------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the July 12, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- CALIFORNIA PROTEST BUILDS BOHEMIAN GROVE: THEY DON'T JUST PLAY IN THE WOODS By Deirdre Griswold How are the big decisions really made? The story is that we live in a transparent society where elected bodies make the decisions and the will of the majority prevails. But in real life most important events have been set into motion long before the people know anything about it. The Vietnam War, for example. Most people in the United States knew nothing about Vietnam--hadn't even heard of it-- when the government had already been involved in a war there for years. Who decided that the United States should make atomic weapons and drop them on two Japanese cities, killing several hundred thousand people? Not the public. They knew nothing about it. But a select group of corporate heads, political leaders and technocrats knew about it. In fact, the Manhattan Project to create the atomic bomb was agreed on during a super-secret conclave in 1942--at Bohemian Grove, Calif. This July 14, thousands of demonstrators will converge on Bohemian Grove when, once again, the members of this secret society gather for their annual two-week bash. There are 2,500 members of the Bohemian Club--all men, 99 percent white, all connected to the very rich. Every Republican president since Herbert Hoover has been a member, and quite a few Democrats. George W. Bush belongs, just like his father, George, and his grandfather, Prescott Bush. Heads of corporations and banks like IBM, Dupont, General Electric, Bank of America and the World Bank have also been members. Peter Phillips of Sonoma State University wrote in his 1994 dissertation about the Bohemian Club: "About one- fifth of the members are either directors of one or more of the Fortune 1000 companies, corporate CEOs, top governmental officials (current and former) and/or members of important policy councils or major foundations." The International Action Center chapters in San Francisco and Los Angeles are among the sponsors of this year's demonstration, which has a long list of endorsers from the progressive and anti-globalization community. Contact the IAC at (415) 821-5782 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] for information on buses to Monte Rio, Calif., where the demonstration will take place. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
