BILDERBERGS AND MUSIC

The Bilderberg group are attempting to influence youth through music. With their increased control of record labels and broadcasters, they are tweaking the social fabric using recording artists as their mouthpieces.

Please mirror this site. We have been persecuted by servers and search engines who have bowed to corporate pressure. It's only a matter of time until the plug is pulled again.

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The Bilderberg Group - Youth Under Fire
What Is Bilderberg
Who Are Bilderberg
Today's Music Business - Bigger, Bolder, Bilderberg
The Big Players
Wanted: 1 x New Enemy
Bilderberg Artists: Letting The Mask Slip
New Labour And Rock: Fooled Britannia?
Fighting The Power

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Spotlight Busts Bilderbergers As They Meet On Guarded Island

Bilderberg is gloomy over setbacks in its plans for world government and the presence of an Arab leader suggests meddling in the Mideast lies ahead.

Exclusive to The SPOTLIGHT

By James P. Tucker Jr.

STENUNGSUND, Sweden-Bilder-berg took dramatic action to keep its program for a world government from possible collapse while planning some kind of intervention in the Middle East.

While Bilderberg has always held its secret sessions behind heavy security and armed guards, this year a SWAT team joined in patrolling the grounds of the Quality Hotel Stenungsbaden.

SPOTLIGHT reporter Christopher Bollyn was seized on private property by Swedish police, driven six miles into the wilderness and dumped. A European reporter was held for several hours.

Tensions among Bilderberg and its armada of police, private security and personal bodyguards was high because of extensive coverage by Swedish media generated by The SPOTLIGHT's early advisories.

This reporter spent hours being interviewed by newspapers, magazines and broadcasters throughout Bilderberg's sessions.

Local coverage was persistent, day by day. The large number of reporters collaborated to keep the gates guarded virtually 24 hours a day. Bilderberg refused, even under the pressure of hostile coverage by major newspapers, to yield up its list of participants and the agenda.

However, participants were identified by sight.

Sources inside Bilderberg and people who move in Bilderberg circles back in D.C. provided more names and information on what transpired behind the guarded gates. From inside the resort, a source was finally able to provide The SPOTLIGHT with a hand-copied list of names and the agenda-at great personal risk.

Notably absent was Carl Bildt, United Nations envoy to the Balkans and host country Sweden's former prime minister. A long-time Bilderberg luminary, Bildt was attending a meeting of the Aspen Society -an arm of Bilderberg-in Brus sels.

Notably present was Mohammed Nash a shibi, finance minister in Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. He was identified by Roland Rossier of l'Hebdo magazine, who is doing an in-depth story of Liberty Lobby and The SPOTLIGHT's pursuit of Bilderberg over the years.

Nashashibi's presence signals some intervention in the Middle East.

Bilderberg is fearful that the European Union might be coming apart when a few years ago it had expected Britain to be a full partner and embrace the euro by now. A new leader in Italy who plans dramatic tax cuts that would confound the euro troubles them.

Further depressing Bilderberg is fear that "right-wing nationalists" in the United States will, with help from such countries as Brazil, block President Bush's Free Trade Area of the Americas from emerging as scheduled in 2005.

The secret group is determined that the Western Hemisphere become a single economic and political entity like the Euro pean Union, where member-states have already surrendered most of their national sovereignty.

In a panic, Bilderberg ordered Europhiles in Britain's Conservative Party to bring participation in the common currency to the top of the list of priorities as soon as the expected Labor Party victory in the June 7 elections is official. It is already being privately discussed with Labor Party leaders.

The orders were transmitted by Kenneth Clarke, a Conservative member of Parliament and former chancellor of the exchequer. Clarke is dedicated to Bilder berg's campaign for a world government.

It was what one called "Maggie's revenge" that prompted the Bilderberg panic. While Bilderberg was hiding here, Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister, was speaking to a Conservative Party rally:

"The greatest issue in this election, indeed the greatest issue before our country, is whether Britain is to remain a free, independent nation state or whether we are to be dissolved into a federal Europe. There are no half-measures, no third ways and no second chances."

The Conservative Party and its candidate for prime minister, William Hague, had made a deal with the Labor Party to keep the issue of joining the common currency out of the campaign debate. The Conservatives would publicly rule out the euro only for the duration of the next Parliament.

This was fine for the Labor Party and Europhiles in the Conservative Party who are committed to a federal Europe because two-thirds of the British people are op posed to giving up the pound or surrendering more sovereignty to the EU. The internationalists wanted more time to condition the British mind to accept the superstate and euro.

