Davos Forum Is Braced for Round of Protests
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Source: NY Times
Davos Forum Is Braced for Round of Protests
January 25, 2001
By ELIZABETH OLSON
GENEVA, Jan. 24 The World Economic Forum, the annual gathering of
heads of state, senior political figures and business leaders, is
opening on Thursday in Davos, the secluded ski resort in eastern
Switzerland. And the threat of disruptions hangs in the Alpine air,
as antiglobalization protesters promise to take their competing
world vision to the streets.
In contrast to last year, when President Clinton spoke, no senior
figures in the Bush administration are to attend the forum, though
the advance roster includes the secretary of state of Florida,
Katherine Harris, fresh from appearing before a federal commission
reviewing her stewardship of the state's election process, as well
as Gov. George E. Pataki of New York and other governors.
In all, about 3,200 guests are expected for the 315 speeches,
round tables and seminars exploring this year's themes of
sustaining world economic growth and bridging divisions between
haves and have-nots.
Five minutes away at a clinic for asthma patients, a
counterconference, Public Eye on Davos, is also set. It has been
convened by a coalition of nongovernment organizations, including
Friends of the Earth, and is to involve some of the participants
attending the forum.
And a large number of antiglobalization protesters are expected to
converge on Davos, too, despite its remote location. Local courts
have rebuffed efforts to forbid protests entirely, so the police
are bracing for an onslaught and planning to deploy 600 officers
from all parts of Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Anti-WTO Coordination, a group based in Bern that is planning a
demonstration on Saturday, has rejected the idea of dialogue or
cooperation with the forum, even after last year's clashes on the
streets of Davos in which shops and vehicles were damaged. "The
violence comes from the W.E.F. and its guests and their dangerous
policies, such as sweatshops in Mexico and building dams," said
Simone Brunner, a spokesman for the group. "We don't want to
improve them; we want to stop them."
Organizers of the forum dismissed the threats. "It's like bees to
honey," said the forum's managing director, Claude Smadja. "Every
high-profile international event attracts activists and
professional troublemakers of all kinds."
Nonetheless, the organizers are treading cautiously.
The forum
underwent a shake-up last year, reorganizing to try to translate
talk into action through initiatives like a council on corporate
governance in Russia, start-up aid for a Balkan customs union and
youth job programs in the Middle East, all of which will be
discussed this year.
To its critics, these claims for an expanded role made, they
say, by nonelected, unaccountable people operating behind closed
doors are troublesome, particularly because the forum has been
controlled almost completely for three decades by one man, Klaus
Schwab, a Swiss business professor. "The forum is trying to
privatize decision-making processes to allow business interests to
affect public priorities," said Jolanda Piniel, a spokeswoman for
Public Eye on Davos.
Responding to such criticism, the forum has this year invited
delegates from unions and an array of nongovernment organizations.
But Davos enthusiasts say the criticisms miss the point of the
forum. Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of the United Nations
program on AIDS, said the forum had helped his program "identify
and begin working with potential partners from the corporate
sector" at a time when corporations were slow to grapple with
H.I.V.
The forum will also seek to expand its audience this year by
offering live Internet broadcasts of selected sessions and news
conferences, along with edited session transcripts and other
materials on its Web site, www.weforum.org.
Visit: The Public Eye on Davos
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