Stop ESGism
Companies that comply with ESG mandates encourage the spread of totalitarianism and fascism. It's time to stop. Here's why. Here's how.
“…acute crises contribute to boosting the power of the state. It’s always been the case and there is no reason it should be different with the COVID-19 pandemic.”—Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret in The Great Narrative (Book 2 of 2, The Great Reset) - December 2021
The desired outcome of Schwab’s Great Reset is threefold:1
To control production and distribution by as few corporations as possible—while eliminating your business—using the soundly unscientific theory of climate change as the threat/reason.
To shift governance from the Public to Private sector, favoring industries and players that kowtow to government. In other words, corporations—not governments—monitor and control the actions of civil society. While previously referred to as corporatism2 or economic fascism,3 it is now known as wokeism or ESGism, to obfuscate what is really going on (see The ESG Sleight of Hand for details).
To create a globalist state via corporations, whether or not a one-world government is ever formalized.
“To comply with [the desired outcomes of The Great Reset], governments, banks, and asset managers use the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) index to squeeze non-woke corporations and businesses out of the market.”—Michael Rectenwald, Chief Academic Officer, American Scholars4
“…every management team and board will need to consider how [their response to our desired outcomes of The Great Reset] will impact their company’s stock.”—Larry Fink, BlackRock CEO and developer of Aladdin in his 2021 annual
ThreatLetter to CEOs5
What’s in this Post?
Totalitarianism, Authoritarianism, and Fascism
Totalitarianism, authoritarianism, and fascism are all forms of centralized government that attempt to control and direct all aspects of individual life. The 2020 lockdowns gave the world a taste of what centralized control looks and feels like.6 Earlier examples of centralized control include:
Italy under Benito Mussolini (1922–43: 21 years)
USSR under Joseph Stalin (1924–53: 29 years)
Japan under Michinomiya Hirohito (1931–45: 14 years)
Germany under Adolf Hitler (1933–45: 12 years)
Spain under Francisco Franco (1939-75: 36 years)
China under Chairman Mao Zedong (1949-76: 27 years)
Climate and EcoFascism
The founding father of ecofascism was Madison Grant (1865-1937).7 In 2005, environmental historian Michael E. Zimmerman popularized today's use of the term ecofascism and defined it as:
“...a totalitarian government that requires individuals to sacrifice their interests to the well-being of the land, understood as the splendid web of life, or the organic whole of nature, including peoples and their states.”8
The goal of ecofascism is to replace all existing political institutions in favor of centralized control and to eliminate the legal, social, and political traditions we have become accustomed to (including personal freedom and sovereignty).9
“The New Global Order faces unprecedented challenges... It is redefining what it means to be human. It is forcing centuries-old concepts… to be reconceived…”—from ‘Enabling a New Global Order,’ the event factsheet of the Future Investment Inititive held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 25-27, 2022.
Historically, similar outcomes of centralized control were accomplished by pursuing a special goal, intended to mobilize the population. The special goal is dictated by the general feel and circumstances of the population. Mussolini pursued expansion of Italy after WW1; Stalin pursued collectivization (communal farming) and industrialization; Hitler pursued nationalism in the face of an ‘imminent communist threat.’ Regardless of the economic or social cost, all resources are devoted to achieving the special goal. Every government action is explained in terms of realizing the goal. This nationalistic pursuit of the special goal permits a wide latitude of action by the state. All dissent is crushed. Censorship is rampant. Extensive use of technology solidifies control. Sound familiar?
In the 1920s we had Fascism, restricted to a few countries.
In the 2020s we have EcoFascism, globally.
The special goal being pursued in the 2020s is Net Zero by 2050.
Importantly, the achievement of the goal can never be accomplished or acknowledged. That’s because the relentless pursuit of the goal—and the resulting centralized control—is the foundation of the totalitarian state. If the goal is accomplished, the perceived need for centralized control goes away.
This, in essence, is why ESG and Net Zero make no sense. They have nothing to do with climate. You were right to feel uneasy about them all along. The extent of societal control they represent is downright dystopian.
In summary: ESGism is the special goal intended to mobilize the population to embrace centralized control. It’s the same mechanism used by Mussolini in Italy, Stalin in USSR, Hirohito in Japan and Hitler in Germany. Without a significant change in leadership styles, the globalist system is headed for similar outcomes to the historical examples listed here.
Video Explanation by Mark Moss
Mark Moss is an American podcaster, student of history, and advocate of individual sovereignty.10 His YouTube videos are well-researched and he provides show notes for every episode. While he is a little too conspiratorial for a business audience, an episode from him from a few days ago on ESG is worth watching. I don't agree with some of his interpretation, so I've provided my own commentary below the video. His solution is to 'vote with our money' by, for example withdrawing from funds like BlackRock. Obviously this is no solution for organizations, so we'll discuss our options after the video. You can download his shownotes at https://go.1markmoss.com/blackrock (requires email registration).