Lady Thatcher's outspoken opposition, in spite of her own party's admonition, forced Bilderberg to issue orders for Conservative and Labor Party leaders to bring the euro to the top of the priority list immediately after the election. They didn't want to press the issue this early in the face of popular opposition but felt their hand was forced.

Bilderberg referred to Lady Thatcher's intervention as "Maggie's revenge" be cause it had manipulated her downfall as prime minister because she opposed surrendering sovereignty to the EU and joining the common currency. Lady Thatcher later confirmed this in a personal conversation with a SPOTLIGHT reporter.

The effects of Lady Thatcher's strong, unscripted speech took a comical turn. Tony Blair, Labor's prime minister, felt com pelled to argue that it is "patriotic " to "share sovereignty" with the EU and "patriotic" to give up the pound, a symbol of so vereignty, in favor of the euro.

Conservative candidate Hague had been hammering the Labor Party over its support of EU plans to "harmonize" taxes among the EU states. The Tory leader said the EU planned to "harmonize" taxes such as VAT, (value-added tax) and broaden it to include books, transport and clothing.

"More and more of the rights and powers of the British people are being signed away," Hague said at campaign rallies.

Labor and Liberal Party functionaries rushed out to denounce Hague's "scare mongering" and deny there is a plan to harmonize taxes. EU officials also issued denials.

LEAKED

Hague produced a "leaked document" from the EU that The Guardian of Europe described as "a document on tax priorities which did, as the Tories alleged, envisage harmonization of some taxes, including those governing transferable pensions and environmental taxes."

Bilderberg is fearful that Italy will rip another seam in the EU because of the election of Silvio Berlusconi and his conservative coalition in early May.

The Bilderberg-controlled Washington Post called him "the biggest challenge yet to the young euro currency" on May 18. Post Publisher Donald Graham, like all his predecessors since 1954, attended the Bilderberg meeting here.

Berlusconi, though a multi-millionaire, is far removed from Bilderberg and its agenda. He has pledged dramatic tax cuts which, Bilderberg participants said, un der mine the euro.

He was also denounced by Bilderberg for "anti-immigration views."

Bilderberg urged members from Italy to search for ways to prevent Berlusconi from becoming head of government. Unfortunately, the process is slow. Italy's new parliament did not convene until May 30. The new government must have a vote of confidence in both houses before it is sworn in, probably around mid-June.

Italians assigned to try to trip Ber lusconi are: Giovanni and Umberto Agnel li, father and son owners of Fiat; Franco Ber nabe the nation's representative on Bal k an reconstruction; Paolo Fresco, chair man of Fiat and Giulio Tremorti, of the Cham ber of Deputies finance commission.

Bilderberg was already concerned that "provincial nationalism" on the part of Ameri cans would ultimately block the emergence of the "American Union" when the stunning news arrived that the defection of Sen. James Jeffords (Vt.) from the Republican Party would put Democrats in control of the Senate.

"Now we have to worry about those [Pat] Buchanan [expletive deleted] ganging up with the labor unions to stop the FTAA in a Democratic Senate," said one.

On the formal agenda, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and newspaper tycoon Conrad Black led a 90-minute discussion on "the New U.S. Administration" at 8:30 on Saturday, May 26.

President Bush was given high marks for promoting the FTAA, but all speakers expressed disappointment that he rejected the Kyoto Treaty, one of the building blocks of Bilderberg's world government campaign.

They also expressed confidence that Bush could be pressed into backing some kind of "global warming" pact that would enhance UN control of the world.

Richard Perle, assistant secretary of defense, then led a discussion called "Euro pean Security Defense Identity and Trans atlantic Security."

Perle attended Bilderberg meetings on behalf of President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. There was debate, but no consensus on President Bush's plan for a missile shield.

Bilderberg participants then boarded the cruise ship Erik-which had a big "B" painted on a smokestack-for lunch and non-agenda deal-making.

In the afternoon, Henry Kissinger presided over a discussion of "The Rise of China: Its Impact on Asia and the World."

Kissinger, through his international consulting firm, Kissinger Associates, has extensive financial interests in Red China.

It was universally agreed that the United States must "remain engaged" in China and "not be distracted" by such incidents as crashing American planes in international air space.

The importance of "opening Chinese markets" and smoothing its path into the World Trade Organization was stressed.

It is important, Bilderberg stressed, especially for the benefit of Dodd and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), that Congress erect "no barriers" to China's entry into the WTO because of "petty reactions to some incidents."

Both Dodd, 57, and Hagel, 55, are participating for the third time. They are regarded by Bilderberg colleagues as potential presidents. They are from opposite parties and Bilderberg likes to own both horses in a two-horse race.

