(CN) – François hauled his heavy, expensive camera via train from Lucerne in the French part of Switzerland to shoot B-roll video for a large European insurance company that had an outsize presence on the main street outside of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“This thing is all bullshit,” he said, waving toward the Congress Center, where most of the main events of the 50th Annual World Economic Forum take place. “They’ll talk about solving global problems and climate change, but really it’s just a bunch of rich people figuring out ways to stay rich.”
François’ last name is omitted to protect his identity and his freelance business.
He speaks for many who have come to see the week-long event at Davos as a symbol for greed, inequality, environmental destruction and an economic system that is designed by the elite to keep money flowing one direction – into the hands of a few.
François is shooting video on the Promenade, the main street through Davos.
Most weeks shop owners sell wine, ski gear, haircuts, alcohol or whatever else is desired by the outdoor enthusiasts who flock to Davos to try their mettle on the steep Alpine slopes.
But come the third week in January, these small businessmen rent out their storefronts to the most powerful corporations in the world. Salesforce, Tradeshift, Facebook and IBM all had a major presence along the Promenade leading to the Congress Center.
The closer to the heavily guarded entrance gate, the higher the status of the corporation.
This almost ceremonial homage to capitalism and its biggest players has made Davos so important for corporate CEOs, politicians, nonprofit leaders and activists, but has also created a populist hostility to the event not lost on its founder.
“When we look around the world, we can’t deny that there is a general loss of trust and confidence,” said Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum. “It is coupled with a profound pessimism and cynicism.”
More than 500 people marched 26 miles from Klosters to Davos, at times blocking traffic and chanting about the abolition of billionaires, but at all times expressing the anger and despair the global working class harbors for the elite.
“There is an age of despair out there and that’s driving what you’re seeing in every continent with people pouring into the streets,” said Sharan Burrow, a labor leader from Australia, who spoke inside the forum seemingly on behalf of the throngs who did not get an invitation.
Internationalism and its limits
Schwab and other Davosites have long carried water for the dream of a multilateral world where international cooperation and global economic integration brings more peace and prosperity to more corners of the world.
They say this notion epitomizes the “Spirit of Davos”
“Sustainable progress and sustainable peace are impossible to reach without a common nation among nations,” said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, during the opening night ceremonies.
While few would take issue with the expressed sentiment, many say it is a palatable veneer meant to disguise the darker forces of economic globalism, entailing supply chain disruption, the insatiable quest for cheap labor and the marginalization of working-class people the world over.
“Multilateralism is in crisis,” Burrow said.