Global Policy Forum

by Chris Hawley

As attendees at the World Economic Forum rolled out of New York in a stream of black limousines, they carried a warning from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan: Ignore the world's poor at your own risk. It was a message that reverberated constantly throughout the five-day event, from conference rooms at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel to demonstrations on Manhattan's streets.

During a speech that ended the forum Monday, Annan likened the shrinking world to a crowded boat. ''None of us, I suggest, can afford to ignore the condition of our fellow passengers on this little boat,'' he said. ''If they are sick, all of us risk infection. And if they are angry, all of us can easily get hurt.'' Annan and other speakers pointed to the rusting shreds of the World Trade Center just four miles away in lower Manhattan as a warning for rich countries not to overlook anger growing in the Third World.

Although it was barely mentioned during the first four days of the forum, the collapse of Enron Corp. arose Monday as participants discussed the dangers of corporate greed. Protesters demonstrated outside an office of Arthur Andersen LLP, Enron's auditor, while labor leaders inside the forum warned against allowing big business to cultivate cozy relationships with politicians and influence deregulation. ''The real outrage is not that Enron violated the rules; the real outrage is that Enron made the rules,'' said John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO. Michael Dell, head of Dell Computer, predicted investors would quickly demand greater openness from companies because of Enron's bankruptcy, which raised questions about possible financial manipulation and misrepresentation by the company's management.

Protests were infrequent, and mostly peaceful, during the forum, with the only large rallies attracting 7,000 people Saturday. Some 160 protesters were arrested Sunday on minor charges, giving an arrest total of 201 for the five days. There were no arrests Monday. At the Arthur Andersen protest the only demonstration Monday officers appeared to outnumber the 150 protesters two to one. Activists complained that the police assigning 4,000 officers to maintain calm had hindered their efforts. ''There would have been even more people if not for the intimidation by police,'' said a woman named Starhawk, an organizer for the Pagan Cluster group.

During his speech, Annan asked companies to put money into health care and education in developing countries. He also urged governments to double their foreign aid to $100 billion so billions of people living in poor countries could improve their lives. ''Left alone in their poverty, these countries are all too likely to collapse or relapse into conflict and anarchy, a menace to their neighbors and potentially as the events of the 11th of September so brutally reminded us a threat to global security,'' Annan said.

His warning echoed a 1999 address to the same forum, in which he warned that freer markets could backfire unless the poor of the world benefit. Just months after that speech, violence exploded outside a World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle the first of several bloody anti-globalization protests at economic conferences.

But some business leaders who spoke Monday worried that large corporations are being asked to do too much to solve the world's problems. ''We are blurring and extending our responsibilities into areas which not necessarily are ours,'' said Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Nestle's chief executive. Instead, businesses should do what he said they do best make money and create jobs, particularly for young adults, he said. ''Our biggest social responsibility on a global basis is job creation,'' Brabeck-Letmathe said. Employment is ''the only way to alleviate poverty in the world.''

The chief executive of the investment firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also defended open trade. ''You can't find any other system that works,'' said Henry Paulson. ''We're going to continue forward with these forces of reform and restructuring, and that's going to create growth for all of us.''

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