Keyword: World Economic Forum

Zuma: SA Economy Can't Grow while Linked to US and Europe

Picture: World Economic Forum/Flickr Video On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Al Jazeera spoke to President Jacob Zuma who argued that South Africa's economy cannot grow while linked to Europe and the US. Pressed on the question of mining companies, Zuma argued that mining is one of the anchor sectors of the South African economy and must make a contribution to it -- "and the manner in which you contribute to the economy is how you pay your workers," he continued. © Al Jazeera

The Davos Class

Picture: World Economic Forum Susan George - "'All for ourselves and nothing for other people' seems in every age of the world to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind," wrote Adam Smith in 1776 in The Wealth of Nations, universally considered the first comprehensive inquiry into the nature and practice of capitalism.  The masters of mankind are still with us:  I call them the Davos class because, like the people who meet each January in the Swiss mountain resort, they are nomadic, powerful and...

From Davos to Dystopia

Picture: blog.livemint.com Ben Zala - Not long ago the World Economic Forum (WEF) found itself in the sights of the global economic justice movement. At the turn of the last century, before anyone was “occupying” public spaces in protest at the growing inequalities between the top strata of society and the rest, a broad global coalition of environment, development, and peace activists were targeting the public meetings of major institutions such as the WTO, the IMF, and the G8. In September 2000, activists shut down...

Another World Is Possible, but It Will Take a Social Conscience and Political Leadership to Get Us There

Picture: The Real Revo Fazila Farouk - In recent weeks, two meetings of global significance have come and gone with little media attention. At the end of January, the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting took place in Davos, Switzerland, followed days later by the World Social Forum (WSF) in Dakar, Senegal, which ended on an ecstatic note on the very day people’s power triumphed over Egypt’s autocratic Mubarak regime. The Davos forum was, of course, covered by the bigger television networks, but there was none of...

World Economic Forum, Take Two

When it comes to "improving the state of the world" - the goal of the World Economic Forum - CEOs and politicians have been known to disappoint. But, prankster filmmakers found a solution that helps them say all the right things, writes Brook Jarvis. Each year, political and business leaders travel to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to discuss “improving the state of the world.” The Yes Men (the prankster duo that has been re-writing corporate history...

The World Social Forum Trumps the World Economic Forum on Solutions for a Better World

Michelle Pressend - Critics argue that leaders at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) were unable to provide solutions for the complex problems facing the world at the recent gathering in Davos. These darlings of Davos are the very cooks that have stirred the awful stew the world finds itself in today. But finding solutions to the world’s woes would bring this group of people face to face with inner demons that they would prefer to keep locked away, along with their millions. Capitalism is,...