Former President Bill Clinton was an obscure governor of Arkansas when he attended Bilderberg for the first time in 1991 at Baden-Baden, Germany.

The closing session on Sunday, May 27, addressed the subject: "What Should Governments Do About Food Quality?" It was led by Franz Fischler, who represents Austria in the European Union.

The conclusion was predictable: a UN bureaucracy must be established to make certain the global population has a healthy diet.

"Bilderberg is really dazed," said an inside source. "They thought by now the EU would be a full super-state with nation-states obsolete. Now they are afraid the whole agenda could unravel."

With the U.S. Senate "turned upside down, they are afraid Big Labor will help stop the FTAA and the 'American Union' will never happen," the Bilderberg source said.

Copyright 2001 Liberty Lobby Inc. All rights reserved. To subscribe to The SPOTLIGHT Newspaper, call 1-800-522-6292. www.spotlight.org

THE BILDERBERG GROUP - YOUTH UNDER FIRE

The world is full of conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorists.And as the reach of the internet spreads, ever more come out of the woodwork.This makes some people very happy - the sort of people who aren't content unless their paranoias are endlessly tickled and satisfied.

This report is not intended for such people. It doesn't deal in conspiracy theories, because it's rooted in fact.It's put together by rational human beings... ordinary people who have unearthed and decoded information that's readily available to all of us, and who have been scared shitless by the way in which it all adds up.

It examines the work of the Bilderberg group - a secretive organisation comprising some (if not most) of the world's most powerful people - and the ways in which the group is increasingly attempting to influence a new "target audience".That audience - the world's youth. Their means of manipulation? Our music.

Don't misunderstand us.We're not talking about the kind of trivial "influence" that we, as trainee consumers with money to spend, are put under every day. We don't just mean the pressure to buy certain trainers, or eat certain fast foods. We're talking about a darker kind of influence. We're talking about the pressure to tow the line.To sit down.To shut up.To accept capitalism and globalisation as right and fair. To accept which nations we're told are our enemies. To not be surprised when corporations end up being more powerful than governments.

It's true that other people have examined the Bilderberg group's influence in some of these areas (and we'll be referring to them where appropriate).But as far as we're aware, few have taken the time to fully understand Bilderberg's links with music.Hardly surprising, really - who would imagine that the world's leaders would give a shit about rock?

This, of course, is precisely the point. Musical messages are easily digested; their authenticity rarely questioned. They come to us direct, from artist to audience - or at least, that's what we imagine. As such, rock's music and lyrics are the perfect vehicle for any message - and frequently, as we'll learn, an all too effective means of spreading the Bilderberg group's agenda.

So be warned.If you're expecting stories about "illuminati", leylines, magic symbols and cosmic rays, then kindly stop reading now.But if you're curious to learn about the planet's TRUE "power behind the power" - as explained by normal, realistic people with no preconceptions, but with half a brain between them - then read on.You won't like what you read.But you'll feel better for having read it.

You MAY reproduce this work in full, with-out permission. And the views with-in are, of course, (not) the views of this document's author. Responsibility sits with YOU. And YOU are encouraged to get out there and research this stuff for yourself and act on what you find.

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WHAT IS BILDERBERG?

The Bilderberg Group is a collective of individuals who meet annually, in a different glamorous location each time, to discuss world issues.In theory, they're "the great and the good" - leaders and experts in their field.In reality, the only way to get a Bilderberg invite is to be very rich, very powerful, or preferably both.For an overview on this and EVERYTHING Bilderberg, go to [http://www.bilderberg.org/].

They've been meeting in secrecy since 1954 (when the group took its name from the original hotel which hosted the event). Although attendee lists for their annual get-togethers are sometimes released to us "mere mortals", along with (VERY generalised) agendas, nobody except Bilderberg members truly knows how accurate this published information is. In addition, it's usually released too late for the press to report it until the conference is almost over - by which time it's already "yesterday's news".(Convenient, eh?)

As far as the actual talk is concerned, that remains firmly under wraps.Just like those other powerful club-members, the Masons, Bilderberg attendees are strongly discouraged from revealing what's been said at their meetings, under what are known as "Chatham House rules". The official line on this is that "privacy" encourages free and honest communication between powerful individuals who otherwise would have much to lose.

Many suspect a different, less palatable explanation, however.Bilderberg meetings are clearly more than some kind of high-level coffee-shop where corporate and political bigwigs turn up to "shoot the breeze". They're occasions where world policies are hammered out - policies which affect the lives and fortunes of entire continents, but which the policymakers don't want us to know about.

