This range of largely unknown groups exerting influence on the world stage include the G20, G7, the Bilderberg Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trillateral Commission (USA), The Ditchley Foundation, the Royal Institution of International Affairs (Chatham House), the Club of Madrid and the Club of Rome which was founded in 1968 at David Rockefeller‘s estate in Bellagio, Italy.
The Club of Rome describes itself as "a group of world citizens, sharing a common concern for the future of humanity". It includes within its existing and past membership familiar names such as:
Bill Clinton - former President of the United States, founder of the Clinton Global Initiative; Al Gore - former VP of the United States and leading climate change campaigner; Maurice Strong - former Head of the UN Environment Programme, Secretary General of the Rio Earth Summit and co-author (with Gorbachev) of the Earth Charter; Kofi Annan – former Secretary General of the United Nations; Gro Harlem Bruntland – United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Change, Director-General of the World Health Organization from 1998 to 2003, member of the Club of Madrid and member of the Bilderberg Group; Robert Muller – former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and creator of the World Core Curriculum; George Soros – multi-billionaire and major donor to the UN; Bill Gates – founder of Microsoft, "philanthropist" and member of the Bilderberger Group and finally David Rockefeller – Club of Rome executive member, former Chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank, founder of the Trilateral Commission, executive member of the World Economic Forum, Honorary Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations and member of the Bilderberg Group.
A flavour of the intentions of this Marxist dominated globalist cabal emerged in the 1974 Club of Rome report Mankind at the Turning Point:
Now is the time to draw up a master plan for sustainable growth and world development based on global allocation of all resources and a new global economic system. Ten or twenty years from today it will probably be too late.
Twenty years later they had already formulated their plan for the undermining of national governments and the sovereignty of the nation. They identified that "global challenges" such as International crime, terrorism and climate change provided the key to global societal change.
In searching for the new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill. In their totality and in their interactions these phenomena do constitute a common threat which demands the solidarity of all peoples. But in designating them as the enemy, we fall into the trap about which we have already warned, by human intervention and it is only through changing attitudes and behaviours that they can be overcome. The real enemy, then, is humanity itself - The First Global Revolution (1993), report by the Council of the Club of Rome, P 115
In August 2009, at the Incheon Conference "Building an Alliance of Local Governments for Disaster Risk Reduction", Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General said
I call for the need of world leaders to address climate change and reduce the increasing risk of disasters - and world leaders must include mayors, townships and community leaders. [my emphasis]
This might go some way to explaining why City and Regional Mayors are now to be imposed upon an unwilling British electorate.
Disaster Risk Reduction
The UNISDR has developed the following definitions on disaster risk reduction:
Disaster Risk Reduction: The concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyse and manage the causal factors of disasters, including through reduced exposure to hazards, lessened vulnerability of people and property, wise management of land and the environment, and improved preparedness for adverse events.
Hazard: A dangerous phenomenon, substance, human activity or condition that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.
Resilience: The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions.
The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) also specifies that Disaster Risk Reduction is "part of sustainable development. In order for development activities to be sustainable they must also reduce disaster risk'. DRR aims to reduce the damage caused by natural hazards like earthquakes, floods, droughts and cyclones, through an ethic of prevention".
It sounds very much to us that this "ethic of prevention" could be used as the blueprint for complete "top-down" control over all human activity.
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030) is the "first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda, with seven targets and four priorities for action". According to the Sendai framework "the State has the primary role to reduce disaster risk but that responsibility should be shared with other stakeholders including local government, the private sector and other stakeholders".
This is yet another vehicle for the propulsion of the United Nations model of governance - the public private partnership. In which of the three pillars of this model (local government, private sector, other stakeholders) does ultimate public accountability lie when things go wrong?
In many of the private sector partnerships examined during this series of articles we have discovered that many of the key personnel had received training by political charity Common Purpose. We named this phenomena the Common Purpose Effect. Could the title of the following official document be explained as simple coincidence?
Acting with Common Purpose - Proceedings of the first session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, Geneva, 5-7 June 2007
We also understand that The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction will support the "implementation, follow-up and review of the Sendai framework". It will provide "practical guidance for implementation in close collaboration with States, "through mobilisation of experts".
We therefore ask: Who will these so-called "experts" be and how will they be selected?
The 100 Resilient Cities Project
Pioneered and financially supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, the 100 Resilient Cities Project is "dedicated to helping cities around the world become more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century". The Project claims that:
Crisis is the new normal for cities in the 21st century. Because of the collision of globalisation, urbanisation, and climate change, not a week goes by that there’s not a disruption to a city somewhere in the world: a cyber attack, a natural disaster, or economic or social upheaval.
100 Resilient Cities Programme Partners from the private, public, academic, and non-profit sectors include:
Amex Foster Wheeler who 'assist cities protect their assets in preparation from climate change', Arup whose director Robert Care was until recently chair of the Common Purpose Charitable Trust, Cities Alliance which works to "promote social inclusion in urban planning and development", Csiro which "gives cities access to building simulation tools to assess the energy efficiency of building design options for low-carbon development at the city scale", Deutsche Bank to "assist and implement solutions that provide Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing to property owners", Earth Economics to help cities "develop their natural capital strategic initiatives", R20 Regions of Climate Action financial modelling associated with streetlight upgrades and waste and recycling management systems, The Nature Conservancy, Veolia and Microsoft CityNext "developing a cyber-resilience roadmap" for cities.
