World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

January is traditionally considered the month when, after Christmas, the money has been spent and the mist of splendor and love has evaporated. Nonetheless, every January the richest and most powerful people on the planet meet up in the Swiss ski resort Davos to discuss how the profits of corporations can be secured in the year ahead. For this reason, every year in January Davos becomes a fortress hermetically sealed by the police and the Swiss army, so these valuable people can meet up without interference by the bothersome public.

But who meets up there, anyway? And what is discussed?

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a private institute which meets once a year. These meetings are attended by about 2,000 economic bosses, politicians and “personalities of society”. Supposedly the topic in Davos is how to improve the world, but in reality, it’s all about how to further maximize corporate profits, for example by privatizing the water supply, education, etc.

To name an example, in 2005 a seminar on the topic of “Discovering the Next Economic Flop” was booked out immediately, whereas a seminar about “Do Human Rights Pay?” did not even require a booking. This example shows that the WEF is not about improving the world for the people living in it, but rather for the corporations existing in it.

Global capitalism is serious business. Not only does it let the rich become richer, it also makes the poor poorer, or kills them straight off. Statistics showing how many people die of hunger every day are well known to us, via numerous appeals to charity. The WEF has a symbolic character and stands for exploitation and imperialism – in this it is only surpassed by the G8.

We as Marxists reject the “order” of capitalism. Precisely this is what is celebrated every year anew at the WEF. An order in which economic powers call the shots, in which the workers are exploited in the roughest way.

And what can we do against this?

The protests against the WEF are a romping grounds for leftists of all different shades: from social democrats to ATTAC to the radical left. It is important to emphasize that we are not only opposed to the corporate policies of individual companies, the monopolization of branches of the economy or the further commercialization of our lives. These things are only an expression of the capitalist system, which by its nature has no interest the well-being of the people, only in increasing profits. We must fight against capitalism and use the protests to present a revolutionary perspective.

For many, the WEF is the embodiment of the decadence of the capitalist class. We must create a connection from this rejection to a rejection of the whole capitalist system. The WEF protests offer a good opportunity to work out such a connection.

Build up an independent communist youth movement!

At these protests, it is time and again the youth who play an especially brave and militant role. Young people are naturally the most radical and self-sacrificing part of the population, since we suffer from special forms of oppression and exploitation. We are less burdened with the experiences of past defeats and have less to lose by participating in anticapitalist protests.

It is important that we, left-wing youth, organize ourselves in the struggle against capitalism and encourage the radicalization of the whole working class. For this, an independent, revolutionary youth organization is necessary. Only by our own experiences in the class struggle can we train ourselves as revolutionaries.

Continue the struggle — at an international level!

The protests against the WEF are a small and in the first instance a symbolic part of the struggle against capitalism. A revolutionary movement can only be successful at an international level. With the same energy we have when we go out onto the streets in Basel, we will fight against the G8 in Heiligendamm in June. The capitalists coordinate across the borders of nation states. Capitalism is a global problem, therefore we need global resistance.

Capitalism will not be beaten in Basel or in Heiligendamm. But these struggles can contribute to the development of a fighting and internationalist consciousness in the working class and the youth. To win, we must fight for the formation of a revolutionary organization at a world-wide level.

The capitalists can barricade themselves in mountain villages or resort towns – we will not get tired of to raising our voice of protest against them.

Demo against the WEF: January 27, 2007 in Basel (CH)

iREVOLUTION Coordination, January 3, 2007