When the participants go home, their decisions are unleashed on the world without any clue that it was Bilderberg which helped form them.This isn't a theory by paranoid outsiders - it's a stated policy. "Participants have agreed not to give interviews to the press during the meeting," says the official pre-2001-meeting statement, according to http://www.bilderberg.org/. "In contacts with the news media after the conference it is an established rule that no attribution should be made to individual participants of what was discussed during the meeting."

Business and politics go hand in hand at Bilderberg: huge corporations can influence government policy; governments may "call down favours" from their corporate partners, securing their help in coming to power or remaining in office.Everyone's happy.Everyone, that is, except the rest of the world's hapless population.

Worse still, whole parts of the globe aren't even represented at Bilderberg whatsoever. The Economist magazine, in 1987, chose somehow to see this as a democratic plus point. "Bilderberg meetings are limited to people of NATO and West European countries," they reported, "who know how to be kind or rude to each other without causing such misunderstandings as would occur if Indians, Fijians, Chinese or Japanese were also present."How civilised.How thoughtful.And, once again, how convenient.

If the delegates include top figures in the world's media and communication industries - and they do, as we'll see - the prospects for world democracy plummet further still.With the supposedly "free" media in Bilderberg's pockets, not only is there no honesty about the organisation from within, but there's no probing from outside either.The world's media output - from newspapers to websites to general entertainment - becomes like an open, unwritten book for the Bilderberg to write as they see fit.

And as the word seeps down from on high, ever more so-called "independent, free-thinking" creative artists begin to see the benefits in towing the line.Their livelihoods depend on huge corporations: globalisation has seen the small "indie" channels (whether in book and magazine publishing, music or the visual arts) swallowed up or forced out of business, year after year.

The message for all creative artists is simple.Follow the Bilderberg agenda (or better still, promote and encourage it through your work) and have food on your table.Refuse the Bilderberg agenda, and suffer the fate of anti-capitalist protesters the world over: slander, ridicule, punishment... or much, much worse.

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WHO ARE BILDERBERG?

When we say Bilderberg meetings are attended by the rich and powerful, we mean it. We're not just talking about ministers and special advisers - though plenty of those attend too. We're talking about the CEOs of mega-corporations and banks, heads of state, media magnates, reigning European monarchs, and commanders of armed forces. All in one room. All undisclosed. Curious as to who was at the group's 2001 meeting held May 24th to 27th in Sweden? There's a full list of invitees reported at http://www.bilderberg.org/2001.htm#spotlight

An invitation to Bilderberg doesn't just indicate that you've made it, either.It can indicate that you're about to - with a regularity that's led some to describe Bilderberg as the "interview stage" for top world jobs.Jobs such as Secretary General of NATO not to mention President of the United States of America have gone to people who suspiciously attended Bilderberg meetings in the years prior to their appointment.

A case in point: Tony Blair was invited to 1993's Bilderberg meeting in Greece when he was nothing more than Britain's Shadow Home Secretary - hardly the most prestigious or influential of positions [http://www.bilderberg.org/1993.htm#1993].One year later he was leader of the Labour Party; then in 1997, Prime Minister.

Let's not mince words: these people are the commanders of industry.Which means that in today's climate, where all artistic expression is lumped together as "content" - the stuff that fills, feeds and sustains media and telecoms businesses - they're people with a huge interest and stake in the world's creative output.

Music is both a moneymaker for today's media world, and a means of communication.It turns a profit in its own right, but it can also be used by media empires to other, pro-business ends.To advertise forthcoming films.To promote TV shows.To sell books. So it stands to reason that they should use it to communicate ideas, too - contentious ideas that young people would otherwise resist and reject.

Using music in this way - as a tool for propaganda - is easier than many people think. And it's getting easier all the time. Because as music's audience grows, the number of corporations producing it is shrinking rapidly. It's all thanks to globalisation: Bilderberg's holy grail AND helping hand.

[http://www.tmag.co.uk/articles/Jun00Pg27.html]

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TODAY'S MUSIC BUSINESS - BIGGER, BOLDER, BILDERBERG

Nobody has ever claimed that the music industry was run by saints.

Indeed from the outset - especially since the dawn of the rock 'n' roll era - there is irrefutable evidence that many of its prime players have always been hoodlums and cheats... hustling young artists into signing draconian contracts without legal advice... coercing them into signing away their songs in return for a pittance... then not even supplying the pittance... the list goes on.

