By Clovis Atatah
On January 26, in the cosy northern hemisphere Swiss mountain resort of Davos, 2000 world business and political leaders calmly concert on their vision for a better world. In the southern hemisphere city of Caracas, Venezuela, 100,000 activists from over 50 countries yell in disapproval at the perennial exploitation of the poor by the rich.
This is no coincidence, as the rowdy Caracas meeting is meant to rival the officious one in Davos. Since 1971, there has been an annual World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, during which world leaders chart a global politico-economic course.
Their word has often been the authoritative doctor's pill that the poor swallow with reverential gratitude. Not anymore. In 2001, determined left-wing leaders and grassroots organisations, conscious of the power of unity, mobilised to challenge the diktats of the powerful by organising the now annual rival World Social Forum, WSF.
This year, like 2005, the WEF held simultaneously with the WSF for about a week. The well-fed executives in Davos and the lean activists in Caracas speak volumes about a materially dichotomous world. And it portrays the obvious but often overlooked reality of statistics on the distribution of the planet's wealth.
While 2000 people met in Davos, it needed 100,000 to act as counterpoint in Caracas. The proportion of the world's rich to the poor is about proportional to the numbers in Davos and Caracas.
While there has been a lot of discourse about increasing world prosperity since the last century due to rapid technological advances, there has also been growing concern about the widening gap between the rich and the poor, both within and between countries.
Leftist scholars and activists have attributed this trend to unbridled capitalism and imperialism, while right-wingers, while acknowledging the problem, see the solution in even more capitalism.
Although participants at the Davos meeting cannot be all tagged capitalists - whatever the term means to you - they are generally of the elite who tend to favour the perpetuation of the existing world order albeit a few modifications that would add more fuel to the machines that operate capitalism.
In the same vein, Caracas activists might not all fit a typical leftist mould, but are united in their opposition to the existing world order. They are generally referred to by the loaded coinage, "anti-globalisation activists."
Furthermore, although the most influential participants in the WEF are business executives, civil society and religious leaders, celebrities and even activists are always invited to make their point. Similarly, some very opulent activists also attend the WSF.
Issues At Stake
The World Economic Forum, coming shortly after the not-too-successful World Trade Organisation, WTO, trade talks in Hong Kong late last year, was a platform for world leaders to try to stimulate trade discussions. The Hong Kong talks, a sequel to the Cancun negotiations that collapsed in 2003 in that Mexican city, were expected to bridge the differences between rich and poor countries.
That failed to happen.
Poor countries, largely dependent on agriculture, want the sometimes indecently huge subsidies rich countries give to their farmers scrapped. Rich countries both in Cancun and Hong Kong, were unwilling to make significant concessions on this issue.At the WEF, this was discussed on the sidelines, with over two dozen trade ministers trying to put stalled talks back on track.
Other issues at Davos included the emergence of China and India, high energy prices, the impact of globalisation, world trade, poverty, the Millennium Development Goals, as well as various global issues. Africa was also discussed especially on issues related to the fight against AIDS and tuberculosis.
The surprising landslide victory of Hamas in the Palestinian parliamentary polls was even highlighted with US Secretary of State taking advantage of a video conference organised by the forum to make her first official statement on the issue.
This year's WEF held under the theme, "'The Creative Imperative". Prof Klaus Schwab, WEF Founder and Executive Chairman, expounding on the theme of the forum observed that assumptions, tools and frameworks that leaders have used in the past to make decisions appear inadequate. He, therefore, urged them to harness creativity and develop new capabilities.
In Caracas, delegates discussed on issues as diverse as foreign debt, world trade, and inter-religious dialogue. The WSF has become a gathering of people as assorted as trade unionists, environmentalists, indigenous groups, leftist parliamentarians, anarchists, gay activists and advocates for marijuana legalisation.
Most of the activities at the WSF centre around opposition to "neo-liberal" economic policies promoted by rich countries and right wing governments as well as imperialism, including predatory war like the US invasion of Iraq.
Speaking at the forum, Nobel Economics prize nominee, Egyptian-born Samir Amin, is quoted as saying socialism must become a practical tool of popular social movements vis a vis inequalities caused by the neoliberal system.
A statement by the International Marxist Current, founded by Marxist theoreticians, Ted Grant and Alan Woods, stated that in view of the worsening general crisis of capitalism, a quest for an alternative to the capitalist system has become imperative.
Apart from the panel discussions, activists held massive anti-globalisation and anti-war demonstrations. U.S. peace activist, Cindy Sheehan, who held a vigil outside U.S. President George Bush's Texas ranch after her soldier son was killed in Iraq, led the crowds in one of the demonstrations shouting, "No to the war."
It was also an opportunity for participants to vilify hawkish US President, George Bush, who is a favourite object of attack by left-wingers.Whatever their differences, both the WEF and WSF agree on the need to improve the lot of humankind.
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