspiratorial world view, and in some cases may serve as ‘on ramps’ to more overtly antisemitic concepts. These conspiracies were once the mainstay of the darker corners of blogs and message forums, and it is of note that they have moved into the mainstream discourse about cultural norms – a development antisemites undoubtedly welcome.
