The rehabilitation of David Icke

"Renegade: The Life Story of David Icke" is a long, pro-Icke documentary released in 2019. It means that "Renegade" was made before the 2020-2021 political crisis in the United States, and (of course) before the COVID pandemic. Something tells me Icke and his followers must see their conspiracist predictions being fulfilled in overdrive today. Ironically, however, the obvious weakness of the Biden administration also means that Icke´s conspiracy theories feel increasingly anachronistic. It seems the Illuminati are no longer in complete control...

David Icke is (of course) the notorious British conspiracy theorist or conspirituality guru, who has been something of a fixture of the alternative scene since the 1990´s. Originally mostly made fun of, he later became cast as some kind of anti-Semitic villain extraordinaire, while *still* made fun of in other circles. This created the paradoxical situation that honest-to-god anti-racists who attacked his meetings could also be mocked for being so stupid that they took Icke seriously! Despite increasingly bizarre ideas, Icke became more and more succesful, and I admit that I have no idea why. Perhaps the biggest secret is that his worldview is a veritable smorgasbord of every conceivable conspiracy theory, coached in a New Age-style spiritual message, which makes it possible for almost everyone to find *something* to relate to in Icke´s messaging? 

"Renegade" doesn´t mention the most controversial parts of Icke´s worldview (the idea that an evil cabal of shape-shifting reptoid aliens are in control of the world), instead concentrating on ideas with a potentially broader appeal. Thus, we hear Icke lecturing about US foreign policy: the Neo-Cons, 9/11, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine and color revolutions (he doesn´t seem impressed by Trump). He discusses AI, trans-humanism and plans to develop microchips that can be inserted under the skin or even into the brain. In another lengthty excerpt from his speeches, Icke explains how we are all part of a vast cosmic consciousness, and that the world surrounding us is strictly speaking an illusion (and a mental prison). 

"Renegade" follows Icke on a visit to his birth town of Leicester, and we get to hear some reminescenses from his childhood and teenage years. Around 1990, Icke started to get strange experiences he interpreted as spiritual, both in Britain and during a visit to ancient ruins in Peru. He clearly believes that some kind of supernatural entity or force is feeding him information (or leading him to it) through synchronicities or some form of more direct communication. Icke also mentions the extreme ridicule he and his family had to undergo after his 1991 appearence on the "Wogan" show. It´s interesting to note that Icke´s son Jaymie actually supports his father and organizes his speaking tours. 

Finding "main line" people ready to express support for David Icke must be hard, yet the producers of "Renegade" did manage to find two such persons. One is Ivan Pernar, a member of parliament in Croatia, representing the populist but apparently anti-nationalist party Zivi zid (Living Wall or Human Shield), who explicitly mentions Icke as a source of inspiration, more specifically Icke´s anti-banking message. Zivi zid started as an anti-eviction activist group, and seem to regard all debts to banks as illegitimate, since the banks are "creating money out of thin air". (According to Wiki, Pernar later left Zivi zid to create his own party, SIP. He is no longer an MP.) The other relatively respectable person to openly express admiration for Icke is African-American novelist Alice Walker, who seems to be broadly left-liberal in political orientation. "Renegade" shows how Icke meets Walker in her huge house outside LA.

I admit that I´m not a big fan of Icke, not even in this somewhat moderate version. One thing that struck me when listening to the man is how "cyberpunk" he sounds. The New Age message is expressed in the form of Internet-related metaphors, "The Matrix" is explicitly referenced, and as already noted, Icke believes that complete cyber-control of humanity is one of the goals of the secret societies running the world. Thus, Icke simultaneously both expresses fear of IT and fascination with the same. My prediction, for what its worth, is that this IT-ish angle will be seen as increasingly out-of-date as the IT machine (and other Machines?) wind down due to the energy crisis. However, the on-going conflicts over COVID vaccines, vaccine passports and vaccine mandates will probably make sure that Icke´s original version of conspirituality will continue to get a hearing. As Paul Kingsnorth pointed out recently, just a year ago the idea of vaccine passports sounded like something crazy David Icke would say, yet here they are... 

Maybe that´s the weirdest part of the entire world situation. Life imitates art. Politics imitate conspiracy theory.

Wtf.