27th January 2003: Stark contrasts

27 January 2003

Nutcracker in the snow

We are staying a little way out of the village and in the morning walk through the snow round a frozen lake. Some of the mountains and snowforests around the village are protected for their wildlife. The red squirrels are here in their dark winter coats and dance around us looking for food. There are plenty of crested, coal and great tits, nutcrackers and nuthatches and in the snow you can see trails of mouflon and foxes. It helps remind us all why we're here.

In contrast the chief executives at the WEF have been offered free training from a local Audi dealership in driving in wintry conditions. So the end of our walk to Davos this morning featured the bizarre sight of a dozen CEOs skidding around at high speed in a snowy field in their top of the range executive saloons.

CEOs having car lessons

The wildlife is a contrast too to the constant military flyovers, barbed wire and heavy presence of polizei. The local residents of Davos have said little about the presence of the WEF in their village before. But our colleague Miriam Behrens from Friends of the Earth Switzerland (known here as Pronatura) tells us things are changing. People are now speaking out against the WEF being here and attending the Public Eye in greater numbers than ever. It looks likely there will be a move to reject the local authority budget in a public vote - through doing so residents will be able to protest against the fact that they pay much towards the security operation. Many local businesses lose out because winter sports tourism is knocked during the WEF. But for the luxury hotels, the WEF brings in many millions of Swiss Franks.

Today was the last day of panels at the Public Eye. The Berne Declaration have done an amazing job co-ordinating it all. The result of their work has been the public's attention being drawn to the WEF and its agenda questioned. Today there has been a powerful session about the experiences of the Indonesian factory workers who make clothes for Nike.

Inside the WEF there has been much talk about the social responsibility of corporations - it's a major theme. The irony is that the lobby groups of WEF member companies are actually kicking off a lobbying campaign against the laws used by communities to hold US multinationals to account. We've exposed that lobbying activity today alongside our colleagues at Earthrights International.

By the end of yesterday we decided to challenge the WEF over its defamatory press release about Friends of the Earth. Our lawyer Phil Michaels drafted a four page letter, but the WEF - not wanting to spoil their own party - seems unwilling to climb down so far.

Don't let big business rule the world,

Matt

Matt Phillips , our Senior Corporates Campaigner is sending daily updates direct from the World Economic Forum.