The anti-Davos

While the world’s elite gather in Davos, the great unwashed masses have their own concurrent confab, the World Social Forum (WSF), wrapping up today in Nairobi. Dreamed up in 2001 as a lefty alternative to the capitalist plotting now going on in the Alps, the gathering’s charter has a distinct Marxist tone. TONY KARUMBA/AFP The ...

604568_wsf_05.jpg
604568_wsf_05.jpg

While the world's elite gather in Davos, the great unwashed masses have their own concurrent confab, the World Social Forum (WSF), wrapping up today in Nairobi. Dreamed up in 2001 as a lefty alternative to the capitalist plotting now going on in the Alps, the gathering's charter has a distinct Marxist tone.

While the world’s elite gather in Davos, the great unwashed masses have their own concurrent confab, the World Social Forum (WSF), wrapping up today in Nairobi. Dreamed up in 2001 as a lefty alternative to the capitalist plotting now going on in the Alps, the gathering’s charter has a distinct Marxist tone.

TONY KARUMBA/AFP

The WSF drew more attention back when its participants would forcibly disrupt meetings of the WTO, World Bank, IMF, and other organizations deemed part of the vast neoliberal conspiracy. Now, the forum’s participants seem mostly concerned with disrupting their own events. The highlight so far this year has been a march on Nairobi’s vast slums to remind their residents that—well, evidently, that they should really hate President Bush.

More than 60,000 people have converged on Nairobi for the festivities; most represent NGOs, civil society groups, or churches. A sprinkling of Nobel laureates lend gravitas. The WSF has no agenda or formal schedule, so attendees are free to structure their time opposing the man in whatever way they see fit. 

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.