https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/5/23/davos-is-dead
Young protesters take part in a demonstration against the World Economic Forum (WEF) during the WEF annual meeting in Davos on May 22, 2022. [Fabrice Coffrini/AFP]
Just when you thought you would never see again the spectacle of private jets landing in the Swiss mountain town of Davos for the rich and powerful to unironically discuss “solutions” to climate change and inequality, the World Economic Forum is back.
They’re meeting face to face for the first time since January 2020. Did you miss it? No, me neither.
They meet at a critical juncture in the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the midst of a huge and deepening inequality crisis.
Policy choices made by governments and international institutions throughout the pandemic have fallen woefully short of protecting people from the impact of multiple crises. Spiralling inflation, sky-rocketing energy bills and fuel prices, as well as high and still rising food prices, spelled disaster for so many. But the richest few, who continued to increase their wealth in the past two years, are still benefitting from the crisis. As a result, questions are being raised on the morality of an economic system that has failed to help the masses and instead supercharged inequality during a global health emergency.
It’s somewhat unbelievable that amid all this, finance ministers and multinational CEOs are taking some time out to exchange warm words with fellow “captains of industry” in a Swiss mountain town. But they are – as they have done for 51 years.
People, however, are no longer fooled by the Davos talk of equality, transparency, respect and diversity. They are well aware that those who benefitted and continue to benefit from the pandemic that left them struggling to put food on their table – such as Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, who made an eye-watering $24.3m in 2021 and is attending Davos – are not interested in the systemic changes needed to tackle inequality.
Indeed, more and more people are questioning what their leaders are doing in unaccountable spaces like Davos when they could be making policy choices that would address pressing problems.
In the UK, where soaring energy bills forced many families to choose between heating their homes and eating, for example, the government is resisting calls for a windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas companies. It is clear that the British public would rather have their leaders tax the companies benefitting from the growing cost of living crisis than waste time discussing inequality and sustainability with CEOs actively deepening that inequality in Switzerland.
Even in a pandemic that demands new thinking and more radical solutions to inequality, leaders around the world are clinging to doggedly neoliberal solutions such as lowering corporate taxation as a solution to domestic economic woes. And this is causing a massive pushback from the people.
In Zambia, for example, President Hakainde Hichilema is finding an increasingly frustrated citizenry asking who benefits from his economic policies, such as his recent move to lower the corporate taxation rate from 35 percent to 30 percent.
Zambians are asking: In a mineral-rich country with huge copper reserves selling at record prices, why are the vast majority of people still living in crushing poverty? Why are we expected to bear the pain of increasing food and fuel prices? Why are the details of an upcoming IMF loan agreement, expected to usher in more devastating austerity, being kept hidden from us?
Rattled by this uptick in debate and questioning of his approach to policymaking, in a recent speech at an EU-Zambia Economic Forum, Hichilema felt the need to reassure Zambians he was not “an agent of imperialism”. In this environment, it is hard to imagine that Zambians would appreciate seeing their delegates discuss policy and investment strategies in a forum bringing together all those benefitting from the riches, and the crises, of their country.
Indeed, while IMF head Kristalina Georgieva, mining company bosses, and finance ministers rub socially-distanced shoulders and share canapes in Davos, people will not be celebrating. They will not be celebrating because they know the solutions to their myriad problems do not lie with company bosses, or in Davos.
Not because global solutions aren’t needed – they are an important part of the picture. But while many structural solutions to inequality do require global action, the radical changes needed on both the domestic and international fronts are not in the Davos wheelhouse because they threaten elite interests.
The World Economic Forum is not accountable to anyone but itself. Serious tax reform proposals that are gaining momentum, such as a Global Asset Register (the proposal to create a comprehensive international registry of all wealth and assets), or the creation of a UN tax convention, will not find political backing at Davos. A much-needed reform of multilateralism cannot and will not begin in Davos.
People want to see accountability in domestic policy – in tax policy in particular – and this does not require a trip to Switzerland.
Just this week, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos criticised US President Joe Biden on Twitter for suggesting that making the wealthiest cooperations “pay their fair share” could help bring down inflation. It was not hard to see that the billionaire businessman was nervous about the possibility of the next US budget including a new “billionaire’s tax” that would see him pay an extra $35bn in taxes. The possibility of a corporate tax hike, coupled with the news of Amazon’s first-ever unionised warehouse is clearly making Bezos uncomfortable. And he should feel uncomfortable. Times are changing. Billionaires like Bezos are no longer free to wield their power without being challenged.
The media had dubbed 2019 “the year of protest”. In the years that followed, despite the pandemic, the protest has not stopped. After two years of pandemic, skyrocketing prices, rising poverty and deepening inequality, people are beyond a breaking point. And they have no patience left for governments and international institutions that are acting to protect the interests of the richest and the most powerful.
Those attending Davos this year should take notice of this reality.
People will not be looking at Davos for solutions. They already know how their problems can be resolved: by taxing the richest people and corporations, and by ensuring fair wages and employment. And by ending the monopoly the “Davos Set” have over politics and policymaking.
