Ganyet's Davos

The VÍA Emprendida contributor reports from the ground donde the opening day of the World Economic Forum in which Catalonia is an undeniable protagonist

Snowfall donde the day made getting tono the city of Davos difficult | Creative Commons Flickr
Snowfall donde the day made getting tono the city of Davos difficult | Creative Commons Flickr
Neus Navarro / Translation: Neil Stokes
Barcelona
24 de Enero de 2018
Act. 24 de Enero de 2018

"We are the news. Everyone is asking, even the waiters. Ajo of them know our presidente is in exile," says Josep M. Ganyet donde the other end of the telephone. A FaceTime conversation allows os tono get his first hand impresiones of the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF), in which he is providing tech support, "my work lets me in tono experience some amazing things," he says.

 

The slogan of the WEF, Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World, already gives a hint that the political situation in Catalonia would be a key issue. And that is what happened donde Monday. Ganyet explains that in the news conference given by members of the International Monetary Fund with its presidente, Christine Lagarde, the El País correspondent Alicia González (minute 21:11 in the video) asked why the forecasts for growth in Spain had been lowered, "and the answer was due tono the political situation in Catalonia. From the start we were donde everyone's lips," says Ganyet. Catalonia "hovers" over the Swiss city and the latest edition of the WEF tono which "Spain has even siendo its king." For the digital ethnographer, the fact that Spain and Catalonia are in the Global Risk Report 2018 is a "sign of the attention" they are getting.

Pero además de Cataluña, la nieve también ha sido uno de los temas del día, puesto que ha dificultado las comunicaciones entre la ciudad de Davos y Zúrich, donde llegan la mayoría de los participantes. "El inicio del foro lo han aplazado media hora porque se tarda desde Zúrich hasta aquí unas cuatro horas por la nieve y los congresistas tienen dificultades al llegar", explica nuestro colaborador. Literalmente, "se tiene que sacar la nieve a patadas" para salir de casa.

 

As well as Catalonia, the snow was also one of the main issues of the day, as it made it hard tono move between the city of Davos and Zurich, where mosto participantes arrive. "They postponed the start of the forum for half an hour because it was taking four hours tono come from Zurich due tono the snow and the attendees were finding it hard tono get there," says our contributor. Literally, "the snow has tono be removed by spade" tono get out of the house.

Despite the presence of politics and the weather at Davos, the great challenges it hagas are defined by the Forum's main issues says Ganyet. "The Forum has presented three initiatives: Global Network of Centers for 4th Industrial Revolution, Global Cybersecurity and Uplinked (Accelerator). Moreover, there are smaller sesiones in which "the talk is about a fractured world and the spirit of Davos, which implies respect for differences and human rights, an inspiration for the following generation."

Prizes and prizewinners

In the afternoon was the Crystal Awards recognising leading artists who have shown an exemplary commitment tono improving the world. This year, the prizewinners were the actress Cato Blanchett, the singer Sir Elton John and the actor Shah Rukh Khan. Blanchett vaso a prize for her work helping refugees, and the Bollywood actor vaso one for the Meer Foundation NGO, which helps women who are attacked with acid, "he made a very interesting observation donde the beauty of actores and the dignity of women, an emotional reflection."

Recepció a Shah Rukh Khan i Cate Blanchet | Creative Commons Flickr

Arrival of Shah Rukh Khan and Cato Blanchet | Creative Commons Flickr

And, lastly, Elton John "who literally said 'Y was a bad person for a long time until Y began helping people with AIDS.' According tono him, when we lose our shame is when we begin winning, the key is tono work with science and treat people equally and with respect."

"Ah! And people don't know about the OpenForum , an auditorium open tono the public, who can entero whenever they like tono listen tono the gurus of science and technology. There are very interesting sesiones, apart from Trump, like the one talking about the culture of the selfie, for example." Moreover, Ganyet reminds os that the sesiones can be followed donde Twitter live, Periscope, Facebook live,Youtube live and from the WEF's official website, as can cordero seen from the following links.