By the time you read this, I will be on my way to Zurich. Yesterday, the sun disappeared again. The morning dawned at minus 17 degrees C. Davos was blanketed with snow and the shuttle service between the hotels and the World Economic Forum’s Congress Center was moving at a crawl. Those individuals trying to make it around town on foot frequently ended up wrong end up, as skates were more appropriate footwear than boots on the icy sidewalks. As a person born in India’s tropical climate I always wondered how the eskimos could survive in the Arctic extremes. Now I have a greater understanding of the challenges they face.
If only the dignitaries at Davos had a greater understanding of the challenges faced by people in the developing world, perhaps the WEF would have a greater impact. There is a constant, insidious attack on Islam at Davos. And while India has an overwhelming presence, many Third World nations are absent. Thankfully, the NGOs are at WEF working to shame politicians and corporate executives into doing the right thing on issues from the environment to human rights.
Young Arabs are sadly not a part of WEF. Seeing so many young people from Western nations and now even India, who have come to Davos to speak out on issues of importance to the future of our world, makes one aware that young Arabs are not playing a positive role in this forum. Because the nations of the Middle East aren’t working to have a presence at Davos, the Middle Eastern countries and their issues are relegated to the dark corners of the event. In any session where Islam or Arabs are highlighted, it is generally in a negative way.
The food here at Davos is gourmet-for the Western palate. Smoked salmon, artichokes, rare beef and other European dining delights abound. I have no appreciation for these delicacies, but what got me excited was the spicy aroma of biryani. Old habits die hard and the delicious scent of biryani wafting through the tent at “India Nite” event was just what I needed on Thursday night.
On a shuttle going to the Congress Center, my seat mate was a man who works in Sweden’s public health system. It turned out that he had a very sentimental attachment to India as he had studied there in 1972. He took a public health system refresher course in Bangalore. He said that even in 1972, he realized that Indians were far ahead of their time in the handling of many issues. When I asked him if it was surprising that India was being talked about as an emerging power, he answered: “No. What surprises me is that it took so long.” He believes that India’s protected economy, with no room for liberalization was what held India back for a long time. One would think that perhaps some Middle East nations which are dragging their feet on true economic liberalization would see some lesson in this.
It may seem that everything in the world is made in China, but at Davos, English is still the dominant language. The Chinese are poor speakers of English and this puts them at a disadvantage here. The Indians speak English well and they capitalize on this ability. The one time that people switch into their native languages at WEF is when they are talking on the phone and I discovered that such a move is not very wise. Everyone is keeping an ear out for nearby conversations and speaking in Urdu, Punjabi or whatever, has the effect of attracting attention from individuals who speak the same mother tongue. It’s one thing when a celebrity or business executive introduces himself based on overhearing your conversation. It is something else when a politician comes over to give you a long-winded piece of his mind concerning the same conversation!
One final note is that in a session on identity with Arab News Editor in Chief Khaled Almaeena was Brazil’s best-selling author, Paulo Coelho. The session was on what defines identity. Almaeena thought it was more important these days to talk about individual identity rather than the identity of the state. Coelho explained that establishing an individual identity can have unexpected repercussions. Due to his unusual personality, views and outlook on life, three times he was committed to an asylum. He said it would have been four times, except that the mental institution would no longer take him in. They considered him a hopeless case. His passion for writing and the views he expressed in his writing were considered unorthodox. Coelho didn’t begin writing until the age of 38 and he is now one of the richest, most popular authors in the world. That wealth has allowed him to not only live out his dreams but to enable him to make the dreams of others come true. As Coelho once said, “Our consciences speak when we realize that we aren’t islands.” That’s a message that everyone at WEF will hopefully take home.
