The Alpine ski resort of Davos, where the World Economic Forum is taking place. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

It’s Davos time again! The five-day global-elite’s festival of self-importance has kicked-off in luxurious fashion at the ski resort in Switzerland; the rich and powerful are again competing for public and media attention as they toast their good intentions. But this year, is the fat-cat backlash coming?
Established back in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation, and headquartered in Geneva, the World Economic Forum has, as its mission statement, “to improve the state of the world”; it characterises itself as “independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests”.
Right now, though, it feels like that motivation is rather misplaced: wouldn’t it be far more useful for the state of the world to have an organisation that promoted the special interests of the majority of its inhabitants?
In order to talk ‘mission’, every year, about 3,000 participants “from every sphere of influence: business, government, civil society, academia, arts and culture, and media” descend upon Davos “to discuss how to build a better version of globalisation”. Interestingly, equitable participation isn’t a hallmark of that better version. Just one in five participants are women. The best represented regions are the ones with the largest share of global wealth and power, notably; Western Europe, North America and Asia.
The WEF gives no breakdown of the individual, organisational or collective corporate wealth of their participants. But, then, to do so might only highlight the extent of a purpose-defeating disparity. For Davos is where the wealthy and powerful gather to talk about everyone else. And, as Oxfam International’s latest report notes, the top 26 billionaires on the planet have stockpiled riches equal to that of the poorest 3.8 billion people combined. In contrast to the wealth increase for the tip-top of the financial food chain – the number of global billionaires has doubled since the 2008 financial crisis – the wealth of the world’s poorest citizens dropped by 11% last year.
Indeed, though the snow up in the Alps is bright and sparkly, and the alcohol top-shelf, the economy beyond the ski slopes and fancy chalets is one of gathering clouds. While, last year, attendees were fairly enthusiastic about the global economic outlook and their political fortunes – this year, not so much.
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