Large sections of the media would have us believe that Davos is the place to strike billion dollar deals and because they are flown there, they have to report about those deals. But whether the deals fructify is another matter. This time, however, Davos was more about politics than business. At what is supposed to be a pow-wow on world economics, Trump’s politics trumped. The US President even mocked the Europeans in his speech.Christine Lagarde, a prominent French lawyer and politician who has held some of the most influential positions in global finance, most notably as the first female President of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the first female Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and continues to serve as the President of the ECB, a role she assumed on November 1, 2019, walked out of a private dinner hosted by the US Commerce Secretary. French President Emmanuel Macron cracked sarcastic jokes about living in a “predictable” time even while Canadian President, Mark Carney urged countries to stand up to bullies and received a standing ovation for that.
For the US President Trump to tell the gathering at Davos that if not for the United States all Europe would have been speaking German was the worst kind of mockery expected in a setting meant to discuss global economics. Trump speaks from a position of ignorance about world history, experts say. German happens to be the most widely spoken of the four official languages in Switzerland. Attendees at Davos and also those following the extravaganza from Brussels to Berlin to Paris found Trump’s speech insulting, overbearing and inaccurate. Trump would have the world believe that Europe is moving down the wrong trajectory but to say that in Europe while addressing people of different political ideologies is not just insulting but politically incorrect. The idea of Davos is to find common grounds for economic collaboration; not for the US to impose its views on the entire world.
It is in this context that Davos too requires a serious critique. Started in 1971 when the dollar fell the US imposed tariffs on European imports. And the Europeans were totally blindsided. It was then that the German economist, Klaus Schwab, convened this gathering of politicians, academics and business people in Davos. Now it has grown into a giant business conference with the motto, “Committed to improving the state of the world.” Now the talk is only about big business even as Davos is populated by giant tech companies, consultancies and crypto companies. There is no space in Davos to speak about issues afflicting planet earth such as global climate change and environmental sustainability. It’s as if commerce alone would drive human existence. Since Davos is a venue of the who’s who in a world that’s rapidly moving towards crass commerce the invitees from India feel they have scored several brownie points to boast about to their electorate, more so those states that are headed for the polls. That deals which could have been struck in India without much fanfare are being discussed in Davos and that public money is expended for the jamboree is in itself an issue that merits discussion at home. The question at the end of the Davos escapade is – Will life be better for the ordinary Indian back home?
