Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

Humps Against Davos
Sunday, January 21, 2007

I came from California just in time to say goodbye to my wife, who left for a week in Switzerland and the annual World Economic Forum held at Davos. My favorite story from Davos happened a few years ago. We were speaking on the phone and I was reporting on some breaking news, that Ariel Sharon, then PM of Israel, was likely to get indicted in a bribery scandal. "Wait a minute," she said. "Let me find out." I heard from talking on the other end, "My husband is on the phone and he says ..." She came back a few minutes later and said, "Shimon Peres was just walking by and I decided to ask him."

So if you want to have a protest against the powers that be at Davos and could think of the perfect symbol of your oppression, of Third World powerlessness, and the one think they are unlikely to have in the Alps: Camels!

Here's a report from Nairobi: "Glue-sniffing street-boys, men on camels, and women balancing clay pots on their heads marched from one of Africa's biggest slums at the start of an anti-capitalist fest hosted by the continent for the first time."

More than 10,000 people from around the globe descended on the massive Kibera shanty-town -- home for 800,000 of Kenya's poorest -- to dance, beat drums, chant and wave placards at the kick-off of the seventh annual World Social Forum.
The event, mainly held in Latin America in the past, began in 2001 as a challenge to the annual gathering of business and government leaders in Davos, Switzerland.

Labels: Camels

Posted by B Feiler at 7:08 PM
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