04:00: Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics, which is essentially the Corporate Social Credit Score we’ve mentioned before. For more detail, see https://bit.ly/S-C-M
04:35: Public-Private Partnerships, or the equivalent of Fascism. For more details, see https://bit.ly/Ecofascism
04:45: Mark Carney, who we’ve covered extensively before. For more detail, see https://bit.ly/MCarney
05:55 Extract from Carney’s book, Values: “The agenda's objectives are in fact already being enforced, not primarily by legislation but by the application of non-governmental—that is non-democratic—pressure on the corporate sector via the ever-expanding dictates of ESG and ‘sustainable finance,’ which is designed to starve non-compliant companies of funds... What ESG actually represents is corporate ideological compulsion. It is a key instrument of ‘stakeholder capitalism.’”
07:04 Global Public Private Partnerships & Governance. For more detail, see https://bit.ly/G-PPP, where you can also find the source for the global governance chart he explains at 09:09. Well worth at least watching these few minutes so that you can understand how global policy is set.
10:40 Larry Fink and BlackRock. Moss fails to mention the software platform developed by Fink, known as Aladdin. This frightening platform is the key to BlackRock’s position in society. For more detail see https://bit.ly/BR-Aladdin. To understand why this software platform is a key piece in this complex maze, read F.A. Hayek’s The Use of Knowledge in Society, which you can find here: https://bit.ly/knowledge-hayek
15:12 Sri Lanka Crisis as an example of centralized control which always fails because of the complexity. There are many parallels between Sri Lanka and the USSR between 1931 and 1934.
21:44 Discusses reasons to hope. I believe the situation is a little more dire than he explains and that we are in for another decade of attempted control.
Protests are not a sign that civil society is winning. Protests are permitted as part of controlled opposition. Protests (for example climate change) follow very specific scripted messages, while ignoring/being oblivious to the push for centralized control.
BlackRock facing scrutiny: I don’t believe we should underestimate BlackRock’s ability to simply adjust their approach. This drive for centralized control—by players way bigger than BlacklRock—is a lot more advanced than we might think. It has happened before in history and is playing out as expected.
Anti-ESG Legislation, which refers to the state pushing back on the private sector trying to control citizens. For more detail, see https://bit.ly/anti-ESG. While it is refreshing to see this pushback, I believe it will ultimately be ineffective.
25:50 Strive Asset Management. I have deep concerns about the founder of SAM, Vivek Ramaswamy. He completed the WEF Young Global Leader class in 2021, so he is well versed in the WEF way. There are more than a few people referring to him as controlled opposition. For more detail, see https://bit.ly/ramaswamy.
How Does a Business Respond to ESG, Ethically?
This post has not been easy to write. When one stares into the abyss of what we’re facing, it’s easy to despair. What we need is for enough bold business leaders to step forward and show true societal leadership. Our political leaders are not leading. But stepping forward to buck the trend takes courage, especially when your share price is at stake. There is strength numbers. As we saw with Covid, dissenting voices eventually came together and a number of very powerful movements and initiatives emerged. I’m not quite sure how we accomplish this in the business world, but I’m spending a lot of my time thinking about this. A number of meaningful conversations are underway about a business mastermind to address what we’ve covered.
It’s early days, and I’ll let you know how things develop. Thanks for being with me on this journey.
Michael
For an extensive collection of criticism of The Great Reset, see https://bit.ly/Gr8Reset.
Corporatism is a political system in which judicial authority is given to corporations that act for economical, industrial, and professional groups. Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility pp 618–624: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-642-28036-8_607
From an economic perspective, fascism means an interventionist industrial policy, mercantilism, protectionism, and an ideology that makes the individual subservient to the state. “Ask not what the State can do for you, but what you can do for the State” is an apt description of the economic philosophy of fascism. https://fee.org/articles/economic-fascism/
What Is the Great Reset? by Michael Rectenwald, Dec 2021: https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/what-is-the-great-reset/.
For links to current and past Larry Fink Letters (as well as backlash) and background on the largest known financial knowledge bank and regulation platform (that he developed: Aladdin), see https://bit.ly/f-l-ink.
For extensive additional resources on the results of centralized control, see https://bit.ly/Ecofascism.
Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, Volume 1. London, UK: Continuum. pp. 531–532: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1847062733
See for example the FII’s recent event in Saudi Arabia: https://fii-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/FactSheet_Enabiling-a-New-Global-Order-6th-4.pdf