Press Report Europe WSF 2009 - OpenFSM!

Press Report Europe WSF 2009
who dropped in to be fêted. The flurry of helicopters and security men seemed out of place. Four leaders (President Lula
was elsewhere) appeared together at a meeting that was billed as a dialogue with the social movements. But the talking
was mostly one way. Mr Chávez gave a long, rambling speech in which he struggled to animate the crowd. “Another
world is possible! No! Another world is necessary,” was as inspiring as it got.
Since its inception, the forum has struggled to get the right balance between a range of attractions: intellectual stars such
as Noam Chomsky and Joseph Stiglitz, both of whom have addressed previous meetings; sympathetic politicians; large
NGOs and the smaller single-issue organisations which often feel squeezed out.
This tension produced the best exchange in the presidential meeting. “You all talk about doing these things,” said João
Pedro Stedile, a founder of the Landless Movement in Brazil, “but when you met in Bahia [in December] you just went to
the beach.” “I didn’t go to the beach,” muttered the Venezuelan leader. “Well, perhaps those of you who are a bit
overweight didn’t go,” Mr Stedile fired back.
Away from this set-piece spat, people were sitting in meeting rooms and coming up with proposals. The ones that dealt
with reforming finance read a bit like a co-production between militant anti-capitalists and more cautious types, which
was no accident. At the far edge was the idea that money and finance are public goods and should be shared out
accordingly, through democracy. The familiar call for a special tax on international transactions was repeated. But there
was plenty of talk that was more moderate and rather more interesting.
The forum suggested that the United Nations should be charged with preventing large trade surpluses and deficits from
building up. Controls on exchange rates and the international movement of capital should be re-established. Credit-rating
agencies should be reformed, incentives for excessive risk-taking reduced and bankers’ bonuses paid on the basis of
long-term performance. Hedge funds, private-equity firms and other parts of the shadow banking system should go,
along with over-the-counter derivatives (OTCs), collateralised-debt obligations (CDOs) and other nefarious structured
products.
In general, a “speculator pays” principle should be introduced and applied when things go wrong. Finally, the world’s
economy should get a stimulus in the form of a green New Deal.
Bits of this belong to the realm of reality; indeed, they might have come from America’s Democratic Party, or even from
the op-ed pages of a respectable business daily. Interestingly, the forum proposed an outright ban on subprime
mortgages, even though it might have been expected to look favourably on lending to people who would otherwise
struggle to get credit.
If some delegates seemed to have thought hard about the economic crisis, the same could not be said of the visiting
presidents. After leading the crowd in a chant of “Fidel, Fidel, Fidel!” Mr Chávez joined Messrs Lugo, Morales and Correa
in a karaoke rendition of “Hasta siempre commandante“—a dirge about the exploits of Che Guevara—before
disappearing. That was far too cruel a fate for the assembled company of Asian bishops, indigenous types in all their
finery, would-be financial reformers and anti-capitalist warriors.
Depressed in Davos (Economist)
Politicians, businessmen and the press met sombrely in Davos for the annual World Economic Forum, reflecting the
global economic crisis. The Russian and Chinese prime ministers, Vladimir Putin and Wen Jiabao, attacked the West for
causing the trouble.
Around 100,000 anti-globalisation activists gathered in the Brazilian city of Belém for the World Social Forum. The
event takes place each year as an alternative to the more business-friendly affair in Davos.
http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13039022
Alternative views of the economic crisis (BBC)
59