But at least its activities were relatively atomised: individual players cutting individual deals, with the exception of a few large corporations (the legendary "major labels").

What makes the recent history of the music business so terrifying is the extent to which all of Bilderberg's dreams are coming true.

Organisations are being conglomerated at an incredible rate. Smaller but well-established operations are being snapped up, or driven out of business altogether by behaviour which borders on the anti-competitive.

The internet is throwing up new business models constantly - some viable, some not, but ALL threatening to Bilderberg. So big business reacts in the way it knows best: it sues them / shuts them down / AND/OR snaps them up (delete as appropriate).

As with Bilderberg's political activities, size matters.Might is always right.Sooner or later, everyone else will realise they're wasting their time, and throw in the towel.

Of course, not all large corporations can be linked to Bilderberg. Establishing which CAN be is notoriously difficult. But ALL multi-national corporations, especially in this world climate of globalisation, help to create a lawless environment where Bilderberg can wreak havoc unchecked.

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THE BIG PLAYERS

Most music fans care little about the ownership of their favourite record labels - if they even HAVE favourite record labels. And why should they care? The music should speak for itself, as far as they're concerned.

So the extent to which music is now controlled by a handful of MONOLITHIC concerns would probably shock them.

How about a few examples? The Vivendi corporation - thanks to a recent deal with Seagrams - owns Universal Music (whose labels include Interscope Geffen A&M; Island Def Jam, Mercury, MCA, Motown, Polydor, Universal, Verve, Decca, Barclay, and Deutsche Grammophon,).Vivendi are also a major player in telephony, TV/film (Universal Studios and French broadcaster Canal+), publishing and the internet, recently buying up MP3.com.

BMG, meanwhile, owns labels including Arista, and RCA - but also recently went where no other major corporation would go, and climbed into bed with Napster.(Bye bye free peer-to-peer sharing, hello big business...) And who owns BMG? Bertelsmann, a giant German media conglomerate that runs big TV stations like RTL, big newspapers like Berliner Zeitung, as well as holding interests in many magazines, online companies, and radio stations.

Then there's the immense combined clout of AOL/Time Warner - the two companies merged officially early this year in a $106 BILLION deal, bringing forth criticism from some camps that the resultant business could end up representing a "content monopoly". [http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/6960.html] What have they got? CNN, Time Magazine, Warner Pictures, and HBO for starters.

And, yes, it's probably the spread of these companies' interests that causes the most concern among anti-globalisation campaigners. When a record company owns a music magazine (AOL/Time Warner, for instance, now owns NME after its purchase of UK publishing house IPC) what hope is there for fair and balanced reporting?

[http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/story/0,7495,527346,00.html]For checking out speculation tying the major labels to the Bilderbergs, http://corporatedirt.0catch.com/major.html is well worth a visit.

The vast majority of UK radio stations, meanwhile, are owned by just four companies: Capital, EMAP, GWR and Wireless Group. EMAP also own TV stations including The Box, Kerrang and Q, plus magazines such as Smash Hits and Mojo - that represents a huge amount of cross-media influence.

And this process of consolidation looks likely to continue (just look at Britain's ITV companies, heading inexorably down the road to becoming ONE company alone).

World media watchdogs are beginning to wake up to these issues - for instance [http ://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,7496,533306,00.html].But we cannot become complacent. Watchdogs have a habit of proving themselves toothless.

We live in a scarily interconnected world.Every one of us needs to be on our guard.

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WANTED: 1 x NEW ENEMY

As we mentioned earlier, Bilderberg is open to Europeans and North Americans only (apart from a few token attendees, eg. puppet leaders from the odd third world state). One reason for this is a subject they're very keen on discussing - the search for a "new enemy".

Now the cold war is long over, Russia is hardly the convenient "bogeyman" it represented for many decades. A common enemy unites nations, sells newspapers, draws TV viewers, distracts people from problems at home. The capitalist defeat of the communists leaves a glaring hole.

But of course the Bilderbergs aren't fools choosing an enemy for the sake of it, they're aiming at wiping out the few threats that there are to their global dominance. What this means is that while their press release might blandly list the meeting's topics as including: "Defence, China/Japan, Middle East", the real tone of their discussions is almost certainly rather more heated.

The CIA and US Military is clearly both alarmed and secretly excited by the "threat" which they consider is now posed by China. According to the CIA worldfact book [http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.html] it's estimated that China could raise an army of 562,229,341 with 10,839,039 males coming to military age each year to reinforce. Has not George Bush gone on the record stating that China has been bumped up to Enemy Number 1?

