Davos is unbelievably full this year, despite or maybe because of the current crisis, I guess it could be some version of group therapy, or a way to reduce travel costs in getting through a lot of meetings...actually, the truth is that folks are in the room with a lot of head scratching, which is far better than the certainty of last year, which offered the spectacle of unchallenged statements from financial leaders and US political leaders along the lines of ‘problem, what problem’, and intellectual giants spelling out the irrefutable truth of ‘decoupling’...but never mind, one cannot always get it right.
Simon Zadek is Chief Executive of AccountAbility
As in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 he is blogging from the World Economic Forum at Davos on openDemocrac and on Accountability in 2009.
Also by Simon Zadek in openDemocracy:
" From the magic mountain: the World Economic Forum "
(29 January 2004)
" openDavos: Simon Zadek's blog "
(February 2005)
" Reinventing accountability for the 21st century "
(12 September 2005)
" China's route to business responsibility " (30 November 2005)
"Accountability: the other climate change" (31 October 2006)
"The World Economic Forum: changing the world from within" (22 January 2007)
"After the binge" (6 January 2009)
...there is a distinct shift towards profiling political rather than business leaders, and a tonal change that leaves many sessions ringing with the words ‘let government action begin’, whether it concerns fiscal stimulus, bail outs, funding a new smart grid in pursuit of effective climate management or even previously unheard of calls for greater regulation in pursuit of stability, risk reduction and more generally ‘safe market making’.
The New York Times yesterday set out a small truth that is still not being faced here at Davos..."By almost any measure, 2008 was a complete disaster for Wall Street — except, that is, when the bonuses arrived”, and then sets out the terms on which almost US$20 billion dollars were doled out last year to the fabulous stewards of our global assets, our investor comrades...it is a curious fact that the NGO community has failed to date in grasping the true significance of the financial meltdown, and there are no signs at Davos of this unbroken and unenviable record being broken. One conversation with a leading human rights activist (HRA) yesterday went roughly as follows...
Me: Do you realise that the financial meltdown has huge development, environmental and rights-related implications.
HRA: Yes.
Me: There is a once in a life time opportunity to reshape the basis on which capital is invested in business, which could have a massive impact on their sustainability impacts.
HRA: Yes.
Me: It appears that civil society, whilst displaying outrage, is not engaged in the policy process of re-regulation of the financial community.
HRA: Yes.
Me: Don’t you think this is something that needs to be addressed, and in the short term since key decisions are being made as we speak.
HRA: Yes.
Me: So does that mean you could engage in this, now, since it is only in the coming weeks and maybe month or two that such interventions would count.
HRA: No.
Me: Oh (sound of quiet sobbing).
This blog posting is a re-post from:
