Thousands of the arrogantly self-styled “movers and shakers” of the world economy are gathering in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos. But just as in Seattle, Washington, Melbourne, Prague and Nice they meet under the threat of a militant counter demonstration, challenging their right to decide the fate of millions.
Davos has been converted into a veritable prison camp – only the aim is to keep people out not in. 300 Swiss soldiers, backed up by 600 militia will be on duty. All demonstrations in Davos have been summarily banned on the ridiculous pretext that the town is too small. Police road blocs are everywhere on the roads to the town and the Congress Centre is surrounded by ferocious barbed wire palisades.
Even the entire army of the tiny principality of Liechtenstein has been mobilised in readiness. Over 300 would-be demonstrators have already been banned from entering the country – more than the normal figure of bans for an entire year
A demonstration against the WEF has been called by, a Bern based coalition of more than 80 organisations – the Anti-WTO Co-ordination. Participants in the Co-ordination include trade unions (including the Swiss media union Comedia) and various Swiss left-wing forces, the Green Party, student associations and church groups.
The coalition has declared that it rejects the strategy of a “dialogue” with the WEF and WTO which many Non-Governmental Organisations and Union Federations are pursuing. The Appeal for the mobilisation states:
“We want to prevent these self-titled „Global-Leaders“ from meeting behind closed doors to decide the future of the planet to their favour. For this reason we are calling for a blockade of the meeting of the WEF which is planned to take place from the 25th to the 30th of January in Davos. In addition to the Blockade, a mass-demo followed by a festival will take place on the 27th of January in Davos.
„We hope that all the people who have already met in Seattle, Melbourne, Prague, or Nice, or who have carried out actions where they live, will meet up again here. We also look forward to seeing the people who are coming for the first time to take part of the protests.
Meeting together in Davos will offer us the possibility to exchange experiences, to learn from each other, and to develop our practice and perspectives together.”
Claude Smadja, managing director of the World Economic Forum expressed the holy fear that the growing anticapitalist movement has put into them: „What is absolutely striking is the extent to which today .every high profile international event attracts activists and professional trouble makers of all kinds like bees to honey, who want to use these events as platforms to attract media attention. That is what happened in Seattle.”
What is the World Economic Forum?
The Financial Times (24 January) sums quite well up who they are and what they are in Davos for.
“At the Annual Meeting, 1,000 top business leaders, 250 political leaders, 250 foremost academic experts in every domain, including many Nobel Prize winners, and some 250 media leaders come together to shape the global agenda. Together, they address the key economic, political and societal issues in a forward-looking action-oriented way.
Discussions are held at the highest level among participants who belong to the same community of top decision-makers, fostering a unique club atmosphere which is very conducive to a forward-looking approach in addressing key issues of global relevance or initiating new business contacts.”
Amongst “world leaders” in attendance are: James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, UN general secretary Kofi Annan, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Israeli cabinet minister Shimon Peres, Mexican President Vincente Fox and Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica. But no officials from the new administration of US President George Bush, will be in Davos: a marked contrast to Clinton’s high profile visit to the WEF last year.
The World Economic Forum sees its role as providing a place where the world’s tiny business and political elite can reach a consensus on how best to rule and fool the world’s exploited millions. The subjects of its meetings since the downfall of the USSR, and the opening of the whole world to the power of the mega-corporations, clearly reflects this
1991 – The new direction for global leadership
1992 – Global co-operation and megacompetition
1993 – Rallying all the forces for global recovery
1994 – Redefining the basic assumptions of the world economy
1995 – Challenges beyond growth
1996 – Sustaining Globalisation
1997 – Building the Network Society
1998 – Priorities for the 21st Century
1999 – Managing the impact of Globalisation
2000 – New Beginnings: Making a Difference
But the title of the 2001 meeting is something of a change: “Bridging the Social Divides”. The reason for this can be stated in one word: SEATTLE. And what they mean by this is not the behind closed doors lobbying of the “movers and shakers” by NGOs claiming to represent the poor or trade unions presidents claiming to represent the workers.
They recognise that the alliance of “Teamsters and Turtles”, of rank and file unionists, socialists, anarchists, ecologists, who braved the tear gas and pepper spray and stopped the WTO in its tracks, exposed to millions what their rulers were up to – i.e. destroying their livelihood, their environment, their democratic rights.
After the anti-WTO-Protests and last years protest in Davos, Klaus Schwab, the WEFs founder, looked for a figleaf to cover the indecency of this networkingfest of billionaires and politicians.. WEF representatives started to talk about „social responsibility“ and „bridging the social divide“.
This time representatives of 36 NGO have been invited to participate. The title alone should be the occasion for some wry laughter in the bars of luxury hotels like the Steinberger Belvedere, as the top bankers and chief executives stuff themselves with the finest food on offer and puff away on their Cohibas and Montecristos.
Another feature of the “social concern.” of the billionaires is the invitation of a few trade union bureaucrats – the labour lieutenants of Capital – to attend this meeting.
This year, a clutch of top Labour Leaders are attending the annual Davos meetings in Switzerland, Sharn Burrow president of ACTU, Australia, Ursula Engelen-Kefer of the DGB-Germany, Emilio Gbaglio- general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, Kenneth Georgetti president of the Canadian Labour Congress, Lord (Bill) Jordan, general secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, Jay Mazur- president of UNITE (US garment workers), Fackson Shamenda of the Zambian Congress of Trade Unions and last but not least John Sweeney president of the AFL-CIO of the USA.
These bureaucrats – along with the NGO representatives – can be relied on to succumb to the famous “spirit of Davos” and to emerge paying testimony as to how socially concerned the CEOs of BP, Microsoft, Nike etc, are. So cheaply is propaganda for the multinationals bought.
Davos is a meeting of the rich elite of global capitalism plus a few safe and subservient “representatives” of the vast majority of humanity whose exploitation is the source of all this wealth and power.
No wonder this gathering of “the bad the worse and the ugly” has generated demonstrations against it for two years running. Scarcely any less surprising is the fact that Switzerland is doing all it can to protect the this thieves kitchen of corporate globalisation.