The World Economic Forum is A Joke

Years and years have gone by, inching our planet each day closer to eternal destruction, yet the billionaires and world leaders congregate in the Swiss Alps to discuss policy which will have realistically no meaningful effect on any one of us. We have allowed the hyper-rich to delude themselves and blame the average everyday person for climate change, high prices and the economic state of the world.

Davos has become a laughing stock of the world, almost akin to the Capitol from the Hunger Games series - a luxury networking event masquerading as a serious policy forum. While private jets line the tarmac emitting unfathomable amounts of CO2, people who can barely afford food are being berated about their overconsumption of plastic straws.

Since its inception in 1971, global wealth inequality has skyrocketed, global warming has accelerated, and financial crises have repeatedly ravaged the lives of so many. It would be almost comical if it weren't so sad. Yet year after year, we sit back and allow the same faces to show up and 'discuss policy,' present their groundbreaking solutions, all while we are in our 1-bedroom flats, rotting away in the hyper-capitalistic hellscape that is the world.

The WEF's influence on global policy is set by the same billionaires and 'thought leaders' who brought us into the mess we are in. Allowing unelected businessmen who hoard wealth beyond their means to govern the world is not something that should be happening, yet it is. Their solutions do not address the systematic challenges we have today but only help to line their pockets with tax cuts, blood-soaked diamonds, and money.

In 2019, this facade was momentarily shattered when Dutch historian Rutger Bregman stood before the assembly of billionaires and spoke truth to power. "I hear people talking the language of participation, justice, equality and transparency," he declared to a stunned audience, "but almost no one raises the real issue of tax avoidance, right? And of the rich just not paying their fair share. - It feels like I'm at a firefighters' conference and no one's allowed to speak about water." He pointed out the absurdity of 1,500 private jets flying in to discuss climate change, and challenged the very premise of allowing the world's wealthiest to frame themselves as the solution to global problems they helped create.

All of this is happening while the real leaders, union members, community organizers and grassroots activists are left behind and conspicuously absent. Their solutions, which are based in reality, are dismissed for overengineered ones forcing us to rely on 'philanthropy.' Making the world beg for billionaires to help out and donate, so they can shower themselves in grace as if they're saviors. The unbelievable ability for the mega-wealthy to pretend to be the oppressed ones is beyond laughable.

The next time you see headlines about the latest pronouncements from Davos, remember: these are not your allies in building a better world. They are the beneficiaries of a system they broke, gathering in a mountain fortress to ensure their continued dominance while paying lip service to change. The real work of transforming our world happens not in luxury hotels but in community centers, polling stations, union halls, and the streets where ordinary people fight for their futures.