The people have no patience for the speeches or meaningless policy proposals that will be produced in Davos this week. This is why people around the world, from Kenya and South Africa to Switzerland and the UK, will once again be taking to the streets to send a singular message to their leaders at Davos: It is time to #TaxTheRich.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
创建时间: May 24, 2022 1:43 PM 最后更新时间: January 3, 2024 3:24 PM
年轻的抗议者参加了2022年5月22日在达沃斯举行的世界经济论坛（WEF）年会的示威活动。[Fabrice Coffrini/AFP]
就在你以为再也看不到私人飞机降落在瑞士山城达沃斯，让富人和有权势的人毫不讽刺地讨论解决气候变化和不平等问题的壮观场景时，世界经济论坛又回来了。
自2020年1月以来，他们首次面对面会面。你错过了吗？不，我也没有。
他们在COVID-19大流行的关键时刻会面，也是在巨大且日益加剧的不平等危机中。
各国政府和国际机构在整个大流行期间所做的政策选择远远不足以保护人们免受多重危机的影响。不断上升的通货膨胀、飙升的能源和燃油价格以及高企且仍在上升的食品价格给许多人带来了灾难。但过去两年一直在增加财富的富人们仍然从这场危机中受益。因此，在全球卫生紧急情况期间，人们开始对未能帮助大众、而是加剧不平等的经济体系的道德性提出质疑。
令人难以置信的是，在这一切之中，财政部长和跨国公司的首席执行官们花时间与瑞士山城的其他“产业领袖”互致热情的言辞。但他们确实这样做了，就像他们过去51年一直在做的那样。
然而，人们不再被达沃斯的平等、透明、尊重和多样性的谈话所欺骗。他们非常清楚，那些从大流行中受益并继续受益的人，他们在自己的餐桌上挣扎以维持生活的人，例如辉瑞公司首席执行官阿尔伯特·布尔拉（Albert Bourla），他在2021年赚取了惊人的2430万美元，并将出席达沃斯，他们对解决不平等所需的系统性变革不感兴趣。
事实上，越来越多的人开始质疑他们的领导人在像达沃斯这样的不可问责的场所所做的事情，而他们本可以做出能够解决紧迫问题的政策选择。
例如，在英国，高涨的能源账单迫使许多家庭在供暖和吃饭之间做出选择，但政府正在抵制对石油和天然气公司利润征收意外税的呼吁。很明显，英国公众宁愿看到他们的领导人对受益于不断上涨的生活成本危机的公司征税，而不是浪费时间在瑞士与积极加剧不平等问题的首席执行官讨论不平等和可持续性。
即使在需要新思维和更激进的不平等解决方案的大流行期间，世界各地的领导人仍然紧紧抓住顽固的新自由主义解决方案，如降低企业税收以解决国内经济困境。这引发了人们的强烈反对。
例如，在赞比亚，总统哈凯恩德·希奇莱马（Hakainde Hichilema）发现越来越多的公民对他的经济政策提出了不满，比如他最近将企业税率从35％降至30％。
赞比亚人问道：在一个拥有巨大铜矿储量且以创纪录价格出售的矿产丰富国家，为什么绝大多数人仍然生活在压倒性的贫困中？为什么我们要承担食品和燃料价格上涨的痛苦？为什么即将到来的国际货币基金组织贷款协议的细节被对我们隐瞒，预计这将带来更多毁灭性的紧缩政策？
在这种对他的政策制定方法的辩论和质疑越来越多的环境中，在最近一次欧盟-赞比亚经济论坛上的一次讲话中，希奇莱马感到有必要向赞比亚民众保证他并非“帝国主义的代理人”。在这样的环境下，很难想象赞比亚人会喜欢看到他们的代表在一个汇集了所有从他们的国家财富和危机中受益的人的论坛上讨论政策和投资策略。
确实，当国际货币基金组织总裁克里斯塔莉娜·格奥尔基耶娃（Kristalina Georgieva）、矿业公司老板和财政部长在达沃斯社交距离的环境中共进晚餐时，人们不会庆祝。他们不会庆祝，因为他们知道解决他们众多问题的方法不在公司老板或达沃斯。
这并不是因为不需要全球解决方案-它们是解决问题的重要组成部分。但是，尽管许多不平等的结构性解决方案确实需要全球行动，但对国内和国际形势都需要的根本性变革并不在达沃斯的议程之内，因为它们威胁到精英利益。
世界经济论坛对任何人都不负责。正 gaining 努力建议的严肃税收改革方案，如全球资产登记（创建一个全面的国际财富和资产登记册）或设立联合国税收公约，将无法在达沃斯获得政治支持。对多边主义的急需改革不可能也不会在达沃斯开始。
人们希望看到国内政策的问责制-特别是税收政策-而这不需要去瑞士。
就在本周，亚马逊的杰夫·贝索斯（Jeff Bezos）在推特上批评美国总统乔·拜登（Joe Biden）暗示让最富有的公司“公平缴纳”税款可能有助于降低通货膨胀。很容易看出这位亿万富翁对下一份美国预算中可能包括的新“亿万富翁税”的可能性感到紧张，该税将使他额外支付350亿美元的税款。公司税收上涨的可能性，再加上亚马逊首次成立工会的消息，显然让贝索斯感到不安。他应该感到不安。时代在变化。像贝索斯这样的亿万富翁再也不能自由行使权力而不受挑战了。
媒体将2019年称为“抗议年”。在接下来的几年中，尽管有大流行，抗议活动并没有停止。经过两年的大流行、物价飞涨、贫困加剧和不平等加深，人们已经到了无法忍受的临界点。他们对保护最富有和最有权势的利益的政府和国际机构没有耐心了。
今年参加达沃斯会议的人应该注意到这个现实。
人们不会寻求达沃斯的解决方案。他们已经知道如何解决他们的问题：通过对最富有的人和公司征税，确保公平工资和就业。并且通过结束“达沃斯集团”对政治和政策制定的垄断。
人们对本周在达沃斯产生的演讲或毫无意义的政策提议没有耐心。这就是为什么世界各地的人们，从肯尼亚和南非到瑞士和英国，将再次走上街头向他们在达沃斯的领导人发出一个明确的信息：是时候对富人征税了。
本文所述观点仅代表作者个人，不一定反映半岛电视台的编辑立场。