But don't forget those commercial interests! Substantial government investment in a missile shield would not only provide means for military defence & attack, it would also help pull the United States out of their economic "slow-down". A time tried and tested government tactic...it worked for Hitler when he built the auto-bahns.

"It was universally agreed that the United States must 'remain engaged' in China and 'not be distracted' by such incidents as crashing American planes in international air space. The importance of'opening Chinese markets' and smoothing its path into the World Trade Organization was stressed." [http://www.spotlight.org/06_06_01/Spotlight_Busts_Bilderbergers_/spotlight_busts_bilderbergers_.html] Human rights? Don't think so.

Common sense would suggest that Bilderbergers are only too aware of threats to NATO security as well as to the difficulties of drafting an army in today's climate of liberalized youth. Http://bilderberg.techno.cz/ makes the suggestion that Bilderbergers "wish to desensitise Western youth to violence in order to be able to raise armies to fight Red China and the Arab nations". A contentious thought,but one which perhaps explains why they are so keen to pull both media outlets and creative artists into their mission.

Becoming cannon fodder is no kind of ambition. Inform yourself.

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BILDERBERG ARTISTS: LETTING THE MASK SLIP?

Artists are slippery people.Proving that any one of them is aligned to a particular political agenda, or government agency, is a tricky business if they don't feel like telling us upfront. Which, of course, most of the time they don't.

Naturally, there are exceptions. Rage Against The Machine, for instance, make no secret of their revolutionary left-wing opinions. Ditto those conspicuously well-read, bookish Manic Street Preachers (their 1999 album 'This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours' lifted its title from the text of a speech by Welsh socialist luminary Nye Bevan). Britain's 1980s even saw a pop music coalition, Red Wedge, whose stated aim was to secure the election of the country's Labour party in 1987's national poll. They failed. But they succeeded in one major task: they told the world about their political aims. They were open and honest.If only today's musicians were so high-minded.

Let's be realistic. Left-wing views are easy to "get away with" in pop music. They're considered acceptable and "cool". You can preach anarchy and anti-police attitudes (Chumbawamba), or worldwide pacifism (John Lennon), or... well, whatever you want, really, as long as you accompany it with the appropriate "sexy" imagery.

Nobody in rock music ever got discredited for being "too overtly socialist". In the final analysis, such tendencies can only be considered a plus point. (We neither wish to depict this as a good or bad phenomenon: merely to illuminate it for the purposes of our discussion.)

Contrast this with the reception that right-wing views receive, when expressed by rock celebrities. The Spice Girls - in particular Geri Halliwell - were lambasted by the press for suggesting that Margaret Thatcher was an embodiment of "girl power"... a seemingly uncontroversial view, but one which was resolutely "off-message" in an era of hegemonic New Labourism. Her credibility, and that of her bandmates was permanently tarnished as a result.

From this we can see that any rockstar with political leanings away from the left - even mildly so - is highly unlikely to make them public. Even if they relate to legitimate political organisations.They don't have to, so why should they risk their careers?

What likelihood, then, that Bilderberg-corrupted musicians, songwriters, DJs and producers will ever own up as such? NONE at all. It is left to us, the innocent public, to seek them out.

Some younger readers may be sceptical at this point. Who's to say that ANY rock artist is in the pay of Bilderberg? Don't artists prize their creative and ideological freedom fiercely?

Well, many do, of course. But 20th Century history is littered with the tales of those who "handed away" their freedom... their reasons may have been many, but the end result was the same.

It's widely alleged that Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock was in the pay of the CIA during the Cold War. Ditto Willem De Kooning (ironically, another Manic Street Preachers namedrop). In fact many cultural aspects of 50s American life were underwritten by the CIA's International Organisations Division, or IOD. According to one account: "the IOD backed the animated version of George Orwell's Animal Farm; it translated T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets into Russian and airlifted copies into the Soviet Union; it sponsored jazz tours, opera recitals, the Boston Symphony Orchestra; it subsidised US-published art books; its agents posed as travel-guide writers; and it ran the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF)".

[http://www.artwarren.co.uk/document/hhand2.htm]

A bizarre set of endeavours, to be sure. Makes infiltrating the rock scene seem almost staid by comparison, doesn't it?

Equally, during America's notorious McCarthy era, many artists were more than prepared to "shop" their fellow creative brothers as Communists (sometimes rightly, but almost always wrongly).Their only concern was their own success and reputation within the circles of power. Artists, after all, are only human. Scruples can only stretch so far. And sometimes, of course, they're (secretly) non-existant from day one.

