World social and economic forums expand horizons

daily.stanford.edu Dig Deeper By Waynn Lue Contributing Writer Tuesday, February 11, 2003 last updated February 11, 2003 12:46 PM

The last week in January saw Stanford students, faculty and alumni traveling to the ideologically opposed World Economic Forum and World Social Forum in the equally disparate locations of Switzerland and Brazil, respectively.

The WEF describes itself as an independent international organization that provides a collaborative framework for the world’s leaders to address global issues, and is particularly focused with engaging corporate members in global citizenship.

“The WEF holds an annual meeting every January in Davos, Switzerland, for business, political, non-governmental organization, civil society, academic, media and religious leaders,” said senior George Michalopoulos, who attended the WEF. “They discuss ongoing global issues — for example, the theme of this year’s annual meeting was ‘Building Trust,’ as a step towards better governance in all fields.”

On the other hand, the WSF was formed in direct opposition to the WEF, deliberately holding its annual conference on the same date as the WEF. The WSF is held in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

“The World Social Forum is a conference that was created to counter the pro-capitalist and elitist tendencies of the World Economic Forum,” said senior Meghana Reddy, who attended the WSF. “The people who started and participate in the World Social Forum believe that corporate heads, high-level government officials and other elites should not be the only ones making the decisions about the world economy but that the people — working-class people, people of color, women, immigrants, grassroots organizations, people who have been traditionally marginalized by the state and capitalism — should have a say in how the world economy is developed since they have been the ones most negatively impacted by capitalism.”

Not many students went to the WEF, which attracts only 2,000 — in contrast, around 200,000 attend the WSF.

However, “There were a number of Stanford alumni who attended the WEF — for example, [Cisco CEO] John Chambers and Carly Fiorina of H[ewlett] P[ackard],” Michalopoulos said.

Notables at the WEF included Secretary of State Colin Powell and other political figures.

Stanford community members who went to the conferences had many different reasons for attending, from prior involvement to personal beliefs and career opportunities.

“I had actually worked for the World Economic Forum’s media team at the European Economic Summit in Salzburg, and they asked me to come back to the annual meeting,” Michalopoulos said.

Senior Avinash Kaza, who attended the WSF, said, “The WSF is kind of like an NGO — non-governmental organization, also known as non-profit — summit, and I anticipate working on global poverty issues at an NGO in the future. The WEF is more like a business summit, with leaders from business and government.”

Even faculty had their reasons for attending the WSF.

“I have been to many conferences of progressive activists over the last few years, and this is currently one of the most important among international gatherings,” said Todd Davies, a symbolic systems lecturer.

Interestingly enough, despite the differences between the two conferences, some people like President Lula da Silva of Brazil attended both.

And students attending each conference felt that they received valuable experiences.

“There is a major disconnect between the classroom and the real world,” Kaza said. “To see the effects of globalization, it is necessary to go beyond the classroom and textbook and to actually meet and talk with some of the people affected. [Also,] many Stanford-affiliated individuals are or will be in the position to affect the lives of the poor across the world . . . it is important for us to see how our actions affect the lives of others globally.”