This- is Davos. A quiet little Alpine town
has had a -big impact on the world. Because
over a handful of days in late January, Davos
is home one of the most important events of
the year. The World Economic Forum. Best known
for their annual meeting of some 3000 global
leaders. So you might still be asking - what
have they ever done for me? "Adults keep saying
'We owe it to the young people, to give them
hope', but I don't want you to be hopeful,
I want you to panic" Well, they haven’t
just shaped the global economy, they’ve
saved lives - literally millions of them,
Because when things like global epidemics
continued to spike, the Forum set up initiatives
like GAVI, the vaccine alliance. “The Creation
of GAVI has galvanised people to say ‘Yes
we can do better’.” And they’ve consistently
tried to bridge divides, and I mean big divides.
They've tried to stop wars, like when they brought Greece and Turkey together, as the
two nations were edging
towards conflict. Or when they hosted the
first-ever, high level meetings between North
and South Korea,
after years of stand-offs. Or when just a
year after his release from Robben Island,
Nelson Mandella first came face
to face with F. W. de Klerk, Helping to usher
in a new period of inclusivity for the Rainbow
Nation. “It has been my great privilege
to fight a struggle for freedom that
the world has adopted.” Now look, we all
know Davos is a place where Presidents, Prime
Ministers and business
leaders come together, but by no means is
it just some echo-chamber for the well-healed.
Because like the Forum’s founder says: “The
world has become so interdependent that entrepreneurs
everywhere in the world
depend each on another" And the only way we
can really improve the state of the world,
is by ensuring that all of the
stakeholders get a say in what happens - even
when that includes some you don’t like.
And that’s why Davos has always made a space
for agitators, activists and academics, giving
them the chance to speak truth to power. "Don't
tell me about low levels of unemployment,
you are counting the wrong thing, you're not
counting the dignitary of people, you're counting
exploited people." Finding new ways to tackle
the worlds biggest challenges. "The younger
generation is demanding a better world, they'r
rising up to say 'We have to have change'"
Whether it’s gender equality, the environment
or technology, the Forum is there to explore
all the big problems, from the future of work
to the distribution of wealth. "We gotta be
talking about taxes. Taxes, taxes, taxes,
all the rest is bull****" “The rich are
getting richer simply because they are rich”
So with the world’s top influencers already
scheduled to attend, "What we do now, and
in the next few years, will profoundly affect
the next few thousand years" We want you to
turn on, tune in and drop by.
