DAVOS 2002
Through a gate of fire
> BY ROMAN ROLLNICK
Copyright © 2002 by The Earth Times. All rights reserved

In an impassioned closing address, Annan said his message in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks was of greater urgency than in previous years: There had to be movement forward on trade, aid, debt and management of the global economy.

"My friends," the UN secretary-general said, "I think we all have a sense today of having come to a turning-point in history. We felt that with the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the new millennium ­ and then last September ­ we found ourselves entering the new millennium through a gate of fire, such as none of us ever wished to see.

"The forces of envy, despair and terror in today's world are stronger than many of us realized. But they are not invincible," he said.

"You know well that you are enormously privileged, compared to the great majority of your fellow human beings, both in your standard of living and in the power and influence you wield," he said. "You all know that you are sharing this planet with well over a billion people who are denied the very minimum requirements of human dignity, and with four or five billion whose choices in life are narrow compared to yours."

Earlier, a close advisor of Annan told this newspaper he felt it important to address the forum of "fat cats" who usually meet every year in the exclusive Swiss ski resort of Davos. He said Annan wanted to bring the message to them of the rival World Social Forum in Porto Allegre, Brazil. Business, he said, should not wait for governments to do the right thing, and they could no longer afford to.

"Left alone in their poverty, these countries are all too likely to collapse, or relapse, into conflict and anarchy, a menace to their neighbors and potentially ­ as the events of September 11 so brutally reminded us ­ a threat to global security," Annan said. He reminded the audience that with small investments, a huge difference could be made. Salt manufacturers around the world, at the behest of the UN had made sure that all salt they produce contains iodine. The result is that more than 90 million newborn children are protected against iodine deficiency, and thus a major cause of mental retardation.

He said the UN required an extra $50 billion for official development assistance each year to reach the minimal goals of halving poverty in the world by the year 2015. This required doubling the present figure, but remained well short of the goal of 0.7 percent of gross national product for all donor countries.

But the 32nd annual get-together of the World Economic Forum wound up in a series of glittering cocktail and dinner parties on Monday night with a bad press after five days of mostly secret talks among the world's business and political elite.

Four-and-a-half months after devastating terrorist attacks of September 11, New York was again besieged by the world's media, helping the city regain its image as one of the greatest places in the world. As an act of solidarity with the city, the forum was a grand gesture - one for which the publisher of this newspaper, Ted Kheel, paid personal tribute. He said he hoped the eclectic collection of business leaders, politicians, key public and religious figures and academics would return again next year.

Klaus Schwab, the millionaire Swiss impresario and founder of the conference Kheel said was upset that this newspaper's story on how the majority of media representatives in New York had been barred from the Waldorf, and thus gaining access to his guests, many of whom paid sums as high as $20,000 for the privilege of attending.

Schwab's spokesman, former Emmy-winning NBC producer Charles D. McLean, flatly denied that attempts had been made to bar the newspaper or even prevent its staff distributing a press release about the action.

But the damage to the forum had been done. "The way the Earth Times was treated, and its reporters intimidated was outrageous and shocking, all for a little bit of accurate bad news," said the correspondent of the leading Spanish daily La Vanguardia (ital). "Your newspaper did a job to be proud of."

"I would say the action against the Earth Times was ill-conceived, stupid and childish ­ and now we are all reporting this story. Mr Schwab is hurting himself," said Jose Passos of the big Brazilian daily, O Globo (ital).And in some of the worst press the forum has ever received, other major news organizations picked up the story and broadcast it to the world. In a report entitled "Davos Darkness" referring to the forum's usual traditional hideaway in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos, CNN said: "The WEF meeting, ironically, grew more opaque as it progressed." Ironically, because the forum's own logo states: "Committed to improving the state of the world".

The forum is meant to be like a town hall gathering for the world' s most powerful people, a place where Bishop Desmond Tutu can make small talk with the likes of Jack Greenberg, chairman and CEO of McDonalds, where US Secretary of State Colin Powell can meet French academics, where Hamid Bin Ahmad al-Rifaie, president of the International Islamic Forum for Dialogue, can rub shoulders with Israel Meir Lau, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, or where Kofi Annan can talk computers with Carleton S. Fiorina, chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard.

But none of them could easily meet with the press because of a pass system enforced by Schwab and McClean whereby they gave coveted Waldorf entry badges only to a selected group of journalists from organizations of which they approve. McClean said there simply was not space enough for everyone. But the spouse of everyone invited to the Waldorf, and many of their friends and family members were given the badges ­ their numbers higher even than the number of journalists waiting across the road.

It was said the BBC, "largely behind closed doors" that they debated cutting issues of the globalized economy, technology and challenges to world order.

One of the personalities of who passed through to meet reporters on the final day was Anders B. Johnsson, secretary-general of the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union. He was dismayed at what had happened to the Earth Times and the way reporters were kept at a distance unable to cover events as they saw fit.

"Access of the media is an important foundation of democracy," said Johnsson, a Swedish parliamentarian. He said it was the first time that the IPU had been invited to a Davos meeting and he was pleased that they had invited him because parliamentarians were usually in close touch with their voters on the streets "and we can get the social viewpoint across".

The tan leather briefcases, mobile telephones, portable computers and tailored suits that clogged the lobbies of New York's flashiest hotels were a reminder that the forum is a very useful place for its participants to cultivate contacts in an intimate atmosphere. For this reason, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and his finance minister, Trevor Manuel, told The Earth Times they liked the coziness of the meeting, and found it useful.

And in a video link from Johannesburg, former president Nelson Mandela, in one of the last speeches to delegates told them it was clear since September 11 they "must play a more forceful role to create a more peaceful world, and do so by helping alleviate poverty".

At the final news conference summing up the World Economic Forum's meeting in New York, half the questions put to Klaus Schwab were about action against The Earth Times and restrictions on the media covering the show.

Visibly irritated, the Swiss supremo declined to answer the questions from a range of European, American, and other members of the international press corps who had been denied access to the Waldorf Astoria.

The response was left to his public relations man, Charles McLean. His message was that the Forum had two choices--either to keep the current system of granting access to a selected few journalists, or to restrict media access even further.

On the Forum's reaction to this newspaper, McLean said: "We have not had an opportunity to exchange notes. This is not a huge issue for us... This issue really is a sideshow to the publicity this meeting deserves. I hope it does not detract from the big story here."

Asked by the Deutsche Presse Agentur whether the Forum would continue its system of privileged access, Schwab again left the response to McLean: "The media is an important component. We had 390 representatives accredited to the Waldorf. The other solution is to cut back. I cannot imagine which option will make my life more miserable. We do value the media as participants and witnesses. We're grateful for the effort that you've made." The major announcement to come out of Schwab's final news conference was that he had arranged to hold next year's meeting back in Davos.