So it's with a newly educated eye - some might say a cynical one; we would rather say "realistic" - that we look at the luminaries of today's music scene. Just as the CIA held creative America in its grip, it's safe to assume that Bilderberg's immense worldwide influence wiil have penetrated the popular music world of the early 21st century. The only question is, where?

We cannot be 100% sure - the "obvious" truths in such situations are rarely apparent to contemporary observers. We need the power of hindsight to spot what has been "staring us in the face" all along.

But keen-eyed Bilderberg watchers can spot tell-tale signs. We seek out discrepancies... inconsistencies between avowed beliefs, and actual concrete activities. Discrepancies which bear all the hallmarks of Bilderberg influence.

Consider, for instance, artists who preach anti-conformity. Who sell millions of records off the back of their belief in rebellion. And who claim to represent their own generation - disenfranchised but fiercely independent. Then consider that these artists are EMPLOYED by their record companies...record companies owned and controlled by the huge media empires outlined above.

Or consider groups whose initial success was inspired by - even created by - an underground tape-swapping culture. Who relied on activity which breached copyright to become successful, but who now as a result are rich beyond their wildest dreams. THEN consider that these groups voluntarily puts themselves in the forefront of attempts to BAN unfettered peer-to-peer sharing of media files over the internet. The same ban being proposed by EVERY major media corporation in the world, but fiercely opposed to by these groups OWN FANS. And consider that these groups testified to the US Congress about all this... an inexplicable move equalling potential career suicide for the artists but increased long-term profits for industry. An inexplicable move to those unaware of Bilderberg's influence.

Check out http://corporatedirt.0catch.com/artists.html for a lowdown on the alleged controlled activities of artists like Metallica, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, and Eminem.

Bilderberg's blatancy knows no bounds.We are now in the bizarre situation where bands whose MUSIC itself bears the hallmarks of artistic integrity and credibility care so little about how they're perceived that they willingly describe themselves as "manufactured". This is nothing less than "giving the game away". But it should hardly surprise us. Bilderberg-owned artists are, figuratively speaking, "bulletproof" - why should they care what people think about them, when they're backed by easily the most influential figures on the current world stage? (It certainly puts such other achievements as "getting a good review in Rolling Stone" into perspective!)

Such artists are so confident in their own positions, in other words, that they are happy to TOY with us. And we - at least according to all the evidence so far - are happy to allow them to do this.

How long can we permit this to go on?

The darkest side of this cynical pursuit by Bilderberg-sponsored artists shows its face when their influence manifests itself most vividly... in youth violence.

Whenever violence erupts at concerts or festivals, authorities are quick to blame "aggressive, insurrectional music" - largely rock or hip-hop... or both. And yet audiences (young and old) have been listening to superficially "violent" music for generations. Centuries, even. Bilderberg want the world's youth to "prove" that they are incapable of living and playing together in a positive, co-operative fashion. It's up to us to prove them wrong.

There is NOTHING WRONG with violent music in itself if it's true and not manufactured. Violent music makes us feel alive... awakens our senses to what's happening around us... makes us more aware of ALL aspects of modern life, both good and bad. Underground artists produce works in a wide variety of different moods, from calming to searingly aggressive. But because its intent and motives are pure, its music is life-affirming and enervating - NOT negative or pro-destruction. If more artists not under the thumb of the man had played at 1999's disastrous Woodstock festival, many believe that the event's outcome would have been very, very different.

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NEW LABOUR AND ROCK: FOOLED BRITANNIA?

Much of what we have outlined above relates to American experiences. You'll recall, however, that Bilderberg attendees also cover Western Europe. So it's no surprise that here in Britain, the growing relationship between rock, business and politics is equally worrying.

Until 1997, from as far back as we can remember, the UK government had no connections with popular music whatsoever. The two despised and mistrusted each other - a natural state of affairs for an artform as fundamentally anti-establishment as rock.

Then along came Tony Blair. His enthusiasm for using rock music as a political tool remains as strong and as "surprising" as ever - at least, surprising to those who don't understand Blair's allegiances...

In '97 Tony Blair set up the Music Industry Task Force, headed by Creation Records' Alan McGee (who reportedly donated to the Labour Party's campaign fund to the tune of £50000). Supposedly the Task Force existed as a "steering group" for the British music industry... but what was never explained was WHY Government should concern itself in this area. Why not a Fine Art Task Force? A Modern Literature Task Force? Or a Cinema Task Force?

Simple. Blair understood the communicative power of rock, especially among tomorrow's voters, the under 18s. Artists known for their anarchistic behaviour seemingly fell into line and joined the party at Number 10. The fact that some of these artists have allegedly been linked to drugs ties in to the suspicion that the Bilderberg's have shifted to a pro-narcotics stance recognizing the power of drugs as a means of social control.

