Pearls and Irritations

The power of money to distort humanity’s view of our situation only works because human beings prostitute themselves to corporations, billionaires and foundations. If you know anyone who works for the biggest companies of the world in media, finance, and technology, then ask them why aren’t they rebelling inside those companies, to make it less easy for rich white men to fuck up people or planet?

On the 11th September 2012, Melanie Walker of the Gates Foundation introduced me, on email, to Jeffrey Epstein. Previously I’d been discussing whether to apply to the Gates Foundation for funding to work on alternative currencies. Bitcoin was just 3 years old and stimulating some interest in a field that had hitherto been marginal. It didn’t seem that their Foundation would fund work on it, and so I received an introduction to a billionaire philanthropist who was prepared to host and fund gatherings of experts, including a group of ‘Young Global Leaders’. That’s the network the World Economic Forum (WEF) established to connect emerging leaders of the world’s largest corporations with emerging leaders in politics and other walks of life. I had engaged with that network for a few years until 2017, as I had been seeking to continue to influence action on environmental problems at scale.

I don’t recall much from the one Skype call I had with Epstein, apart from that he was in the tropics, and at some point, when I was making my best effort to sound intelligent, he interjected to say: “Well Jem, you know, I just want to have fun.” I remember being flummoxed, not knowing how to help billionaires have fun.

After that video call, I Googled him. I vaguely remember reading that he had been found guilty of using underage prostitutes. Now, ten years on, I know that prostitution is the wrong word for what was happening. Instead, paedophilia and, most probably, blackmail, are better descriptions. But back then, when reading about that, did I simply cut off? Unfortunately, not. I decided to send him the proposal that he had requested. But I explained that due to his notoriety, none of the events he might fund could occur on any of his properties and that he could not be a host, only a guest.

I never heard from him again. Maybe he was insulted by my stipulations. Or maybe he was having too much ‘fun’. Or maybe his aim had been to get compromising images of leading experts and ‘Young Global Leaders’ for future blackmail. If the latter, then that would indicate a very sophisticated approach, as cryptocurrencies were years away from becoming a major issue in global finance.

Looking back, I wonder what I was doing. I had been prepared for him to fund work I believed in, just so long as I managed the reputational risk. I had rationalised that promoting a different approach to monetary systems was paramount. I thought I was driven by principle, but I wasn’t even thinking about how there might be victims of his actions. And I was also too easily influenced by others, such as the people who introduced us, or the many recipients of his donations in the world’s top Universities.

I mention this now as an example of how people who believe in themselves and what they are doing can make really bad choices when they are so convinced of their need to make the world a better place. Those people who associated with Jeffrey Epstein, despite his known crimes, provide an extreme example of how the desire to succeed through working with elites is what helps to maintain destructive systems. Many people today seek the attention, favour or finance of people who have been involved in even worse crimes than Epstein. For instance, people who lied to the public to start illegal wars that killed a million people. It is this deference to power, even admiration of it, no matter how destructive or disgusting, that enables it to continue.

If you read my book, Breaking Together, you will know that I don’t believe there is an evil cabal that coordinates everything in the world. Instead, there are powerful systems that maintain ways of living that are destructive to each other and wider nature. We could all do more to resist and replace those systems. So, we can start with ourselves and our own forms of compliance. It means I have far greater respect for the people who have refused to collaborate with elites or officers of the establishment and instead focus entirely on grassroots organising. It’s why I mentioned this strange episode in my life, and criticised my past self, in my speech to launch my new book.

I had this in mind when, last year, I was approached to appear in a documentary series for Netflix about major world crises. During a call with the producer and editor, it became apparent to me that the series would present the ideas of Bill Gates as the answer to every issue they looked at, from combatting diseases to addressing climate change. I explained I didn’t want to be just the guy explaining the threat of doom before ‘SuperGates’ comes to the rescue. Somewhat annoyed, I mentioned when Gates Foundation staff introduced me to Jeffrey Epstein. Immediately the video of the producer’s screen went black. The director kept chatting for a while about some limits on how pro-Gates their show would be. Neither a goodbye nor a follow up email came from the producer.

Once again, that experience reminded me that the power of money to distort humanity’s view of our situation only works because human beings prostitute themselves to corporations, billionaires and foundations. Whether it’s Epstein, Gates, Musk, Theil or any of the rich American men who like playing with machines and doing maths, it’s the rest of us who are giving them far too much airtime on issues they shouldn’t have any influence on. Unfortunately, they also own platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and suchlike, so can manipulate what we do or don’t see from our peers. But they can only do that because staff in their companies choose to implement policies and procedures that are dangerous to our human rights and democracies. So, if you know anyone who works for the biggest companies of the world in media, finance, and technology, then ask them why aren’t they rebelling inside those companies, to make it less easy for rich white men to fuck up people or planet? That’d be far more powerful than going on a protest or tweeting about someone on Epstein’s list.

First published by Prof Jem Bendell January 17, 2024

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