Some say Western Civilization made the turn towards actual human rights as the result of the Black Plague in Europe.
Somehow, there was a labor shortage, and the castles needed help so badly.... the peasants asked for better pay, and then bought books for themselves.
I think it also had something to do with the Vikings, the Scots, the Irish, and some really really bad English kings. Old English common law was the law of the Celts, which fundamentally recognized human dignity....
I think that is what we fear sometimes, in almost all our fears, at root. A "conspiracy" is by definition an attempt to circumvent discovery and informed response. But it takes power to circumvent direct public choice.... either institutionalized or societally-sanctioned privilege, or "professional" expertise of some kind that just shock-and-awes the public into submission.... or whatever. Having generally unknown or misunderstood "connections".
In short, civilization is at root "conspiracy"..... it is a way of doing stuff that presumably we have no means to change.
Any really good progressive would see that as a challenge, not as the goal. And, maybe, laugh at all the while.