By 1998, Blair and rock's "united front" was seemingly cracking, with NME running its legendary (and daringly anti-Bilderberg) front cover - "EVER HAD THE FEELING YOU'VE BEEN CHEATED?" (And of course this was prior to the NME being acquired by one of the world's largest conglomerates. The NME's stance as the "voice of young Britain" must have been an attractive thing to put on the total control shopping list.)

Blair, however, had a new trick up his sleeve - a Government scheme for budding rebels (and how creepy does that sound in itself?) known as the New Deal For Musicians.

[http://www.new-deal.gov.uk/english/music/]

Again, this focus on music made little "sense" to the naked eye. The Government was asking us to believe that it would hold back its Welfare To Work scheme (whereby unemployed young people could eventually be forced into the first job that came along) - but not for actors. Not for writers. Not for sculptors.

Just for musicians.

It didn't take much digging to find out a more plausible explanation. Budding musicians would be attracted by a weekly "allowance" of £51 (just as a parent gives their child pocket money to shut them up and make them behave) PLUS a weekly bonus of £15 to put towards "band funds".

Why this separate second fee, rather than a simple total payment of £66? Many anti-Bilderbergers believe that "band funds" was a euphemism for something rather more illicit and pacifying: at best a Treasury-friendly stock-up of alcohol; at worst, something rather more threatening to the health and motivation of tomorrow's citizens. (Ask yourself this - what would most bored, broke musicians you know spend £15 cash-in-hand on? Guitar strings? Yeah, right...)

But the worries didn't end there. Announcing the scheme, the Government said "voluntary" participants to the scheme (i.e. those musicians who "voluntarily" preferred not to be forced to scrub toilets instead of play) would "have access to advisory support from 'music industry consultants'" (well-versed in Bilderberg education techniques, by any chance?) More frightening still, the Government admitted it would - through the Department for Education and Employment - closely "monitor their progress".

Monitor what aspect of their progress, we wonder? Their middle-8s? Their use of the ride cymbal? Their lead-guitarist's stance during solos? Hardly. Consider instead the implication of the phrase "Government-monitored musicians". Surveillance and control of a generation of young creative minds: that's what some have argued was afoot here.

As for Alan McGee, he disappeared from the Government's podium with suspicious haste immediately afterwards. But his friendly links with this country's ruling authorities remained predictably intact - at least to those prepared to do a little digging."Roll on the republic" McGee cried via the website of his new enterprise, Poptones. But the Queen was clearly not taken in by his posturing. She promptly INVESTED in his company [http://www.lineone.net/express/00/10/30/news/n0440-d.html]. And are royalty not amongst the reported Bilderberg invitees? YOU might say something... we couldn't possibly comment.

Want some more on Blair's alleged Bilderberg connections? Check out http://www.bilderberg.org/www.bilderberg.org/newlab.htm

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FIGHTING THE POWER

So what on earth can we - honest lovers of music and democracy - do to help stop this situation?

It would be easy to suggest that things are too far gone to change - that all we can do is stay vigilant. It would be easy, but it would be wrong. Protesters from across the world are rattling the bastions of globalisation... the police presence and reaction at Genoa (where a CITY WITHIN A CITY was created, purely in an attempt to defend the indefensible G8 summit) were surely proof of this.

[http://pleasekm.tripod.com/00180.htm]

In an echo of Genoa, a 900-metre long metal fence was erected around Hotel Stenungsbaden in Gothenberg for this year's Bilderberg. They are clearly worried - and rightly so. Next year's meeting would probably be held on the MOON if they could manage to buy it (don't worry - they'll probably find a way yet).

So get involved with your local scene - whether through music, protests, or (preferably) both, you will be striking a blow for independence. Scan websites, scan newsgroups, join e-mail mailing lists. As of yet, the Bilderberg have yet to find a way to close these down (even if their cousins in national security services have them all under surveillance in any case...)

Get in touch with your local Reclaim The Streets movement. Block traffic. If you should get on the news, make sure your banner is clear, and visibly anti-Bilderberg / globalisation. [http://www.reclaimthestreets.net/]

Steer clear of corporate rock (not all large artists or labels fit in this category, although a majority do). Support independent labels. Better still, buy two turntables; buy a guitar. Learn three chords. Learn three scratch patterns.

[www.scratchdj.com/]

Good luck. We're all going to need it.

EMINEM AT THE EMMY'S/EROICA