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Star Power, Poverty Concerns Push Big Business to WEF Backseat
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 30 (AFP): After years at the heart of the World Economic Forum (WEF), big business was pushed to one side of the annual meeting which winds up Sunday, overshadowed by star power and seemingly relentless pressure to help poor countries out of the rut.
US big screen stars Angelina Jolie, Sharon Stone, or singers Bono and Lionel Ritchie vied for attention with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany, leaving chiefs of oil, pharmaceutical, computer, and industrial conglomerates to play supporting roles on the sidelines.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder successsively pledged to find ways of ploughing billions of dollars in aid, trade or debt relief into poor countries this year.
But Stone, an anti-poverty activist like other celebrities invited to the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos, stole the limelight by making "an ass of myself" and extracting one million dollars from the largely corporate audience within minutes.
She stood up during a debate on poverty involving Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, pledging 10,000 dollars (7,660 euros)
for anti-mosquito bednets to help prevent malaria in Tanzania and challenged her fellow onlookers to follow suit.
Bono, who also heads a pressure group campaigning for Africa, cajoled and hounded the Davos heavyweights, appearing alongside Blair and Finance Minister Gordon Brown to warn that a whole generation in western countries wanted "to be remembered for something other than the war against terror".
The elite business, political, academic and civil society participants invited to the five day meeting appeared to have sensed the mood of the moment.
Asked by the forum organisers to choose six issues that urgently needed to be tackled in the world -- and by the forum over the next year -- 64 per cent of them placed poverty at the top, followed by "equitable globalisation" and climate change.
Traditional Davos favourites, the global economy and trade, were left out altogether, depriving about 100 anti-globalisation protestors of their key themes as they trudged peacefully through the resort's icy streets Saturday.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates heaped praise on the communist state for creating "a brand-new form of capitalism", while China sought to woo foreign investors.
Meanwhile, Brazil report says: For the first time, World Bank and IMF representatives joined the debate at the World Social Forum anti-globalisation summit, as many delegates underscored their frustrations with the conditions they must meet to get development aid.
And the future of free software to allow cheaper access to cyberspace was on the agenda, as several high profile individuals Saturday signed the Global Call to Action Against Poverty launched earlier in the week.
Asked about the need for the IMF and World Bank to change their modus operandi and an economic policy seen by critics as too severe, John Garrison, a member of the civil society team at the World Bank, said: "Our poverty agenda has already changed.
Meanwhile, campaigning for cheap computer operating systems, rather than using Bill Gates' Microsoft software, was also underway at a workshop Saturday.
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 30 (AFP): After years at the heart of the World Economic Forum (WEF), big business was pushed to one side of the annual meeting which winds up Sunday, overshadowed by star power and seemingly relentless pressure to help poor countries out of the rut.
US big screen stars Angelina Jolie, Sharon Stone, or singers Bono and Lionel Ritchie vied for attention with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany, leaving chiefs of oil, pharmaceutical, computer, and industrial conglomerates to play supporting roles on the sidelines.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder successsively pledged to find ways of ploughing billions of dollars in aid, trade or debt relief into poor countries this year.
But Stone, an anti-poverty activist like other celebrities invited to the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos, stole the limelight by making "an ass of myself" and extracting one million dollars from the largely corporate audience within minutes.
She stood up during a debate on poverty involving Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, pledging 10,000 dollars (7,660 euros)
for anti-mosquito bednets to help prevent malaria in Tanzania and challenged her fellow onlookers to follow suit.
Bono, who also heads a pressure group campaigning for Africa, cajoled and hounded the Davos heavyweights, appearing alongside Blair and Finance Minister Gordon Brown to warn that a whole generation in western countries wanted "to be remembered for something other than the war against terror".
The elite business, political, academic and civil society participants invited to the five day meeting appeared to have sensed the mood of the moment.
Asked by the forum organisers to choose six issues that urgently needed to be tackled in the world -- and by the forum over the next year -- 64 per cent of them placed poverty at the top, followed by "equitable globalisation" and climate change.
Traditional Davos favourites, the global economy and trade, were left out altogether, depriving about 100 anti-globalisation protestors of their key themes as they trudged peacefully through the resort's icy streets Saturday.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates heaped praise on the communist state for creating "a brand-new form of capitalism", while China sought to woo foreign investors.
Meanwhile, Brazil report says: For the first time, World Bank and IMF representatives joined the debate at the World Social Forum anti-globalisation summit, as many delegates underscored their frustrations with the conditions they must meet to get development aid.
And the future of free software to allow cheaper access to cyberspace was on the agenda, as several high profile individuals Saturday signed the Global Call to Action Against Poverty launched earlier in the week.
Asked about the need for the IMF and World Bank to change their modus operandi and an economic policy seen by critics as too severe, John Garrison, a member of the civil society team at the World Bank, said: "Our poverty agenda has already changed.
Meanwhile, campaigning for cheap computer operating systems, rather than using Bill Gates' Microsoft software, was also underway at a workshop Saturday.