Two areas of public concern spring immediately to mind, Firstly the belief that the Government is spying on us through our computers, phones, cars, buses, streetlights, at airports and an the street, via mobile scanners and drones, through Smart Meters and via Smart TVs. Secondly, that Microsoft, the computer software giant who in 2014 disclosed a potentially catastrophic vulnerability in virtually all versions of Windows, should be trusted with developing citywide cyber-resilience.
UK Column researchers have also noted that a further programme partner of the 100 Resilient Cities project is the International Rescue Committee. The IRC works with member cities to "help them humanely accommodate or otherwise integrate influxes of displaced populations into the cities’ social, economic, and cultural fabric in a manner that enhances overall resilience of the host city". In a previous article we revealed that
The International Rescue Committee is governed by a volunteer, unpaid board of directors. Of the 28 member board, 11 are also members of the Council on Foreign Relations.
David Rockefeller is the Honorary Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations. Open Society, of which George Soros is founder and chairman, is an 'especially valuable partner of the IRC'.
London First, cyber-resilience and Common Purpose
London First is "a business membership organisation with the mission to make London the best city in the world to do business". It is constituted as a "not-for-profit organisation, entirely funded by its members". London First claims their agenda "is developed independent of party political motives or affiliations".
In October 2015 London First teamed up with Common Purpose to launch a cyber-resilience challenge on the Common Purpose Massive Online Innovation Community (MOIC) where participants were encouraged to submit ideas that will influence the way we (who is "we"?) prevent, react, recover and adapt to cyber dangers in collaboration with stakeholders. The Common Purpose Massive Online Innovation Community (MOIC) says it brings together over 45,000 Common Purpose alumni from around the world in an online community to consult and collaborate with fellow leaders. Readers can consult the October 2015 Conference list of delegates here.
Amongst the delegates UK Column researchers discovered the Head of Global Client Relations, Common Purpose; the Chief Executive - Student Experiences, Common Purpose Global; the Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges NATO; the Head of the Office of Director, Europol; four representatives from Deutsche Bank AG; eight from KPMG; Mike Gapes MP for Ilford South (Vice-chair of the British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union) and the Lord Hannay of Chiswick GCMG (Chair of the United Nations All Party Parliamentary Group).
Cristiana Fragola attended on behalf of 100 Resilient Cities. She is their Regional Director Europe and Middle East. Previously, she was European Regional Director for the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. Ms. Fragola also 'served as legal counsel to executive leadership at the United Nations and set forth transparent reporting procedures for MDGs funding mechanisms'.
We also noted the presence of Eileen Haring Woods, Executive Director of the Global Parliament of Mayors Project, who we met in the previous article in this series.
Sir David Veness is Chairman of London First Security and Resilience Network Advisory Board. He served as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Department of Safety & Security from its creation in 2005 until June 2009. Also on the board is Common Purpose graduate Cressida Dick the Commander who was in charge of the operation that led to the death of Jean Charles de Menezes.
London was amongst the second group of cities selected to join 100 Resilient Cities. According to Catherine Cameron, writing on the Common Purpose Blog: How Smart Cities can Combat Climate Change
City Mayors can be more nimble than state or national level politicians and need to act fast to stay in office, so they get results. There are a number of global collaborations at city level including the new Rockefeller 100 Resilient Cities and the decade long C40 initiative. The 70 mega cities of the C40 initiative represent half a billion citizens, one quarter of global GDP and have taken over 8000 climate actions, with a commitment to reduce one gigaton of CO2 by 2020.
Catherine Cameron has been involved with the CSC Leaders programme. CSC Leaders provides leadership training for the future leaders of the Commonwealth and is "a partnership between international leadership development organisation Common Purpose and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Study Conferences (UK Fund)". Catherine Cameron's online biography indicates that she is:
a sustainability practitioner, with a particular focus on responding to climate disruption, having been a member of the core team that produced the Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change in 2006.
Readers may recall that the 700 page Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change provided prescriptions for environmental taxes. Stern, a former chief economic adviser to the UK Government was also the chief economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank from 2000 - 2003. Stern is associated with leadership training organisation Common Purpose and in an article in the Telegraph he suggested that people should give up eating meat to halt climate change.
According to the former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson
London is the world’s commerce and technology hub and winning membership of this global network (The 100 Resilient Cities Programme) will enable us to bolster the city’s plans to stay one step ahead of today’s threats, including from cyber-crime. We already have tried and tested emergency response plans for London’s physical infrastructure, but we can and must do more on prevention, and this Rockefeller developed initiative will deliver significant financial support and access to world-leading expertise.
It is perhaps no surprise, then, to learn that Boris Johnson spoke about "Smart Cities" at CSCLeaders 2015. He previously appeared on a page on the Common Purpose website where he endorsed their Dao Xiang project which brought together young leaders from Shanghai and London.
New London Mayor, Sadiq Khan
London electors may have been hoping for a change in strategic policy following their election of a new mayor. We believe that they will be sadly disappointed in the outcome.
Within his Manifesto for All Londoners Khan promised to be "the greenest Mayor ever, seeking to establish London as a leader in low-carbon innovation and industry, cleaning up our dangerously polluted air, and setting out an ambitious long-term plan for clean energy in our capital". He promised London will be run on clean energy by 2050 and that he would hold a major review of the capital’s safeguards and resilience “on day one”.
It becomes increasingly clear that we have already entered the post democratic era.
Read part 1: The Global Parliament of Mayors and the Abolition of the Electorate
