EXTREMISMConspiracy Theories, Some with Antisemitic Roots, Crop Up in 2023 Shareholder Proposals
The 2023 shareholder season heralded a new element of shareholder proposals: conspiracy theories. Some of the proposals demand a “congruency report” on relationships between companies and “globalist organizations” — a demand that could be interpreted as an antisemitic dog whistle. The second primary conspiracy theory focuses on transhumanism. 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.
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successfully petitioned the SEC to have the proposals excluded (Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Bank of America) and one was withdrawn by NCPPR (Boeing).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.
